Title: My Hope Is In You.
Contents
Psalm 39:4-7 My hope is in You.
A psychopath sneaked into a department store at night. We joked all night long. They changed the price tag at will. They put 1 million won on the 10,000 won spot, and 5,000 won on the 2 million won spot... They played a prank on their own. But something amazing happened the next morning. I opened the door of the department store and received customers, and when the customers came in, they just looked at the stupid price tag and bought the goods without any strange eyes.
This story is a twist on the values of modern people. In other words, modern people live without knowing what is really important and what is really valuable because their values are confused. That's why they treat very valuable things cheaply and buy useless things, thinking they are really precious.
So who's going to come to this crazy price tag department store and buy stuff? It could be us living in the modern age. Everyone, just take a look at my life. What am I living my really precious life for? Is the thing I hold dear to me really precious in my life? Would love to take a look again.
Everyone, have you ever heard the story of a ‘woman who bought for the bathroom’? A poor woman was living in someone else's house with a three-bedroom apartment. However, there was only one bathroom, so there was always a problem every morning. Even using one bathroom requires the attention of the owner, and when using it at the owner's house, you can't enter... It was really hard and painful.
So this woman made a decision. “Anyway, I will make a house with a bathroom.” And how hard I clenched my fists, and after a few years I bought a house, which is not a big house. There's a bathroom there, so it's comfortable and nice... Now you don't even have to look at the owner.
But one day, a friend said that he had bought an apartment, so I went to see it and said, “Uh- Does this house have two bathrooms? There's one next to the living room and another bathroom behind the master bedroom!” Seeing that, this woman became greedy. There are a lot of children in the morning, but before going to school, they fight and make a fuss about going to the bathroom first. So this woman thought again. “Oh, it would be really nice to live in a house with two bathrooms!”
So this woman is risking her life again. “Anyway, I will buy an apartment with two bathrooms.” I saved up the money to die and bought an apartment with two bathrooms. Now the kids don't even notice each other and it was so good. However, this woman struggled so much to buy a house with two bathrooms, then fell ill and lived for several months before she died.
Folks, it's a funny story, but if we waste our lives for vain things and are drawn to vain things, after all, my life is the same as the woman who bought the bathroom. People have things they need to live in the world. We need food, clothing, and a place to live. But it should be enough. There is no need to risk my life there. clothes? You just need to have something to wear in moderation, but you don't have to wear luxury goods to make your life beautiful. home? It is necessary to have a suitable house, but it is not necessary to have a luxurious house to live a beautiful life.
Everything is the same. We shouldn't risk our lives in such a place. A person must know the purpose for which he can stake his life and live. “I live for this. There has to be something that can say, “This is the goal of my life.” But even among Christians today, there are many who do not understand the word. “What is the purpose of your life?” If you ask me, I can't speak.
The psalm we read today was written by the famous King David. He is a king who enjoyed wealth and glory. Israel was most prosperous when he was king. There was nothing envious. He sings this in the text: “My hope is in You.” Gentlemen, this is what David was great at. He did not put his hope in the world's wealth and glory, nor in the material things of the world, but lived his life saying, "My hope is in You."
Living like this, what did God say when he evaluated David? He was praised for saying, “I found David, a man after my own heart.” David always put his hope in the Lord in whatever he did. Today we want to look at how David lived his hope in the Lord. This is verse 4 of the text. “O LORD, make known my end and what my days are, so that I may know my weakness.”
Ladies and gentlemen, David is praying for you to know what the end of my life will be and what my age will be. A foolish person lives only for today. However, a person of wise faith lives by looking at the future of my life. More precisely, I live with the end of my life. because? Because success or failure in life is not decided today, but at the end of my life. After the curtain of life has come down, when I stand before the Lord who is our judge, success or failure in my life is decided. So David is praying to know the end of my life.
Everyone, I want to ask you. What is your end? What will it be like when you stand before the Lord on the day that all your life on this earth will end in an instant? Are you crying and crying, “Why did I live my life like this?” Or are you filled with the joy of living a happy life forever with the Lord you love so much? We must always envision our own end. When I stand before the Lord, I need to think about what my appearance will be like. Only those who live like that can live life rightly and live each day rightly.
David also confesses in verse 5: “You have made my days as wide as my hand, and my whole life is as if nothing before you, for every man's time when he stood firm is truly in vain.” David said our lives were futile. It means that David enjoyed all the riches and honors of the world, so that was not the end of life. They had power, fame, material things, and worldly pleasures, but they were in vain. Of course, this doesn't mean you have to be a nihilist. It's not about living in poverty. I'm not saying don't make money. We must work hard. But it doesn't mean we shouldn't put our lives in it. We must always put our hope in the Lord.
David confesses. “Even when each person stands strong, it is truly in vain.” Ladies and gentlemen, there are some people who sometimes think, “Now I am strong.” There are people who think, “Now that I have saved so much money, I will be able to live comfortably for the rest of my life!” But God's answer is not. If you believe it, you are a failure. David realized that no matter how strong a city was built with worldly honor and power, it was in vain. Therefore, he puts his hope in the Lord.
David also confesses in verse 6. “Truly, each one walks like a shadow, and dwells on vain things, and accumulates wealth, but he does not know who takes it.” Ladies and gentlemen, walking alone without the Lord is walking like a shadow. That is, living in vain. Who pursues fame and worldly pleasures? This is living life in vain. Who knows that the only goal in life is to make money? That person lives like a shadow in vain.
Because we do not have hope in God, we are agitated by vain things, and we are needlessly busy with vain things. When the pastor asked why she didn't come on Sunday, she said she didn't come because she was busy. When I asked him what made him so busy, he replied that he was busy with going to the Strawberry Festival early on a Sunday morning.
Everyone, think about it. Is it that busy? Isn't it busy with vain things? Why do we waste our lives today? Because I'm pretty busy chasing vain things. Guys, we have to look at what's so busy today. How good would it be to be busy with the Lord? But the Lord locks him in the church, and the Lord locks him in the bedroom with a key and says, “Lord, I’m quite busy right now, so don’t ever follow me.” Such a life is to live a life in vain like a shadow.
Gentlemen, to be preoccupied with vain things means to pursue vain lusts and vain pleasures. But the Bible says that the end of vain desires and vain pleasures is death. That is, it perishes. Therefore, we must give up vain greed. It's chasing the shadows, and in the end it's like chewing on sand.
There was a couple who were poor, but had been married for 30 years and lived well together. On the day of their 30th wedding anniversary, an angel appeared and said, "You have lived well for 30 years in the midst of hardship!" Then he asked his wife what her wish was. So my wife asked, “I have a lot of children, but my house is small, give me one study room for my children, and give me a small house in front of the house with a garden where you can plant flowers.”
Then the angel answered, “If you wake up from sleep, your wishes will come true.” It's not that I slept and woke up and the house has really changed. I can give each child a study room, and in front of the house there is a house with a small garden where you can plant flowers. But that night, an angel appeared again and this time asked her husband to make a wish. But when this husband said what he said, “I wish I could live in a house like this with my 30-year-old wife!”
But the angel unexpectedly answers. “Yes, I will grant you your wish. When you wake up, it will be the same.” This husband was so happy that he went to bed early and woke up early. But how did things go? My husband, who was 60 years old, turned 90. And the angel says: “My child, live well with your 30-year-old wife as you wish.”
Gentlemen, you must not have vain greed. It's a shortcut to ruin yourself. We must put our hope in the Lord. David confesses in verse 7 of today's text. “Lord, what can I hope for? My hope is in You.” Everyone, I pray that you will live with your hope in the Lord on this earth and stand before the Lord in a beautiful state on the last day of your life.