HOPE...

August 24, 2020

Worship in WORD

Ps 31 For the director of music. A psalm of David. 31 In you, O Lord, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame; deliver me in your righteousness. 2 Turn your ear to me, come quickly to my rescue; be my rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me. 3 Since you are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of your name lead and guide me. 4 Free me from the trap that is set for me, for you are my refuge. 5 Into your hands I commit my spirit; redeem me, O Lord, the God of truth. NIV

Ps 31 For the choir director: A psalm of David. 31 1 O Lord, I have come to you for protection; don't let me be disgraced. Save me, for you do what is right. 2 Turn your ear to listen to me; rescue me quickly. Be my rock of protection, a fortress where I will be safe. 3 You are my rock and my fortress. For the honor of your name, lead me out of this danger. 4 Pull me from the trap my enemies set for me, for I find protection in you alone. 5 I entrust my spirit into your hand. Rescue me, Lord, for you are a faithful God. Holy Bible, New Living Translation ®, copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.

Ps 31 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. 31 In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness. 2 Bow down thine ear to me; deliver me speedily: be thou my strong rock, for an house of defence to save me. 3 For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name's sake lead me, and guide me. 4 Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me: for thou art my strength. 5 Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth. KJV

Ps 31 To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. 31 In you, O Lord, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame; in your righteousness deliver me! 2 Incline your ear to me; rescue me speedily! Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me! 3 For you are my rock and my fortress; and for your name’s sake you lead me and guide me; 4 you take me out of the net they have hidden for me, for you are my refuge. 5 Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God. ESV

I. Hope – vv. 1-8

II. Help! – vv. 9-20

III. Hail – vv. 21-22

IV. Heart – vv. 23-24

When I was a young child, I was afraid of the dark. I used to pull the cover over my head when my mom left the room after she prayed and sang to me when putting me to bed.  Fear of the boogeyman and things that go bump in the night, caused me to hold on tight to the edges of my sheet and blanket. Somehow, I thought I was safe under the shelter of my covers. I even imagined that something or someone was tugging at the sheets sometimes (sometimes it was my dad). I regret that the prayers and songs of my mom did not instill a sense of the presence of the Lord and cast out my fears. It makes me laugh to think that I thought I would be protected by my “impenetrable” fortress of cotton and wool. But in those days, it was my refuge from all my imaginary foes that came out in the darkness of night.

When we grow up, our childish fears give way to more real and substantive ones. Yes, we still have our imagined phobias we deal with, but for most of us, our fears are based on the reality of our circumstances.  And sometimes they can be debilitating. Fear of death or failure or disease or poverty may overwhelm us sometimes. They may drive us to drink or use drugs. They may lead us to immoral practices or idolatry of some sort. They may move us to become workaholics or recluses or health fanatics. They may cause us to “bury” our “talents” instead of using them to glorify God. In the end, these are all just “sheets and blanket” refuges and fortresses that we cling tightly to for our protection.

David’s life was no different than ours when it comes to facing fears. Like us, he sought shelter from his real enemies. They were not imagined boogeymen, but real foes who were trying to kill him. However, David did not run to the shelters the world provides. His trust was not in people or places or practices. His faith was in the power and protection of the Almighty God of the universe.

Three times David refers to God as a “refuge.” Two times he calls Him a “fortress” and a “rock.”

In verse two, we have the fullest use of these terms as David calls on God to be his “rock of refuge” and a “strong fortress.” Notice the progression of David’s prayer and testimony in verses 1-5.

In verse one, we see his action of going to the Lord for refuge:

Ps 31:1 In you, O LORD, I have taken refugeNIV

In verse two, we hear his appeal to the Lord:

be my rock of refuge,
a strong fortress to save me
NIV

In verses three and four, David acknowledges these twin truths. He uses them as his grounds for pleading with God:

³ Since you are my rock and my fortress,
for the sake of your name lead and guide me.
⁴ Free me from the trap that is set for me,
for you are my refuge.
NIV

In verse five, he abandons himself to the power and “padah” (Heb. for deliverance/redemption) of God.

Into your hands I commit my spirit;redeem me, O Lord, the God of truth.
NIV

In the next “few” studies, I will return and visit each of these five movements or progressions in David’s prayer. The question we need to ask ourselves is, “Am I trusting in the “sheets” the world provides or the “shelter” God supplies?

Worship in Witness:

As I was praying this morning, after I finished my thoughts above, I began confessing to the Lord of my weakness of hope. It is going on six years that my wife left me and the sorrow that it brings me every day. As I wrote this last sentence, I see how it corresponds with the question I asked at the end of the previous section of my blog. But that is not what I want to talk about in this portion of my writings. No, it has to do with hope. The situation with my wife was shared to give context to my thoughts.

As I just related, I was growing weak in my hope. But then I realized that the pronoun was the problem, not hope itself. When I attached the word “my” with hope in this context, it focused all my confidence on my emotional bearings and abilities. The focus was on my subjective feelings and faculties to stay hopeful despite the length of her absence. But emotions are ephemeral. They ebb and flow throughout the seasons of our life and can change at a moment's notice. They are unsteady and unreliable.

This is where Psalm 31 came into my thinking as I prayed. The words “rock” and “fortress” flashed through my mind. Rocks can be steady and reliable, depending on their hardness and location. A fortress is a shelter and a safe place to do battle from, depending on its fortifications. My “feeling of hope” certainly was not a reliable rock and fortress for me. But neither were they for David. No, for him, the hope he had was not found in his subjective feelings, but in the Object of his hope. And his hope was in the Lord, his “rock of refuge” and “strong fortress.”

So there was my answer. The Lord had shown me that the phrase “my hope” was not incorrect so much as it was incomplete. My phrase needed to become a complete sentence. It had a subject, but it lacked a verb and a direct object. The Lord supplied them for me. The actual sentence should read, “my hope is in the Lord.” Or even more personally, “my hope is in You, Lord.” A rock can crumble. A fortress can be breached. So can my feelings. But if the Lord is my rock and fortress, then the object of my hope is indestructible and unbreachable.

It is not to say emotions are not necessary. They are essential because they are a barometer indicating the highs and lows in one’s faith walk. They indicate the low’s when the subject is present, but the Object of their hope is absent. And realizing this, they cry out in despair mixed with faith and hope for rescue by the Object.  They indicate the highs when the subject revels in the Object of their hope. And they burst out with praise and thanksgiving and joy to and in the Object of their hope. Our feelings of hope, which rise and fall, are then strengthened when wedded to the eternal Object of our hope. That is when we recognize and experience the hope we have in the glorious Triune God we worship.

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Worship in Promise, Poetry, and Praise:

Lam 3:19-24

19 [O Lord] remember [earnestly] my affliction and my misery, my wandering and my outcast state, the wormwood and the gall.

20 My soul has them continually in remembrance and is bowed down within me.

21 But this I recall and therefore have I hope and expectation:

22 It is because of the Lord's mercy and loving-kindness that we are not consumed, because His [tender] compassions fail not.  [Mal 3:6.]

23 They are new every morning; great and abundant is Your stability and faithfulness.  [Isa 33:2.]

24 The Lord is my portion or share, says my living being (my inner self); therefore will I hope in Him and wait expectantly for Him.  [Num 18:20.]

AMP

The Prayer of the Pursued

Lord, You are my Rock

Come quickly to my Defense

Be my Mighty Fortress

Don’t keep me in suspense

My fears are all around

To You, my Refuge, I flee

My spirit yielded to You

My God of Victory and Verity

– Amen

Hope in Front of Me by Danny Gokey

I've been running through rain

That I thought would never end

Trying to make it on faith

In a struggle against the wind

I've seen the dark and the broken places

But I know in my soul

No matter how bad it gets

I'll be alright

There's hope in front of me

There's a light, I still see it

There's a hand still holding me

Even when I don't believe it

I might be down, but I'm not dead

There's better days still up ahead

Even after all I've seen

There's hope in front of me

There's a place at the end of the storm

You finally find

Where the hurt and the tears and the pain

All fall behind

You open up your eyes and up ahead

There's a big sun shining

Right then and there you realize

You'll be alright

There's hope in front of me

There's a light, I still see it

There's a hand still holding me

Even when I don't believe it

I might be down, but I'm not dead

There's better days still up ahead

Even after all I've seen

There's hope in front of me

There's a hope still burning

I can feel it rising through the night

And my world's still turning

I can feel your love here by my side

You're my hope

You're the light, I still see it

Your hands are holding me

Even when I don't believe it

I've got to believe

I've got to believe

I still have hope

You are my hope

  

Written By Brett James, Bernie Herms & Danny Gokey

Lyrics: https://genius.com/Danny-gokey-hope-in-front-of-me-lyrics

Video: https://youtu.be/RPEErtCjtg0