Third Week of Advent - 2025

Week 3 | Unseen Hope | Romans 8:18-25

Unseen hope is characterized by the deep longing for what is good and right. There is a yearning that we may not even be able to locate or verbalize, but we hope for what we cannot yet see. Unseen hope helps us grow patient and wait for God in our longing.

December 14 • Finding Courage

It is easy to give up hope in the face of adversity, especially when you feel loneliness settle into your bones. But loneliness is a lie. God is with you. 

It takes courage to live in hope, because hope seeks what it cannot yet see. Hope believes despite the challenge. “Because you said so, Lord, I will.” [Luke 5] It takes strength to face the challenges without ultimate certainty. But ultimate certainty is not hope. And knowledge is not strength. Faith is strength. You step out in faith precisely when you step beyond your ability and knowledge.

Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord! [Psalm 27:14] The biggest weakness is relying on your own strength. It’s not about what you can do, because you don’t need to stand in your own power. You don’t need to wait to be ready. You don’t need to fight your battle alone. 

If God is for you, who can be against you? Don’t become your own worst enemy by seeking your own power or control. Stand in the strength that comes from God alone. “I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous.” [Joshua 1:5-6] 

December 15 • Unseen Hope 

In the middle of the race, we don’t get to see the finish line. We grit our teeth, take a deep breath, and push through, because we know there is an end, even if we can’t see it now. In the middle of our struggles and heartaches and frustrations, we don’t get to see the resolution. Will we push through the pain and live by hope, even though we can’t see the end? Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. [Romans 8:24-25]

Live by what you know to be true. Stick to your principles. Now is not the time to give in or get impatient. Double down on discipline and self-control. Run faster than before, even though you are tired. You will be looking back someday with either pride or embarrassment, and this is the moment where you choose which one it will be. 

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. [1 Corinthians 9:25-26] 

December 16 • Quieting Yourself 

Quietness is not profitable, except to the soul. There is a great temptation to get distracted by the noise. The worries of our minds, the desires of our hearts, and the demands of the world want to be heard. Noise keeps us from hearing what is really happening, from focusing on what really matters. 

Quiet yourself. “I have calmed and quieted my soul.” [Psalm 131:1] Make this your prayer. Wanting nothing else, needing nothing else other than to know that peace is possible. Listening like this will enable you to hear the voice of the God who loves you. It will allow you to drown out everything that isn’t worth your attention.

“I don’t concern myself with things too great and marvelous for me.” [Psalm 131:2] There are problems you will never solve. There are opportunities that will take you nowhere. Do not worry about them now. Orient your heart away from the disorienting patterns of the world. These things will steal your peace if you let them. Start with a quiet heart and mind. Do the hard work of listening. Start with a quiet soul and see where that can take you. 

Hope in God. God will lead you and guide you. God promises to speak through the chaos, just as God did at the beginning.  Patient trust will steady you. And the clear voice of God will bring clarity to your soul.

 “Hope in God from this time forth and forevermore.” [Psalm 131:3]

“God will quiet you by his love.” [Zephaniah 3] 

December 17 • Slowing Down

Being busy is not a virtue. Rushing through life doesn’t make us more effective. One of the hardest challenges is slowing down. What will you do when things are not going as fast as you’d like? Careless decisions are easily made in haste. I refuse to wait like this with you! [2 Samuel 18:14] 

We have something to gain in the stillness. Quiet your heart and learn it. Focus on why you are restless when things are slow. What are you trying to avoid? What pain is being revealed in your heart? Where is your impatience pulling you away from God’s bigger plan?  

This is a great time to pray. When we are being attacked, when we are facing great uncertainty, we always have time to pray. We might not be able to see how or when, but God will act. With an army against them and no other plan, God’s people got on their knees and prayed. Everyone stopped their worrying and chaos and came together to pray, “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” [2 Chronicles 20:12]

Prayer is choosing the right activity first. Slow down to speed up. Cut through all the uncertainty and wait to hear from the One who already knows how it all will go.

December 18 • A Time for Waiting

Let this season of your life be what it is.  Be content, so that when this season ends, you can be confident in the next. There is a time for everything, a season for everything under the sun. [Ecclesiastes 3] Someday, we’ll have what we are longing for today. We will find what we’ve been seeking. Or our longings will change. Either way, this time will come to an end. And part of you will miss it- the hopeful expectancy, the rush of the unknown. Having something to look forward to is part of the excitement. But at the end of this, will you be ready for what’s next, or hoping to go back?

This is the secret of wanting and being satisfied, to needing and needing no longer: I can handle all things through him who strengthens me. [Philippians 4:13] Receive the blessing of hope: patient and joyful anticipation of what is to come. And celebrate the fact that you can only receive that blessing now, while you wait and watch and pray. 

December 19 • Hesitant

Waiting and hoping do not require us to stop living. We think that waiting is like pressing pause. But waiting is actually work: putting our hands to action, doing the things God has put on our hearts to do. We are not stagnant. Sure, there is more ahead. There are certainly plans for the future, dreams worth dreaming. But that does not mean we have a free pass on the things that we need to get done today. We need to get to work. 

Waiting is work. There are people in our lives who need us. There are things that need to get done. When God’s people were kicked out of their homes and hoping only to get back to them, God commanded them otherwise: Build houses, plant gardens. Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile. [Jeremiah 29:5-7] 

The goal of hope in Jesus is that God will redeem and buy back our whole lives- both body and soul. Let’s not give God more to redeem, but let’s join him in the task at hand. Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. [Ephesians 5:15-16]

December 20 • Dealing with Opposition

Wait for God. God will come through for us, even when no one else will. We have been let down and frustrated. Others’ words and actions impact our spiritual steadiness. We struggle to trust another person or situation. And few things are as discouraging as people hoping we fail. The closer they are to us, the more it hurts. 

This is nothing new to God. Jesus was betrayed by one of his twelve disciples. Jesus was mocked and condemned by his own people. “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.” [John 1] This was part of God’s plan for the Savior of the world. Why would God keep it out of your story? When you face opposition, you are more prepared to join Jesus in the Garden. You are more prepared to pray, “Not my will, but your will, Father.” [Luke 22] You won’t check out of life now- you know your life is on the line. We are transformed from lamenting our hardships to turning everything over to God.

“In God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” [Psalm 56] Having people oppose us does not determine whether we are in the right or wrong. We may be right about certain things and wrong about others. What matters is considering whether God is opposing us. Turn your plans and life over to Jesus. He will come through for you. Not in the way or time you expect it, but you can be certain God will see you through everything.  

When you are willing to wait on God no matter what, no opposition on earth can deter you from doing what God has given you to do. We can join in the prayer, “Deliver me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of evil and cruel men. For you, O Lord, are my hope; my trust, O Lord from my youth.” [Psalm 71]We can handle any opposition when we stand with God.