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A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save. But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield (17-20).

Psalm 33 does not begin with hope. It begins with joy and ends with hope. In between these two, there is some important material. Let’s start with the joy. I have used it often the opening words of this psalm as a call to worship. Its important to notice that this is not an invitation; it is not written as a nice thing to do. It is a command: “Sing joyfully to the Lord.”

Here is one thing hiding in this psalm: those who sing joyfully to the Lord find hope.

Why does the Psalmist give the command to ‘sing joyfully to the Lord’? We might imagine that God has done something that has created joy among his people. But that is not where the composer goes. Rather, the psalm dwells on God’s nature more than on specific things he has done.

First, there are some stanzas about God’s word: it is right and true. It is also powerful. By this word, God created the world. He arranged the stars and the waters. Here, and in the rest of Scripture, God’s Word represents him perfectly. We see this most clearly when Jesus is introduced in John’s gospel as the Word made flesh, revealing the very glory of God.

Second, we are invited to consider God’s character. He is faithful to his word, he keeps his promises. He loves righteousness and justice and his love saturates the earth. God watches over the nations, keeping them from fulfilling their evil schemes. Yet, ensuring that his purposes are accomplished.

Sometimes we don’t feel like praising God joyfully. There are times for lament, as we have said often in these devotions. However, this psalm gives us direction in the movement from lament to joy and hope.

The road out of lament is to focus our attention on God; to see Him again.

We tend to put our hope in many things. We expect people and things on earth to fix stuff. If only we had more money, if only are family members weren’t so messed up, if only we could go on that vacation, if only our friends would… if only our government would… the list could go on. The problem is that none of these things or people can really fix anything. They may make us feel better for a time, but in the end, the problems are insurmountable.

God is our hope; our only hope. Notice that the psalmist does not have the expectation that God will fix things for us. Rather, the expectation is that God will keep us in times of trouble.

The trouble with this and many other psalms is that it is not a personal psalm. I cannot sing it as if it is about me. It’s a communal song: an Israelite psalm, a church psalm. Back then God kept Israel, today he keeps his church. He works out his purposes through the church.

The psalm invites us to get caught up in the great things that God is doing. And to live in the hope that his purposes will be accomplished. Nothing can undo God’s purposes. That’s our joy, that’s our hope.