Securing Your Hope to the Name of God
One of our Biblical heroes, David, said things like, "I believe I will see the goodness of God in the land of the living." He also confidently declared that God would help him defeat the giant Goliath. Why or how could David make such claims? How could he be so confident? And the question of the hour for us reading this is — how do we live with that kind of faith and confidence. I think a verse in Psalm 52 will help us:
And I will hope in your name, for your name is good. (Psalm 52:9)
I love how he says, "I will hope in your name". Even at the surface level that phrase is great, David is showing that his confidence and boldness comes from the fact that his hope isn't in himself or circumstances but in the name of the Lord. As we dig a little below the surface on this verse I believe that it will give us a greater revelation to live with the kind of hope that David had.
Let's look at two key words in the verse we read, the first is "Hope" and the second is "Name".
The word "Hope" comes from a literal thought about "binding something to something else" To twist in with something else.
The word "Name" isn't just speaking to a literal name of God, but rather they use the word "name" to describe the character, fame, authority, and greatness of someone.
With those expanded definitions it gives us greater understanding of what David is saying that we can grab onto. We see that David is saying, "I will wrap and secure all my hope to the character of God".Wow! Love that! He's wrapping and attaching his hope, and expectation of good onto the track record, character, power, and greatness of God. But then he finishes that verse by saying, "I'll hope in your name, for your name is good." It's one thing for God to be consistently angry or consistently apathetic to us, but David is saying, that my hope is in your name, because you are known by others and by me to be consistently good. God is committed to us and through Jesus has focused His favor on us.
Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits— who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. (Psalm 103:1-6)
If those verses don't stir you up about the love and goodness of God I don't know what will! The character of God is good so we can fully put our hope and expectation on the good name of God, knowing that He is working good on our behalf.As I close out this article, it's key to note that we have to learn to hope in God regardless of the current circumstances. The presence of difficult circumstances doesn't hinder God's ability to move on your behalf. We all have to do the continued hard word of redirecting the attention of our heart and thoughts off of the circumstances and onto the great name of God!If you want to walk with greater hope and confidence, if you want to live with a truer sense of peace, then shift your hope off of yourself and the circumstances and throw your hope fully and completely onto the good name of our great God.
