God is my only hope

A couple of months back I returned to listening to a psalm a day.  This time around I've been struck by something new: again and again the Psalmist affirms that God is his only hope.

Take yesterday's psalm, Psalm 62, as an example:

¹ For God alone my soul waits in silence;
    from him comes my salvation.
² He alone is my rock and my salvation,
    my fortress; I shall never be shaken.

³ How long will you assail a person,
    will you batter your victim, all of you,
    as you would a leaning wall, a tottering fence?
⁴ Their only plan is to bring down a person of prominence.
    They take pleasure in falsehood;
they bless with their mouths,
    but inwardly they curse.Selah

⁵ For God alone my soul waits in silence,
    for my hope is from him.
⁶ He alone is my rock and my salvation,
    my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
⁷ On God rests my deliverance and my honor;
    my mighty rock, my refuge is in God.

⁸ Trust in him at all times, O people;
    pour out your heart before him;
    God is a refuge for us.Selah

⁹ Those of low estate are but a breath,
    those of high estate are a delusion;
in the balances they go up;
    they are together lighter than a breath.
¹⁰ Put no confidence in extortion,
    and set no vain hopes on robbery;
    if riches increase, do not set your heart on them.

¹¹ Once God has spoken;
    twice have I heard this:
that power belongs to God,
¹²     and steadfast love belongs to you, O Lord.
For you repay to all
    according to their work.

Again and again, the psalmist affirms that he can only get out of whatever pickle he's in if God helps him: anything else is in vain.  In various psalms he notes that there are those whose hope is not in God who seem to be doing well, but he feels certain that their prosperity is only temporary.  God is the only hope, the only source of what we need.

I've found this both an encouraging and challenging thought as I've gone through life these past few months.  Encouraging that God is sufficient.  Challenging in that I often put my hope and trust in more temporal things, rather than "seek[ing] first God's Kingdom".

Praying the psalms

This morning, when I was praying about the political crackdown in Syria, I found myself thanking God for crushing the oppressors there.  I was a bit surprised at myself: even asking God to crush oppressors is a relatively new development, and I'm pretty sure that thanking Him for something He hasn't done yet is a first.

I know where both bits of this way of praying have come from, though.  As I've mentioned earlier, I now pray through a list of people and situations most days, and I've also read a psalm a day since near the beginning of this year.  Often I've seen the psalmist pleading that God will bring down or crush those who are oppressing the poor, the weak or the righteous.  More surprisingly to me, the psalmist also frequently thanks God for doing whatever he is currently asking God for - i.e. he is thanking God for doing something God hasn't done yet*.  It seems that these ways of praying have gotten into me and are coming out in my own prayers now too!  Yay :-)


* one example I've read in recent days is Psalm 39

Good news to the poor

Near the middle of the Bible is a collection of 150 'psalms' or poems.  I've never really known what to make of them, but I while back I decided to try and read one each day and see where that took me.

I've recently completed my first cycle through them and finally, just in the last week or two, Ive noticed thing that a great many of them seem to have in common.  Psalm after psalm celebrates or holds onto the notion that the oppressors won't get away with their oppressing forever.  God cares for the poor and downtrodden and one day he will crush their oppressors and set them free.

Good news for the poor, indeed.  But what about for me, a follower of Jesus but also a member of the priveleged elite responsible for most of the oppression these days?

Sobering stuff.