March 5th

Our Best Hope
Psalm 146

Christina Villa

"Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help," advises this psalm. "When their breath departs, they return to the earth; on that very day their plans perish."

This sobering reminder--"there is no help... their plans perish"--is not about the hopelessness of it all, though it might sound that way if you're flipping through the psalms looking for uplift. It's not that there's no hope. It's that there is only one source of it: "Happy are those... whose hope is in the Lord their God... who keeps faith forever." Hope is not a thing of a thousand varieties; you can't choose what color and size you want it in. It only comes one way. That's why it's so easy to invest it in the wrong thing. We're used to having 112 kinds of toothpaste or dog food to choose from, so we feel we ought to have some choice in the important matter of hope. But this Psalm says we don't. Theologians speak of misplaced hope as "idolatry," a word that makes it sound more satanic and exceptional than it really is. We have all had the experience of hopes dashed and trust betrayed. Yet hope is a thing we need to survive. Hang on to it, says this Psalm, but put it in the right place.

Prayer: Dear God, please help me keep hold of hope today; help me keep hold of you. Amen.