Psalm 119:114
"You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word."
This world does not give us much to hope for, does it? People don’t. Riches do not. Jobs do not. Government does not. Even churches cannot.
You say what . . .churches cannot? Remember churches are made up of people. These people are human, they are sinners. They deal with many of the same problems you do. So, if you are putting your hope in a church, I’m afraid you could be sadly hurt.
What about your family? Certainly you can have hope in your family. Certainly we must love them. But remember these humans in the family may fail us too. They may even hurt us. They may even not want anything to do with us. Why? - Because they are sinful humans as well.
What about riches? Riches can be here one day and gone the next. Just think about the stock market crashes, the depression, the economic recession we have been in the last few years. How many of you lost money in your retirement accounts? I did – it was very frustrating for me to see the little money I did have invested, almost disappear and it still has not gained much back.
Jobs? For some of you the question is what job? Perhaps you had a job, or someone in your family did and because of the recession or some other reason, it was lost? Jobs are hard to come by in this economy. I am grateful for the job I have but I certainly have not put my hope for the future in it! It is providing for me and my family well but every day I must thank God for that job.
What about government? We must be thankful for the freedom that we have in this country to worship God as we please. We can be thankful for the leaders in our country who are Christians. We must pray for ALL of our leaders, Christian and otherwise. Pray that the one true God would speak to their hearts and that they would obey Him. Can we put our hope in this freedom? We don’t know how long we will be able to worship God as we see fit in this country. It could be here today and gone tomorrow. But prayer is our responsibility as Christian citizens of the United States of America.
This sounds pretty negative doesn’t it? What is the object of our hope?
The Psalmist says, "You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word." Where can we go when all else disappoints? We must go to the Word of God. We must go to God our refuge and shield. It is to Him we can turn when others fail. He is the great Provider. He is the great Refuge. He is our Shield.
