Hope Has A Voice

Are you a cynic?  A cynic is someone who is skeptical of the integrity, sincerity, or motives of others. Therefore, these days there’s a little bit of a cynic in all of us. Now, no one starts out in life on a quest to become a cynic.  A cynical spirit is something that just creeps up on you over time.  It often comes when you’ve experienced personal disappointments:  Your father didn’t give you love when you were growing up – perhaps he was a drunk, or a cheat or just abandoned your family.  Maybe you’ve experienced betrayal from a spouse.  Perhaps you were taken advantage of by an employer or used by a friend. These kinds of selfish acts have a way of destroying your trust – and they can make you cynical. It can also creep up on you when have experienced disappointments with the Church. You’re not sure you can trust the church, because somewhere in your past you were hurt by the very people who were supposed to love you. Or you were spiritually abused by power-hungry leaders.  I know more than a few people who’ve given up on the church because of corrupt leaders.  And now, you’re reluctant to get involved – or you know people who refused to get involved in Church out of fear they might get burned again. Now, there’s another series of disappointments in the spiritual realm that creates cynicism. Cynicism can arise out of disappointments with unanswered prayer.  You used to pray, but so many of your prayers were never answered. You asked God to restore your marriage – didn’t happen. You asked God to bring your child back to Jesus – still no change.  You asked God to deliver you from a bad situation, it’s like He never heard you.  So, now you tell yourself “why bother?” Broken promises, manipulative leaders, unanswered prayer – all these things have a way of eroding our faith in God and making us cynical.

And where cynicism starts to affect you is when you decide to protect yourself from further disappointment. You disconnect. You continue to attend worship, but you find yourself reluctant to get involved.  Instead, you become a passive observer, not an active follower of Jesus Christ. But where cynicism really begins to damage your faith is when you stop believing God cares about you.  And you allow that to happen, cynicism can destroy your hope in God.

So, let me ask you?  Do you find yourself distancing yourself from God’s people? Do you sometimes wonder if God really cares?  And have you ever heard yourself say, “Why bother to pray?”  If you answer yes to any of these, then you’re probably struggling with a cynical spirit. But if you’re like me, you don’t want to stay there.  You want to trust again, you want to serve and engage with God’s people, but you don’t know where to start.  And if that’s where you find yourself this morning, if you’re looking for a way to throw off your cynicism and heal your hope, then let me encourage you to open God’s Word to Psalm 86, where David shows us how giving hope a voice is critical in restoring your hope in God. So, if you want to nip your cynicism in the bud and restore your hope, let’s look at how David gives hope a voice.

And it all stars with David’s raw appeal to God:   Listen to his prayer in verses 1-5, Hear, O LORD, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. Guard my life, for I am devoted to you. You are my God; save your servant who trusts in you. Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I call to you all day long. Bring joy to your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to you. Psalm 86:1-5

David is relentless in his appeal to God.  He wants to be heard. You could say that he is desperate to be heard. Listen to all the different ways David appeals to God:

He appeals to God’s compassion, saying, I am poor and needy. This phrase “poor and needy” is strategic.  It was used over and over again of God’s people who were attacked by the wicked.  Here, hope appeals to God’s compassionate nature to deliver you when you are under attack.

He appeals to Gods’ faithfulness, saying, Guard my life, for I am devoted to you. You are my God; save your servant who trusts in you. Here David reminds God of His covenant promise of protective love to those who trust in Him.  David’s counting on God to be faithful to His promise.  And again, he voices this hope in prayer.

This is a great example for us.  The Bible is full of so many promises that God has for His people.  But do you know His promises?  The Psalms are full of them. That’s why praying the psalms is a great practice to revitalize your own prayer life and restore your hope.  One of those promises, a vital truth about who God is, is embedded in the midst of this psalm.  It goes like this:“But you, O LORD, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in love and faithfulness.” Psalm 86:15.  Just knowing these truths about God can revitalize your prayer life.  So, here, David appeals to God’s faithfulness. But he also…

He appeals to God’s mercy, asking God Have mercy on me, Hope believes God is not stingy with His mercy. Hope believes God has an infinite and abundant supply of mercy. So, David calls on God to pour out His mercy, then he says something that really caught me attention.  He says, Have mercy on me, O Lord, for Icall to you all day long.  Here is the raw desperation of David’s appeal. He’s determined to get an answer. He’s not giving up. And what that reveals to us about the nature of hope is this: Hope Doesn’t Take No for an Answer

When I was pastoring in British Colombia, I met a mother who prayed like this.  She just had a baby, but something went wrong in the delivery.  The umbilical cord was wrapped around his throat in the birth canal cutting off oxygen to the brain.  As a result, her child was born with brain damage.  The doctors said there was very little hope for recovery.  But mom would not take no for an answer.  She had hope.  Like David, she believed God was compassionate. Like David, she believed God was merciful.  And like David, there was no quit in her.  She kept on praying when everyone else said it was pointless…  Can you believe it?  Good, well-meaning people tried to get her to stop praying.  But she was tenacious.  She kept at it.  So, did God heal her son?  Not in the way we might expect.  But her son is alive, and he’s loved.  But what I saw in her, because of her tenacious hope, God healed her. And not long after that she started a home for mothers and children with disabilities, who’d gone through what she had gone through, but who had no hope. Hope doesn’t take no for an answer.

What about you?  In an age of instant gratification and quick fixes, it easy to throw in the towel – to give in to cynicism. But hope doesn’t do that. Hope doesn’t take no for an answer.  Why?  Because hope believes in God’s mercy, His compassion and His goodness.  Hope believes that it is God’s nature is to do good to His people, to help His people, and love His people.  But sometimes our present circumstances cause us to question His goodness.

So, let me ask you: Do you think David ever questioned God’s goodness?  Sure, he did. He constantly battled disappointments. Even his son Absalom rebelled against him. But David was a fighter. David refused to give up on God. Rather than give in to cynicism, he gave hope a voice.  Perhaps that’s what God wants from us today. Sometimes we forget that God has an abundant supply of mercy available to us.  Sometimes we forget that we are the object of His steadfast love.  And sometimes we give up too quickly. I don’t know where you’re at today, or how many disappointments you’ve had to endure. But what I do know is that God is forgiving and good, abounding in love to all who call on Him.  So like David, don’t give up.  Don’t take no for an answer. Keep calling on Him.

That’s what David did, and as he did, something changed in him, and that’s what we see next:  David’s bold confidence in God Listen to his words: Hear my prayer, O LORD; listen to my cry for mercy.  In the day of trouble, I will call to you, for you will answer me. Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord; no deeds can compare with yours.  All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord; they will bring glory to your name.  For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God. Psalm 86:6-10

David didn’t give in to cynicism because he believed God would answer him. He says, In the day of trouble, you will answer me.  Where does this confidence come from?  It comes from knowing God. He doesn’t just believe that God is good, He knows God is powerful – that God is in control of nations and history – that God is great.  He knows what God is like!  One of our greatest needs today is to know who our God is.  We need to understand who He is, what He is like, and how great He is.  We need to grasp that God knows the details of our existence, and that He has the compassion and the ability to do something about it. This is what gave David hope.  This what gave him boldness. This is why He believed God would answer Him – because he was able to say there is none like you, O Lord; no deeds can compare with yours.

Hope is not birthed in Naïve Optimism – Hope is grounded in the character of God.  Because David knew God was incomparable in His greatness – he had confidence in the face of evil that God would help him.

With this kind of hope, David was not intimidated by evil. He had confidence that God would answer his prayer.  This was not a “Well, I hope God will show up and deliver me” kind of prayer.  But a “I know God will come through for me” kind of prayer.

Can you say that you have this kind of confidence in God?  That you KNOW He will answer your prayers? Cynics will tell you that you are foolish to think that God can change anything. Cynics will tell you that God is indifferent to your needs.  And cynics will tell you that the outcome would be the same whether you prayed or not.

But David is not a cynic. His hope is in a great God. I don’t know about you, but there have been times in my life, where the spirit of cynicism has tried to scuttle my faith. In preparing this talk I realized that I used to have a bold faith like David’s. But somewhere along the way I stopped praying big, audacious prayers that measure up to the capacity of our great and gracious God…

But now as I hear David’s voice of hope – I’m reminded of my unbelief. It reminds me of how much cynicism kills hope, how it makes dreaming seem foolish. But in hearing this prayer, David’s voice of hope encourages me to dream big, to hope big – because we have a gracious God who still wants to rescue the perishing, and a great God whose willing move mountains to help us!

So, David’s voice of hope reminds me of who God is and what He can do. David’s voice of hope makes me want to believe God still does wondrous things.  And David’s voice of hope makes me want to pray! And I hope his voices does the same for you.

For look with me now, at the fruit that comes out of David’s confidence in God. Now we see David’s passion for God’s Name He prays: Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.  I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever.  For great is your steadfast love toward me; you have delivered me from the depths of the grave. Psalm 86:11-13

Confidence in a great God ignites a desire in us to please God.  Let me say it this way: Hope Forms a Heart After God And the more we express our hope on our great God, the more we want to be like Him. That’s why David says:  Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth. Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.  Psalm 86:11

As David is voicing his hope in God, no one needs to convince him to learn God’s ways.  He wants to learn them.  No one needs to encourage him to honor God – He wants to fear God. He wants to glorify God in all He does. But the kicker is this: He asks God to give him and undivided heart. What a request?

Listen to how Ezekiel describes God’s gift of an undivided heart: I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.  That they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people and I will be their God. Ezekiel 11:19-20

Voicing your hope in God creates a desire for God – for God’s ways, for God’s heart, for God’s glory – Your communication to God creates a desire for communion with God. That’s how surrender works: give him your heart, surrender your will – and a desire to learn and engage in the things of God follows. You become wholehearted. You become who God intended you to become.  This is why voicing your hope destroys a cynical spirit – it heals your heart!

So then, out of your healed heart comes the desire to walk in God’s truth.  Out of your healed heart comes the desire to please God. Out of your healed heart comes the desire to glorify God.

So, let me ask you, how’s your heart today?  Do you want an undivided heart?  Then give your hope a voice.  Ask God to heal your heart and give you an undivided heart!

Well, you would think that David would have had his say at this point – but there’s still one last movement in his prayer:  David’s Direct Honesty With God.  Here David gets real before God and lays out the specifics: there’s a bunch of arrogant and ruthless men attacking him – men who have no regard for God – so he just tells God what he wants.  He wants God’s mercy, God’s strength, and He wants God to save Him – and so He says, “Give me a sign of your goodness” David wants some tangible evidence of God’s goodness right now.  Now, I’ve got to tell you – this is what I love about David.  He’s about as real as it gets. He believes God will answer Him – and now He’s telling God how he’d like him to answer. He wants his enemies to be put to shame.  “Smoke ‘em Lord!”  And with this request, the last characteristic about hope we see here is this:  Hope Gets Real With God.

God’s not looking for religious language from us. He wants honesty.  When you pray – God wants you to tell it like it is – tell Him what you need – what you want.  Just let it out.  Be direct.  Be specific.  Get real.  He can handle it! You can tell God anything! That’s how David ends his prayer.  He tells God what he wants God to do, and then he closes simply by saying, for you O LORD, have helped me and comforted me.

This is why God gave you a voice! So, you can destroy your cynicism and rekindle your hope when you call out to Him in prayer.     

For when you use your voice, you don’t have to take no for an answer.

And when you use your voice, you can have confidence in the face of evil.

And when you use your voice, God can make your heart whole again.

And when you use your voice, you can tell God anything.

And when you use your voice, God will help and comfort you with His steadfast love.

So don’t let the disappointments of your life scuttle your hope.  Don’t let the hurts and betrayals of you past destroy your trust.  And don’t let a cynical spirit keep you from praying.  God has given you a voice.  And He wants you to use it.

Appeal to His compassion

Appeal to His faithfulness

Appeal to His mercy

Appeal to His steadfast love for you.

Remind Him of who He is and what He has done!  He is your great God who exists to love you. Remind yourself of all He has done for you! Then ask Him to help you walk in His ways, give you an undivided heart, so you can glorify His name.

Then get real with Him and wait to see what He will do. For you don’t just have a voice. You have a great and loving God who knows your voice and will answer your voice when you call to Him.  Let’s pray.