The Worlds Okayest Pastor

Hope That Holds When Life Hurts

• Jason Cline

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Hope isn’t a mood you can will into place; it’s the lifeline your whole self reaches for when everything else runs dry. We open Psalm 42–43 and discover the Hebrew word nephesh—the integrated self of mind, body, and emotions—crying out for the living God. This is not a pep talk. It’s an honest look at grief, loneliness, and the taunt of “Where is your God?” met by a stubborn refrain: “Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him.”

We trace how culture trains us to love happy endings while our souls crave something steadier. Lament becomes our bridge from pain to praise, not by ignoring the ache but by naming it and turning toward the One who breathed life into us. Worship shows up as a fight for focus, a reorientation that pulls us out of distraction and back to Presence. Along the way, we follow the arc of biblical hope—Abraham and Sarah’s waiting, Joseph’s long road, Job’s hard wisdom—and we hear how scripture calls hope an anchor firm and secure.

Then we bring it home in Jesus. God does not watch from a distance; He steps into our condition, bears injustice, and proves that we don’t just need Him—He wants us. That love reframes our tears, our doubts, and our daily battles. If you’ve been feeding on your tears or chasing peace that never lasts, this conversation invites you to breathe again, to sing if you can or whisper if you must, and to choose a hope that holds. If this spoke to you, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs fresh courage, and leave a review so others can find a way back to hope.

SPEAKER_00:

You know, I I talked about it last week, but but you and I are we're wired for hope. We uh we live in a culture that that just it it it thrives off of it. I mean if you think about uh kind of the the movie world and and how we perceive movies and in today's culture and and the fact that we continue to um I was thinking about this today. Uh if you know um it's that time of year where there's like lifetime movies, right? Lifetime movies are my favorite. Uh not that I watch them, by the way, because they they follow a pattern, right? So so I was doing some research this week and uh I came across something, and it was talking about movies in general, and that um so if you look at most films in Hollywood, 60 to 65 percent of them end on a hopeful note. The bad guy loses, the guy gets the girl, they find a cure, whatever. Now, if you put that in the category of family, and if you put that in the category uh of like romance rom-coms, that the number actually increases to about 85%. And then I read somewhere and someone said, and if you watch a lifetime movie, it's 100%. Because every lifetime movie ends on a high note. Now, I don't know if this is true, I've never seen enough of them. Uh, but I can tell you that that we, you and I, live in a culture that that we we we feed off of hope. We want things to work out well. We want to know that the struggle is worth it. We we we want to know that that the battle doesn't have to end. We want to understand that that at the end of everything we go through, there's a purpose for it. That's why people they seek answers. Sometimes they seek it in the church, sometimes they seek it in the Bible, sometimes they seek it in other places, but but culturally we love to win. So it's what it's what gets us emotional. It's what helps us rise to the top. We love underdog stories. Think about Rocky. You ever seen any of the Rocky movies? We were listening, uh, as Eye of the Tiger came on the other day in our car, and my kids are like, What's this? And I'm like, This is from the Rocky movie. And everyone's like, What's Rocky? And I'm like, I have failed you. I have failed you. How do you know? Okay, now we've got to watch these, right? Because we love an underdog story. We we want to be victorious, we want to rise from the ashes. And so that's what that's what we're looking at today. We're we're looking at hope, but but hope is so much more than a temporary feeling. It it has to be. Hope is what wakes us up every day. Hope is what keeps us pushing forward even when life is difficult. Today we're going to be in Psalm 42 and 43. Uh, so uh in some of the original contexts, uh, Psalm 42 and 43 are actually kept as one Psalm completely. Um we separate them, a lot of uh Bibles separate them, but a lot of early scholars didn't, and it's because they the refrain uh in the middle of Psalm 42 and the refrain at the end of 43 are very similar, they're identical to each other. So we're gonna treat Psalm 42 and 43 as one collective thought. I realize in the Bible what it that it separates them, but that's not how we're gonna look at it. So Psalm 42 and 43. So before we read this, we need to understand uh the word. Uh there's a word that's gonna be uh I'm gonna give you the Hebrew word, and the English word is gonna translate uh to soul, but but the Hebrew word for soul in in the Hebrew language is nefesh. Say that. Nefesh. Great, you guys are now scholars. Congratulations. So the word nefesh, right? So so let's let's kind of pick this word apart. The the word nefesh in the Old Testament is when it's used by the uh the authors, it's talking about the wholeness of a person. So that's important uh because we do see the word soul later in the New Testament. It's talking about like this eternal soul that eventually when we die it goes and it's in the place of heaven. But but the author uh in Psalms, when they talk about the word soul, the word nefesh, they're talking about the whole being of a person. So that's everything you and I are our feelings, our emotions, the way we live, the way we act, that our nefesh is who we are. Uh, the first time we see this word is actually back in Genesis 2, 7, when God breathes life into Adam, it's the Nefesh, the spirit, right? So God literally breathes man into existence. You and I are nefesh. We are a whole thing, we are a whole creation. Every part of our life matters. So when you see the word soul in the Old Testament, it it's it's this idea that my entire existence, that's what it's talking about. Again, Genesis 2.7, God breathes Nefesh. He breathes life into Adam. You and I are not, we don't, we don't have a spirit, we are a spirit. We are collectively one thing. Everything about us matters. Who you are physically, who you are emotionally, who you are spiritually, it is all one idea. And and this is important because this word, as we read through Psalm 42 and 43, we have to understand that the the author of this is is not someone who how can I say this? It's not someone who's giving themselves a pep talk. It's someone who is wrestling with their very existence as a person. They are struggling. And if you've ever if you've ever been through any kind of grief, you understand the grief is so much more than I feel down in my soul. You're tired, you're worn out, your body feels beaten. Like when you were in moments of grief, like everything about you feel like it's it's failing you. And so the author uh of Psalm 42 and 43, as they write this, they are someone who is wrestling essentially with an existential crisis. They are realizing that they are broken. So I want you to understand that. So take this for what it is. This is the pouring out of someone who has nothing else to give. So Psalm 42, starting in verse 1, it says, As the deer pants for the stream of water, so my soul, my nephesh, pants for you, my God. My soul thirst for God, for the living God. Where can I go and meet with God? My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, Where is your God? These things I remember as I pour out my soul, how I used to go into the house of God under the protection of the mighty one, with shouts of joy and praise among the festive throng. Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? So the the first five, four and a half verses of this, the author is saying, Why, why do I feel this way? Why, why do I feel so broken and burdened? I I remember how things used to be good, and and now I I literally feed off of my tears. Saying I I don't under and people they they mock me. And again, this isn't a self-pep talk, but but his response in this moment's important. As we continue on to verse 5, he says, put your hope in God, for I will praise him, my Savior and my God. My soul is downcast within me, therefore I will remember you. From the land of the Jordan, the heights of the Hermon, uh, from Mount Mysar, deep calls to deep, and the roar of your waterfalls, all your waves and breakers have swept over me. By day the Lord directs his love, and at night his song is with me. A prayer to the God of my life. I say to God, my rock, why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy? My bones suffer mortal agony, and my foes taunt me, saying to me all the day long, Where is your God? And his response is, Why my soul are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. Then we get in the Psalm 43, it says, Vindicate me, my God, and plead my cause against an unfaithful nation. Rescue me from those who are deceitful and wicked. You are God, my stronghold. Why have you rejected me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy, enemy? Send me your light and your faithful care. Let them lead me, let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell. Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight, and I will praise you with the learn. O God, my God. And he finishes, Why, my soul, were you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. You know, that I love these two songs because it captures this internal conversation I think you and I have all the time. We have moments where life feels like we are unstoppable. Nothing can get in the way. And then we have moments where we're walking through some of the hardest things we've ever gone through. And one of the biggest conversations or one of the questions I when I when we're dealing, when I'm dealing with people who are dealing with grief, is where's God? And my answer always to them is he's right here. And I understand, listen, and they don't feel that way. I I've been through moments of grief where I felt like God was nowhere around me. I have experienced loss in my life that I felt like God could not possibly understand. I've been following Jesus since I was 15, and I've had moments where I felt abandoned by him. That that's that's my humanity. The author of these psalms goes through this, and then he says, I will praise my God, anyways. Put my trust and my faith and my hope in the one who sustains me. Why, why, my soul, are you downcast? Why are you disturbed? And it says, put your hope in God. Again, this idea of Nefesh is the authors, it's it's who we are. But it's it's who we are. Because we we feel things. We are we are we're people. We have emotions. We we go through ups, we go through downs, we we go through struggles. And and then we talked about this, and and we just I know we just get out of Ecclesiastes, but but Solomon is a perfect picture of this. He looks at all the everything he has and he goes, oh, this is meaningless. I I've been in places where I've been in situations and I've said, Oh, this is meaningless. But but the author of this psalm, these two psalms says, Listen, in those moments when my greatest despair is felt, in those moments when I feel like God is not around me, in those moments when my enemies say, Where is your God? I have to remind myself that he is right here with me. In this moment, he has never abandoned me. He's never left me, he's never left me to figure this out on my own. If anything, he walks through some of the hardest things with me when no one else will. What's the the the image people use on their Bible? You know, it talks about the guy in the sand, he walks and there's only one set of footprints, like, oh God, you carried me. Listen, you know why that resonates with people? Because we've all felt carried by God before. We have all walked through things in life and said, there's no way I could do this on my own. And the author of this psalm is in a moment of his life, in a moment of disparity, he says, God, manifest it's seeking you. I don't know what else to do in this moment, but to give my focus to you because everything else around me fails. I'm fed by my tears. I'm fed by my my loneliness. My soul doesn't know what to do. And the author of the psalm, and all of his brokenness, says, but God, I still choose you. I still choose to focus on you. I I still choose to give you praise. I I I still want to make sure, God, that that that I understand that when life is difficult, that that very breath that you breathe into Adam is in me. And that very breath, that that very longing for for existence, that that very longing of that that the idea of feeling hurt and lost and broken can only be satisfied in you. The the word for uh the psalms in in in Hebrew is tahalim. Say that. That was close, it was close. Listen, don't worry about it, because sometimes I have to look up pronunciation too, so I'll sound like a fool up here. But the the word for psalm in in the Hebrew is tahim, uh, which means praise. So the psalms are uh ancient Israel's praise songs. Psalms are are meant to be praise songs, they're they're meant to be songs of worship, which is kind of interesting because this doesn't seem like a great praise psalm. As my tears are broken, as I feed myself on my tears, God, as my soul is downcast. But but again, in this moment, the author says, God, I choose to focus on you. I think that's why uh praise and worship in church is so important. I you know, I listen, I I appreciate this worship team. I appreciate what they do, I appreciate the time and the energy uh that goes into you know Cody and and what he does and how he picks worship songs, and and and because the one thing that he'll tell you, and unless I'm bragging on him because he won't brag on himself, is everything we do up here is for the glory of God. No offense, we love you guys, it's not about you. It's not even about us. Everything we do up here, from the beginning of service to the communion we take, to the worship, to the message, has to point people to Jesus. That's the point, right? So, so when we worship, when we tahalim, when we do our praise songs, those are designed to refocus our soul, our nafesh, onto the living hope that is only found in Jesus. That's the goal, always. Because everyone comes in here with a nefesh, and either it's broken or it's praising. But as we enter into this place, as we enter into who we are, as we bring our full self to God, our goal is to focus ourselves on the only one who can satisfy us. Because here's what I've learned in my very short life: that people will do anything to try to find peace except seek God. They will chase women, they will chase jobs, they will chase prosperity, they will chase fame, they will do what they they convince themselves that if they just had these things, they would be satisfied. But the Nefesh, the soul that was breathed into you in Genesis 2.7, can only be satisfied by the one who breathed it into you. That's it. There is no other answer found in Scripture. God created you to seek him. As I was preparing through this week, when I write stuff out, there's things that I write down and I highlight them. And a lot of times I highlight it because it's something that I need to hear, but I believe this morning, so do you. When it comes to God, he is everything you need. Wait. And you are everything he wants. Think about that. It's not just he needs us. Or it's not that he he sorry, it's not that we need him. We do. But he wants us. He he created a way to satisfy our soul, and it's by the worship and the proper obedience to living the life he's called us to. Because everything else will leave us longing for more. Only God can satisfy what God created. That's it. Nothing else. You will not find hope that's eternal and permanent. You will not find hope to lift you out of the darkest of darks. You will not find hope unless you find God. That's it. That's the answer. James H. Uh uh Walter Waltner paints it like this. He says, with the striking metaphor of a doe roaming the parched landscape in search of uh refreshing water, the psalmist describes the soul's search for a living God. The cry of the desperate soul rises up from nearly every verse like insatiable thirst, the longing to be in God's presence, daily tears, the taunts, memories of what no longer can be, the blues, like destructive waves, unanswered prayers, suffering and the fear of death, feelings of injustice, abandonment, and homesickness for God's house. He says, with all of that is written in Psalm 42 and 43, the author comes to one conclusion that as the world around them crumbles, his soul is longing for God. This idea captures the Nefesh, the living, feeling, embodied self, crying out for communion with God. The psalmist thirst to is not merely emotional, but existential. It is the longing of one's whole being for the presence that gives life every image. Thirst, tears, waves, and justice testifies to a soul that refuses to give up seeking God even when he feels distant. It's not resignation, it's a faith that forms longing. The song that the psalmist is living the same life that you and I live, the same life Solomon lived. The good comes with the bad, the broken walk alongside the menden. The challenges of this world are always present. Yet, through it all, the psalmist chooses to stay focused on God. Again, to Halim, it's a song of praise. Even in the laments, these are ultimately acts of worship. These psalms are sung in prayers that are meant to reorient the heart, pulling both writer and reader back into alignment with God's presence and his promise. That's what our worship is meant to do. As life gets in the way, we have to realign ourselves to the truth. That God is the only hope that we have. God is the only thing that will truly fulfill our purpose, our longing. I had this conversation, I've had this conversation a lot lately, and I've said it from here before. My goal is not to grow this church. It's not. I think that's a beautiful thing. My goal is to get people to realize that seeking God is the best thing they can do with their life. The transformation comes from following Him. And then to see that transformation as it transforms people, you and I are transforming those around us. As they see us hold on to this eternal hope, as they see that our nefesh, even in brokenness, is still praising the God who created us. As we walk through some of the hardest moments of our life, as they watch us, they should look at us and say, I want that. And again, it's not this idea that everything's peachy all the time. It's not. That's unrealistic. I tell people this all the time. People who are happy all the time, they're delusional. I'm sorry. And if you take offense to that, I don't mean to, because if you're like a uh an upity person, that's great. But we can't act like everything's fine all the time. That's not realistic. But when life feels lost, like the psalmist, like the author, we can say, Oh my soul, why are you downcast? Praise the Lord. That's what hope is. Hope is not this idea that it's just gonna be this moment where everything is gonna be good all the time. Hope is the realization that even in the bad, God is still good. Worship is the fight. Every time we step into this place, we oftentimes are fighting against ourselves. We are not gonna give up. We are gonna look at who we are, we're gonna look at our brokenness, we are gonna sit sometimes in our sorrow and our grief and say, God, you are still God. That's why hope is important. We talk about uh Abram, Ham, and Sarah. Way in the beginning, unable to have kids. God provides a way. We talk about the story of Joseph. We talk about Moses and Israel and the Red Sea. We talk about uh Hannah last week. Her prayer, God, I'm barren, give me a son. We talk about David, Elijah, we talk about the prophets. We we talk about Job. Job was a book of hope. Did you know that? It doesn't feel like it. But Job is a book of hope because at the end of Job, Job comes a realization that I am a man and you are God, and that's okay. God's not trying to beat Job up. God's saying, remember who I am. Long before you were, I was. And as we look forward to the future, as we look towards the New Testament, the hope that we have eternally comes in Jesus. Listen, God is not this far-off, distant, unattainable person. He came into this world as a tangible human. He lived life among us. Jesus walked through some crazy things. And at the end of it, he died. Like he died not unnecessarily, he shouldn't have died because he didn't do anything wrong. He was murdered. I'd explained that to my kids this week. He was murdered for what? Because he offers something that no religion and no religious practice can bring. We need God. But he wants you. Jesus proves that. At just the right moment, when you and I were still sinners, when we were still lost, Christ died for us. When you talk about hope, hope can only be found in one name, and that's the name of Jesus. And God continues to show himself again and again that those who put his hope, their hope in him will not fail. Here's some quotes from people who are much smarter than me. Max Lakato says, God never said that the journey would be easy, but he did say that the arrival would be worthwhile. G.K. Chesterston said hope is the power of being cheerful in circumstances which we know to be desperate. Francis Chan said our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding in things in life that don't really matter. Hope should always shift our eyes towards eternity. N. C. Wright says hope means expecting God to act when loving, uh when uh loving power in our lives, with loving power in our lives, no matter how dark the night. Carl Barth says Christian hope is not a ghostly optimism, but a confidence in the God who raises the dead. Walter Briggerman says hope is the refusal to accept despair is the final word. Christine Cain says hope is not a wish that things will get better. It's the assurance that God is still good. Corey Tenboom says, never be afraid. I love this one. Never be afraid to an unknown, sorry, never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God. Augustine of Hippo says hope has two beautiful daughters. Their names are anger and courage. Anger at the way things are, and courage is sea that they do not remain the way that they are. Jeremiah 17 7, Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. Lamentations, lamenting, three, twenty-one through twenty-four, yet this I call to mine, and therefore I have hope, because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed. Micah seven seven, but as for me, I watch and hope for the Lord. I wait for God my Savior, my God will hear me. Paul in Romans, Romans five, five, says hope does not disappoint us because God's love is poured into our hearts. Romans 15, 13. May the God of hope fill you with joy and peace as you trust in him. Hebrews 6, 19, we have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. As my Nefesh cries out, I have to remind myself that the longing of my soul can only ever be satisfied in the one who gave it to me. When people ask me why I follow Jesus, my answer is pretty simple. But it's because I've never found anything better. Hope doesn't mean we go around acting like everything's fine. But hope is the reality that the God who gave me my Nefesh is the one that still sustains it. The very breath that is in me. The hope that I have, that longing that I desire, can only be found in the one who created it. As I need God, what makes it beautiful is the fact that he wants me. He died for me. Oh my soul, why are you so downcast? Put your faith in the Lord. That's right. Oh.