In the history of humanity, no two more significant needs have existed for a man than light, hope, bread, and water. Tragedy arises quickly when one of these fundamental needs of a man disappears.
Through one disaster story after another in modern times, society reads how hope has sustained a person through impossible odds and death-defying circumstances where others lost hope and died.
When a person reaches a time when they lose all hope, their death, or their descent into the depths of depravity, will surely follow.
The Psalmist, David, wrote these words in a time of great difficulty:
“For I said in my haste, “I am cut off from before Your eyes”; Nevertheless You heard the voice of my supplications When I cried out to You. Oh, love the LORD, all you His saints! For the LORD preserves the faithful, And fully repays the proud person. Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart, All you who hope in the LORD” (Psalm 31:22-24).
David admits, he almost gave up. David believes God forsook him. For a man of God, the idea that God has forsaken them holds a weight of hopelessness like no other. Jesus Christ could not say stronger words on the Cross of Calvary than, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” (My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?). A son, abandoned by his Father. A savior, bearing the weight of sin.
These same sentiments originated with David by the pen of inspiration: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, And from the words of My groaning?” (Psalms 22:1).
As we return to Psalm 31, we see that while feeling forsaken, David finds that he was mistaken. God had not forsaken him. “You heard the voice of my supplications When I cried out to You.” This recognition creates in him a shout of joy, “Oh, love the LORD, all you His saints!” God has not forgotten his faithful, and the proud He will repay.
So David, a man who in his life soared to great heights and plummeted to depths of despair, admonishes:
Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart,
All you who hope in the LORD.