READ: Psalm 31 (Focus vs. 13-18)
MEMORY VERSE
“Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.” Psalm 31:24
BACKGROUND
Kristin’s son had died from cancer when he was just seven. Now, three years later, her older son was diagnosed with a terminal illness.
Friends who were not believers in Jesus grieved with her, but they couldn’t understand why she continued to trust Christ. “How could your God allow this? Why keep believing in Him?” they asked.
For Kristin, however, it was an even stronger reason to keep believing. “I don’t understand why this is happening,” she said, “but I know God will help us through this. Only God can give me hope to keep going.”
Such a hope and trust kept King David going when he found himself in overwhelming circumstances. Surrounded by enemies seeking his destruction, he probably couldn’t understand why all this was happening to him.
Yet he knew he was following a God he could trust to deliver and bless him in His time (Psalm 31:14-16).
This certain hope enabled him to keep submitting to God and to say, “My times are in your hands” (v. 15). And it uplifted him, such that he could also say, “Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord” (v. 24).
In times when we feel overwhelmed and there seems little to look forward to, we know we can hang on even more tightly to God and the life-giving hope He alone provides.
Leslie Koh*
INSIGHT
As Jesus hung dying on the cross, He spoke the words of the Psalms. We’re familiar with those from Psalm 22:1: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (see Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34).
The words communicate deep pain and a kind of hopelessness in the face of utter despair. The circumstances of both David and His true heir, Jesus, led both to cry out in anguish.
But the words that Christ quotes just before surrendering to death carry a different note: “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46). Here, He quotes David again—but the words of Psalm 31 point to an unshakable confidence in the goodness of the Father despite suffering.
When we face overwhelming pain and suffering, the words of this psalm lead us to hold on to the Father just as Jesus did. We share the same hope as the Son of God.
Jed Ostoich
APPLICATION
What do you need to keep going through life’s challenges? How does God’s promise of hope give you joy and strength even in hardship?
PR’s (Pastor Richard) RE-EMPHASIS (From Today’s Post)
“In times when we feel overwhelmed and there seems little to look forward to, we know we can hang on even more tightly to God and the life-giving hope He alone provides.”
PR’s TAKE
“Faith is not merely you holding (tightly) on to God – It is God holding (tightly) on to you.” E. Stanley Jones
“We are in good hands when we are in God’s Hands” Grace Fox
PRAYER
“Loving Father, You know my struggles and doubts. Please give me the faith to keep trusting in You and the strength to keep going.”
TODAY’S HYMN/WORSHIP/PRAISE/GOSPEL SONG
“I ALMOST LET GO” Kurt Carr
I almost let go
I felt like I couldn’t take life anymore
My problems had me bound
Depression weighed me down
But God held me close
So I wouldn’t let go
God’s mercy kept me
So I wouldn’t let go
I almost gave up
I was right at the edge of a breakthrough
But I couldn’t see it
The devil really had me
But Jesus came and grab me
And He held me close, so I wouldn’t let go
God’s mercy kept me so I wouldn’t let go
So I’m here today because God kept me
I’m alive today only because of His grace
Oh, He kept me, God kept me, He kept me
So I wouldn’t let go
I almost let go
I felt like I couldn’t take life anymore
My problems had me bound
Depression weighed me down
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But God held me close
So I wouldn’t let go
God’s mercy kept me
So I wouldn’t let go
So I’m here today because God kept me…
He kept me, God kept me, He kept me
God kept me, He kept me
So I wouldn’t let go
He kept me, God kept me…
