30th September 2025

Praise The God of Hope

(Miniseries on praise – Final)

He grants the barren woman a home,

Like a joyful mother of children. Praise the Lord!

Psalm 113:9 

Today's Bible Reading: Psalm 113.

In Old Testament times being childless was a social disgrace. Childlessness was even more than that. It was a question of survival. In the agrarian society, the children helped in the fields and enabled the family to live out a meagre existence. Also, children assured that the parents would be cared for in their old age. Land was passed down to children, and children carried on the lineage. Children were valuable. The disgrace and fear that childlessness brought with it was overwhelming for the women. It also brought with it a sense of hopelessness.

Medical science has made great strides in enabling couples to have children when previously they would have been unable to conceive. These various medical procedures have brought a sense of hope to the situation. No such hope, though, was available to the childless couples centuries before the birth of Christ. Their only hope was in God.

In Psalm 113:9, the Psalmist envisions something different for those who were childless. He saw the Lord intervening, allowing the barren to conceive, blessing the couple with children and replacing their hopelessness with joy. Naturally, we realise that Israel did not suddenly experience a population explosion. That does not take away the truth that God does move in our lives and in our world. God also has the ability to change our hopelessness into joy.

In life, we will be faced with overwhelming situations. Life is full of them. However, they do not need to be hopeless situations for us. God is present and where God is there is hope. And the psalmist ends on the same thought he started with v 9: Praise the Lord! The caring, loving God who comes from the highest heaven to help the humble of the earth is worthy of praise — Hallelujah!

Prayer: Eternal Father strong to save, be my rock when the storms of life threaten to destroy me and rob me of my joy, and I am tempted to lose hope. In Christ's name I ask and pray. Amen.