A review of two passages from the Bible. Here's the first.
“Save me, O God!
For the waters have come up to my neck.
I sink in deep mire,
Where there is no standing;
I have come into deep waters,
Where the floods overflow me.
I am weary with my crying; My throat is dry;
My eyes fail while I wait for my God.”
Clearly a man in deep despair looking inward at this situation, void of hope. Waters at his neck and sinking. Let’s add terror to that list. “I am weary with my crying.” Men don’t confess to crying in the face of any situation, no less commit it to writing. But this man is at the end of the end of his hope rope. Hanging there in the tempest just waiting for “his” God to save him. In deep despair. This has become very personal.
Here’s another passage.
“Let heaven and earth praise Him,
The seas and everything that moves in them.
For God will save Zion
And build the cities of Judah,
That they may dwell there and possess it.
Also, this descendants of His servants shall inherit it,
And those who love His name shall dwell in it.”
Now this we can get behind. A man so full of hope, praise bursts forth. A man looking up and outward, fully empowered by hope.
Interesting point. Both of these passages are from the same Psalm. Psalm 69. Here’s a link.
The promise of the transformation from thick despair or lack into hope is found in its simplest form in the words of Jesus. The opening verse in the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes.
Matthew 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
This is a powerful sermon taught by the greatest teacher, Jesus. But is this the opening that would motivate a crowd to listen further? The poor in spirit are blessed? It may be one of the most powerful transformational verses ever spoken as it speaks directly to the path from despair and poverty into riches and hope that only comes through kingdom means. It’s dependent upon one thing, To whom will you trust your predicament. Who controls the input of your soul.
Charles Spurgeon said, “The first link between my soul and Christ is …not my riches but
my need.”
Amen. My soul’s greatest connection and hope lives in my release of any situation I may find myself in and the placement of that predicament with full trust and faith into His capable hands. Jesus connects with us at the place of need and sorrow. Despair only remains when we hold onto the reins.
Our soul needs God. We need Him in the victories and in the valleys. We need Him in the worship and within the wars. We need Him in the quandary and within the quietness. Only He can solve the deep emptiness, replace the despair and longings with hope that doesn’t disappoint.
When your situation leaves you looking within at your peril and outside only at the predicament, remember there is a provider, a rescuer a lover of your soul. The way out is up. Need Him first.