And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee.
The question comes after self-examination of conduct and recognition of the shortness and frailty of human life and the vanity of earthly pursuits, where men heap up riches without knowing who shall gather them. It sets the self-occupied I over against the Lord, in whom alone hope rests. In that setting it is waiting on the Lord and placing expectation and hope in God, not in self or in passing earthly things. The world's changing ways and its accumulated riches cannot satisfy the soul's deepest desire or bring the peace for which it longs, and the Holy Spirit leads the humble to put their hope in God.
It marks a movement from need to confidence, after the pattern of psalms that begin with a sense of need and end in triumph and confidence in God. Prophetically it pictures Christ's hope in God amid the inner struggles and temptations He endured, opening His experience beyond the triumphant events recorded in the Gospels. David's hope here was Jesus, the blessed hope. Remembering the limits of life turns men to trust God rather than earthly wealth. It is also the place to put hope for a newly begun work in God.
The question comes after self-examination of conduct and recognition of the shortness and frailty of human life and the vanity of earthly pursuits, where men heap up riches without knowing who shall gather them. It sets the self-occupied I over against the Lord, in whom alone hope rests. In that setting it is waiting on the Lord and placing expectation and hope in God, not in self or in passing earthly things. The world's changing ways and its accumulated riches cannot satisfy the soul's deepest desire or bring the peace for which it longs, and the Holy Spirit leads the humble to put their hope in God.
It marks a movement from need to confidence, after the pattern of psalms that begin with a sense of need and end in triumph and confidence in God. Prophetically it pictures Christ's hope in God amid the inner struggles and temptations He endured, opening His experience beyond the triumphant events recorded in the Gospels. David's hope here was Jesus, the blessed hope. Remembering the limits of life turns men to trust God rather than earthly wealth. It is also the place to put hope for a newly begun work in God.