34 Hope in the Lord
and keep his way.
He will exalt you to inherit the land;
when the wicked are destroyed, you will see it.
35 I have seen a wicked and ruthless man
flourishing like a luxuriant native tree,
36 but he soon passed away and was no more;
though I looked for him, he could not be found.
37 Consider the blameless, observe the upright;
a future awaits those who seek peace.
38 But all sinners will be destroyed;
there will be no future for the wicked.
39 The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord;
he is their stronghold in time of trouble.
40 The Lord helps them and delivers them;
he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
because they take refuge in him.
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What jumps out at me today is the word “future.” David contrasts the future of the righteous with the future of the wicked. He states it rather strongly and simply. There is a future for those who seek peace, but no future for the wicked.
Future here means something more than just that period of time that hasn’t happened yet. He is speaking of a time of living in the fullness of the covenant relation with God, beyond the curse, beyond all suffering. This passage is actually very similar of Psalm 1, which similarly contrasts the future of the wicked and righteous.
Here’s the thought that this led me to today: The present is not a complete indicator of what God is doing. God’s will, intentions, and plans are revealed not just in what is going on in my life today, but also revealed, and in fact more completely revealed, in what will be going on in the future.
Christianity is all about what God has done in the past, given to us in the present, which will be fully realized in the future. The three of these together shape our identity and our behavior. The temptation when we are going through hard times is to draw conclusions from what is currently happening regarding what God intends for us. This psalm, and many other psalms, remind us that such a viewpoint is much too narrow.
We live in the hope (see verse 34) of the Lord’s blessing – now and forever. We live in the expectation of resurrection. We live with the confidence that a day will come when Christ will put all things right, when heaven and earth will be joined, when perfect justice will be the order of the day, and all the brokenness which so plagues us now will be redeemed into perfect blessing.
And so we “hope in the Lord,” even and especially when times are hard. For He holds the future, and it is filled with His love. So my prayer is for the constant gift of hope, that I will trust that despite the present setbacks and sufferings, God is at work, and His promises are sure. He holds the future.
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