DESPAIR AND HOPE
Psalm 42, 10, 130
People say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
I imagine that “people” could often be just voices in your own head, questioning, casting doubt and even mocking your faith.
In the first psalm, the Psalmist shared with us a part of his journey when he experienced unexplained depression, a loss of confidence and optimism, or just a dry spell in his own spiritual experience. Prayers seem to hit the ceiling and fall forlornly back onto the bed. In the second, his experience of the “missing God” had more tangible causes but is no less troubling, with no easy answers available. In the third the Psalmist knows God has every reason to go missing—he has sinned—but finds it difficult to acknowledge his forgiveness. He knows—his theology is sound—yet he waits, while in truth it is God who waits for him.
The truth of the matter is that the real answer to our despair is hope; not the solutions, the change in our circumstances, that we long for. This is not to say that real and tangible solutions may not come our way courtesy of a compassionate and generous God and we must not give up praying to him. But we live in the world and not in heaven. We pray “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” We ask “Give us this day our daily bread.” And we call on him to “lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.” We do so because we live in the world and not in heaven, yet, “this world is not my home; I’m just a-passing through”. We hope.
Hope is not for sunshine and roses. It is for that darkest valley where we cannot see but need to rely on our inner sight. Hope assures us and hope will see us through to the other side. I will fear no evil; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
Yet in Paul’s summary of the three greatest movements of the heart—faith, hope and love—hope is in the list. Hope is a state of heart that God calls us to, and therefore we know that dark valleys are part and parcel of our journey.
The Psalmist models for us an honest relationship with God, not a triumphalist one. Out of the depths we cry out to God. Why, Lord? Where are you, God? Have you forgotten me, God? Please do something, Lord. And he is there all the time, and he hears us.
By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me—a prayer to the God of my life.