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On
Hope
David, on fleeing
from Absalom, wrote these two Psalms: {42:1} For the
director of music. A maskil of the Sons of Korah. As the deer
pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. {2} My soul
thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? {3}
My tears have been my food day and
night, while men say to me all day long, "Where
is your God?" {4} These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I
used to go with the multitude, leading the procession to the house of
God, with shouts of joy and
thanksgiving among the festive throng. {5} Why are you
downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him, my Savior and {6} my God. My soul is
downcast within me; therefore I
will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of
Hermon‑‑from Mount Mizar. {7} Deep calls to deep in the roar
of your waterfalls; all your waves
and breakers have swept over me. {8} By day the
LORD directs his love, at night his song is with me‑‑ a
prayer to the God of my life. {9} I
say to God my Rock, "Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go
about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?" {10} My bones suffer mortal
agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, "Where is
your God?" {11} Why are you
downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for
I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. {43:1} Vindicate me, O God,
and plead my cause against an
ungodly nation; rescue me from deceitful and wicked
men. {2} You are God my stronghold. Why have you rejected me? Why must I
go about mourning, oppressed by the
enemy? {3} Send forth your light and your truth,
let them guide me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the
place where you dwell. {4} Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my
joy and my delight. I will praise
you with the harp, O God, my God. {5} Why are
you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in
God, for I will yet praise him, my
Savior and my God. ‑‑
Psalms 42‑43 (NIV) It is the rarest of
things today to hear a sermon on the subject of hope. Paul commends to us (in more than one letter) "faith,
hope and love." Sermons on
faith abound; love is a frequent topic, but don't put "Hope" in the
newsletter or attendance will fall. The
attitude is common now; our
ancestors would have wondered at us for it. C.S. Lewis put it
this way: "Hope is one of
the theological virtues. This means
that a continual looking forward to the eternal world is not (as some people
think) a form of escapism or wishful thinking but one of the things a Christian
is meant to do. It does not mean
that we are to leave the present world as it is.
If you read history you will find that the Christians who did the most
for the present world were just those who thought most of the next.
The Apostles themselves, who set on foot the conversion of the Roman
Empire, the great men who built up the Middle Ages, the English Evangelicals who
abolished the Slave Trade, all left their mark on Earth, precisely because their
minds were occupied with Heaven. It
is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they
have become so ineffective in this." There is a physical
analogy to this. Have you ever been
to a circus and watched the tightrope walkers?
You and I would probably keep our eyes on our feet and on the rope;
their eyes are straight ahead - in the direction they are going.
This is how they keep their balance!
So it is with us in our spiritual lives.
If we pay most of our attention to the things of this world, we become a
"Protestant tea sipping society" - concerned with good works,
indistinguishable from any other charity except by our old customs.
Soon enough such a congregation will wither and die - cut off at the
roots. The root is hope.
By setting our minds on the hope we have, all earthly virtues come with
it. "Where is
your God?" David presents to us
one of Satan's chief weapons against hope:
"Where is your God?" When
times are tough, when things are not just, our "friends" ask that.
The argument is something like this:
a) you tell me that God is
just; that he is fair.
b) but what is happening is
not just, not fair.
c) you tell me that God is
omnipotent
d) how can this be? There is an answer
which springs readily to a Christian's lips. It's as old as Job, for he got it
from his "friends." The
answer: "God punishes sinners;
you must have done something terrible."
"No I haven't" "You
haven't even admitted it to yourself - it's worse than I thought!"
And all the while David is miserable at his misfortune.
Some friends, huh? Jesus was confronted
with a similar dilemma, recorded in John 9: {9:1} As he went
along, he saw a man blind from birth. {2} His disciples asked
him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born
blind?" {3} "Neither this
man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened
so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. {4} As long as it
is day, we must do the work of him
who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can
work. {5} While I am in the world, I am the light of the world." {6}
Having said this, he spit on the
ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on
the man's eyes. {7} "Go," he told him, "wash in the Pool
of Siloam" (this
word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
‑‑ John 9:1‑7 (NIV) The King James puts
verse 3 much better: "that you
might see the glory of God." Sometimes
it is not just that those around us might see God's glory (and what kind of
example are we?) but that we might see it ourselves, in ourselves.
Indeed, it is worth
noting that David gives no answer to his problem in these Psalms;
rather; he simply expresses his problem - and his hope. Contra Despair So what are we to do
when despair sets in? One response
(same elder, same meeting) is to deny it:
a) any real Christian is
indwelt by the Holy Spirit
b) despair is therefore
impossible for the real Christian
c) therefore, if you
despair, you are not a real Christian. It is only necessary
to examine the argument to watch it fall apart.
Replace the word "despair"
with the word "sin":
a) any real Christian is
indwelt by the Holy Spirit
b) sin is therefore
impossible for the real Christian
c) therefore, if you sin,
you are not a real Christian. By this argument
none of us are real Christians or none of us sin - take your pick.
Despair is
succumbing to the temptation to give up hope.
How can we resist this temptation? (First
realize that the temptation and the sin are not the same thing!)
There are several weapons suggested by David: Memory:
a) emotional memory (why do
we worship each week, if not to remember? And
why do we sing, if not to involve our emotions?)
b) memory of things God has
done for us in the past
c) memory of God's character
- unchanging, as shown in nature Prayer - (the value
of the habit of prayer is hereby proclaimed!) Fellowship -
Christianity is not a solo flight! Others will come to
your mind; for this is a personal
list. Last Things Just what is our
hope? David paints a beautiful,
prophetic picture here of the second coming of Christ, based upon the metaphor
of the church as the Bride of Christ. It's
in Psalm 45:
By
any chance are you an Indiana Jones fan? Think
about this: could you stand to live
that way? Constant danger,
threatened on every side by evil? In
a sense you do live that way (Satan is very real).
How do you even stand to watch Indiana Jones? There's
only one way: you know that
everything will turn out right. How
will things turn out right? Here's
how: Bodily
Resurrection: {16}
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command,
with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the
dead in Christ will rise first.
{17} After that, we who are still alive and are
left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord
in the air. And so we will be with
the Lord forever. ‑‑
1 Thessalonians 4:16‑17 (NIV) All
those illnesses, deformities - why does that child have only one good hand?
Who sinned? - all will be
healed. Judgment: {31}
"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he
will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. {32} All the nations will be
gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as
a shepherd separates the sheep from
the goats. {33} He will put the sheep on his
right and the goats on his left. {34} "Then the King will say to
those on his right, 'Come, you who
are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.
{35} For I was hungry and you gave
me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,
{36} I needed clothes and you
clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in
prison and you came to visit me.' {37} "Then the righteous will
answer him, 'Lord, when did we see
you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you
something to drink? {38} When did we see you a stranger and invite you
in, or needing clothes and clothe
you? {39} When did we see you sick or in prison and
go to visit you?' {40} "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth,
whatever you did for one of the
least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
{41} "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you
who are cursed, into the eternal
fire prepared for the devil and his angels. {42} For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty
and you gave me nothing to drink,
{43} I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison
and you did not look after me.'
{44} "They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry
or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did
not help you?' {45} "He will
reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do
for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.' {46} "Then
they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal
life." ‑‑ Matthew
25:31‑46 (NIV) Of
all this, no man - not even Jesus Himself (see Matthew 24:36) - knows when.
God is loving; God is just - and He's also patient!
{9}
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness.
He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to
come to repentance. ‑‑
2 Peter 3:9 (NIV) |
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