What Do You Do When There Seems to Be No Hope in Sight?

What Do You Do When There Seems to Be No Hope in Sight?

Psalm 119:81-88

Main Idea: When pain and suffering come, admit your need for the Lord’s help and depend on his love and Word to help you endure.

In his book Walking with God through Pain and Suffering, Tim Keller says,

No matter what precautions we take, no matter how well we have put together a good life, no matter how hard we have worked to be healthy, wealthy, comfortable with friends and family, and successful with our career—something will inevitably ruin it. (3)

The songwriter of Psalm 119 would heartily agree. He has sought to be faithful and obedient to the Lord. He has tried to live in a way that honors the Lord. Where has that gotten him? He feels like his life is about to go up in smoke (v. 83). He feels like his life is almost at an end (v. 87). As Spurgeon says of stanza Kaph (?), “This octave is the midnight of the psalm, and very dark and black it is. Stars, however, shine out, and the last verse gives promise of the dawn” (Treasury, 304).

There is hope even when we cannot see it. Whether we face hardship, opposition, or death, we do not have to despair; in his “faithful love” (v. 88) our Savior will give us life. Three movements in this stanza walk us through the valley of despair to the mountain of hope and life.

Admit Your Need for the Lord

Psalm 119:81-83

You do not know that God is all you need until God is all you have. This marvelous truth is so often found on the road of suffering, a road marked by anxiety, confusion, despair, disappointment, evil, pain, and trials. The Christian life is a battleground, not a playground. It is a war, not a vacation. We will not make it without God, and admitting that is crucial. The psalmist testifies to his need for the Lord in three specific ways in verses 81-83.

My Soul Longs for You (119:81)

The psalmist begins this stanza expressing his dire need for the Lord. The NIV beautifully expresses verse 81: “My soul [Hb nephesh] faints with longing for your salvation.” His cry has a clear sense of urgency. His situation is critical as the following verses make clear. He needs the Lord to intervene and to do so quickly. Michael Wilcox notes,

In five successive stanzas the psalmist has spoken of his ill treatment at the hands of those who dislike and oppose him. In Waw he is taunted (v. 42), in Zayin mocked (v. 51), in Heth bound (v. 61), in Teth smeared (v. 69), and in Yod wronged (v. 78). Here in Kaph he is still being molested by the arrogant. (Psalms, 205)

We can sense that the songwriter feels overwhelmed. If God does not save him, he will not make it. The only hope he has is the Lord and his Word. Thus he declares his faith during his pain: “I put my hope in your word.” His longing for deliverance drives him to the Lord’s Word, and he will hope in it alone. Anything in life that drives us to the Word is good, regardless of the package it comes in.

My Eyes Look for You (119:82)

The image of the soul in verse 81 moves to the “eyes” in verse 82. The idea, however, is much the same. Just as the psalmist says his soul hopes in the Lord’s Word, he also says, “My eyes grow weary [or “fail”] looking for what you have promised.” He is fatigued, worn out, because the promise he has waited for has not come. The Lord said he would save him, but here he is! Nothing has changed. He has looked, and there is no relief in sight.

Such despair gives way to a heartfelt question: “When will you comfort me?” In essence, the psalmist is saying, “I look to you and only you for comfort; if comfort does not come from you, then it will not come.” Spurgeon provides a helpful word at this point: “This experience of waiting and fainting is well-known by full-grown saints, and it teaches them many precious lessons which they would never learn by any other means” (Treasury, 305).

My Life Depends on You (119:83)

The metaphor of verse 83 is striking. He is like a dried, cracked, worn, and useless leather wineskin hung up by a fire. The flames and heat of suffering have rendered him useless. He feels as if God is finished with him and as if he is of little or no value. Yet, despite all that is happening to him, he has not forgotten or turned away from the Word of God: “I do not forget your statutes.” The Lord’s Word remains in him. He is down, but he is not out. He does not understand, but he will stay with the Lord to the end. He will keep on recalling the Lord’s Word. What a beautiful truth we see here: asking questions of God and having faith in God are compatible. When we suffer, they often go together. So admit your need for the Lord even during your doubts.

Identify Your Concerns to the Lord

Psalm 119:84-87

Keller writes,

Christianity teaches that, contra fatalism, suffering is overwhelming; contra Buddhism, suffering is real; contra karma, suffering is often unfair; but contra secularism, suffering is meaningful. There is a purpose to it, and if faced rightly, it can drive us like a nail deep into the love of God and into more stability and spiritual power than you can imagine. (Walking, 30)

Verses 84-87 revolve around the cry for help at the end of verse 86. They list the specifics of his despair and distress. He recounts precisely what is going on in his life. He has remained faithful; look what it has gotten him. He is confused, he is disappointed, and he is hurting. I can imagine our Savior patiently listening to his child pour out his heart.

I Need Your Help to Endure Persecutors (119:84)

Verse 84 has two questions: “How many days must your servant wait?” and “When will you execute judgment on my persecutors?” These questions of lament bare his soul once again. Flipping the questions into declarative statements, he is saying, “I have suffered enough. I have endured persecution enough. I want you to do something about it.”

Do not miss the critical point beneath the surface of verse 84. The psalmist will not take personal vengeance. He is a Deuteronomy 32:35 and a Romans 12:19 man! In Romans, Paul says, “Friends, do not avenge yourselves; instead, leave room for God’s wrath, because it is written, Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord.” We may want payback now, but we must wait on God to deliver it on his timetable, not ours. We can lament, but we cannot take into our own hands what belongs only to God.

I Need Your Help to Endure the Arrogant (119:85)

The arrogant, who care nothing for the Word of God, have tracked the songwriter down like an animal. They have sought to entrap him, digging “pits” for him. Note the plural. They did not set a single trap; they set numerous traps. These arrogant persecutors (vv. 84,86) come at him repeatedly from every angle. They are relentless in their goal to take him down and take him out!

First Timothy 3:2 admonished the man of God to be above reproach, a man of absolute integrity. Only such a man will be able to avoid the pitfalls and snares the evil one will set to take him down and ruin his life, his family, his ministry, and his reputation. When the prideful attack, walk humbly before the Lord in his Word.

I Need Your Help to Endure Liars (119:86)

All the psalmist can do is rely completely on the Lord and his Word, a Word he knows is sure, true, and trustworthy. He affirms with conviction, “All your commands are true.” Your Word is inerrant and infallible. In contrast, the arrogant persecute the psalmist with lies. Will he fight back? Yes, by fleeing to the Lord and crying out for help! Again, Spurgeon’s words are so valuable:

This is a golden prayer, as precious as it is short. The words are few, but the meaning is full. Help was needed that the persecuted one might avoid the snare, might bear up under reproach, and might act so prudently as to baffle his foes. God’s help is our hope. Whoever may hurt us, it matters not so long as the Lord helps us; for if indeed the Lord helps us, none can really hurt us. Many a time have these words been groaned out by troubled saints, for they are such as suit a thousand conditions of need, pain, distress, weakness, and sin. “Help, Lord,” will be a fitting prayer for youth and age, for labour and suffering, for life and death. No other help is sufficient, but God’s help is all-sufficient and we cast ourselves upon it without fear. (Treasury, 306)

I Need Your Help to Endure the Vicious (119:87)

Verse 87 resonates with the theme of both death and resurrection (cf. v. 88). The arrogant have so hounded and persecuted him that he says, “They almost ended my life on earth.” Still, he will not abandon his God or his Word: “But I did not abandon your precepts.” To the end, he will follow him, trust him, and obey him. The psalmist’s enemies want to bury him, but he still believes in the Lord and will obey him. Life, he believes, is on the other side, even if it means death on this side. Verse 88 is just around the corner.

Trust in the Faithfulness of the Lord

Psalm 119:88

The life God offers is not one of mere existence. It is a life of abundance and fullness, one you never had but always wanted, one you always longed for but never achieved. Yet the road to this life often contains pain and suffering. Had you not known God is with you and for you, you would have found it unbearable. The path would have been too hard to walk. In this last verse of stanza Kaph, the psalmist reminds us of two companions God provides to bring us home, companions we can be certain will never abandon us.

You Have His Love

“Jesus Loves Me” was my favorite song as a child. It remains my favorite song as an adult. The psalmist has endured terrible suffering and injustice. He has been lied about and maybe even beaten nearly to death. Nevertheless, the love of God is his life. In words that have the ring of resurrection, he asks his Lord, “Give me life in accordance with your faithful love” (“steadfast love” ESV). Restore my life, he says. Revive my life. Renew my life out of the overflow of your loyal, faithful love, a love that endures forever. As Keller says,

The only love that won’t disappoint you is one that can’t change, that can’t be lost, that is not based on the ups and downs of life or of how well you live. It is something that not even death can take away from you. God’s love is the only thing like that. (Walking, 304)

You Have His Word

As we move forward in life, God calls us to walk between two companions. On one side is God’s love. On the other side is God’s Word. “The decree you have spoken” is a declaration of “direct revelation from God” (Ross, Psalms, 537). It is another witness to the divine inspiration of Holy Scripture. God’s Word is his companion along with the Lord’s “faithful love.” Flowing out of the life we have experienced from his “faithful love” will be our obedience to his Word. Because he loves us and sustains us, his love motivates us and empowers us to obey his decree. His Word guides us and informs us how to obey. His love and his Word are twin gifts to keep us in the battle—twin gifts to sustain us to the end.

Conclusion

Psalm 119:81-88 poetically and beautifully captures the passion of our Savior. It is a lament that is easy to hear Jesus praying. From his suffering to his death and his resurrection, it is all there. As Keller again puts it so well,

Jesus lost all his glory so that we could be clothed in it. He was shut out so we could get access. He was bound, nailed, so that we could be free. He was cast out so we could approach. And Jesus took away the only kind of suffering that can really destroy you: that is being cast away from God. He took that so that now all suffering that comes into your life will only make you great. A lump of coal under pressure becomes a diamond. And the suffering of a person in Christ only turns you into somebody gorgeous. (Walking, 180–81)

Reflect and Discuss

1. What is the psalmist’s “hope” that he mentions in verse 81? Why is hope such a dominant theme in Scripture?
2. Have you had the “experience of waiting and fainting” for comfort that Spurgeon mentions? What did this teach you?
3. What is the difference between asking God questions with faith and without faith?
4. Why is it better that Christians give God the responsibility to judge persecutors and bring vengeance instead of doing it themselves?
5. Have you ever felt spiritually unprepared to experience trials when they came? Why? How can Christians prepare themselves for future trials?
6. What does Spurgeon mean when he says, “If indeed the Lord helps us, none can really hurt us”?
7. If God loves his people, why does he allow them to experience hardships?
8. Is the psalmist trying to earn God’s love with his promise of obedience at the end of the stanza? Why or why not?
9. How do Jesus’s suffering, death, and resurrection help you endure your present hardships?
10. Does concern for obeying God come to your mind during hardships? How would focusing on obeying God change how you experience trials?