Can you live in hope for the generations to come?

 Psalm 102 (ESV): 

1  Hear my prayer, O Lord; 

  let my cry come to you! 

 2  Do not hide your face from me 

in the day of my distress! 

  Incline your ear to me; 

answer me speedily in the day when I call! 

 3  For my days pass away like smoke, 

and my bones burn like a furnace. 

 4  My heart is struck down like grass and has withered; 

I forget to eat my bread. 

 5  Because of my loud groaning 

my bones cling to my flesh. 

 6  I am like a desert owl of the wilderness, 

like an owl of the waste places; 

 7  I lie awake; 

I am like a lonely sparrow on the housetop. 

 8  All the day my enemies taunt me; 

those who deride me use my name for a curse. 

 9  For I eat ashes like bread 

and mingle tears with my drink, 

 10  because of your indignation and anger; 

for you have taken me up and thrown me down. 

 11  My days are like an evening shadow; 

I wither away like grass. 

 12  But you, O Lord, are enthroned forever; 

you are remembered throughout all generations. 

 13  You will arise and have pity on Zion; 

it is the time to favour her; 

the appointed time has come. 

 14  For your servants hold her stones dear 

and have pity on her dust. 

 15  Nations will fear the name of the Lord, 

and all the kings of the earth will fear your glory. 

 16  For the Lord builds up Zion; 

he appears in his glory; 

 17  he regards the prayer of the destitute 

and does not despise their prayer. 

 18  Let this be recorded for a generation to come, 

so that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord: 

 19  that he looked down from his holy height; 

from heaven the Lord looked at the earth, 

 20  to hear the groans of the prisoners, 

to set free those who were doomed to die, 

 21  that they may declare in Zion the name of the Lord, 

and in Jerusalem his praise, 

 22  when peoples gather together, 

and kingdoms, to worship the Lord. 

 23  He has broken my strength in midcourse; 

he has shortened my days. 

 24  “O my God,” I say, “take me not away 

in the midst of my days— 

  you whose years endure 

throughout all generations!” 

 25  Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, 

and the heavens are the work of your hands. 

 26  They will perish, but you will remain; 

they will all wear out like a garment. 

  You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, 

 27  but you are the same, and your years have no end. 

 28  The children of your servants shall dwell secure; 

their offspring shall be established before you. 

Sometimes days get so desperate and there is such despair, that people forget to eat, their bodies wither away, sleep evades them and they feel vulnerable like there are enemies on every side seeking their demise. Tears flow, heartache is poured out, anger swells and life seems so close to death that it is hard to see hope. Have you ever felt like that or known someone who has? The author of this psalm felt this way, they were more than miserable, they were heartbroken and in great anguish, and they admitted it. Often people of faith can experience this level of despair, but feel awkward or ashamed to admit how desperate they feel because they know that God is good and He exists. We need to shake off that mindset of embarrassment. You can still believe and trust in God and be utterly miserable. You can be choked with tears and broken, and still have faith in Him because your feelings are real, and so is God. I mean, if you want some examples of people that have felt this level of despair consider; David, Job, Elijah, Jonah or Hannah and then read the psalms! It is ok not to be ok. It is ok to feel like the world is against you, for, lets face it, if you are following God, it is. 

No matter how you are feeling though remind yourself that, ‘you, O Lord, are enthroned forever’. Even if you experience mental anguish and physical depletion, you can still know that God is enthroned forever. Even when your life seems poured out, you can acknowledge that God is in charge. You can remember who He is and what He has done before. You can call on Him and trust Him to, ‘arise and have pity’. For God cares for you. God cares about building His kingdom and His family, so you can ask Him to ‘have pity’, and to ‘favour’ His people. He wants to do those things anyway! You can approach Him and call upon Him, no matter how weak or strong you are, no matter if you feel like a ‘shadow’ or that your ‘heart is struck down’. For God, ‘regards the prayer of the destitute and does not despise their prayer’. When you are desperately low, when you have are in need, God listens. He pays attention and regards you. How many people in real poverty can say that they are looked at and paid attention to? Yet you, as a believer in God, when you pray and call to God in your weakness and poverty, He looks up and pays attention to you. He will not overlook you or ignore you, instead He takes seriously your prayers. Therefore, do not just weep and walk in despair, but undertake the mighty act of prayer! God listens.

The psalmist writes, ‘let this be recorded for a generation to come’. They recorded their level of distress, and their prayer because they knew that the situation would change, and they wanted to inspire others that distressing times end because God intervenes. The writer knew that this present trouble would turn into a testimony. They understood that no matter what, God is in charge and that in time their prayers would be answered. It may not be fulfilled in their lifetime and their present suffering may not cease, yet one day it would. The psalmist trusted that ‘a people yet to be created may praise the Lord’ because they recorded what was going on and there was a future when these sufferings would be overcome. Therefore, you too can have confidence that God will respond. Just probably not in the way, manner or time frame that you desire. So, you need to learn to carry the hope of a better future even if you don’t get to see it. Moses did not get to enter the promised land, David did not see the temple built, the disciples did not get to see Jesus return. Yet they all lived in hope for the time to come ‘that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord’. Do you carry that same hope, is that what you are living for? Are you able to live through today knowing that the future will be better for the generations to come because God will look with favour upon His people? There will be a day when ‘peoples gather together, and kingdoms, to worship the Lord’ and, ‘The children of your servants will dwell secure’. So, even if you feel like your strength is broken, and your days shortened (v13), you can still carry hope like this writer did. 

When you live your life in faithfulness to God until your life ends, then you can trust that God will be looking out for those you have invested in. You will not always see the outcomes of your work or the answers to your prayers, but God is faithful. He will not forget. He listens, looks, and acts. So can you now look to the uncertain future and trust Him with it? Can you live in hope for the generations to come?

Is your faith active?

 What is faith if it doesn’t affect your life, character and behaviour? 

‘faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead’(James 2:17).

If you believe in God and trust that the death of his son, Jesus releases you from sin, then you may well have faith. Yet, if it does not impact your behaviour and result in doing good things then James is telling you that the faith you have has no life. It is useless, dead. Faith is evidenced by how you live your life. What you really believe about yourself and your relationship with God impacts your character, speech and actions. How you treat others and what you do with your life is proof of what you believe. What do you think your life shows about what you believe? 

If you are someone that says they follow God, then are you demonstrating this by doing good things for others? It could be; talking to the lonely, feeding the hungry, helping those on the edge of society. If you think that taking part in these things is unimportant, then James asks you this,‘Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless’? (James 2:20). James is challenging you to consider the impact your life through faith has on others. Faith in God is not just about salvation for your soul. If you have really begun to understand who you are and who God is then you should be spurred onto doing good works in order to demonstrate and outpour the love you have for God. An alive and active faith is one that does something about the distresses they see in the world, that loves the poor, lonely and unlovely, that cheerfully gives without the expectation of receiving. Does the faith you have sound at all like that? Or do you need to be shown that faith with works is useful, and without them is useless?

Reading the Bible and hearing of others adventures of faith is inspiring. Not one of the Old Testament or New Testament followers of God led lives that were devoid of ‘good works’. They all made mistakes, like we do, but they all put their faith into practice by being obedient and doing things beyond the ordinary, spurred on by the faith they had. Peter was a passionate disciple of Jesus, and he got it wrong sometimes, but he also got it right when he went out and told people who this Jesus was, when he prayed for and healed people. Jonah was a man of faith, and even though he tried to run away from God, he was eventually, begrudgingly obedient - even when he didn’t want to, he put his faith into action. Would we have considered these men, or any other characters in the Bible people of faith if they hadn’t done something to show how much they trusted God rather than themselves? What if Jonah had just kept on running away? Or Peter had got disappointed with the correction and gone back to fishing for the rest of his life keeping his head down? Faith is demonstrated through your actions - so what do people see of yours? 

‘Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works’ James 2:21–22.

Abraham took the journey of sacrificing his son because he knew God was faithful, and he, Abraham was acting in faithful obedience to the word of God. He walked the journey by faith as well as in heartache. If he hadn’t of done, what would have happened? There would have been no story of a miraculous provision and survival, Abraham and Isaac’s story would have been very different and so would ours. As a result of Abraham’s willingness to give his son’s life into the hands of God, Abraham is promised that he will be blessed and there will be a blessing for the generations to come because of his act of obedience! Even, ‘all nations on earth will be blessed because you have obeyed me’! (Genesis 22:18) Wow! 

What could be the impact of your obedience to God? 

Abraham put his faith into action by following the call of God, even though it was heartbreaking, tiring, difficult and confusing. He still did it because he knew above his own understanding that God is good and faithful, therefore Abraham trusted Him. Abraham’s faith was tested and we can, ‘see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.’  (James 2:24).  Abraham’s life and obedience in word and action is just one of the many examples in scripture and history that you can learn about putting faith into action. Would you have admired and respected Abraham as much if he had turned around to God and said no? Have you said no to God? How long will it be before you turn round and say yes? The impact of your yes in obedience to God will not only bless your life, test and stretch your faith but will bless others even for generations to come. Let your faith live. Give the faith you have a chance to grow, it will be uncomfortable, confusing and painful, but do you want a living faith or a dead one?

‘For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.’ James 2:26