Blessed Hope, Future Hope!

“It will be said on that day, ‘Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that He might save us.  This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in His salvation.” –Isaiah 25:9.  “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?  Hope in God:  for I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God.” –Psalm 42:11.  “But according to His promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells…You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.  But grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  To Him be glory both now and to the day of eternity.  Amen.” -2 Peter 3:15,17-18.  “In hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began” –Titus 1:2  “so that being justified by His grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” –Titus 3:7  “Keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life…Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever.  Amen.” Jude 21, 24-25 (ESV).

Christians live in hope for three basic reasons.  First is God’s work of reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ.  “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  According to His great mercy He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3, ESV).  The second reason Christians live in hope is that the Holy Spirit dwells within each believer:  “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit, that we are children of God” (Romans 8:16)  The third reason for living in hope is what awaits the Christian in the future.  God promised and His promises will always be fulfilled.  The anticipation of what is yet to be is the Christian’s future hope.  “But as it is written, ‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him’—these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit.  For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.”  (I Corinthians 2:9-10).  Here Paul was referring to Isaiah 64:4 and Matthew 25:34 which tell of the glory that is yet to be.  Blessed hope sustains us in the present; future hope helps us anticipate the fulfillment of God’s promise of life everlasting and of the consummation of the Kingdom of God.

It is interesting to note that the future hope was both an Old and New Testament idea.  Scholars who have counted the references tell us that the Hebrew words indicating future hope are used repeatedly in the Old Testament.  For example, qawah (meaning wait for God) is used 26 times; yahai (long for God) 27 times; hakah (to wait for God) 7 times; sabar (wait and hope for God) 4 times [“Future Hope” in Holman Bible Dictionary. Nashville: Broadman, 2001, pp. 519-20].  Nouns that carry the idea of future hope are added to the strong Hebrew verbs to give at least 146 references in the Old Testament of future hope.  The references to future hope in the New Testament are numerous and frequent.  These are based upon the promise of the Lord to come again to earth, receive His own (his bride) unto Himself, and to establish His righteous reign.  In the meantime, while we await that day, Christians live in the present with confidence and face the future with courage.  Even if we have to suffer while awaiting the glorious consummation, we know “that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance character; and character, hope (Romans 5:3-4).  Blessed hope and future hope—hope that fills our present and colors our future is not an ordinary hope.  Christian hope is a gift from God:  “we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.  We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul”(Hebrews 6:18-19).  Please reread prayerfully the focus verses given at the beginning of this devotional.  And as you reread them, let your heart fill with gratitude to overflowing for our blessed hope, our future hope.  Thank Him that some of these promises of God have been fulfilled and all of them will be fulfilled. To God be the glory!

A Question and a Statement: Hope triumphs!

“Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?  Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.”  -Psalm 42:5 (repeated in 42:11, 43:5. ESV).

Psalm 42 and 43 seem to be an important hymn with three stanzas, tied together by the refrain as given in 42:5 and 11 and 43:5.  The by line attributes these psalms as a “Maschil from the sons of Korah” which gives us a definite clue as to its origin.  A “maschil” is a didactic psalm or a psalm of instruction.  It was a skillfully composed psalm, usually set to more elaborate music than a regular psalm of worship.  We would liken a Hebrew maschil to an anthem in our order of worship today.  The “sons of Korah” were a Levitical (priestly) guild.  Psalm 42 opens with a stately metaphor likening the desire to go to the temple to worship as a deer, thirsty and desiring water to assuage his thirst.  Likewise, the son of Korah is being detained far away from the place of worship in “the land of Jordan and Herman at Mount Mizar” (42:6) in Northeast Palestine.  He is being taunted by adversaries and oppressed by enemies (42:9, 10; 43:1, 2b).  The freshet floods almost overwhelm him (42:7), probably a reference to the cascades that rush down Mount Hermon when the snow melts in the spring.  This could also be a metaphor for the troubles that overwhelm the psalmist.  Remembrance of better days when he could go to the temple to worship with glad songs of praise at festival times makes him long even more to go to the house of the Lord (42:4, 43:4).  It seems at times, because of the troubles that overwhelm, that even the God whom he worships has rejected him (43.2).

But the psalmist then begins to weigh his situation.  He asks a pertinent question:  “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? (42:5a, 11a, 43:5a).  At first it seems that the Psalmist is urging himself to get back on track, to look beyond his depression, trouble and discouragement.  With each repetition of the question, resolve grows.  And then he is able to state with triumph:  “”Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God!”(42:5b, 11b; 43:5b).  Despite his troubles, his long distance from the temple where he enjoys worshiping, he has remembered:  “By day the Lord commands His steadfast love, and at night His song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life” (42:8).  Although he has been prevented from going to the place he loves, the temple in Jerusalem where he desires to worship, he has found that he can worship wherever he is and that God is with him in far places where his enemies taunt him.  God hears and answers wherever we are.  We, therefore, can steadfastly HOPE in Him.  Hope gives us victory when we are in the foreign lands of doubt and depression, hardship and estrangement.  I like Emily Dickinson’s  poem on Hope:

            Hope is the thing with feathers

            That perches in the soul—

            And sings the tune without the words

            And never stops at all—

            And sweetest—in the gale is heard—

            And sore must be the storm—

            That could abash the little bird

            That kept so many warm—

            I’ve heard it in the chillest land—

            And on the strangest Sea—

            Yet—never—in Extremity,

            It asked a crumb of me.

“Why are you cast down, O my soul?  Hope in God!  I shall praise Him, my salvation and my God!”

Help for a Drooping Soul

“Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God.” –Psalm 42:5 (also in Ps. 42:11 and 43:5. ESV)

If you read the devotional thoughts I wrote for January 5 (yesterday), you will recognized that this verse was used within the body of that devotional to indicate what brings on the thirsting for God from a soul that can only find rest when resting confidently within God’s love and care.

But let’s be honest and admit that sometimes we do have a “drooping soul,” a time when we feel depressed and often at our wit’s end, a time when God seems far away from us. If we think honestly about such a condition, we will have to ask the question we sometimes hear: “When God seems far away, guess who has moved?” And an honest answer to that question is that the down-cast soul is the one who has moved from within the lovelight of God’s provision. “Jesus is the same, yesterday, today and forever…” But we, sinning, erring, straying, complaining humans are the ones who have moved out of the parameter of His presence.

To have low days seems to be a natural disaster of soul freedom. The Bible is filled with examples of those who experienced depression and temporary spiritual defeat. One example: Elijah had the masterful confrontation with the prophets of Baal on Mt. Horeb during the reign of King Ahab. The fire came down from heaven and completely consumed the sacrifice Elijah had laid out and watered down well. But the prophets of Baal could bring forth no response at all from their god. You would think Elijah would have rejoiced greatly in this victory. We observe, instead, him fleeing from the threats of Queen Jezebel, going to the wilderness of Beersheba, finding a juniper tree under which to rest, and praying to die. Pity-partying can be a true enemy of spiritual victory. The angel of the Lord came to Elijah’s rescue. And God can rescue any of us who will listen, heed and turn toward restoration. The choice to turn is ours to make and act upon.

Solomon had wise words concerning help for a drooping soul:

“Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment.
“The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe.”
-Proverbs 18:1, 10 (ESV).

Instead of a “pity-party” under an isolated juniper tree, why don’t we seek the Lord for restoration? We have evidence that He is strong, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, an immovable tower, a ready refuge in time of trouble and distress.

A Thirst for God

“As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?” –Psalm 42:1-2 (ESV).

Thirst is not a pleasant physical reaction to lack of liquid. Perhaps you have had to fast to take serious medical tests. Or perhaps you have been in a situation where drink was not available, and it seemed to your liquid-starved body that you would give almost anything for a cool, satisfying drink.

Have you ever been so spiritually thirsty that your soul yearns for the living God? The Psalmist gave a beautiful metaphor to describe the spiritually thirsty condition. It was like a deer, having traveled miles without coming upon a watering place, and was panting and yearning for a flowing stream. We can see that in our mind’s eye and know that the deer is searching frantically for the water that will assuage thirst.

May I suggest that each Christian should cultivate that need for spiritual water just like the deer, and also we humans, have that built-in need for physical water to satisfy thirst. Within beautiful Psalm 42, which was a “maskil”—or a song or hymn performed in worship—is a chorus that rings true to the theme of the whole Psalm. We find the chorus in verses 5 and 11 of Psalm 42 and again in verse 5 of Psalm 43:

“Why are you cast down, O my soul,
And why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise Him,
My salvation, and my God.

How can the God-thirst be assuaged? The Psalmist gives us the answer to that question. We remember God. Just like we remember good times, recall people who have touched our lives, so we remember God. Recall how His steadfast love is with us in the daytime and His song is with us in the night. Metaphorically, this recalls times when He has given light to our pathways and times when we have walked through shadowy places. The second admonition in getting the soul that thirsts for God back to Him lies in hope. Poet Emily Dickinson had this to say about that intrinsic aspiration of the soul:

“Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all.”

Yes. “Hope in God.” The thirst for God can be fulfilled. He has been waiting for our return—waiting to fill us—and all we have to do is remember and hope…and return to Him.