You are my hiding place and my shield,
In your word I place my hope.
My meditations went today to the word hope. Hope is important. Hope is easy to lose.
When the psalmist places his hope in God’s word, he is placing it not just in the law-giving power, but in the creative power that stands behind those laws and makes them real.
For me, that comes down to the hope that comes from believing that the world is not pure chaos, that there are natural laws and that natural laws lead to many of our moral and ethical laws. We can work with the hope that good actions will tend to produce good results. It’s worthwhile to make an effort.
In ancient near eastern mythology creation was often symbolized as a fight between chaos and whatever God was credited with establishing order. Order allowed planting and harvesting. It allowed building, growth, and provision for a future. Genesis 1:2 reflects this pattern with darkness over the face of the deep (tehom) and God’s spirit/wind moving above it.
Then God’s Word comes, and light shines into the darkness. As God continues to speak order is created from the chaos. Because of that chaos, humanity can find a place to live, and grow, and yes, create, as one made in the image of the ultimate Creator.
We sometimes see grace as working counter to this. We do not reap what we sow, but what another has sown. At the same time, grace speaks the same victory over the chaos, the same offering of potential. The one who planted a garden in Eden and there placed the first man and woman, also provides a way of escape for those caught in the chaos.
The challenge is to find those small victories over the forces of chaos, to believe they are possible, to reach out for them, and receive them. God provides the hiding place and the shield.
In the chaos that threatens your life today, remember the Word who has defeated it.
(Featured image generated by Jetpack AI.)
