Hope in the Lord for Evermore

Sustaining Hope
Visions of Grandeur

The Alter, A Sign of Hope

Psalm 130-131  The Message

A Pilgrim Song

130 ^1-2 Help, God—the bottom has fallen out of my life!
    Master, hear my cry for help!
Listen hard! Open your ears!
    Listen to my cries for mercy.

^3-4 If you, God, kept records on wrongdoings,
    who would stand a chance?
As it turns out, forgiveness is your habit,
    and that’s why you’re worshiped.

^5-6 I pray to God—my life a prayer—
    and wait for what he’ll say and do.
My life’s on the line before God, my Lord,
    waiting and watching till morning,
    waiting and watching till morning.

^7-8 O Israel, wait and watch for God—
    with God’s arrival comes love,
    with God’s arrival comes generous redemption.
No doubt about it—he’ll redeem Israel,
    buy back Israel from captivity to sin.

A Pilgrim Song

131 God, I’m not trying to rule the roost,
    I don’t want to be king of the mountain.
I haven’t meddled where I have no business
    or fantasized grandiose plans.

² I’ve kept my feet on the ground,
    I’ve cultivated a quiet heart.
Like a baby content in its mother’s arms,
    my soul is a baby content.

³ Wait, Israel, for God. Wait with hope.
    Hope now; hope always!

 
For Reflection
The god worshiped by the psalmist is a forgiving god.  God is not the holy gotcha!  God does not conduct surveillance, lurking in the shadows, waiting to pounce at every person who commits an unrighteous act or thinks an unrighteous thought.  God lives inside each of us and whispers into our consciousness. God is the reason we know right from wrong.  God encourages right and forgives wrong.

Pray
to listen to God whispers.  Follow your conscience. Pray so that you grow into grace.