For you have been my hope, Sovereign LORD, my confidence since my youth. – Psalm 71:5

Today's Scripture Reading (October 2, 2025): Psalm 71

The Kobayashi Maru. Every Star Trek fan recognizes the name. In the fictional Star Trek universe, the name symbolizes the "no-win situation" that tests the character of a new Starfleet cadet. Of course, Captain Kirk does not believe in "no-win situations," so he cheated; the Enterprise's Captain changed the parameters of the test so that there was a way out. In Kirk's mind, the test itself was a cheat because it did not allow for a win. According to Captain Kirk's logic, how could you cheat something that was already cheating? All he felt he was doing was responding with the same integrity that the test was giving to him. However, to the rest of the Star Trek Universe, Kirk cheated.

I don't often disagree with the fictional Star Ship Captain, but here I do think that Captain Kirk might have been wrong. In real life, we do face no-win situations. Oh, we often deny it, just like fictional James Tiberius Kirk. When things go wrong, we usually attribute the failure to something we have done or a sin we have committed. It is repeatedly the question that I hear from friends during rough times: What did I do to deserve this? And sometimes we can pinpoint that something, but sometimes there doesn't seem to be anything that has been done wrong. Sometimes, stuff just happens.

We are not entirely sure when this Psalm was composed. There is internal evidence that the Psalm was written late in the life of the Psalmist because he mentions the sins of his youth (vs. 7). Traditionally, the Psalm has been attributed to David, and the rebellion of Absalom might have sparked it. If it was Absalom's rebellion that was the stress point behind the Psalm, then the sin that sparks David's rough time is his sin with Bathsheba. But it might have been something else that lies at the bottom of these penitential words from the Psalmist.

Whatever the reason for the Psalm, the Psalmist makes it clear that God is his hope. Regardless of what is going on, the Psalmist is not someone who exists without hope. Since his youth, his hope was not in his talents, abilities, or circumstances. If there is hope for the future of the Psalmist, he believes that his hope is only in God. Whether the tough time the Psalmist is experiencing is of his own making or simply a case of "stuff happens," the Psalmist relies on God to protect him, secure in the knowledge that even if this is the Kobayashi Maru no-win situation, God is still in control. And with God, even a no-win situation has hope at the end of the road.     

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Psalm 92 & 93