ne of Winston Churchill’s famous ‘one-liners’ was, “Never, never, never give up!” The Psalmist is saying the same thing when he says, “I will hope continually” (Psalm 71:14). All of God’s people must say the same. I will never give in to unbelief. I will never stop believing in God’s love and goodness. I will never cast away the great truths of God’s sovereignty and His almighty rule over all things. We read a sad commentary on the wilderness wanderings of the children of Israel in Psalm 78:41-42. “Yes, again and again they tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel. They did not remember His power.” We must never think that God’s hand is shortened that it cannot save nor His ear heavy that He cannot hear (Isaiah 59:1).

In the Bible hope is always based on God’s promises. God asked Jeremiah, “Is any thing too hard for me?” (Jeremiah 32:27). The God who cannot lie and does not change, says “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). This is our perpetual source of strength—that God is with us and that He will help us (Isaiah 41:10). Whenever we are tempted to lose heart and give up we need to go back to God’s promises and read them as real as if the Living God were speaking to us with an audible voice. All Scripture is God-breathed (2 Tim. 3:16) and is the same as God speaking to us from heaven right now. This is the way to renew our faith. We must wait upon the Lord or, in reality, wait in His presence nourishing our faith with His promises. Here is what God says He will do: “Those that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31). This is the way to go on hoping in God and believing there are yet good things that God is going to do in my life, for me, and even through me.

We certainly do not deserve for God to treat us this way, but this is what He will do for all of His people. A helpful verse to consider when we feel our unworthiness and are tempted to doubt God’s love and care is Philippians 4:19. “My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” God promises to meet all of our needs, which would include a lot since we are very weak, frail, needy, sinful, and even foolish creatures. The basis on which He deals with us is His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To put it simply: God blesses us because He is so pleased with the perfect life and death of Jesus Christ. Those who are “in Christ” or are united to Him by faith will be given the immeasurable love of God to care for them. Jesus is in the presence of God right now, risen from the dead and interceding for all who come to God through Him. These have seen they deserve God’s judgment for their sins, but they have embraced God’s offer to take away their sins by Christ bearing the punishment for them. They have repented of living a life that ignores God and one that lives in rebellion against Him. Instead, they are now overwhelmed with gratitude that He would welcome them to be His children because of what Christ has done on the cross. Christ’s perfect life or righteousness is put in their account before God and this is the basis of their reception of God’s blessings. The Son of God is truly their first love and their Shepherd to lead them through all the trials of life until He brings them to heaven itself. This is why we can always renew our hope in discouraging situations—because He is with us and He is faithful to deliver us from the present difficulties we are going through as well as the future ones that are sure to come.

Now we can understand why the Psalmist adds that he will praise God more and more. It is because He believes God will continue to show Himself faithful in difficulty after difficulty. The entire verse reads: “I will hope continually and I will praise You yet more and more” (Psalm 71:14). Let us continue to hope in God and not ourselves. Let us look forward to repeatedly praising Him for His faithfulness.