Hope-Full
O Israel, hope in the LORD; for with the LORD there is lovingkindness, and with Him is abundant redemption. Psalm 130:7 NASB
Hope – How long will you hope? How long before you run out of patience with the Lord? How long before your once-exuberant expectation turns to disappointment, then discouragement, then anger? How long before you exercise the statute of limitations clause on God’s goodness?
The psalmist connects the fifth verse with this verse (see the previous investigation of yahal in Psalm 130:5). But now the subject is no longer the individual. Now Israel must hope in YHWH. The shift is important, as we will see.
Some translations use the English “wait” rather than “hope.” We know that the Hebrew covers both of these ideas and perhaps we should remind ourselves that hope is exhibited in waiting. What hope requires is patient, expectant endurance; precisely that attribute lacking in so much of our approach to the Lord. God answers according to His purposes and men rarely if ever force His hand. That’s why the rabbis pray, “HaShem, grant me the softness of heart to accept whatever You provide.” To hope is to learn contentment.
Job provides us with the answer to the question, “How long?” “Though He slay me, I will hope in Him. Nevertheless, I will argue my ways before Him” (Job 13:15). How long will Job wait? Until death. Actually, do you really have any other choice? You could insist that God answer you in your timeframe, but do you really have control of the situation? No, you don’t! So you make a choice, but the choice isn’t about the time required for God to answer. The choice is about your attitude while you wait, while you hope. Job is right. We all wait until death – if necessary. But notice that Job does not take this to mean that he does nothing! He argues his ways before the Lord even though he knows that answer is entirely in God’s hands. Perhaps if we learned to argue more and wait longer we would discover something important about the biblical view of hope.
And now the shift from individual to corporate. Why does the psalmist change the subject from “me” and “my” to “Israel”? Because he introduces us to the term hesed, a Hebrew word without equal that cannot exist alone. The psalmist is not hoping, waiting for his personal relief because he knows that there is no true relief, no true rescue unless the community is delivered. Forgiveness is a corporate affair. Why? Because forgiveness entails hesed and hesed demands community. No one can experience fellowship with YHWH without hesed; without relational, reciprocal, transitive action (Go look up hesed). My hope must be enlarged because it is not my hope. I am who we are. Private hope, private waiting on God, removes the required context of hesed. God is together the God of Israel. So what about you? Are you waiting for God like a good Greek individual, or is your hope in YHWH so involved with His others that you can’t survive without them?
Topical Index: yahal, hope, wait, hesed, Psalm 130:7
But in America it’s just Jesus & me!
So true! 🙂
So sad!
~O Israel, hope in the LORD; for with the LORD there is lovingkindness, and with Him is abundant redemption ~ (Psalm 130:7) NASB
Israel is a Person, a people,a place and a picture. “Sheep” may refer to one or to many. “We” are the sheep of His pasture and The LORD is “my” Shepherd. Both individual and corporate worship. Every hair of every head is numbered, for the LORD is good to “all.” For The LORD is good (.) ⃪ (period) All the time. And to everyone. (Greeks included!) He causes the rain to fall upon (both) the just and the unjust. Why? Because the LORD is (always) good. The LORD our God IS good (all the time, and to everyone). And it is the goodness of God that leads us (all) to repentance.
Does this verse refer to the individual or to the community?
~ And He died for “all,” that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again ~ (2 Corinthians 5.15)
Am “I” included in “He died for all?” Did Christ die and was the atoning Sacrifice of His blood (also) for me? Hallelujah, -Yes!
Christ died. That much is history. The death, burial and resurrection of the Lamb of God was for me
– that is salvation!
Israel, (speaking to each and to all)- hope in the LORD. ~ (How) blessed are those who trust in the LORD and have made the LORD their hope and confidence ~ (Jeremiah 17.7)
The family, the community, the nation is made up of individuals. We must “each” bow the knee before (the) Christ, believe in each of our hearts- Yeshua HaMashiach/Jesus is LORD, confess with our mouths-
‘You are the Christ (the Anointed), (crucified-resurrected-reigning) Son of the Living God- and according to the unbreakable covenant-promise of the Word of God, we will (each and all) be saved.
~For it is with our hearts that we (each) believe and are justified, and it is with our mouths that we (each) profess our faith and are saved ~
~ But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” ~ Then Jesus said to him, “‘If You can? Everything is possible to the one who believes.” ~ (Mark 9.23)
For what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” ~
(Romans 4.3)
Abraham (one individual) had a history with God before God ever asked (remember “na?”) him to sacrifice Isaac, the beloved son of promise. He knew God was (always) able. Therefore he had to do some serious reckoning within himself, and ask “Is God (always) able to provide? Is God (always) good?” God has promised an heir to Sarah and myself. Has God ever (once or at all) lied to me? No. I will trust in Him at all times and I will do what He requests and act according to His instructions. I will walk by faith and not by sight. My feelings and flesh may say “no,” but my faith says “yes,”- (note to self)- “Trust in the LORD -for He is always good and will always provide. After what must have been the longest night in his century-old life, the next morning, acting upon the decision/choice he had made the night before, Abraham got up, saddled his donkey and set out to “do” what God had instructed him to do, notified his servants and gathered together all necessary provisions for a sacrifice. What a strange trip to Mt. Moriah that must have been and what incredible faith Abraham exhibited to all and what a picture of submission to the father Isaac also demonstrated to us as he allowed himself to be bound!
~ And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here am I, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” ~ (Genesis 22.7)
Where is the what? – the Lamb
How did Abraham know that years and centuries later, “God would provide Himself the Lamb?” What a glorious foreshadowing of our deliverance provided for each and for all “at Calvary.”
In lovingkindness Jesus came
My soul in mercy to reclaim,
And from the depths of sin and shame
Through grace He lifted me.
From sinking sand He lifted me,
With tender hand He lifted me,
From shades of night to plains of light,
O praise His Name, He lifted me!
He called me long before I heard,
Before my sinful heart was stirred,
But when I took Him at His word,
Forgiv’n, He lifted me.
From sinking sand He lifted me,
With tender hand He lifted me,
From shades of night to plains of light,
O praise His Name, He lifted me!
His brow was pierced with many a thorn,
His hands by cruel nails were torn,
When from my guilt and grief, forlorn,
In love He lifted me.
From sinking sand He lifted me,
With tender hand He lifted me,
From shades of night to plains of light,
O praise His Name, He lifted me!
Now on a higher plane I dwell,
And with my soul I know ’tis well;
Yet how or why I cannot tell
He should have lifted me.
From sinking sand He lifted me,
With tender hand He lifted me,
From shades of night to plains of light,
O praise His Name, He lifted me!
Carl, once again, thank you for sharing your beautiful poetry. You seem to have an inexhaustible source and supply appropriate for any theme. 🙂
I write about the hand that lifted me as part of my personal witness and testimony to God. There is also a praise video by Jeremy Camp titled ‘Healing Hand of God.’ You might enjoy listening to it if you read the article.
I HAD A DREAM
February 26, 2011
http://ray032.com/2011/02/26/i-had-a-dream/
Amen,
inexhaustibleINEXHAUSTABLERay, looking forward to having time to look deeply into your site.
Thank you, Dorothy. I hope you find information or insights that strengthen your Faith in God. God IS Great!
If you notice any typos, or a better way of expressing a thought, please don’t hesitate to let me know.
For what it’s worth, every place I’ve checked has it spelled the way you wrote it originally…inexhaustible. Should we let Dorothy know??? 🙂
🙂 🙂 🙂 hAhAhA!
I only decided I did not say it LOUD enough!
The strike-thru is fun, made you look twice, sweet lady. 🙂