My Hope is Built on Nothing Less
Psalm 36:5-6[1]
It was a conversation like countless others. And the key
question was, “If God doesn’t answer my prayers, what’s the point of trying to
live for him?” Of course, the real question was about when “God doesn’t answer
my prayers by giving me what I want.” To be sure, this was someone who was
desperate—desperate—to find a way to save a loved one. The prayer wasn’t about
landing a better job or buying a dream home. It was about saving a life, and
the lives of all those affected. Surely God wants the same thing we want when
it comes to something like that. And if God doesn’t come through for us when we
pour out our hearts in prayer, then why pray at all? More than that, why even
make the effort to hold onto our faith?
My answer was one that didn’t satisfy. My answer was that,
like Job, we may ask the question, “Why?”, but we may never get an answer. My
answer was that we cannot tie our faith in God to the outcome of our prayers.
My answer was that we can’t know why God sometimes answers our prayers the way
we hope, and sometimes doesn’t. When we’re desperate to save someone we love, that’s
not what we usually want to hear. But in my experience, the reason we pray is
because we place our hope in God’s love for us that never fails. The reason we
keep practicing our faith is to remind ourselves that, come what may, God’s
love for us never fails. The one thing we can always hold onto is the hope that
God’s love for us never fails. Our hope is based on nothing less!
You may have noticed that we’ve been saying the same Assurance
of Pardon all Summer. I don’t normally do that, but I wanted us to have the
chance to really let the ideas of Psalm 36:5-6 sink into our hearts and minds.
I like the way the New Living Translation puts it: “Your unfailing love, O
LORD, is as vast as the heavens; your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds.
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the ocean
depths.” It’s one of my favorite Bible verses. It reminds me that we’re never
outside God’s unfailing love. God’s faithfulness continues to embrace all of
us, come what may. God’s purpose to set things right stands as unshakable as the
highest mountains. And God’s work to right all wrongs will one day sweep over
the whole world.
That’s a lot to take in, so let’s break it down. First,
“Your unfailing love, O LORD, is as vast as the heavens.” This affirmation
starts out with God’s character. The fact that God’s character is defined by
“unfailing love,” “faithfulness,” “righteousness,” and “justice” serves as the
basis for everything we believe. This Psalm reminds us that our hope is based
on nothing less than who God was and is and ever shall be, world without end!
And the starting point for that hope is that God’s love never fails and never
ends. More than that, the Psalmist says God’s love is as vast as the heavens.
It extends to everyone and everything everywhere in all creation. This is the
quality of God’s love: God loves us all with a love that will never let us go.
The amazing kindness and generosity that God continually shows us every day isn’t
accidental.[2] It’s based
on who God is: “Your unfailing love, O LORD, is as vast as the heavens.”
The next affirmation is, “your faithfulness reaches beyond
the clouds.” That might seem obvious to us, but in a time when people could
only speculate what was up there in the sky, the idea was that God’s
faithfulness extends even beyond the limits of our knowledge. Like God’s love, God’s
faithfulness extends to everyone and everything. In a world where promises are made
to be broken, it may be hard for us to believe that the God who loves us is completely
trustworthy and reliable. But this is another of those foundational
declarations about God: God is the one who never, ever gives up on us. Whether
or not it comes when we expect it, God will make good on every promise.[3] “Your
faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds.”
The next affirmation is “Your righteousness is like the
mighty mountains.” We assume that God’s “righteousness” also refers to his
character. And it does. God is the one who always does what is right. But it
goes beyond that. God is also the one who is always working to make all things
right. You have to read carefully, and it’s sometimes hidden in our English
bibles, but God’s character as “righteous” leads him to always work to make things
right.[4] And
because this is a matter of who God is, his intention to make all things right
in this world is as firm and unshakeable as “the mighty mountains.” You could
sooner bring down Mount Everest than you could thwart God’s purpose to make
things right! “Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains.”
Finally, this verse affirms that “your justice [is] like
the ocean depths.” We’re familiar with the idea that God’s character is “just.”
But it may not be one that we find comforting. For us, “justice” equals
punishment. But in the Hebrew Bible, God’s justice sets out to help the
helpless and to heal those who are hurting. God’s justice brings peace to those
who are oppressed and freedom to those who are bound in any way. Even when it
comes to those who may be in the wrong, God’s justice comes as grace and mercy.
God’s justice is about his determination to right all the wrongs in this world.
And this intention is as powerful and unstoppable as the force of water in the
ocean! “Your justice [is] like the ocean depths.”
This is the reason why I keep putting my faith in God, no
matter what life may bring. It’s because God’s unfailing love upholds everything
and everyone in all creation! That includes the whole universe![5] I keep
hoping for God’s kingdom to prevail despite all that’s wrong in this world
because God is always faithful to everyone, everywhere! When what is happening
feels discouraging or even beyond the limits of my faith, I remember that God’s
purpose to set all things right is as firm and sure as the mighty mountains!
And I also remember that God’s justice, peace, and freedom will one day sweep
over the whole world like the waters of the ocean! When life is such that it
feels like “all around, my soul gives way,” I return to this verse to keep
anchoring my faith and my hope on nothing less than God’s unfailing love,
faithfulness, righteousness, and justice! I hope that this verse might inspire
you to do the same!
[1] © 2023 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm PhD on 9/3/2023 for
Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
[2] Cf. H.-J. Kraus, Theology of the Book of
Psalms, 44.
[3] Jürgen Moltmann, Theology of Hope, 115:God is the one on whom we can
continue to rely “all the way from promise to fulfillment.”
[4] Moltman, Theology of Hope, 204: “The ‘righteousness of God’ is God’s
faithful love directed toward the goal of setting all humans right with God,
with themselves, with each other, and with the whole of creation; thus it
refers to God’s redemptive purpose to bring about a new creation.”
[5] James L. Mays, Psalms, 156: the
“attributes of the LORD are said to be cosmic in dimension. Heavens and clouds
mark the upper limit of the world; mountains of God and the great deep are
terms of immensity.”
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