Years ago an S-4 submarine was rammed by a ship off the coast of Massachusetts. It sank immediately. The entire crew was trapped in a prison house of death. Every effort was made to rescue the crew, but ultimately all plans failed. Near the end of the ordeal, a deep-sea diver, who was doing everything in his power to find a way for the crew's rescue, thought he heard a tapping on the steel wall of the vessel. He placed his helmet up against the side of the vessel and he realized it was the Morse Code. He attached himself to the side and he spelled out in his mind the message being tapped from within. It was repeating the same question: Is...there...any...hope?
That's a question we've all asked at least once in our lives, isn't it? Is there any hope...for my marriage, for finding a job, for earning a college scholarship, for an early retirement? Someone has said, "We can live forty days without food, eight days without water, four minutes without air, but only a few seconds without hope."
In Psalm 39, David is faced with asking the question, "Is there any hope?" He had been trying to keep a stiff, upper lip, so to speak, by remaining silent during a very painful time in his life. Then he pours out from his heart all the impatience and frustration he is feeling. But by the time we get to verse seven, we learn that it has been helpful for David to have been very honest with the Lord. He responds with what we might call a "trusting prayer" that is fueled by the hope he has in his Lord.
God has given you and me that same hope. We don't worry about our standing with God because Jesus has made us right and acceptable to our Father. We don't despair about our future because Jesus has prepared a place in heaven for us. We don't allow present day problems to consume us because Jesus has promised to never leave us nor forsake us. In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. (Romans 15:4)
We have hope!
