Hope Unites
HOPE
UNITES
By Alex
Hardt
Did you
know when the sun set at night sailors used the stars to navigate?
Stars move across the sky from east to west and some stars called rise and set
stars begin and end their nightly path below the horizon. Sailors determined
their heading by watching the movement of the stars the same way they watched
the sun’s movement. Stars give sailors hope. No matter where they are on earth,
they how to determine their direction based upon the stars. They know that if
they just follow the stars they will eventually arrive at their destination.
One of the things I have come to recognize
is that God is like the stars in heaven. Our life can be overflowing with joy
or overwhelmed by pain and yet God remains the same. Wherever we are on this
planet He will guide us. I can trust in His direction because He is the one who
has been here since the beginning of time and will be here through all of
eternity. This gives me great hope in knowing that the one who guides me is God.
Hope can be hard to find, in fact I would
argue it often feels like it is missing. If you were to look around the last 3
years and say where is hope? You may have to search high and low to stumble
upon it. Where is hope in the midst of covid nineteen? Where is hope when the
world entered a war in Ukraine? Where is hope when the temperatures are rising,
and the water supply is depleting? Where is hope amidst the social unrest and
political division? Where is hope when another attack happens or when a school
has to be locked down? To be honest there does not seem to be a lot of hope
going around.
And yet in the scriptures, Psalm 121, it
says
I lift up
my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? My help comes from the
Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip— he who
watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will
neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord watches over you— the Lord is your shade at
your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The
Lord will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life; the Lord will
watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.
Perhaps
where we were looking for Hope was in the wrong places. We tend to look for
hope in people, places, and things. We look for hope in the media, in
governments, the latest fade, or who is currently trending in the news. We
gamble our hope away on celebrities, athletes, investments, and the newest
gadgets. These things of the world tend to let us down at one point or another
and then our idea of hope is crushed. We wonder why we always feel empty, lost,
broken, and hopeless. In the scripture the author acknowledges this when he
says, “where does my help come from?” He could of said, where does my hope come
from?
This psalm
is called a song of ascent. It was intended for weary travelers heading to
Jerusalem. Jerusalem sat on a plateau in the middle of mountains. Families had
to travel through treacherous roads in the high desert heat where wild animals
or robbers could attack. In those days, All the shrines to other Gods were
built on hills, high places so everyone could see them. In the midst of all
these mountains, where is my help going to come from, the author is looking at
all the options. Is the author’s hope going to come from the God of Baal, the
God of my political party, the God of investments, the God of sports, the God
of Kardashians, the God of swipes, clicks, links, Tweets, Snaps, and TikTok OR the one true God.
The author
recognizes that his hope “comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven
and earth.” He knows that it is God
who never sleeps, who never fails, who never stops chasing after him, who will
carry his family through this treacherous path. The author is not going to
choose to look to the false Gods or the Hills but above the Hills and the mountains
to the one who Made the Mountains.
One of my
favorite stories in the Bible is of David and Goliath. David was tiny and
Goliath was humongous. Yet it was David who won the battle. The King of Israel,
Saul was always afraid of Goliath. Saul always compared his height to the
height of Goliath. David did not look at how tall Goliath was, he knew that he
was not sufficient enough, he looked at how tall His God was. If you look to
the hills, you will either find a false God who cannot help you or things that
will scare you. But if you look to God, you will find peace and hope!
The Hope
of God unites us and carries us through the most treacherous paths.
Let us
search for Hope in God.
Practically
Speaking About Hope
What people, places, or things have
let you down?
How did it feel when hope was gone?
What would it look like for you to put
your hope in God?
