‘For God alone my soul waits in silence, for my hope is from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken.’ (Psalm 62:5-6. NRSV)
These verses are almost the same as the first two verses, they are nearly the same but not quite! It is like a refrain, a chorus in the psalm.
Three-quarters are the same and are well worth repeating, the quarter that is different is why the psalmist waits silently for God, ‘for my hope is from him’.
The psalmist is not hoping for God to do something, but is saying that his hope is from God. There is quite a difference between the two, both are quite valid, but we shall concentrate on the second as in this psalm.
To say that our hope is from God is a statement of your faith in God regardless of circumstances or feelings and is also a statement of trust in who God is.
Hope as a statement of faith says, ‘I know that God has things in hand, and that he has a hope and a future for me’.
Hope as a statement of trust says, ‘I believe that you are who you say you are, therefore your plans for me are good’.
If you feel hopeless then you will not keep going when things are tough. If you have hope, on the other hand, you will keep plodding on no matter what comes your way.
Father God, thank you that Jesus came to give hope to the hopeless. Thank you God that I can hope in you because of who you are. In Jesus’ name. Amen