My Hope and Confidence is in Him – Psalm 146:3-5

Don’t put your confidence in powerful people; there is no help for you there. When they breathe their last, they return to the earth, and all their plans die with them. But joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper, whose hope is in the Lord their God. (3-5)

Well, I guess it was eventually bound to happen, I finally just had my first bout with COVID-19. Despite social distancing (some days better than others), despite being vaccinated, and despite going 2 years through this pandemic without getting sick, the inevitable has happened. I say inevitable because no matter how much we try to control our environment, we are mortal and circumstances are not truly under our control. We tend to put our confidence in people, in technology, in our resources, and our knowledge, but at the end of the day, all of these things will eventually fall short.

The Psalmist reminds us that our ultimate hope must be in the Lord our God. He is the only one who never fails and He holds all things (including us) in His hands. If God is your helper you can be joyful because you know that everything is going to be okay. This doesn’t mean everything will go your way. On the contrary, sometimes you will face trying circumstances and you will struggle with everyday problems. Yet, as a child of God, you can rest assured that He is in control, that nothing takes Him by surprise and whatever happens to you is for your ultimate good and His ultimate glory.

Thankfully, I am on the other side of this illness and feeling much better. God has been faithful and I am thankful for His sustaining and healing grace in my life. It was not powerful people or scientific knowledge that saw me through this trial; it was the God of Israel who was my helper. I am thankful for those who cared for me and I am thankful for the medical expertise that informed my decisions during my sickness. But at the end of the day, it was God’s grace that carried me through and like the Psalmist I have been reminded that my hope and confidence must always be in Him.