Pastor's Blog
“Hope in the Psalms”
Psalms 33:18-22
18 Truly the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him,
on those who hope in his steadfast love,
19 to deliver their soul from death,
and to keep them alive in famine.
20 Our soul waits for the Lord;
he is our help and shield.
21 Our heart is glad in him,
because we trust in his holy name.
22 Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us,
even as we hope in you.
We are currently studying Bible Study the book, Reflections on the Psalms by C.S. Lewis. It is a beautiful book to begin to connect to the book of Psalms. It is a book that is not for the faint of heart; however, it is worth the effort. In our reading, so far, hope and love have not been explicitly mentioned. So, this led me to an idea- I was curious to see how many times the word- hope occurs in the book of Psalms. It appears 29 times, according to Biblegateway.com.
Then my curiosity got to me again, how many times does the word- love occur? It occurs 162 times. How about the words together in one Psalm? Once.
Psalm 130:7 (NRSV)
7 O Israel, hope in the Lord!
For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
and with him is great power to redeem.
I love how the verse is tied to redemption too. We all have hope, love, and redemption available to us from God. How do you access these words? Spending time in the Psalms reading can help you see where these concepts are in this book. Psalms is a book accessible to all when dealing with things that are hard to deal with emotionally. It is a refuge book when you need it most because it contains love, hope, and redemption.
We all need to read these words for ourselves, especially after a year of the pandemic. That is when we need these words so much more than ever. I pray you can find these words for you in the Psalms. Take time to find them yourself.
Peace,
Harvey