Hope in the Lord-Psalm 40

                Sometimes when we are in the midst of grief, heartache, pain, or trouble it is hard to have hope. It is important that we look back to other such times and remember that we did make it through.  I am reminded of a poem that I read when I worked for Hospice.  I have tried to find it since and have had no luck.  The gist of the poem was that sometimes we face a journey that we don’t know how in the world we are going to take.  It is like standing in front of a tall rickety bridge and wondering how we could possibly make it to the other side.  We take one step onto the bridge and it feels like it is going to crash to the ground below any moment.  We feel the heaviness of an elephant and are sure that we are going to meet our demise on the vast ground beneath the bridge.  Somehow, someway, one day we look up and the bridge is behind it, we made it, we are on the other side.  We don’t know how we made it but we did. 

                The Psalmist in Psalm 40 has done just that.  He remembers a time when he made it to the other side.  Now, he finds himself facing another rickety bridge.  He says in verse 17 “I am weak and needy.”  Yet at the beginning of the Psalm he is remembering another time when he made it to the other side.  He says:

I put all my hope in the Lord.  He leaned down to me; he listened to my cry for help.  He lifted me out of the pit of death, out of the mud and filth, and set my feet on solid rock.  He steadied my legs.  He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise for our God. (40:1-3)

The Psalmist teaches us an important lesson here.  He teaches us to remember.  When we find ourselves weak and needy wondering how we will ever make it to the other side, we need to remember the times we have made it to the other side.  We also need to share those times with others. 

                The Psalmist says that he has declared God’s faithfulness and salvation in the assemblies.  Another way we find hope that we will make it to the other side is by hearing the stories of others who have made it to the other side of pain, grief, and sorrow.  It is important that we share our stories with each other.  In those stories you will find that “God is our help and our rescuer!”  Find hope in the arms of God today.  In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit!  Amen.