My Only Hope

The Psalmist in Psalm 119 discusses the hope that he has in God's word and some of the truths about the word. It is filled with beautiful statements. Please take 5-10 minutes to sit down and read through this Psalm.

One of the things that is important about this passage is that the writer is not only praising the promises of God. He does praise God for His promises, but he also praises God about His laws and commands. This is something that I think many Christians have gotten away from. We like the promises of God. We like the hope that we have because of those promises. But we don't treasure the law of God like the author does. At least I don't. Check out this quote from Matt Chandler about this issue.

The law is a shadow of the Kingdom to come. God says in the law, "This is how I have designed things to work. Live in accordance with how I have designed things to work." The Law, although our generation talks about it as it is a dirty word, they don't talk about the law as if its a dirty word in the Old Testament. David Praises it "Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!" Because the law lines us up with how the universe is supposed to work. --Matt Chandler from the Right Now Conference 2009

Here are some of the truths about the word of God that come from Psalm 119.

The Word of God revives us(vs 25)
The Word of God encourages us(vs 28)
The Word of God gives life(vs 37)
The Word of God is a lamp to our feet and a light for our path(vs 105)
The Word of God is our only source of hope(vs 114

Hebrews 4:12 tells us the "Word of God is living and active." But for that to be true in our lives we have to know it. We have to cling to it as the Psalmist does. And we have to cling to all of it, not just the parts that make us feel good.

This last week while I was reading through a passage that I have read before, the Spirit of God showed me what was meant by this familiar passage. It was like a light was turned on. I thought "How in the world did I not realize this is what that passage was about?" It is amazing when God reveals to you something from His word. No matter how big or how small the message is, the fact that our God, opens our eyes to the truths in His word, is awesome.

Does your life need to be revived? Do you need encouragement? Do you need to know what direction God wants you to go? Do you need the hope that can come only from God? Then there is only one thing to do.

Open up His word!

(note: The painting used at the top of this post is titled Still Life of Bible. It was painted by Vincent Van Gogh)