Today’s readings talk about hope. In Exodus, the midwives feared God, and disobeyed Pharaoh by not killing the newborn males. They had hope that Israel would be delivered from the Egyptians, and chose to risk their lives in order to serve God
In the Psalms, David writes about events in a difficult time in his life. He had been betrayed by a close friend, yet David doesn’t abandon his trust in God. “But I call to God, and the Lord will save me…he hears my voice. He redeems my soul in safety”. And later, “Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved”. Despite all the trouble in his life, David doesn’t abandon his trust in God. I think it actually strengthens his trust in God, because he has no one else to turn to. “I will give thanks to your name, O Lord, for it is good. For he has delivered me from every trouble”. David had hope that God would take care of him, provided that David trusted and relied upon God.
We have that same hope, as Paul writes “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” God isn’t half-hearted about helping us towards salvation. He allowed His own son to be sacrificed so that we could be saved. So we have an incredible hope of salvation, knowing that God is for us, and we can rely on Him in times of difficulty.
“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord”