When all is lost, your future looks bright (Psalm 96-103)
The crushing weight of worldly loss can leave us reeling with discouragement. The loss of finances, businesses, friendships, housing, etc. can take a huge toll on our lives and, sometimes, our Christian walk. The Bible speaks clearly about the world and all that is in it; do we love the world and what is in it or Him? When all is lost with regard to worldly treasures and pleasures, the Bible is here to say that your future relationship with God has potential for a very bright future!
all is lost
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The Israelites…
Taking a huge leap back in the Bible, look through the time of the Israelites leaving Egypt. They had to literally carry and move all of their possessions for 40 years in a desert, sometimes packing up camp after one days’ rest. Their earthly possessions were pared down to what they were willing to drag with them. ‘All is lost’ for them meant physical necessities were what remained. Living as nomads, they did not even take food with them.
Their complete reliance was on God, for everything: safety, guidance, food, water, health.
But more than the physical dependence, they became spiritually dependent through that.
Walking through the desert…
God took the Israelites through trials of loss and separation from the world. What may seem the most insignificant period of time, was actually one of the greatest recorded seasons of growth. They learned to trust in Him! Click To TweetGod took the Israelites through trials of loss and separation from the world. In that, they learned God’s physical plan and promises for them. What may seem the most insignificant period of time, was actually one of the greatest recorded seasons of growth. They learned to trust in Him, to rely on Him for all things.
Throughout the rest of the Old Testament and again in the New Testament, the Bible continually talks about this time and the need to remember it! God was brought to the forefront of their minds, He cared for them, took care of them, and led them. He was their ultimate provider.
Recalling the past…
For the Israelites, they were commanded to remember this time AND share about it to their children so it would never be forgotten.
Many verses in Psalms point directly to the Exodus, and others hint at the general remembering of God’s love for His people (including the Exodus). In these chapters (Psalm 96-103) alone we find quite a few calls to remember the past goodness God had shown the Israelites.
O you who love the Lord, hate evil! He preserves the lives of His saints; He delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
Psalm 97:10
Moses and Aaron were among His priests… among those who called upon His name. They called to the Lord, and He answered them. In the pillar of the cloud He spoke to them; they kept His testimonies and the statute that He gave them. O Lord our God, you answered them; you were a forgiving God to them, but an avenger of their wrongdoings.
Psalm 99:6-8
But you, O Lord, are enthroned forever; you are remembered throughout all generations.
Psalm 102:12
all is lost
He has remembered His steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
Psalm 98:3
For the Lord is good; His steadfast love endures forever, and His faithfulness to all generations.
Psalm 100:5
He made known his ways to Moses, His acts to the people of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children’s children.
Psalm 103:7-8,17
When all is lost…
Maybe you have traveled a season of despair… or perhaps multiple seasons… or even back-to-back seasons. They are hard. When all is lost in this world, it. Is. Hard!
Thank goodness Ecclesiastes teaches us there are seasons in life, that some are hard, and that it is okay to process through those times.
One thing that the Psalmists do well, is to point us to Christ when all is lost for us in this world. Whether it be one thing or many that have been stripped away, we can always look to God, because He is sovereign through it all.
Creation speaks His name…
Travel further back in your Bibles to the very beginning, where God created everything. This is the foundation of the Bible, but it also provides a foundation for our understanding of who God is. Click To TweetTravel further back in your Bibles to the very beginning, where God created everything. This is the foundation of the Bible, but it also provides a foundation for our understanding of who God is.
What He created then offers us a picture of His sovereignty still alive and well today.
Looking at nature…
The Psalmists in these 8 chapters offer pictures all around us that can further remind us to train our minds to see God in everything. Walk through these verses that speak about His creation and let it sink in just who our God truly is!
For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the Lord made the heavens.
Psalm 96:5, emphasis added
The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad! Clouds and thick darkness are all around Him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne. Fire goes before Him and burns up His adversaries all around. His lightnings light up the world; the earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth. The heavens proclaim His righteousness, and all the peoples see His glory.
Psalm 97:1-6, emphasis added
He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!
Psalm 99:1b, emphasis added
Know that the Lord, He is God! It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.
Psalm 99:1b, emphasis added
For your servants hold her stones dear and have pity on her dust.
Psalm 102:14, emphasis added
[The Lord,] who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Psalm 103:5, emphasis added
As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more.
Psalm 103:15-16, emphasis added
Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns! Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved; He will judge the peoples with equity.” Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it! Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord, for He comes, for He comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness, and the peoples in His faithfulness.
Psalm 96:10, emphasis added
Let the sea roar, and all that fills it; the world and those who dwell in it! Let the rivers clap their hands; let the hills sing for joy together before the Lord, for He comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity.
Psalm 98:7-9, emphasis added
In the pillar of the cloud He spoke to them; they kept His testimonies and the statute that He gave them.
Psalm 99:7, emphasis added
For my days pass away like smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace. My heart is struck down like grass and has withered; I forget to eat my bread. Because of my loud groaning my bones cling to my flesh. I am like a desert owl of the wilderness, like an owl of the waste places; I lie awake; I am like a lonely sparrow on the housetop. … My days are like an evening shadow; I wither away like grass.
Psalm 102:3-7,11, emphasis added
Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.
Psalm 102:25, emphasis added
For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.
Psalm 103:11-12,14, emphasis added
How great is our God!
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He is sovereign over ALL…
Consider that in these mere 8 chapters all of these were mentioned: the Heavens, world, sea and all that is in it, the field and all that is in it, trees, forest, coastlands, clouds, darkness, fire, lightning, mountains, rivers, hills, earthquakes, sheep, desert owls, sparrows, shadows, grass, stones, dust, eagles, flowers, wind.
When all is lost in our world that is but a vapor, creation can point us to Him. This doesn’t even bring to light the beauty of His creation that can also point us to Him!
What I’m saying is that even though your world may be crumbling around you, leave the world it’s joys. Our joy is in the One who made everything and controls the universe and focusing on the things that God created help bring about that awareness.
Your future…
When you journey through a season of despair, consider your mindset and remember the Israelites. God promised them a future inheritance (the Promised Land), and He promises us one as well (eternity).
But, as with most good things, they don’t come from willful abandon and hoping. They come from faith, and through that relationship of faith, a steadfast commitment to righteous living and obedience to His word!
We cannot coast into Heaven so I implore you today, that even if all is lost in your world, that you turn to Him and seek Him. You have the option to see Him everywhere you turn… do you?
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Thanks for hosting! This is a great post. We can’t serve God and man, and the closer we get to Him, the more we don’t want to! I know for me, the more I’m in the Word, the more I’m convicted for my sins. This world is so good at worming it’s way into our hearts and minds, so we must stay rooted in the Word daily!
Whenever I am in a wilderness season, I try to remember that God does not lead us into the wilderness to abandon us there, but so that we will be alone with him.