God will bring us to a place where Hope is a choice. This is the process of choosing hope.

The psalmist is wrestling with a time in his life that he would call unfair. Asaph has seen the wicked go unpunished and the righteous downtrodden and he wonders where God is in all of this.

He says that his flesh and heart have failed him. The flesh represents here what we are able to do in the natural. When things are not going right, we will try to do something to make things right. We will speak up. We will give money. We will call people and try to work things out, but even then, at times, nothing gets better. And we are stuck in what seems like a godless moment.

His heart fails. The heart here represents the inner spirit of man. This is our hopes, dreams, courage, and confidence. When our flesh has failed, often our heart follows quickly. We feel that we have done everything we can and still nothing has changed. Hopelessness sets in.

He then reminds himself that God is the strength of his heart. He does not say that God is the strength of his flesh, only His heart. Now, we begin to see God working in the heart of man. If we are ever to put our faith in God, we need to see that we don’t have the resources within our flesh to make right every situation. We need to come to the place where all of our natural abilities and resources have been exhausted without effect.

But then our heart fails and we have a decision. Choosing hope must be our new direction. Our choice is to continue in the hopelessness of what we can see or turn our eyes to something beyond what we can see. God’s hope is that we will turn to Him remembering He exists outside of our time-space with power. Like a child building and rebuilding legos, God is able to change things without effort. This thought reverses the heart’s direction. Hope returns and joy follows.

Choosing hope brings joy unspeakable. Choosing hope brings peace that transcends understanding. This is the hope we have in misery that confounds the world and gives God glory. Not only does He sustain this hope, He never disappoints our hope. As surely as the sun rises, God will appear and make things right again.

Prayer: Lord, help me to use my hopelessness to remember You have all things in Your hands and You know what we need. Amen.