Scripture: Psalm 33 Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous;
it is fitting for the upright to praise him.
Praise the Lord with the harp;
make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre.
Sing to him a new song;
play skillfully, and shout for joy.
For the word of the Lord is right and true;
he is faithful in all he does.
The Lord loves righteousness and justice;
the earth is full of his unfailing love.
By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
their starry host by the breath of his mouth.
He gathers the waters of the sea into jars;
he puts the deep into storehouses.
Let all the earth fear the Lord;
let all the people of the world revere him.
For he spoke, and it came to be;
he commanded, and it stood firm.
The Lord foils the plans of the nations;
he thwarts the purposes of the peoples.
But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever,
the purposes of his heart through all generations.
Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people he chose for his inheritance.
From heaven the Lord looks down
and sees all mankind;
from his dwelling place he watches
all who live on earth—
he who forms the hearts of all,
who considers everything they do.
No king is saved by the size of his army;
no warrior escapes by his great strength.
A horse is a vain hope for deliverance;
despite all its great strength it cannot save.
But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him,
on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,
to deliver them from death
and keep them alive in famine.
We wait in hope for the Lord;
he is our help and our shield.
In him our hearts rejoice,
for we trust in his holy name.
May your unfailing love be with us, Lord,
even as we put our hope in you.
Devotional: I love this Psalm. All throughout it, we are reminded of why He is worthy of our worship. He is faithful. His Word is true. He is righteous and just. This world is filled full of his unfailing love. What a beautiful reminder of who God is. Are you needing this reminder right now? If you are in the trenches of a difficult season, this simple yet profound truths about God’s character may just be the balm that your weary soul needs.
When we go through a season of suffering, we need to find something to put our hope in. It is our natural human inclination to cry out to something bigger than us when we are in a pit. During our lowest points in life, we long to know that there is something or someone in charge of it all who can bring us back to life. And thankfully, as believers in Jesus, we know that exact thing. The desire within each person for something beyond themselves is satisfied in Jesus. He alone can do that. We know that He is the very thing that we should put our hope in.
After this Psalm reminds us of who the Lord is, it also declares that we are waiting in hope for Jesus’ return. Not only can we place our hope in the Jesus because He died on the cross in place, suffering more than most of us could ever imagine, so that we could be made clean and spend eternity with Him. But we can also place our hope in Jesus because we know that He is coming back. We know that there will be a day that He defeats Satan once and for all and ushers in the new heaven and new earth. There will be no more death, no more crying, no more sickness, and no more mourning. All will be well and how God created it to be originally.
So no matter the dark season that you are in or what you are facing, you can put your hope in Jesus. Let this Psalm be the cry of your heart. Just as it says, rejoice in the Lord for He is faithful, righteous, true, just, and full of unfailing love. And He is coming again to make all things new. Take heart and have hope.
Reflect:
- Reread Psalm 33. Recognize all the reasons that it lists as reminders for why God is worthy of our praise.
- Praise Him that we can put our hope and trust in Him for what He has done and what He will do.