Putting Hope in God

Put your hope in God (Psalm 42:11)

This is the psalm of the sons of Korah. For some strange reasons God did not record their names. The son of Jesse is known as King David and the son of David is known as the King Solomon. But the sons of Korah are not known by their personal name! They are simply called as sons of Korah. The reason is even their identity as sons of Korah conveys very important message for us.

Korah is known as rebel among the Israelites who were marching towards Canaan through the wilderness. Korah was severely punished by God. In fact his punishment was unique. God sentenced him to hell while he was still alive! Like Enoch and Elijah had been caught up to heaven in their body Korah and all his men went to hell without tasting death with their physical body. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed Korah and his men.

The sons of Korah also should have perished along with him but some miracle happened because of grace of God. Sons of Korah ran to the Tabernacle for God's mercy and took shelter at alter of God. Sons of Korah were bound to perish, they were hell bound people. But miraculously they were saved by God and by the blood that was on the altar. So, we must understand that sons of Korah are a type of New Testament Church. The story of the sons of Korah is our story. As the Children we all are hell bound people. But we have been saved by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. For this reason the sons of Korah are able to teach us some very precious lessons. The words "sons of Korah" could mean the people saved by grace.

Now the psalmist is preaching to his own self. He is calling his own self and teaching an important lesson. He says "why are you downcast oh my soul" We as the people saved by the grace of our Lord must never be downcast or be depressed. The grace that saved us will surely follow us "all the days of our life" (Psalm 23:6).

There may be situations that are too difficult for us to handle, at times it may seem that the Lord has deserted us. Evidently the Psalmist was undergoing such a situation. He is admonishing his own soul to put hope in God. This is what we must all do consistently in spite of our situations and circumstances. Whatever may be our situations we must continue to trust God and put our hope in Him - because there is nothing better we can do. Nothing can be achieved by losing faith in God. Anything else we can do other than trusting God will only lead us deeper into disaster. Many times the devil will tempt us to give up hope in God but that is the most foolish thing to do.

You may question "how long should I trust in God?" You may ask "How many days should I wait for His help?" I tell you my brother and sister we must trust in God and wait for His help till we breathe our last. It is better to die trusting in God than live having lost our faith in God. Any person who has lost faith in God is equal to a dead person. I ask you my brother and sister what better thing is there for us to do than trusting in God? For anything else you do such as doubting God and grumbling against God will be judged and condemned before the judgement seat of Christ. But it is highly impossible that God will condemn us for trusting in Him for too long. So let us make a firm resolution to continue to trust in God all the days of our life. This is what we call perseverance. May the Lord help us to have this perseverance!