An Object Lesson in Hope

Scripture:
I will bow down toward your holy temple
and give thanks to your name
for your constant love and truth.
You have exalted your name
and your promise above everything else.
Psalm 138:2

Observation: Psalm 138 is "of David" and scholars seem to agree it was written by David. In this verse, David calls out various elements of Yahweh that he is praising and giving thanks for, and these include the Lord's love, his truth, and his promise. However, David prefaces all this in with a very intriguing line. He says he will bow down "toward your holy temple" and of course ... in the time of David, no temple exists.

In other words, David has full confidence in all these aspects of God, and retains that confidence - to the point that he praises them in prayer and worship and public declaration - even if they aren't evident at that time. David knows there will be a temple, so he directs his praise as if there is a temple. David knows the Lord loves him, so he praises the Lord even when he is under attack. David knows the Lord himself has declared promises over Israel and over David's line, so he praises the Lord with the confidence that those promises will be fulfilled even after he himself is dead. He even continues on with how future kings and nations in all the earth will respond to the Lord, even though David doesn't even know what 'all the earth' looks like. He also declares God's love will last forever, without a real understanding of eternity. He just knows the Lord will do everything, and his outward act of this knowledge is to look toward the temple that doesn't yet exist.

We have a word for what David is doing, even though it doesn't appear anywhere in this entire psalm. That word is ... hope.

Application: What an amazing object lesson in hope from David. David has so much confidence - so much hope - that he can respond to a physical thing that doesn't even existing, and effectively instructing future generations to exhibit the actions he describes toward that thing, just knowing for certain that it will exist for those future generations.

I have great hope in the Lord, but I feel hopeless sometimes about our world. I am sure that is evident in looking at my devotions. I continue to appeal to the Lord for some revelation or revival in our society, but I also actively wonder if such a revival will happen, and lament how deeply our society has fallen into the evil trappings of the world.

I have confidence in what the Lord can do! I wish I had more hope in how the world will respond to the Lord.

Prayer: Lord, please forgive my shortcomings when it comes to hope. I hope our efforts tonight and every night at the lights bear the fruit you desire, and touch the lives you desire to touch. May the hope we do have in Jesus, in your love and in your free gift of redemption and salvation by faith in Jesus, manifest with power, and become physically apparent this Christmas season. Amen.