"Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope." (Psalm 119:49)
The saints of God have always faced something of a twopronged challenge to their hope. First, those "that will live godly" and love His laws will "suffer persecution" (2 Timothy 3:12) and, secondly, will be troubled by the "prosperity of the wicked" (Psalm 73:3). The pressure of the first and the perplexity of the second often test our expectations.
But the Word of God provides "comfort in my affliction" (Psalm 119:50). Jeremiah, often called the "weeping prophet," found that the "word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart" simply because he embraced with unshakeable confidence the fact that he was "called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts" (Jeremiah 15:16). When David asked, "Why art thou cast down, O my soul?" (Psalm 42:5, 11), his answer--in spite of the troubles of the hour--was his certain knowledge that he "shall yet praise him."
We may recoil in holy anger when the wicked "forsake thy law" (Psalm 119:53), but we can still live with "songs" in our hearts (Ephesians 5:19), knowing that our great Creator God is working "all things after the counsel of his own will" (Ephesians 1:11) and that even the "wrath of man" will eventually bring praise to Him (Psalm 76:10).
Our time is short. We live for about 100 years and brag as though we have lived forever. The Creator reckons the nations as mere "dust of the balance" (Isaiah 40:15). We need to shift our viewpoint from the "temporal" to the "eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:18) and rest in the absolute God-given knowledge that "our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (2 Corinthians 4:17). "This I had," the psalmist exclaimed, "because I kept thy precepts" (Psalm 119:56).
If I may,I would like to finish this posting with the rest of this Psalm.
The rest of this Psalm tells hwo is the strength of David and the believers in Yeshua,during adverse times and during adversity.
and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.
Psa 42:6 O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar.
Psa 42:7 Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.
Psa 42:8 Yet the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.
Psa 42:9 I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
Psa 42:10 As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God?
Psa 42:11 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God:
Davids hope,my hope and the hope of every believer is and has to be GOD,He alone.
