that they might set their hope in God, and not forget God’s deeds, but keep his commandments,
Parallel Translations
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that they might set their hope in God, and not forget God’s deeds, but keep his commandments,
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That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments:
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That they might put their confidence in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments;
Cross-references (23)
Passages linked to Psalms 78:7 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Deuteronomy 5:29 Oh that there were such a heart in them that they would fear me and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them and with their children forever!
- Revelation 14:12 Here is the perseverance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”
- Deuteronomy 4:9 Only be careful, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes saw, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your children and your children’s children—
- 1 John 5:3 For this is loving God, that we keep his commandments. His commandments are not grievous.
- Jeremiah 17:7-8 “Blessed is the man who trusts in Yahweh, and whose confidence is in Yahweh. For he will be as a tree planted by the waters, who spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes, but its leaf will be green, and will not be concerned in the year of drought. It won’t cease from yielding fruit.
- John 14:21-24 One who has my commandments and keeps them, that person is one who loves me. One who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will reveal myself to him.” Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, what has happened that you are about to reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?” Jesus answered him, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him. He who doesn’t love me doesn’t keep my words. The word which you hear isn’t mine, but the Father’s who sent me.
- 1 John 3:22-24 so whatever we ask, we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight. This is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, even as he commanded. He who keeps his commandments remains in him, and he in him. By this we know that he remains in us, by the Spirit which he gave us.
- Deuteronomy 8:2 You shall remember all the way which Yahweh your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, to test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.
- Deuteronomy 8:11 Beware lest you forget Yahweh your God, in not keeping his commandments, his ordinances, and his statutes, which I command you today;
- Psalms 40:4 Blessed is the man who makes Yahweh his trust, and doesn’t respect the proud, nor such as turn away to lies.
- Psalms 77:10-12 Then I thought, “I will appeal to this: the years of the right hand of the Most High.” I will remember Yah’s deeds; for I will remember your wonders of old. I will also meditate on all your work, and consider your doings.
- Psalms 91:14 “Because he has set his love on me, therefore I will deliver him. I will set him on high, because he has known my name.
- Psalms 103:2 Praise Yahweh, my soul, and don’t forget all his benefits,
- Psalms 130:6-7 My soul longs for the Lord more than watchmen long for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning. Israel, hope in Yahweh, for there is loving kindness with Yahweh. Abundant redemption is with him.
- Exodus 12:24-27 You shall observe this thing for an ordinance to you and to your sons forever. It shall happen when you have come to the land which Yahweh will give you, as he has promised, that you shall keep this service. It will happen, when your children ask you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ that you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of Yahweh’s Passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians, and spared our houses.’ ” The people bowed their heads and worshiped.
- Deuteronomy 6:12 then beware lest you forget Yahweh, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
- Deuteronomy 7:18-19 you shall not be afraid of them. You shall remember well what Yahweh your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt: the great trials which your eyes saw, the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which Yahweh your God brought you out. So shall Yahweh your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.
- Esther 9:27-28 the Jews established and imposed on themselves, and on their descendants, and on all those who joined themselves to them, so that it should not fail that they would keep these two days according to what was written, and according to its appointed time, every year; and that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city; and that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews, nor their memory perish from their offspring,
- Psalms 62:5 My soul, wait in silence for God alone, for my expectation is from him.
- Psalms 105:5 Remember his marvelous works that he has done: his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth,
- Psalms 146:5 Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in Yahweh, his God:
- 1 Corinthians 11:24 When he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “Take, eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in memory of me.”
- 1 Peter 1:21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead, and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope might be in God.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 7. That they might set their hope in God.…
7. That they might set their hope in God. Here the Psalmist points out the use to which the doctrine which he had stated should be applied. In the first place, the fathers, when they find that on the one hand they are instrumental in maintaining the pure worship of God, and that on the other, they are the means of providing for the salvation of their children, should, by such a precious result of their labors, be the more powerfully stirred up to instruct their children. In the second place, the children on their part, being inflamed with greater zeal, should eagerly press forward in the acquisition of divine knowledge, and not suffer their minds to wander in vain speculations, but should aim at, or keep their eyes directed to, the right mark. It is unhappy and wretched toil to be
“ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth,” (2 Timothy 3:7.)
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When, therefore, we hear for what purpose the law was given, we may easily learn what is the true and most successful method of deriving benefit from it. The inspired writer places trust first, assigning it the highest rank. He then requires the observance of the holy commandments of God; and he puts in the middle the remembrance of the works of God, which serves to confirm and strengthen faith. In short, what he means is, that the sum of heavenly wisdom consists in this, that men, having their hearts fixed on God by a true and unfeigned faith, call upon him, and that, for the purpose of maintaining and cherishing their confidence in him, they exercise themselves in meditating in good earnest upon his benefits; and that then they yield to him an unfeigned and devoted obedience. We may learn from this, that the true service of God begins with faith. If we transfer our trust and confidence to any other object, we defraud him of the chief part of his honor.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain He showeth wherein the use of this doctrine standeth:…
He showeth wherein the use of this doctrine standeth: in faith, in the meditation of God’s benefits, and in obedience.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 78:7 That they might set their hope in…
Psa 78:7 That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments:
Ver. 7. That they might set their hope in God] Summa legis divinae et scopus, this is a brief of the Bible, viz. to believe in God and obey his law; both which men shall the better do, if they forget not his works.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain That they might set their hope in God; that…
That they might set their hope in God; that by the consideration of God’s gracious promises, and wonderful works wrought by God for his. people, they might be encouraged to trust in him.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain That they might set their hope in God,.... And…
That they might set their hope in God,.... And not in the creature, nor in any creature enjoyment; see Job 31:24, the Lord is the only proper object of hope and confidence; Christ, who is truly God, is the hope of his people, and in him they place it, as they have great reason to do; since with him there is mercy, the mercy of God is proclaimed in him; and with him there is redemption, which includes the blessings of peace, pardon, and righteousness; and a plenteous one, a redemption from all sin; and it is the Gospel which points out these things in Christ, and encourages a firm and settled hope and trust in him: and this shows that that is meant by the law and testimony; since the law of Moses gives no encouragement to hope in God; it convinces of sin, but does not direct to a Saviour, and so leaves without hope; it works wrath, terror, and despair; it is in the Gospel only Christ is set before men, as the object of hope to lay hold on, and which is as an anchor sure and steadfast, where they may securely place it:
and not forget the works of God; which the Gospel declares; not only the miracles of Christ recorded by the evangelists, but the works of grace, redemption, and salvation; the remembrance of which is kept up by the ministry of the word, and the administration of ordinances:
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but keep his commandments; the commandments of Christ, and which are peculiar to the Gospel dispensation; and are to be kept in faith, from a principle of love, through the grace and strength of Christ, and to the glory of God by him; see Joh 14:15.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Psa 78:7-8. That they might set their hope in…
Psa 78:7-8. That they might set their hope in God — That by the consideration of God’s gracious promises, and his wonderful works wrought for his people, they might be encouraged to adhere to him, and trust in him alone. And might not be as their fathers — Who, though they were the seed of Abraham, the father of the faithful, taken into covenant with God, and, it appears, the only professing people he had then in the world, yet were stubborn and rebellious, walking contrary to God, and in direct opposition to his will. A generation that set not their heart aright — Who, when they outwardly and seemingly complied with the forms of worship which God had prescribed, yet did not direct or prepare their hearts to the obedience and service of God; and whose spirit was not steadfast with God — Who quickly discovered their hypocrisy by their apostacy from God, and from the religion which they professed, falling off from him even to the worship of idols, presently after they came out of Egypt.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain That they might set their hope in God -…
That they might set their hope in God - That they might place confidence in God; that they might maintain their allegiance to him. The object was to give such exhibitions of his character and government as to inspire just confidence in him, or to lead people to trust in him; and not to trust in idols and false gods. All the laws which God has ordained are such as are suited to inspire confidence in him as a just and righteous ruler; and all his dealings with mankind, when they are properly - that is, “really” - understood, will be found to be adapted to the same end.
And not forget the works of God - His doings. The word here does not refer to his “works” considered as the works of creation, or the material universe, but to his acts - to what he has done in administering his government over mankind.
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But keep his commandments - That by contemplating his doings, by understanding the design of his administration, they might be led to keep his commandments. The purpose was that they might see such wisdom, justice, equity, and goodness in his administration, that they would be led to keep laws so suited to promote the welfare of mankind. If people saw all the reasons of the divine dealings, or fully understood them, nothing more would be necessary to secure universal confidence in God and in his government.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 7. their hope] Or, their confidence, as Pro_3:26.
7. their hope] Or, their confidence, as Pro_3:26.
and not forget] “Lest thou forget” is the constantly recurring warning in Deuteronomy (Deu_4:9, &c.).
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the works of God] Or, as R.V. in Psa_77:11, the deeds of God.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain That they might set their hope in God. Instruction…
That they might set their hope in God. Instruction in God"s Law, and in his treatment of their forefathers, would naturally tend to make the Israelites "set their hope in God," who in the past had done so much for them. And not forget the works of God. They could not well forget, it" they were perpetually reminded of them. But keep his commandments. If they bore God"s worksi.e. his many mercies in mind, they would be the more disposed to obedience.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 7. That they might set their hope in…
Ver. 7. That they might set their hope in God. Faith cometh by hearing. Those who know the name of the Lord will set their hope in him, and that they may be led to do so is the main end of all spiritual teaching.
And not forget the works of God. Grace cures bad memories; those who soon forget the merciful works of the Lord have need of teaching; they require to learn the divine art of holy memory.
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But keep his commandments. Those who forget God's works are sure to fail in their own. He who does not keep God's love in memory is not likely to remember his law. The design of teaching is practical; holiness towards God is the end we aim at, and not the filling of the head with speculative notions.
Ver. 7. Set their hope in God. Their hope was to be set not in the law which punishes, but in grace freely given which redeems; therefore is it added and not forget the works of God. Johannes De Turrecremata. 1476.
Ver. 7. Practical philosophy.
I. Fix your hope wisely.
II. Store the memory richly.
III. So shall you guide the actions obediently.
Ver. 7-8. On the deceitfulness of the heart, in disregarding providential dispensations in general. John Jamieson's "Sermons on the Heart, "I. 430.
Psalms 78:8*
Ver. 7-8. On the deceitfulness of the heart, in disregarding providential dispensations in general. John Jamieson's "Sermons on the Heart, "I. 430.
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain That they might set their hope in God, and…
Psa_78:7-8
That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments.
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On the deceitfulness of the heart, in disregarding providential dispensations in general
I. Show what is implied in a diligent observation of providential dispensations.
1. A close investigation of the various steps of Providence towards us.
2. Attention to the temper of our hearts, to the dictates of conscience, and to the motions of the Holy Spirit, which concur with these dispensations.
3. An accurate trial of the meaning of all dispensations by the infallible standard of revelation.
4. An earnest desire of perceiving Gods design as of a loving nature.
5. A faithful recording of these dispensations.
II. Illustrate some of the deceits practised by the heart, in order to prevent a diligent observation of providential dispensations.
1. It entices us to indifference about practical religion.
2. It represents them as uncertain.
3. It represents many events as trifling and unworthy of attention.
4. It opposes this exercise, as if it unavoidably tended to enthusiasm.
5. It is represented as a great bondage to ourselves.
6. The heart may perhaps plead that this course is neglected by many who are as good Christians as we.
III. Advert to the designs of the deceitful heart in dissuading us from observing Divine dispensations.
1. It wishes to deprive God of the glory resulting from this exercise.
2. By this inexcusable negligence the delusive heart designs to deprive believers of much real comfort. There are two channels in which the Lord communicates consolation to His people. These are His Word and Providence. But we lose much of our comfort if we keep these separate.
(1) Diligent observation would eminently open up the mystery of Providence.
(2) It tends to increase a holy fear of God.
(3) It is an illustrious means of discovering Divine love.
(4) It tends greatly to strengthen faith.
(5) It is a great inducement to live closely with God.
(6) This practice must throw great light on the evil of sin, by discovering providential frowns and chastisements for those parts of our conduct that might otherwise appear trivial.
IV. Suggest some motives for encouraging Christians to this exercise.
1. The command of God (Deu_4:9).
2. God has pledged His faithfulness for the success of this work.
3. The example of the saints.
4. The consideration of Gods constant and tender remembrance of you may encourage you to this exercise.
5. The recollection of former mercies will afford you an argument with God for renewed instances of His love.
V. Concluding cautions.
1. Beware of making Providence the rule of your conduct. This would be to put it in the place of the world, which is not merely the principal, but the only rule.
2. Judge not of providential dispensations by their outward aspect.
3. In all your observation of Divine providence, still remember that the ways of God are unsearchable. His judgments are a great deep.
4. Beware of forming a rash judgment with respect to Gods designs. He that believeth h shall not make haste.
5. Be especially on your guard against harsh and uncharitable judgment. (J. Jamieson, M. A.)
Memory, hope and effort
My text tells us how past, present and future--memory, hope and effort,--may be ennobled and blessed. In brief, it is by associating them all with God. It is as the field of His working that our past is best remembered. It is on Him that our hopes may most wisely be set. It is keeping His commandments which is the consecration of the present.
I. Associate God with memory by thankful remembrance. We can see His presence more clearly when we look back over a long connected stretch of days, and when the excitement of feeling the agony or rapture have passed, than we could whilst they were hot, and life was all hurry and bustle.
II. Live in the future by hope in Him. Hope owes to Memory the pigments with which it paints, the canvas on which it paints, and the objects which it portrays there. But in all our earthly hopes there is a feeling of uncertainty which brings alarm as well as expectation. And he whose forward vision runs only along the low levels of earth, and is fed only by experience and remembrance, will never be able to say, I hope with certitude and I know that my hope shall be fulfilled. But they whose hopes are set on God have a certain hope, a sufficient one, and one that fills all the future.
III. Live in the present by strenuous obedience. After all, memory and hope are meant to fit us for work in the flying moment. Both should impel us to this keeping of the commandments of God; for both yield motives which should incline us thereto. A past full of blessing demands the sacrifice of loving hearts and of earnest hands. A future so fair, so far, so certain, so sovereign; and a hope that grasps it, and brings some of its sweet fragrance into the else scentless air of the poor present, ought to impel to service, vigorous and continual. Both should yield motives; both should impel to such service. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain
Psalms
MEMORY, HOPE, AND EFFORT
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Psa 78:7.
In its original application this verse is simply a statement of God’s purpose in giving to Israel the Law, and such a history of deliverance. The intention was that all future generations might remember what He had done, and be encouraged by the remembrance to hope in Him for the future; and by both memory and hope, be impelled to the discharge of present duty.
So, then, the words may permissibly bear the application which I purpose to make of them in this sermon, re-echoing only {and aspiring to nothing more} the thoughts which the season has already, I suppose, more or less, suggested to most of us. Smooth motion is imperceptible; it is the jolts that tell us that we are advancing. Though every day be a New Year’s Day, still the alteration in our dates and our calendars should set us all thinking of that continual lapse of the mysterious thing-the creature of our own minds-which we call time, and which is bearing us all so steadily and silently onwards.
My text tells us how past, present, and future-memory, hope, and effort may be ennobled and blessed. In brief, it is by associating them all with God. It is as the field of His working that our past is best remembered. It is on Him that our hopes may most wisely be set. It is keeping His commandments which is the consecration of the present. Let us, then, take the three thoughts of our text and cast them into New Year’s recommendations.
I. First, then, let us associate God with memory by thankful remembrance.
Now I suppose that there are very few of the faculties of our nature which we more seldom try to regulate by Christian principles than that great power which we have of looking backwards. Did you ever reflect that you are responsible for what you remember, and for how you remember it, and that you are bound to train and educate your memory, not merely in the sense of cultivating it as a means of carrying intellectual treasures, but for a religious purpose? The one thing that all parts of our nature need is God, and that is as true about our power of remembrance as it is about any other part of our being. The past is then hallowed, noble, and yields its highest results and most blessed fruits for us when we link it closely with Him, and see in it not only, nor so much, the play of our own faculties, whether we blame or approve ourselves, as rather see in it the great field in which God has brought Himself near to our experience, and has been regulating and shaping all that has befallen us. The one thing which will consecrate memory, deliver it from its errors and abuses, raise it to its highest and noblest power, is that it should be in touch with God, and that the past should be regarded by each of us as it is, in deed and in truth, one long record of what God has done for us.
We can see His presence more clearly when we look back over a long-connected stretch of days, and when the excitement of feeling the agony or rapture have passed, than we could whilst they were hot, and life was all hurry and bustle. The men on the deck of a ship see the beauty of the city that they have left behind, better than when they were pressing through its narrow streets. And though the view of the receding houses from the far-off waters may be an illusion, our view of the past, if we see God brooding over it all, and working in it all, is no illusion. The meannesses are hidden, the narrow places are invisible, all the pain and suffering is quieted, and we are able to behold more truly than when we were in the midst of them, the bearing, the purpose, and the blessedness alike of our sorrows and of our joys.
Not a few of us are old enough to have had a great many mysteries of our early days cleared up. We have seen at least the beginnings of the harvest which the ploughshare of sorrow and the winter winds were preparing for us, and for the rest we can trust. Brethren! remember your mercies; remember your losses; and ‘for all the way by which the Lord our God has led us these many years in the wilderness,’ let us try to be thankful, including in our praises the darkness and the storm as well as the light and the calm. Some of us are like people who, when they get better of their sicknesses, grudge the doctor’s bill. We forget the mercies as soon as they are past, because we only enjoyed the sensuous sweetness of them whilst it tickled our palate, and did not think, in the enjoyment of them, whose love it was that they spoke of to us. Sorrows and joys, bring them all in your thanksgivings, and ‘forget not the works of God.’
Such a habit of cultivating the remembrance of God’s hand as moving in all our past, will not, in the slightest degree, interfere with lower and yet precious exercises of that same faculty. We shall still be able to look back, and learn our limitations, mark our weaknesses, gather counsels of prudence from our failures, tame our ambitions by remembering where we broke down. And such an exercise of grateful God-recognising remembrance will deliver us from the abuses of that great power, by which so many of us turn our memories into a cause of weakness, if not of sin. There are people, and we are all tempted to be of the number, who look back upon the past and see nothing there but themselves, their own cleverness, their own success; ‘burning incense to their own net, and sacrificing to their own drag.’ Another mood leads us to look back into the past dolefully and disappointedly, to say, ‘I have broken down so often; my resolutions have all gone to water so quickly; I have tried and failed over and over again. I may as well give it all up, and accept the inevitable, and grope on as well as I can without hope of self-advancement or of victory.’ Never! If only we will look back to God we shall be able to look forward to a perfect self. To-morrow need never be determined by the failures that have been. We may still conquer where we have often been defeated. There is no worse use of the power of remembrance than when we use it to bind upon ourselves, as the permanent limitations of our progress, the failures and faults of the past. ‘Forget the things that are behind.’ Your old fragmentary goodness, your old foiled aspirations, your old frequent failures-cast them all behind you!
And there are others to whom remembrance is mainly a gloating over old sins, and a doing again of these-ruminating upon them; bringing up the chewed food once more to be masticated. Some of us gather only poisonous weeds, and carry them about in the hortus siccus of our memories. Alas! for the man whose memory is but the paler portraiture of past sins. Some of us, I am sure, have our former evils holding us so tight in their cords that when we look back memory is defiled by the things which defiled the unforgettable past. Brethren! you may find a refuge from that curse of remembrance in remembering God.
And some of us, unwisely and ungratefully, live in the light of departed blessings, so as to have no hearts either for present mercies or for present duties. There is no more weakening and foolish misdirection of that great gift of remembrance than when we employ it to tear down the tender greenery with which healing time has draped the ruins; or to turn again in the wound which is beginning to heal the sharp and poisoned point of the sorrow which once pierced it. For all these abuses-the memory that gloats upon sin; the memory that is proud of success; the memory that is despondent because of failures; the memory that is tearful and broken-hearted over losses-for all these the remedy is that we should not forget the works of God, but see Him everywhere filling the past.
II. Again, let us live in the future by hope in Him.
Our remembrances and our hopes are closely connected; one might almost even say that the power by which we look backwards and that by which we look forwards are one and the same. At all events, Hope owes to Memory the pigments with which it paints, the canvas on which it paints, and the objects which it portrays there. But in all our earthly hopes there is a feeling of uncertainty which brings alarm as well as expectation, and he whose forward vision runs only along the low levels of earth, and is fed only by experience and remembrance, will never be able to say, ‘I hope with certitude, and I know that my hope shall be fulfilled.’ For him ‘hopes, and fears that kindle hopes,’ will be ‘an indistinguishable throng’; and there will be as much of pain as of pleasure in his forward glance.
But if, according to my text, we set our hopes on God, then we shall have a certainty absolute. What a blessing it is to be able to look forward to a future as fixed and sure, as solid and as real, as much our possession, as the irrevocable past! The Christian man’s hope, if it be set on God, is not a ‘may be,’ but a ‘will be’; and he can be as sure of to-morrow as he is of yesterday.
They whose hopes are set on God have a certain hope, a sufficient one, and one that fills all the future. All other expectations are fulfilled, or disappointed, as the case may be, but are left behind and outgrown. This one only never palls, and is never accomplished, and yet is never disappointed. So if we set our hopes on Him, we can face very quietly the darkness that lies ahead of us. Earthly hopes are only the mirrors in which the past reflects itself, as in some king’s palace you will find a lighted chamber, with a great sheet of glass at each end, which perpetuates in shining rows the lights behind the spectator. A curtain veils the future, and earthly hope can only put a mirror in front of it that reflects what has been. But the hope that is set on God draws back the curtain, and lets us see enough of a fixed, eternal future to make our lives bright and our hearts calm. The darkness remains; what of that, if
‘I only know I cannot drift
Beyond His love and care’?
Set your hopes on God, and they will not be ashamed.
III. Lastly, let us live in the present by strenuous obedience.
After all, memory and hope are meant to fit us for work in the flying moment. Both should impel us to this keeping of the commandments of God; for both yield motives which should incline us thereto. A past full of blessing demands the sacrifice of loving hearts and of earnest hands. A future so fair, so far, so certain, so sovereign, and a hope that grasps it, and brings some of its sweet fragrance into the else scentless air of the poor present, ought to impel to service, vigorous and continual. Both should yield motives which make such service a delight.
If my memory weakens me for present work, either because it depresses my hope of success, or because it saddens me with the remembrance of departed blessings, then it is a curse and not a good. And if I dream myself away in any future, and forget the exigencies of the imperative and swiftly-passing moment, then the faculty of hope, too, is a curse and a weakening. But both are delivered from their possible abuses, if both are made into means of helping us to fill the present with loving obedience. These two faculties are like the two wings that may lift us to God, like the two paddles, one on either side of the ship, that may drive us steadily forward, through all the surges and the tempest. They find their highest field in fitting us for the grinding tasks and the heavy burdens that the moment lays upon us.
So, dear friends! we are very different in our circumstances and positions. For some of us Hope’s basket is nearly empty, and Memory’s sack is very full. For us older men the past is long, the earthly future is short. For you younger people the converse is the case. It is Hope whose hands are laden with treasures for you, Memory carries but a little store. Your past is brief; your future is probably long. The grains of sand in some of our hour-glasses are very heaped and high in the lower half, and running very low in the upper. But whichever category we stand in, one thing remains the same for us all, and that is duty, keeping God’s commandments. That is permanent, and that is the one thing worth living for. ‘Whether we live we live unto the Lord; or whether we die we die unto the Lord.’
So let us front this New Year, with all its hidden possibilities, with quiet, brave hearts, resolved on present duty, as those ought who have such a past to remember and such a future to hope for. It will probably be the last on earth for some of us. It will probably contain great sorrows for some of us, and great joys for others. It will probably be comparatively uneventful for others. It may make great outward changes for us, or it may leave us much as it found us. But, at all events, God will be in it, and work for Him should be in it. Well for us if, when its hours have slidden away into the grey past, they continue to witness to us of His love, even as, while they were wrapped in the mists of the future, they called on us to hope in Him! Well for us if we fill the passing moment with deeds of loving obedience! Then a present of keeping His commandments will glide into a past to be thankfully remembered, and will bring us nearer to a future in which hope shall not be put to shame. To him who sees God in all the divisions and particles of his days, and makes Him the object of memory, hope, and effort, past, present, and future are but successive calm ripples of that mighty river of Time which bears him on the great ocean of Eternity, from which the drops that make its waters rose, and to which its ceaseless flow returns.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
The writer speaks of the "children" of Psalms 78:5-6.
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translationWords
hope
God
works
rebel
heart
spirit
commit
faithful
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 78:7-8 God holds each generation responsible for its own…
78:7-8 God holds each generation responsible for its own response, which should be to maintain faith and hope (see 9:18; 27:14) and avoid being stubborn, rebellious, and unfaithful (see Deut 9:6-7; 10:16; 30:6; 31:27).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.