Morning. Your eyes open. The previous night’s whispers fade into the shadows. It’s a new day. Slowly, you rise, raise the blinds, and survey the field of broken dreams which litter your horizon. It feels like a sucker punch all over again.
The job that went sideways. The relationship that exposed the darkest parts of your heart. The bills that seem to pile up, demanding a piece of your soul, your future. The feelings of utter isolation in the midst of urban cacophony.
But one thing burns brightly from the deepest places of your heart: hope.
It’s what keeps you from diving off the precipice. And it’s not a vague notion; it’s far more potent and real than that. You may have a clear idea of what it is. A name might be lingering on your tongue even now. Or you may be wondering what obscure, impotent panacea I am about to unveil.
I assure you, it’s nothing and no one obscure or impotent or abstract. Perhaps the words below will explain what I mean. As you read them, please ask yourself, “What broken areas of my life is God wanting to begin healing today?”
1. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
Refrain:
On Christ the solid rock I stand,
all other ground is sinking sand;
all other ground is sinking sand.
2. When Darkness veils his lovely face,
I rest on his unchanging grace.
In every high and stormy gale,
my anchor holds within the veil.
(Refrain)
3. His oath, his covenant, his blood
supports me in the whelming flood.
When all around my soul gives way,
he then is all my hope and stay.
(Refrain)
4. When he shall come with trumpet sound,
O may I then in him be found!
Dressed in his righteousness alone,
faultless to stand before the throne!
(Refrain)
My Hope Is Built
Text: Edward Mote, 1797-1874
Music: William B. Bradbury, 1816-1868
Tune: THE SOLID ROCK, Meter: LM with Refrain
