I am probably naive. I have hope that it’s going to be all right.
Where does my hope come from? (Searches on DuckDuckGo)
“I lift up my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and Earth.” (Psalms 121:1-2)
So I misremembered the question, but not the answer. My hope, and my help, comes from the Maker.
My Bible has Psalms 120-124 all on one page. Each of those Psalms speaks to me in at least on line or another, or the whole.
“I call on the Lord in my distress. Save me, O Lord, from lying lips and from deceitful tongues.” (120:1-2)
“Too long have I lived among those who hate peace. I am a man of peace; but when I speak, they are for war.” (120:8-9)
“I rejoiced with those who said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” (122:1)
“Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us, for we have endured much contempt. We have endured much ridicule from the proud, much contempt from the arrogant.” (123:3-4)
Psalm 124: “If the Lord had not been on our side …” but he was, and so, “Our help is in the name of the Lord, the Maker of heaven and Earth.”
I misremembered the question, but not the answer. My hope comes from the Lord, the Maker. I’ve spent the last week encountering lying lips and deceitful tongues who have ridiculed those who mourn with much contempt.
And I certainly feel sometimes that I have lived too long among those who hate peace. The proud and the arrogant do not want to live in peace with me; the hostility is palpable.
I’m an old man, and I tire much more easily than even just a few years ago. Even when I was full of vigor, however, I had no interest in doing battle.
But I don’t need much energy or vigor to say what I believe. Over the years some have done much wrong claiming to act in the name of the Lord, and so one can hardly blame the proud and the arrogant from looking at us with ridicule and contempt. There are plenty of examples of alleged Christians not acting kindly.
Still, sometimes truth spoken in love is hard to differentiate from harsh judgment spoken harshly.
That’s why I so frequently lean on the two greatest commandments as a mission statement. It’s easy to remember just two commandments, and those two are the essence of Jesus. He said so.
If I am about to say or do something that might come across harshly, I try to make sure my motives are to love God and love my neighbor; if I can’t be sure, I refrain.
Sometimes in frustration I lash back; I am human — but I regret when I do.
That is how, I hope, you know I am His disciple, that we love one another. If I’m not loving, who will know that I am His disciple?
“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.” (19:14)
