Never Beyond Hope

By J. I. Packer and Carolyn Nystrom

Do you ever find it hard to hope? Many of us feel weighed down by our own failures, a sense of inferiority, guilt from the past, or emotionally exhausting circumstances. Yet when hope seems beyond us, the Bible offers encouragement from stories of those who have gone before.
In this six-session LifeGuide® Bible Study, J. I. Packer and Carolyn Nystrom explore how God works through imperfect characters such as Jonah, Martha, and Peter. God loves, redeems, and restores misfits, outsiders, and failures. And he can do the same for you. Through the goodness of the God of hope, you can discover the blessing of hope as a way of life.
For over three decades, LifeGuide Bible Studies have provided solid biblical content and raised thought-provoking questions—offering a one-of-a-kind Bible study experience for individuals and groups. This series has more than 145 titles on Old and New Testament books, character studies, and topical studies.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IVP Bible Studies
• Release date: Jul 5, 2022
• ISBN: 9781514005071

J. I. Packer

J. I. Packer (1926–2020) served as the Board of Governors’ Professor of Theology at Regent College. He authored numerous books, including the classic bestseller Knowing God. Packer also served as general editor for the English Standard Version Bible and as theological editor for the ESV Study Bible.

Book preview

JACOB: HOPE FOR

THE UNHAPPY

Genesis 32

When Jacob was born, he came out of his mother’s womb with his hand holding on to his twin brother’s heel. His name means he grasps the heel or deceiver. Getting ahead was Jacob’s consistent goal. When the twins neared adulthood, Jacob first persuaded Esau, his elder brother (elder by minutes), to sell him his birthright. Then he also stole Esau’s blessing. To which Esau said, This is too much! I’d like to kill that brother of mine. In due course, I will. And Rebekah, their mother, said to Jacob, You’d better leave, or else. So off went Jacob, who spent twenty years with Uncle Laban.

As we go through the story of Jacob the adult, we find that in many ways he lived up to his name. He was something of a grabber, an exploiter, a manipulator, and a cheat. None of this brought Jacob happiness; instead, it brought tension, strain, and ill will. Only when his passion for gain was finally put second to his passion for God did his life settle down. That was after Jacob tried for many years to be both worldly and godly, on the make and under the mercy, a course of action that led to the crisis at Jabbok—the turning point of his whole