November 8

My hope is in thee.—Psalms 39:7.

THIS holy man, seeing the vanity of all other expectations and pursuits of men, at length runs to this: And now, Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in thee. He finds nothing but moving sand everywhere else; but he finds this Eternal Rock to be a strong foundation, as the Hebrew word by which he is styled doth signify. It is true, the union of the heart with God is made up by faith and love; but yet both these, in this our present condition of absence and distance from God, do act themselves much by the third grace which is joined with them, and that is hope. For faith is conversant about things that are not seen, and in a great part, that are not as yet, but are to come; and the spirit of faith, choosing things that are to come, is called hope. It is true they are not so wholly deferred, as that they possess nothing; but yet the utmost that they possess is but a pledge and earnest-penny, a small thing in respect of that eternal inheritance they look for. For what they have here is of the same kind with what they expect, but it is but a little portion of it; the smiles and glances of their Father's face, foretastes of heaven, which their souls are refreshed with. But these are but rare, and for a short time.

Hope is the great stock of believers: it is that which upholds them under all the faintings and sorrows of their mind in this life, and in their going through the valley and shadow of death. It is the helmet of their salvation, which, while they are looking over to eternity, beyond this present time, covers and keeps their head safe amid all the darts that fly around about them. In the present discomfort and darkness of mind, and the saddest hours they meet with in this life, hope is that which keeps up the soul; and it is that which David cheered up his soul with. Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. And even in this point the children of the world have no great advantage of the children of God, as to the things of this life; for much of their satisfaction, such as it is, doth hang, for the most part, on their hope; the happiest and richest of them do still piece it out with some further expectation, something they look for beyond what they have, and the expectation of that pleases them more than all their present possessions. But this great disadvantage they have, that all their hopes are but heaps of delusions and lies, and either they die and obtain them not, or if they do obtain them, yet they obtain them not; they are so far short of what they fancied and imagined of them beforehand. But the hope of the children of God, as it is without fail sure, so it is inconceivably full and satisfying, far beyond what the largest apprehension of any man is able to reach. Hope in God! What is wanting here?

My hope is in thee. We can not choose but all of us think that God is immensely good in himself; but that which is nearer, whereon our hearts most rise, is a relative goodness, that he is good to us, and that he is so perfectly and completely good, that having made choice of him, and obtained union with him, we need no more. Were once the hearts of the children of men persuaded of this, all their deliberations were at an end: they would not only choose no other, but defer no longer to fix on him. And what can trouble the soul that is thus established? No change or overturning of outward things. Though the frame of the world itself were shaken to pieces, yet still the bottom of this hope is upon him who changeth not. And whatever the pressures be, whether poverty, sickness, or disquiet of mind, thou mayest draw abundant consolation from him in whom thou hast placed thy hope. There is only one thing that cruelly assaults it by the way, and that is the guilt of sin. All afflictions and troubles we meet with are not able to mar this hope or quench it, for where it is strong, it either breaks them or flies above them: they can not overcome it, for there is no affliction inconsistent with the love of God; yea, the sharpest affliction may sometimes have the clearest characters of his love upon it. But it is sin that presents him as angry to the view of the soul. When he looks through that cloud, he seems to be an enemy; and when we apprehend him in that aspect, we are affrighted, and presently apprehend a storm. But even in this case, this hope apprehends his mercy.