Only Hope

DEVOTION

PSALMS

ONLY HOPE

 Ps 39

I said, "I will watch my ways and keep my tongue from sin; I will put a muzzle on my mouth as long as the wicked are in my presence." 2 But when I was silent and still, not even saying anything good, my anguish increased. 3 My heart grew hot within me, and as I meditated, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue:

4 "Show me, O LORD, my life's end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life. 5 You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man's life is but a breath.  6 Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro: He bustles about, but only in vain; he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it.

7 "But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you. 8 Save me from all my transgressions; do not make me the scorn of fools. 9 I was silent; I would not open my mouth, for you are the one who has done this. 10 Remove your scourge from me; I am overcome by the blow of your hand. 11 You rebuke and discipline men for their sin; you consume their wealth like a moth — each man is but a breath. Selah 

12 "Hear my prayer, O LORD, listen to my cry for help; be not deaf to my weeping. For I dwell with you as an alien, a stranger, as all my fathers were. 13 Look away from me, that I may rejoice again before I depart and am no more."

NIV

It is if David is making some kind of resolution about his way of life. This phrase “I said” gives us that idea. I am saying that I will watch my ways and what I speak. We would well do to make that kind of resolution. So often we hear people making New Year’s resolutions about exercising more, or eating better, or some other worldly passion. Here, David is concerned how he lives his life before the Lord. We should be making that kind of resolution, that we watch our ways. That is we simply do not go about living our daily lives as other people do, even other believers. We cannot be a person who lives according to what we want to do while incorporating God into our life. We have to be more than a Sunday morning Christian. We have to watch our words as well. How do we speak, what do we speak about? Do we engage in the daily banter of the world? Do we talk about the things of the Lord? Do we engage people in conversations of substance or mere fleeting fancies? Most of this psalm speaks about the fleetingness of life. Our years are nothing before the Lord. We think in linear, in relationship to time, which God does not. We think of a beginning and an end of our life, God does not. David makes the point of how much man is busy with his daily life, going about doing this and that, trying to accumulate as much wealth as he can. He also makes it clear God consumes that stored up wealth life a moth and that each man is but a breath. All our efforts to get all we can is meaningless before the Lord. The pagans live like that. The pagans chase after the material things, while we should be chasing after God. David saw the folly of that kind of living and petitioned the Lord to hear him. He declared his hope was in the Lord. That is our hope, we hope in the Lord. What matters in life is our hope in the Lord. Sure we have things, yes, we work, but that is because we are supposed to work. Because we are descendants of Adam we have to toil the ground, so to speak, work for our sustenance, by the sweat of our brow all the days of our life. But because we are descendants of Jesus, being reborn, a new creature in Christ, we have everlasting life in the presence of our Lord. That does not replace our need to work, but it gives our work purpose. We work as onto the Lord.

Col 3:22-25

22 Slaves,( or employees) obey your earthly masters( or employers) in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. 25 Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism.

NIV

This clearly gives our life’s work purpose, to bring glory to our Lord. We do not live in the fleetingness of life, we live in the eternalness of life. David felt like he was an alien to God because of his sin. But that is far from the truth, he knew God was his hope. But when we sin, sometimes we do not what God to be watching us, we feel like we want him to look away. But he does not. He loves us and wants us to live with him, to fellowship with him, to live out our days rejoicing in him, for he is our only hope. We cannot hope in the world or the things of the world. Fame and fortune are for the pagans to chase after, while we chase after the truth of God. He is our only hope.