I delivered this talk to students and faculty at a Bible College in 2026.
Greetings! Thank you for granting me another opportunity to speak.
The theme for this year’s Spiritual Emphasis is Romans 12:12:
“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”
In today’s talk, I’ll focus on each of these three commands alone, and feature an Old Testament prophet who modeled it. I’m following James’ example:
“Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.” (James 5:10)
Before I begin, I must explain that I’m a teacher. And while I wish and strive to model all I teach, I sometimes fail. So, as I speak today, understand I’m speaking to me as much as you. Feel free to approach me afterward and share your shortcomings or areas wanting improvement. I share similar failings.
When we observe this text, we see it’s a command. Notice the word Be. It’s a command to be joyful, to be patient, and to be faithful. However, each action is not alone. Paul, the author of Romans, wants us joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Paul wants these actions rooted in something deeper.
When we analyze the deeper meaning of a text, we first look at immediate context, the words nearby. Romans 12:12 falls within a list of commands, and there’s little help nearby more explicitly defining these three commands. Next, we look at context within the book, the rest of Romans. Joyful, patient, affliction, faithful, and prayer and their grammatic variants hardly occur elsewhere in Romans, and when they do, they’re in command form. They don’t explain more. It’s as if Paul thinks these words’ meanings are well-known, and for the most part, they are. Hope, though, occurs many times in Romans, and that’s worth exploring. Hope occurs predominantly in chapters 5, 8, and 15. Looking at those verses, here are some hopes for a Christian:
- the grace of God (5:2)
- the love of God (5:5)
- our adoption as sons (8:23-24)
- the redemption of our body (8:23-24)
- the encouragement of the Scriptures (15:4)
- the joy and peace God fills you with (15:13)
Beyond Romans, the Bible gives other reasons for hope. Here’s what a brief Concordance search revealed with just one reference verse.
- God’s law (Psalm 119:43)
- God’s love (Lamentations 3:21)
- the Resurrection (Acts 23:6)
- believers remaining steadfast (1 Thessalonians 2:19)
- eternal life (Colossians 1:5)
- Jesus’ return (Titus 2:13)
- grace given us (1 Peter 1:13)
- we shall be like him (1 John 3:3)
These are good reasons to hope, but there’s one reason with far more reference verses than any other: Christians hope in God. It’s all over the Old and New Testament. Part of “hope in God” is the reasons I already listed: hope is resting in God’s promises for our present life and our life to come. However, I think it also means what it simply says: we hope in our God.
My Old Testament prophet example explains this hope in God well.
Joyful in Hope
Joyful in hope is an expression of delight overflowing from the deep-rooted conviction of something yet to come.
I chose Isaiah for my Old Testament prophet example. His book’s first 35 chapters cover Israel’s sin, the hope of a Messiah, and pending judgments upon Israel and her surrounding neighbors. Chapters 36-39 in narrative style cover the Assyrian invasion and God’s miraculous deliverance. A nation much stronger than Isaiah’s tiny nation, Judah, invades, has been victorious over a thousand kilometers of conquests, and expects the same results in his nation. But God miraculously intervenes, destroys much of the Assyrian army and has her leader assassinated.
By chapter 40, Isaiah’s tone changes. It changes so drastically, some claim there is more than one Isaiah. I reject this claim, and I will give you one of my reasons. Isaiah had just witnessed one of the most outstanding miracles of all-time: his tiny nation had sent the Assyrians away empty-handed. It would be as if China invaded Singapore and lost. In light of this revelation of God’s immense power, Isaiah takes up his pen in chapter 40. Why wouldn’t he change his tone? Speaking of the Lord, he writes:
“Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance?
Who has understood the mind of the Lord, or instructed him as his counselor?
Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge or showed him the path of understanding?
Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales; he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.
Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires, nor its animals enough for burnt offerings.
Before him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing.
To whom, then, will you compare God? What image will you compare him to?
As for an idol, a craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and fashions silver chains for it.
A man too poor to present such an offering selects wood that will not rot. He looks for a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not topple.
Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded?
He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in.
He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.
No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.
‘To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?’ says the Holy One.
Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.” (Isaiah 40:12-26)
After witnessing God’s mighty power devastating the mightiest nation on earth, Isaiah looks for a comparison. It’s a rhetorical question. There is none. And he defines with explicit detail the greatness of our God: more vast than the earth, wiser than all counselors, above the heavens. He is over all! Isaiah continues,
“Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel, ‘My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God’?
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (Isaiah 40:27-31)
Then Isaiah confronts the hopelessness in Israel. Some believed God disregarded them. But Isaiah, knowing the greatness of God, counters that those who hope in the Lord are strengthened, soar like eagles, run without weariness, and walk without fainting.
Do you see it? If you really understand the character of God and believe it, and you really understand his plans and believe them, there is every reason to hope. And that hope naturally overflows into joy.
Now I have made every effort here to focus on the root of joy: hope. Yet, I still feel a caution is necessary. Make sure you focus on the root. When you express joy without hope, when you fake joy, it’s a turn-off to all. So focus on the hope, the hope in God. Be rooted in it, and joy will naturally flow.
Patient in Affliction
Patience in Affliction means enduring trouble calmly and without complaint.
I chose Ezekiel for my Old Testament prophet example. Ezekiel was an exile from Judah in Babylon. God first gave him a vision by the Kebar River, where Ezekiel saw the throne room of God. In Chapter 2, God gives Ezekiel his first command, “Son of Man, stand up on your feet,” (2:1) and Ezekiel obeys. In Chapter 3, the command gets harder: “Then he said to me: ‘Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it.’ So I ate it and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth.” (3:3). Once again, Ezekiel hears and obeys. By chapter 4, the command is harder still.
“Now, son of man, take a clay tablet, put it in front of you and draw the city of Jerusalem on it.
Then lay siege to it: Erect siege works against it, build a ramp up to it, set up camps against it and put battering rams around it.
Then take an iron pan, place it as an iron wall between you and the city and turn your face toward it. It will be under siege, and you shall besiege it. This will be a sign to the house of Israel.
“Then lie on your left side and put the sin of the house of Israel upon yourself. You are to bear their sin for the number of days you lie on your side.
I have assigned you the same number of days as the years of their sin. So for 390 days you will bear the sin of the house of Israel.
“After you have finished this, lie down again, this time on your right side, and bear the sin of the house of Judah. I have assigned you 40 days, a day for each year.
Turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem and with bared arm prophesy against her.
I will tie you up with ropes so that you cannot turn from one side to the other until you have finished the days of your siege.
“Take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and spelt; put them in a storage jar and use them to make bread for yourself. You are to eat it during the 390 days you lie on your side.
Weigh out twenty shekels of food to eat each day and eat it at set times.
Also measure out a sixth of a hin of water and drink it at set times.” (Ezekiel 4:1-11)
The command continues with more directives, but I stopped at verse 11. This is one of many play-acting stories God calls Ezekiel to do. He has him symbolize the siege of Jerusalem by lying on his left side 390 days, and lying down on his right side 40 days. He’s allowed meager rations: 225g of bread and 800mL of water per day. If it were over minutes, it would be cute, but because it lasts longer than a year, it’s extremely painful and debilitating. Yet Ezekiel obeys. Ezekiel’s obedience and subsequent patience is remarkable and commendable, and it’s a perfect picture of patience in affliction.
There’s a hidden affirmation from God in this. In each of these three commands, God calls Ezekiel “Son of Man” just as the gospel writers call Jesus, “Son of Man.” Some claim that’s a reference to Daniel, but Daniel’s only called “Son of Man” twice; Ezekiel’s called “Son of Man” 94 times. The gospel writers call Jesus “Son of Man” to show Jesus was like Ezekiel, and certainly part of that likeness was his patience in affliction.
I have two cautions. First, when the affliction comes from those under your authority, take responsibility and cease it. As the leader of my pick-up soccer group, when two players start fighting, I must intervene and cease the affliction.
Second, when the affliction comes from a peer or superior, express your objection respectfully. Only after they’re aware and continue, should you endure it with patience. I purposely stopped the Ezekiel quote early for this caution. Here it continues, starting in verse 12 where God is still talking:
“‘Eat the food as you would a barley cake; bake it in the sight of the people, using human excrement for fuel.’
The LORD said, ‘In this way the people of Israel will eat defiled food among the nations where I will drive them.’
Then I said, ‘Not so, Sovereign LORD! I have never defiled myself. From my youth until now I have never eaten anything found dead or torn by wild animals. No unclean meat has ever entered my mouth.’
‘Very well,’ he said, ‘I will let you bake your bread over cow manure instead of human excrement.’” (Ezekiel 4:12-15)
Even the Lord himself lessened the affliction after Ezekiel’s objection.
Faithful in Prayer
Faithful in Prayer means regularly continuing to pray.
I chose Daniel for my Old Testament prophet example. In chapter 2, Daniel discovers Nebuchadnezzar plans to execute all the wise men in Babylon, because they could not provide a dream and its interpretation. Daniel gains time from the king before the order is carried out. He gathers his friends and they call on the God of Heaven. During the night, God answers Daniel.
In chapter 9, as Daniel reads Jeremiah, he understands Jerusalem’s desolation will soon end, and he prays a long prayer, beginning with confession of sin. By the end, God sends Gabriel who announces the time it will take from the decree to rebuild Jerusalem to the Messiah.
In Daniel 6, Daniel’s jealous peers try to find grounds for charges against Daniel.
“Finally these men said, ‘We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God.’
“So the administrators and the satraps went as a group to the king and said: ‘O King Darius, live forever!
The royal administrators, prefects, satraps, advisers and governors have all agreed that the king should issue an edict and enforce the decree that anyone who prays to any god or man during the next thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be thrown into the lions’ den.
Now, O king, issue the decree and put it in writing so that it cannot be altered-in accordance with the laws of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed.’
So King Darius put the decree in writing.
Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.
Then these men went as a group and found Daniel praying and asking God for help.” (Daniel 6:5-11)
Even Daniel’s jealous peers knew his prayer habits. Three times per day, he prayed to the God of heaven. A king’s decree of death for such action didn’t deter him. He knew the Father and yearned to speak with him despite the cost. This is being faithful in prayer.
There’s a hidden affirmation from God in this. Three times in Daniel, Gabriel tells him he is “highly esteemed.” Certainly, part of the reason God highly esteemed Daniel was his faithfulness in prayer.
Application
As I prepared this talk, I realized how far I fall short. As an engineer, I’m paid to focus on problems. I don’t often focus on my hope and therefore rarely am joyful in hope. Yesterday, when a large spider crawled out of my shirt, I wasn’t patient in affliction. I jumped and cast it off. My regular prayer life consists of a somewhat interrupted 15-minute time every morning as I weed my land. Perhaps you feel the same. Don’t fall into despair. Repent and change. We have a good God who earnestly desires our hearts and wants to help us grow. So, be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. God be with you!