January 2004 Meditation
"What wait I for? my hope is in thee." (Psa. 39:7)
May I ask you how you would answer this question, “What wait I for?” Let me be even more personal and ask you, “What are you waiting for as you anticipate the year 2004? Many would answer, and perhaps you too, “I am waiting for success in my career; I am hoping that I can achieve the goal of financial independence at last; my dream is that this year I will win the lottery at last; I am hoping that my relationships with others will at last yield me the happiness and fulfillment I long for; etc.”
My dear friend, if these are the things your heart is yearning for, you will never find the happiness expressed in the words of our text: “My hope is in thee,” that is, “My hope is in God!” The deep yearnings of your heart cannot be satisfied with things and human relationships. You and I were created to find our happiness and fulfillment in the God who created us. The deepest reason why so many in our extravagantly prosperous culture are so unhappy in spite of all the things they possess is because the human heart cannot find satisfaction apart from God. Only when you have a personal relationship with God will you find the happiness every human being yearns for.
The Bible tells us that a relationship with God is only possible through His Son Jesus Christ. The ultimate cause of our unhappiness is to be found in the fact that we are sinners—men and women who live in disobedience toward the God who created us and are therefore separated from Him. The good news of the Bible is that God has made full provision for the restoration of that broken relationship. That provision is to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ who suffered and died on the cross on behalf of sinners such as you and I. He paid the penalty of sin in full and laid the foundation upon which your sins can be fully forgiven—and upon which you can become a child of the living God.
How may you become a child of God and find the happiness that may have eluded you thus far? By repenting of your sins and believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Only when God is your God will you find what you have been waiting for and will you truly have a future to look forward to. And thus my concluding question to you is, “Are you right with God?” Can you say, “My hope is in thee—my hope is in God?”
Pastor B. Elshout
