Hope in God and Wait Expectantly for Him!

Lately, I've been commiserating with the Lord in prayer about the state of the world and when He is coming to get us, as I'm sure many of you have been as well.  I woke up Sunday morning with such a strong sense of His presence, that joy instantly flooded me. That doesn't happen as often as I'd like, but it was much-needed yesterday. Whenever His presence surrounds me, I see Him smiling at me and I know I am loved, protected, and cherished. All my problems seem minuscule at that moment, and a deep longing to just be with Him fills my soul.  I opened my Bible to my daily reading and I came upon Psalm 42. 

 

As the deer pants longingly for the water brooks,
So my soul pants longingly for You, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When will I come and see the face of God?
My tears have been my food day and night,
While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” V 1-3

 

Instantly my spirit leapt within me because I'd been telling Jesus how much I longed to see His face, hear His voice, and look into His eyes. Have you ever wondered what Jesus's voice sounds like? What will you see in His eyes when He looks at you? It's so hard not to be physically present with Him.  And there in this psalm the writer describes my longing perfectly. I thought it very apropos also the last phrase that speaks of scoffers coming and asking the psalmist, "Where is your God?", providing the connection to the end times.

 

Scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” 2 Peter 3:3-4 

We find the answer to this yearning in Verse 5 of Psalm 42

Why are you in despair, O my soul?
And why have you become restless and disturbed within me?
Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall again praise Him
For the help of His presence.

The Word Hope is the Hebrew Word yāḥal - which means to wait, hope, expect, trust, be patient

The Psalmist repeats the taunting of the scoffers in verse 10, but we learn here that it is his enemy doing the scoffing. 

As a crushing of my bones with a sword, my adversaries taunt me, While they say continually to me, “Where is your God?”

However we get the complete picture in the next Psalm 43

Judge and vindicate me, O God; plead my case against an ungodly nation. O rescue me from the deceitful and unjust man!
For You are the God of my strength, my stronghold—in whom I take refuge; why have You rejected me?
Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? V 1-2

Who is the enemy?  It is an ungodly nation and the deceitful and unjust men (and women) who run it.  As I read this, I understood in my spirit that, not only was this a psalm for years ago, but this is a psalm for today. We now live in an ungodly nation here in the U.S. And those of you from other nations, you can probably say the same. We all live in ungodly nations run by evil liars. And like the psalmist, we plead our case before God... please rescue us, Lord!!  There are many days we may even ask God, like this psalmist, why have You not answered me?

 

Below, in the next verses, the Psalmist, like us, is asking the Lord to bring him to His Holy Hill and to God's dwelling place---to heaven!! 

O send out Your light and Your truth, let them lead me;
Let them bring me to Your holy hill
And to Your dwelling places.
Then I will go to the altar of God,
To God, my exceeding joy;
With the lyre I will praise You, O God, my God!  V 3-4

In the last verse of Psalm 43, God gives the answer, which I believe is an answer to us as well in these end times in which we live. The psalmist asks the question again.. why is his soul in despair? Yet, I believe this time, the question is purely rhetorical. He has received his answer from God! 

Why are you in despair, O my soul?
And why are you restless and disturbed within me?
Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall again praise Him,
The help of my sad countenance and my God.

So, if you find yourself depressed, discouraged, and even fearful in these evil days, if you've been pleading with God to come rescue us as He promised, if every day you long to be with your Savior, here is God's answer to you.

Hope and wait expectantly for Him!  That means to keep looking up and expect to see Him any day now. Keep your hope alive and your lamps full of oil (full of the Holy Spirit), and your joy full. Because God is not a liar. He is coming to take you to His dwelling place!