Jump Start # 1519

Psalms 71:14 “But as for me, I will hope continually, and will praise You yet more and more.”

  Hope is sunshine to the soul. Hope is what drives a person. Hope keeps a team in the game. It is because of hope that the cancer patient will continue with treatments. Without hope, life leaks out of us. Without hope, we give up and go home. When all hope is lost, we become defeated and destroyed. Peter wrote that people will ask about the “hope that is in you.” God’s people live with hope. Their hope is not in peace on earth, but peace within the heart. Their hope is not in now, but in the eternal. Their hope is in the God of second chances. Forgiveness allows hope to grow within us.

The shepherds of the congregation where I am a member have chosen “Walking in Hope,” to be our theme this year. Powerful expression that is found in so many wonderful Bible lessons. The four lepers who walked into the empty Syrian camp gave hope one last chance. The remarkable stories of Ruth, Hosea, the prodigal son are lives touched by hope and grace.

Our verse today sounds similar to Joshua’s great, “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord,” statement. “But as for me…” that’s where faith, hope and trust always lie. It must be “as for me.” I want and I wish everyone had hope in the Lord, but they don’t. I can’t make them. We can’t force folks to church. We can’t force people to be nice, generous and righteous. A concern that many have is why are there so many raunchy TV shows these days. It isn’t just Hollywood. If these shows were not being watched, the ratings would tank and they would be canceled. The fact that there seems to be a steady increase in mindless shows that lack decency and morals is an indication that the public is wanting them. Their hope is not in the Lord.

But as for me…that’s a great statement. I can be one that goes along with the masses, doing what everyone else is doing, or I can stop and go a different direction. As for me, indicates that I really am not moved by what others think. If I was, then I’d do what they do. But as for me, shows that I am not afraid to have an independent thought and walk a direction that others may never go. But as for me, I have chosen the Lord. But as for me, I have looked at things, given thought to things and I have chosen the Lord.

I have noticed that many who fuss at God, the Bible or His church, are merely repeating what others have said. They don’t know for themselves. They are just in a herd and they are all traveling the same direction. When asked about some of their concerns, they repeat something that they read off the internet. It hasn’t been thought out and it isn’t consistent and most times not even accurate. It’s enough to get them fired up and it’s enough to keep them following the herd away from God.

But as for me, I will hope continually… This hope didn’t just begin. He has been hoping. He continues to hope. He hopes when others are not. He hopes when some have given up the hope. He continues the hope.  Our hope isn’t a one time event that takes place at salvation. The promises of God, the trust that we have in Him is something that affects us daily. Our hope continues. Our hope continues when the country sours. Our hope continues when bad things happen to us. Our hope continues when others are telling us to give up.

I think of Job’s pitiful wife. There with Job at the all those fresh graves of her children, her husband now stricken and hit every way possible, financially, socially, physically, emotionally, she tells him to “curse God and die.” Give up. Don’t hope anymore. Job didn’t listen to her. Job didn’t leave her. He continued to hope.

Can you do that? Can you keep hoping when things are not good? Can you keep hoping when everyone around you is screaming, “The sky is falling.” Keep hoping.

The last expression of our verse flows naturally out of the hope expression. It’s hard to praise God when there is no hope. Most won’t and most can’t do that. But given hope, praise will happen. Praise for answered prayers. Praise for the promises of God. Praise for God being God. Praise of thanksgiving. Songs of praise. Prayers of praise. A joyful heart and a heavenward outlook come with those who hope and praise.

I will praise yet more and more. Wow, isn’t that refreshing. Instead of “do we have to go to church,” it’s, “can’t we go again?” And it’s not just church, because the Psalmist didn’t have “church” as we think of it, but it’s a heart that is praising God on it’s own. The “but as for me…” flavors the rest of this verse. While others at work are gossiping, I will praise the Lord. While others are complaining, I will praise the Lord. The Psalmist didn’t need someone else to get him to do this, he did it on his own.

But as for me…

But as for me makes us ask, “How about you?”

Roger