Romans 2:5  And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

HOPE CRIES OUT

Hope has been calling out to me lately. It’s been beckoning me to believe—to stop dwelling on negative things and instead take hold of hope. My last post was a lament, but this one feels like a ballad of hope.

In 1 Corinthians 13, Scripture tells us that faith, hope, and love remain. So hope is not only necessary, but everlasting. Recently, the Lord taught me something deeper about hope through the verses below. According to Romans, there is a process—a journey—that produces hope.

Romans 5:3–5

3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,
4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,
5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

The journey to hope looks like this:
Suffering → Endurance → Character → Hope

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THE FIRST LEG OF THE JOURNEY: SUFFERING → ENDURANCE

I had never noticed God’s order for building hope. I had always been told simply to “hope in God,” but I was never shown how God develops hope in His people.

Scripture says suffering produces endurance. This is the first step. And amazingly, we are told to rejoice in suffering. Why? Because suffering is not purposeless. As Romans 8:28 reminds us:

“And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.”

This means all things—including suffering—are tools God uses for His purposes in us. Suffering has a job to do.

What does suffering produce?

It produces endurance, if we allow it to. Suffering becomes a teacher.

James 1:4 says,
“And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

The word for steadfastness in Greek is hypomonē, meaning steadfastness, constancy, endurance—the very same word used in Romans 5:3–4.

I love when the Bible interprets itself.

James teaches that endurance produces completeness—a maturity, a wholeness, a fully-grown faith. When we yield to the process and allow suffering to have its full effect, endurance grows in us, and endurance begins to produce something beautiful.

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THE SECOND LEG OF THE JOURNEY: ENDURANCE → CHARACTER

Scripture is full of examples that show how endurance builds character. Consider Job, Joseph, Abraham, David—men who endured immense suffering.

• Job remained faithful in deep anguish and was later restored.
• Joseph was sold into slavery, wrongfully imprisoned, and forgotten—yet years later he could say, “What you meant for evil, God meant for good.”
• David was anointed king but spent years fleeing Saul’s jealousy before he ever sat on the throne.
• Abraham left everything familiar, waited more than 20 years for the promised son, and endured seasons of doubt.

Each of these men suffered for years—sometimes decades. Yet God used their suffering to form something within them that would prepare them for their calling. Their endurance grew their character, and their character made them ready for the work God had prepared for them.

God is far more concerned with who we become than with mere behavior modification. When we become who He intended us to be, we naturally walk in the work He prepared for us.

Ephesians 2:10 says,
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

God already knows the good works we will do. Endurance shapes us into the image of Christ so we can walk confidently in those works.

THE THIRD LEG OF THE JOURNEY: CHARACTER → HOPE

And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be complete or whole, mature, full grown. It is assumed that this completeness or wholeness comes from endurance. And this endurance creates character, and character produces hope.

Why does character produce hope? Because if we are made in the image of Christ and mature in Him — we know we can put our trust in Him. God becomes an anchor of our souls, steadying us through every storm. When His character is formed in us, hope rises naturally, because we recognize His faithfulness, His goodness, and His unchanging love.

I am reminded of 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 of our greatest HOPE

For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, ¹⁸ as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

In this life, our suffering are like momentary afflictions for the eternal glory that awaits us.Hope naturally rises in the matured believer because we KNOW the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead resides in us. Resurrection is our inheritance, our heritage. So Hope will always rise in the heart of the believer.

Hope cries out — because a final hope still awaits us and that hope is everlasting.That is the kind of Hope that remains!