David Bahn – Reflections

O LORD, rebuke me not in your anger,
    nor discipline me in your wrath.
² Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am languishing;
    heal me, O LORD, for my bones are troubled.
³ My soul also is greatly troubled.
    But you, O LORD—how long?

⁴ Turn, O LORD, deliver my life;
    save me for the sake of your steadfast love.
⁵ For in death there is no remembrance of you;
    in Sheol who will give you praise?

⁶ I am weary with my moaning;
    every night I flood my bed with tears;
    I drench my couch with my weeping.
⁷ My eye wastes away because of grief;
    it grows weak because of all my foes.

⁸ Depart from me, all you workers of evil,
    for the LORD has heard the sound of my weeping.
⁹ The LORD has heard my plea;
    the LORD accepts my prayer.
¹⁰ All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled;
    they shall turn back and be put to shame in a moment.

Pastor Wayne Grauman delivered a keynote speech at the Best Practices for Ministry Conference in Phoenix, Arizona. Diane and I had to leave early so we didn’t get to hear it. But he did give me an overview of what he was going to say. Wayne is a beloved veteran pastor, having served for decades at Salem Lutheran Church in Tomball, Texas. After retiring he and his wife Kathy traveled extensively in Europe, served at least two vacancies of which I am aware, and has had to battle against Multiple Myeloma. He seemed initially to have conquered the disease. But he has recently had to reengage in the battle.

All this has led him more fully to understand what it means to have hope. “Hope,” he says, “is related to trust.” He explained to me how he had always trusted God for his salvation. This is the justification part of trust. Trust is the sister of faith. There is, however, the sanctification side of trust. It’s when we put ourselves consciously into God’s hands and say, “Whatever comes my way, I will trust in you, O God.” It’s a matter of letting go and letting God take care of us here and now. Such trust, he says, is the foundation of hope.

All this comes to us by God’s grace as we hear of God’s great love. David, here, speaks of God’s steadfast love. It’s not just love. It’s not fleeting. It does not depend on us. The Hebrew word here is חֶסֶד (ḥesed). You have to say it with a guttural hch sound, like “Bach.” It is a rich concept relating to God’s covenantal faithfulness, unbreakable mercy, active, saving and enduring love.

We see this so clearly in Jesus’ life and ministry, his sacrificial death and resurrection. Jesus didn’t just love us for a moment. God loves us with an everlasting love. He is absolutely reliable.

“Turn, O LORD, deliver my life; save me for the sake of your steadfast love,” David prays. He trusts in God and therefore he has hope. There’s also a reasoning: “For in death there is no remembrance of you; in Sheol who will give you praise?” (v. 5) – a plea based on the idea that David desires to praise God in the land of the living.

I like to think of hope as a three-way dance with trusting and waiting. Paul says, “If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied” (1 Corinthians 15:19). We do have hope in this life, but not only in this life. We have an eternal hope secured and founded upon the steadfast love of God in Jesus. We do not live without hope. It grows out of trust. It will never disappoint. In this psalm of lament we turn to God in trust, hope, and love.