Psalm 112:10 – “Hope”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of this verse:

¹⁰A wicked one will see and be agitated.

   He will grind his teeth and melt.

   [The] desires of wicked ones will perish.

As I have studied this verse and read what others had to say about it, it strikes me that I don’t often enough pause to remember how blessed I am. Interestingly, the body of this psalm opens with the word “blessed” and ends with the word “perish.” Those two simple words sum up all there is to know about those who love God and those who don’t. The one will only know blessing for all eternity. The other will perish. The one is told even his children will be mighty ones, his righteousness will stand forever, and he will look in triumph on his enemies and be held high in honor. The other will simply grind his teeth in angry disappointment and all he hoped for will come to nothing.

Wow. And I’m in the “blessed” group only because Jesus died in my place and the Father chose one day to open my eyes to see the truth.

For all eternity. Wow.

We see this same truth all through the Bible, but I think of several passages:

“The prospect of the righteous is joy, but the hopes of the wicked come to nothing” (Prov 10:28).

“Peace, peace to him that is near and him that is far ... But the wicked are not so; they are like the troubled sea which cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked” (Isa 57:19-21).

“The wicked plot against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them; but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for He knows their day is coming” (Psalm 37:12,13).

Expressing these same thoughts, Psalm 107:41-43 concludes with “Whoever is wise, let him heed these things and consider the great love of the Lord.”

It is simply an inestimable blessing to live every day with hope. We believers go about our lives with the promise that our Lord will every day “work all things together for good,” that our destiny is in an eternal bliss with Him. I feel I am only beginning (after 36 years) to learn to trust Him in this and actually live in that hope. As I’ve often lamented, I am an incorrigible worrier and forget quickly that my hope (every day) is secure, that I can actually live in confidence in the Lord. But even in all my ridiculous fretting and drama, I always have this simple truth to come back to. Him. My Rock.

There are many who don’t. They don’t know Him. They don’t have a Rock. They don’t have this hope. No wonder they scheme and maneuver and manipulate, lie, murder, and steal.

God in Heaven, thank You for grace. Thank You for making me one of Yours, for letting this ridiculous twisted self-destructing idiot live his life with hope.

Help me today to live in that hope, to appreciate the gift it is, and not forget it the second anything seems to threaten me. And somehow, let Your presence go with me as I interact all day with people who may not have this hope. May somehow Your hope in me become hope in them.

It’s Your world. Help me be a part of it.