Real Hope: Dealing With Disappointment and FailureSample

Invaluable Perspective

The other day I was listening to the psalms on an audio Bible app. As Psalm 49 was read aloud, I almost stopped in my tracks. It was as if I’d never encountered it before. I’ve read all the psalms, but you know how sometimes you read parts of the Bible, and it’s like someone has been keeping a secret from you? Why didn’t you tell me about Psalm 49?

What leaped out was its salient skewering of a perpetual problem of perspective. Many of us think if we have heaps of money... everything will sort itself out. As Psalm 49:6 puts it, trusting in wealth and boasting of abundant riches leads to personal failure as the obvious flipside. If I don’t have heaps of money, surely my problems will persist. Worse, maybe I don’t have heaps of money because I’m a failure.

Such disappointment at our lack of financial prosperity can be crippling, especially as others ooze wealth.

Look again at the important perspective broadcast by Psalm 49. Money is not the main game of life because you can’t take any with you. Instead, the big ticket item is paying the cost of redemption for what we’ve each done to God. Rich or poor, no one can afford that. So don’t you just love the strong hint here of the ransom Jesus will ultimately go on to pay for you and me? Invaluable.

Written by BEN MCEACHEN

Want more? Check out the Real Hope Conversations Podcast and delve deeper into our conversation about Dealing with Disappointment and Failure. Available wherever you listen to podcasts.