This week’s sermon comes from Psalm 131.  David concludes this short song with a passionate plea, “O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forevermore.”

Hope is the the sustenance of human life.  It’s why we get out of the bed in the morning.  It causes us to take the next step.  Subsequently, there is no more desperate condition than is the condition of hopelessness.  Someone has rightly said, “Man can live 40 days without food; 7 days without water; a few minutes without air; but not a second without hope.”  The terror of hell is that all hope will be lost, even the hope of dying.  Therefore, the most merciful plea we can make to people is the words of the Psalmist, “hope in the Lord.”

I was thinking how difficult it is to describe hopelessness to someone living.  Here’s a try:

It is freefalling and realizing that the parachute failed to open.

It is out in the middle of the world’s largest desert and no one knows you are there.

It is Judgment Day and failing to have trusted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

“O People of the World, hope in the LORD!”