June 21st – Psalm 42 – There is no Hope without Faith and no Faith without Hope.
Psalm 42 expresses deep longing for God’s presence, even in the face of hardship and despair. It uses the image of a deer panting for water to symbolise the soul’s intense thirst for God. The passage reminds us of the pain of being separated from Gods presence whilst urging the reader to trust in God’s faithfulness and look forward to praising Him again.
When writing this reflection and thinking about how to summarise my ideas one of my friends posted a quote on Facebook – yet another ‘God-incidence’ when thinking about something and a response appears in front of you. The quote my friend shared and unknowingly enthused my thought process was from Desmond Tutu – ‘Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness’. In our faith we need to trust in God and see that the light is still there, shining in the darkness.
I recently preached on the theme of Hope and encouraged the young people present to write, or research on phones, a short prayer using the acronym HOPE, a number of excellent examples were read out but a favourite, which was found on the internet, was ‘Holding On with Patient Expectation’. The foundation of our faith is that we wait in hope of God’s response. And I was reminded of that ‘holding on with patient expectation’ following a day visit my daughter and young grand-daughter recently made to Blackpool. They had taken bucket and spade and the entire journey was all about going on the beach. But with horror on their arrival they discovered the tide fully up and no sand to be seen. Following a mini meltdown, and despite their disappointment a busy morning, was spent on the park, shopping, eating and waiting for the tide to recede, with fairly patient expectation considering her age. The photograph below is evidence of that pure joy of a 2 year old when their hope is fulfilled – when they have waited patiently and have received the gift they were waiting for. Is our faith and hope filled with similar joy when what we have waited for finally comes to fruition? Do we still have that unadulterated excitement bubbling within us – that ability to run open-armed towards our destination.
As the deer pants for the water, so my soul longs after you.
You alone are my hearts desire and I long to worship you
You alone are my strength, my shield, to You alone may my spirit yield.
You alone are my heart’s desire and I long to worship You.
Martin J Nystrom, 1956. StF 544
Philippa Hill, Trustee
