Hope

PSALM 16
A Michtam of David.
PRESERVE me, O God, for in You I put my trust.
Psa 16:2
O my soul, you have said to the LORD,
"You are my Lord,
My goodness is nothing apart from You."
Psa 16:3
As for the saints who are on the earth,
"They are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight."
Psa 16:4
Their sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after another god;
Their drink offerings of blood I will not offer,
Nor take up their names on my lips.
Psa 16:5
O LORD, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup;
You maintain my lot.
Psa 16:6
The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;
Yes, I have a good inheritance.
Psa 16:7
I will bless the LORD who has given me counsel;
My heart also instructs me in the night seasons.
Psa 16:8
I have set the LORD always before me;
Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.
Psa 16:9
Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices;
My flesh also will rest in hope.
Psa 16:10
For You will not leave my soul in Sheol,
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
Psa 16:11
You will show me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore

Tonight I can't sleep. Maybe its the fact that I never sleep or the fact that I have too much on my mind. So I guess now is a good time to remind myself of a few things.

I have no good thing apart from the Lord. I have no peace, I have no satisfaction, and I have no vision. But the questions must be asked; if all these things are true, why so much confusion? and why so much down time?

Hope, one must have hope. One must wake up each morning with two things in mind. This day is better than the last, and this day will soon be forgotten. I once had someone tell me that God is only eternal in the present, because everything else is past of present. Maybe this is true and maybe its not, but one thing is for certain. I can only abide in the present while moving toward the future and looking at the past.

But hope, hope perceives things in a different way. It springs from the past, through the present, and into the future. Maybe this is why hope does spring eternal, because it's effect is felt before, during, and after its application. Its hope that causes us to move from our past, through our present, and into our future.

Hope, however, must have a basis. And that basis must be Christ. Any other basis for hope falters along the way and isn't capable of reaching without end into the eternal.

So here is what I must remind myself; my hope is not of my own making. It is apart from me. The Lord is my portion and my strength, in Him lies my hope. My circumstances can and will change, but he will bear me through and he will remain my portion.

Now as to the deep questions, there is a reason for confusion, there is a reason for doubt. WE have lost sight of that hope, we've turned our heads along the way. But here is the good thing; He is always more than willing to show me my hope when I turn my eyes on Him.