As for me, I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more. – Psalm 71:14

Today’s Scripture Reading (July 10, 2019): Psalm 71

Musician, and sometimes book author, Chad Sugg writes in “Monsters Under Your Head” (a book of poetry) that “If you're reading this ... Congratulations, you're alive. If that's not something to smile about, then I don't know what is.” If you can take just one more breath, then inside of you resides a hope that will carry you farther than you ever dreamed. Smile. Take a ride on that hope, because it is the essence of life.

Hope is maybe the one thing that we all need but something of which we also seem to frequently run short. It is the lack of hope that steals our breath and our smiles away from us. Part of the reason why we lack hope is that we see hope as an item that is external to ourselves. We will have hope because someone else gives us hope. We have hope because we have good things in our lives. We have hope because someone treated us nice. We have hope because we have money in the bank. But the truth is that the things that supply us with external hope are often in short supply. We have hope only of people are willing to do things that will give us hope.

Maybe that is why I love the words of the Psalmist. “As for me, I will always have hope.” Hope, for the Psalmist is not a commodity that comes from without, but a decision that is made from deep within. I will have hope because I have decided that I will have hope. Try to take it away from me, and you will fail. Because hope swells up in such great quantity from inside of me that you could never steal it all away.

The outer condition of my life may not be anything of notice. But the smile that is on my lips is proof of the hope I hold within. I am alive, and I have hope. And I have decided that, in my life, those two things will never be separated. As long as God decides to give me another breath, I will revel in the purpose that he places within me. And there, I will find my hope.

If only we could all echo the Psalmists decision. Hope would be never far, and this world would be a much better place.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 92 & 93