Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.
Our Psalm for this week, a reading from Psalm 33, speaks to the vanity of our earthly hopes. A great army, a warrior’s great strength, a mighty warhorse, all are vain hopes. We cannot find any ultimate protection in any of our militaristic bluster, in any fortifications that we could devise.
There’s a tragic misconception held by many in our society. Those who do not trust in the God described in the Bible find Him to be opposed to them. They fear. They read about how all our strength is a vain hope and they immediately suppose that the Lord intends to wipe them out, and that God’s people would be really happy to help with that task.
On the contrary, we look at the hope given in this Psalm. God says that we are weak and ineffectual, but that He is strong. Is He strong for our destruction? Only if we need that. For those who will trust in Him, He is strong to rescue us, to deliver us from our enemies, to feed us, shield us from danger, and keep us in his steadfast love.
Our strength will fail. Our love will be warped. Our consistency will come to an end. But God, the protector of all who trust Him, will never fail. Our Psalm calls us to this living hope.
If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.