My Hope Is In You Lord

March 30, 2017

My Hope Is In You Lord

And so, Lord, where do I put my hope?

    My only hope is in you.

Psalm 39:7

Alcoholics Anonymous and other twelve-step programs adopted a prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr that has become known as The Serenity Prayer:

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; Courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.”

This is a good prayer for all of us, because Christians are always challenged with knowing what God expects us to do, and what God wants us to let Him do. This is the great dichotomy of the Christian life, and God’s wisdom is needed to understand the application of the Apostle Paul’s assertion, “For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13). Perhaps a better way of making that statement is, “I can do everything God wants me to, through Christ who gives me strength.”

The Psalmist was well-intentioned; he did not want to sin with his words. His solution was simple, to avoid saying something sinful, he wouldn’t say anything at all. His plan came crashing down when he realized he couldn’t refrain from speaking good. (The Prophet Jeremiah, and many others, including me, experienced this same truth: “But if I say I’ll never mention the Lord or speak in his name, his word burns in my heart like a fire. It’s like a fire in my bones! I am worn out trying to hold it in! I can’t do it!” (Jeremiah 20:9)

The psalmist’s frustration leads to his musings about how his failures make him feel so small, as measured against the eternal, infinite majesty of God. His musings lead him to conclude, “And so, Lord, where do I put my hope? My only hope is in you” (v.7).

The psalmist wanted to please God and felt a great burden for what he believed he had to do to earn God’s favor. When he failed to measure up to his self-imposed standards, he experienced what he interpreted as punishment from God. Jesus has freed us from having to perform to please God. Our new life in Christ enables us to live in harmony with God where our focus is not on what we have to do to please God; rather, it‘s on what we get to do, because we are the beloved children of God. We do not have to live in fear of God because Jesus has accepted the punishment for our sins. God’s discipline is not fearful because it is flowing from the love of Christ, who died for us while we were yet sinners.

When I mediate on the blessings of living life in Christ, I conclude with the psalmist,

“And so, Lord, where do I put my hope? My only hope is in you” (Psalm 39:7).

 

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.