Hope for Waiting: Reflections on Psalm 33

Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!

Psalm 33:12 ESV

When I think of God’s nation and his heritage, I first think of Israel, his chosen people, and I see a ragged, newly freed nation, rising in victory from out of the Red Sea.

Then I think about the church. We are his people now. Paul calls the saints “the riches of his glorious inheritance.” Paul calls this truth the hope to which we are called (Ephesians 1:15-18)

And now I see the church, a band of ragged sinners, following the call from out of the flood of chaos and death through the waters of baptism into the glorious hope of victory through Christ.

And what of the nations around me? What of the chaos that I still see? Father, it is so hard to look forward to a hope that, today, feels impossibly far away.

The LORD looks down from heaven; he sees all the children of man; from where he sits enthroned he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth, he who fashions the hearts of them all and observes all their deeds.

Psalm 33:13-16

You see the flood, Father. Why are you silent? I am overwhelmed by the anger and hate and pain.

The king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength. The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot save.

Psalm 33:16-17

The rumble of tanks is diminished. The heat of their fire is useless. Even the siren song of the hungry wolves is muted. They are all impotent and false. They cannot save.

Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the worlds stand in awe of him! For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.

Psalm 33:8-9

I have nothing to fear of the chaos of this world. The flood cannot consume me for I am held fast within the ark of Christ’s redemption. The door is shut. They cannot touch me. My hope is in a power far beyond the rulers and dominions of this world, both global and within the circle of my daily existence.

Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love, that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine. Our soul waits for the LORD; he is our shield. For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name.

Psalm 33:18-21

Teach me to wait on you today LORD. I don’t ask for tomorrow, because my hope is broader than the scope of my mortal life. Teach me to be glad in you and trust in your holy name.

Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in you.

Psalm 33:22

Beloved, hope and wait.