Hope
Read Psalm 42.
I’ve had a few things to celebrate this week it was good to come home from Mosgiel on Wednesday morning and catch up with Janaki (daughter) the team here at the Corps after the trip south. We had caught up with Louis (son), Hannah (daughter-in law) and Sophia (grand-daughter) and were able to celebrate Sophia’s first birthday with them. We had a good flight home also, I noticed an add that Air New Zealand are running on the planes during winter just now for the New Zealand Blood Service that states, “Give Blood, Give Plasma, Give Hope.” It was quite striking as if you needed one of those fluids and it was not available it would be a hopeless situation. Being one of those people who connects things it got me thinking about the Hope that we have received through Jesus' blood being shed on the cross.
I talked with someone last week who declared they had, had one of those days, well they said one of those weeks.
We all have days that start out not quite how we expect, we even have days when we wonder why we got out of bed. I know there have been a few days that I’m more than happy to see the end of. However, some of those days have made life more than a little interesting and are worth resharing the stories of but others not so much. I guess we all have had a few of those days?
The Psalmist in psalm forty-two had had more than one or two rough days, it is thought he was a Levite Priest who for some reason was at the time of his writing this poem, s physically distant from Jerusalem and the temple, perhaps exiled. Scholars believe that he may have been in exile with King David somewhere beyond the Jordan.
This man was missing being in the presence of God at the temple. It should be remembered that at that time God was worshipped at the temple You may remember me preaching about how the Holy of Holies was the place of Gold and the that glory of God hovered between the Cherubim’s wings on top of the Mercy seat on top of the Ark of the Covenant, behind the curtain. Also the gold and silver of the temple, literally tons of these precious metals and polished bronze, just the shining sceptical of the temple courts would have left the people there in awe of the Lord.
However, the despairing priest who wrote Psalm 42, compares the state of his soul to the thirst of a deer as it pants for need of water. He feels it is only within the presence of the Living God that he can be refreshed. Not only that, but he’s also grief stricken at the thought of not being able to be in the presence of God.
He is challenged by some of those around him who ask him, “where is your God?”
On being challenged he remembers where his God is, where he used to go to worship God with the multitude of the people; leading the procession of the people to the house of God, to the temple, with shouts of joy and thanksgiving, among the festive noise and bustle. This man knew what it was to be in God’s presence and to be joyfully praising God.
When he remembers he addresses himself saying and I’m paraphrasing, “Get it together man, why are you so down, why such a mess. Put your hope in God, you’ll be praising him yet; he’s your saviour and your God. I’m down but I’m not out, so I will remember Him. I may be distant from the place I worship God but I will remember him where I am.” A realisation kicks in for the man that he is always in God’s presence and that God is always in his presence. In the same way we can put our hope in God, we can wherever we are, whatever the circumstances praise God for who he is and what he has done for us.
The psalmist/the poet is giving himself a bit of a shakeup. He sees that he is in despair, but that God is still there, but he is finding it hard to acknowledge that, as he’s always worshipped in one place, at the temple. He is realizing that he needs to refocus his gaze. That God is with him where he is.
In verse seven he starts calling out in despair again “deep calls to deep in your waterfalls; all your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me. This is metaphor a word picture for despair. We could read “deep calls to deep” as “blow after blow hits me.” This man is so deeply down in the dumps; we could compare his situation to being homesick and threatened. He is exiled from his homeland, the place he knows and loves and distant from the Temple, life for him literally is the pits.
Again, he reminds himself in the following verse that in the day, God directs his love to him and that at night his song is with him, this song is his prayer to God and he has much to be thankful for. Nothing like a song of thanksgiving to lift a person’s spirit. Try being miserable and rejoicing at the same time, there are very few who can achieve that. Joy, has a tendency to take over and squish out misery if you keep rejoicing.
However, the Psalmist again he declares that life is the pits; he feels that God has forgotten him that he is grumbling and groaning, mourning and oppressed by the enemy. His foes taunt him saying “where is your God?” Even his bones ache within him. This man’s grief is extreme. Maybe it was winter, (it’s winter as I preach this) and he had seasonal adjustment disorder, yeah, maybe not.
But, remember he knows where his God is, he’s worshipped at the temple, he’s led the procession, he’s been joyful in the Lord's presence.
He wakes up, again he says, “get it together man, why are you so down, why such a mess. Put your hope in God, you’ll be praising him yet; he’s your Saviour and your God!
In life there are often times of pain, upset and grieving. However, as Christians we carry with us hope, this tool of the faith, as Paul said to Timothy, “That is why we labour and strive, because we have put our hope in the Living God, who is the Saviour of all people, and especially of those who believe.” (1 Timothy 4:10). Hope is key to our living and our witness. Peter says this. “He has caused us?to be born again?to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.” 1 Peter 1:3-4.
Back to the Psalmist, he was grieving, he was disappointed.
Life does not always go how we would expect it too, or how we would like it too.
This is what the psalmist was experiencing, if we look at this psalm, he was up and down, emotionally all over the place. He was grieving/lamenting his situation, there are three laments in this psalm each answered by a comment a reply of hope. Interestingly the laments, the cries of grief get shorter through the psalm as he remembers God. The Psalmist's hope is in the Lord. We also have in God, through Christ Jesus our living God, a vibrant, living Hope that brings with it a confident expectation, not just of Heaven but in the here and now a depth of relationship with God that we formally did not have, a confident expectation that many around us need, something that we have that people whether they know it, need to hear about.
The psalmist realises that God is there with him/directing his love to him by day and night. God is always with him, God is always with us. As Christians we live in a place of hope, but we also carry hope with us a hope that we are asked by God to share as we love or neighbours, as we witness of what we have received from God as we have repented and come to Christ the hope of all. I have no doubt mentioned it before but as believers in Christ, The Holy Spirit is with us, Jeremiah 29:11 tells us this about God, “For I know the plans?I have for you,’ declares the?Lord, ‘plans to prosper?you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” I have witnessed the change that comes over people when they come to that realisation after lives of struggle, suffering, addiction as they have come to know God.
Some events in our lives are not always in our own control. God will never forsake us though. In?Deuteronomy 31:6?God tells Moses “Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or terrified because of them.” Them being the Psalmists persecutors, “for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you or forsake you.”
What God is to the Psalmist, what he was to Moses, he realises is close at hand. Closer than close at hand, he was with them, residing with him.
The psalmist because of his physical circumstances feels distant, then he realises where his hope lies, it lies with God. The Psalmist carries, we carry God with us, as believers, he abides with us, The Holy Spirit is our Comforter and Friend as we respond to God’s still small voice, we understand our hope is fulfilled. Like the psalmist let us put our hope in God, let us praise him so that others come to praise him through our witness. Let us praise the one who is our hope, our Saviour and our God.
We may be lacking in some areas in our lives, we may go through seasons of physical want, as many in New Zealand currently are, but God is always with us. Let us put our hope in God, praising him so that others come to know and praise him; Our Saviour and our God.
When circumstances are such that those around you question, “Where is your God” and notice it was the Psalmist’s enemies who asked this question. Be assured he is with you. Remember we also have an enemy who would very much like us to turn away from God to a place of despair, to remain in our own grief and suffering a place that many in the world find themselves, but!
But we have hope, God is always with us.
Jesus himself, before he left this world made it clear that when he left the Holy Spirit would come to his disciples, the Holy Spirit who is sent from our Heavenly Father. The Holy Spirit is the Counsellor, who testifies about Jesus (John 15 &16).
We are able to experience the presence of God with us, when we are challenged, when we are grieving and despairing, and these things grief and despair if they are not with us now will come but we can be assured that God is always with us.
Jesus assures his disciples in the great commission that he will be with them, with these words, “…And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20b). We too can hold onto that promise!
You may be grieving, you may have disappointments, you may be in pain, you may be suffering – if you are Hope.
We may be grieving, we may have disappointments, we may be in pain, we may be suffering – Be assured.
You may be grieving, you may have disappointments, we may be in pain, we may be suffering – Put your hope in God, praise him our saviour and our God. He is always with us! Through the hope we have in Jesus' others will also come to praise him and have hope as we show the hope we have,
As a tool of the faith, we are in a place of sharing hope, for those who are grieving, disappointed and /or suffering we have a tool that makes a way clear. A way clear to a relationship with God that will literally turn their lives around and led them to an eternal relationship with God.
Jesus made a declaration about his blood, his blood shed when he stated as recorded by Matthew, in Matthew 26:28, “For this is my blood?of the?new covenant, which is shed?for many for the?remission of sins.” Your see in Jesus' suffering and dying on the cross before his resurrection, his shed blood, his shed plasma gave hope to all mankind. Through that giving we have Hope. We are now able, more than able to declare the hope that we have found in Jesus that others may come to a place of salvation and relationship, living in that hope also with our Saviour and our God.
Response.
