Where Do You Put What You Don't Have?

I wish I lived in a smaller house. I'd have a lower mortgage. The utility bill wouldn't cause near as much pain. I'd have less house to clean. And I'd have less stuff. Don't get me wrong, I love my house. Just as important, my wife and kids love our house.

Nonetheless, there are days I long for a simpler life. And I believe that could be achieved with less house.

The primary reason is what I call the theory of expansion. The theory goes like this - you accumulate as much stuff as you have space to accumulate it. In other words, more space, more stuff. The amount of stuff expands to the amount of space. You can't move to bigger space to get more space because you'll inveriably get more stuff to fill the space.

It's a daily battle around our house to keep all our stuff put in its proper place. I constantly have to remind my kids that the entry way is not the place to accumulate the shoes that they kick off as soon as they walk through the front door. And don't leave your dirty close laying on the floor in your room. I never heard that one growing up. Ha!

Psalm 130:5-7 says this,

With all my heart I wait for the Lord to help me.
I put my hope in his word.

I wait for the Lord to help me.
I wait with more longing
than those on guard duty wait for the morning.
I'll say it again.
I wait with more longing
than those on guard duty wait for the morning.

Israel, put your hope in the Lord,
because the Lord's love never fails.
He sets his people completely free.

The psalmist begins by crying out to the Lord. The psalmist is suffering deeply. It seems as if the psalmist has exhausted all that the psalmist knows to do. The only thing that's left is to wait for the Lord's help.

Waiting for the Lord to help - that's called hope. You gotta put it somewhere. The psalmist puts it in the Lord.

Where do you put your hope? Truth be told, more often than I care to admit, I put it first in my own abilities, in what's familiar, in what I know. It's safer that way.

Paul says in Romans 8:24, "Hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has?"

Okay, I have a hard time putting all my stuff where it belongs. I've had this problem since childhood. But I have an even harder time putting what I don't have where it belongs, too. It's just plain hard to put your hope - your future, your dreams, your stuff - in something you can't see.

"Put your hope in the Lord," the psalmist says, "because the Lord's love never fails." Good counsel, isn't it. It's true. If you have any doubts, just read through a few pages of the Bible. The Lord's love hasn't failed me yet. Give it a try.