But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you. – Psalm 39:7

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 29, 2019): Psalm 39

American poet Langston Hughes writes, “Hold fast to dreams, For if dreams die Life is a broken-winged bird, That cannot fly.” We all have moments of darkness when the walls seem to be closing in on our lives. And it is only hope that can help us to find the passage out. If it were not for our dreams, we would sit in the darkness and believe that this is the way life has to be. We probably know several people for whom this is the reality of their lives. There is no hope, only darkness. Their dreams have disappeared, and passage out of the night is well hidden. The situation is hopeless, and they are convinced that they will never return to life.

As David writes this Psalm, this is precisely the place that he finds himself. David was a celebrated and much remembered Poet-King. He was a great military strategist. He found himself at the center of a nation that was shaping the world around him, and yet he often seems to find himself in places where he experiences a lack of hope. The darkness often seems to surround him, and the dreams that should show him the way out of his dark night have all disappeared. For David, life often seems to be “a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.”

And it is in those moments that he turns his focus toward God. For as strong and as militarily proficient that David was, even he was not strong enough to meet all of the trials of life. He needed God. And if David needed God, then so do we.

Charles Spurgeon remarks that “Here the psalmist steps off the sand, and puts his foot on the rock. Happy is the man who can say to the Lord, ‘My hope is in [you].'” God is the creator of our dreams and the author of our way out of the dark times of life. And even when everything seems lost, he is the commander of the cavalry that is hiding just on the other side of the hill. He is not merely the author of our hope; he is our hope. And without him, life really is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 40