Notice, David admonishes “Israel” to “hope in the Lord.” We are to hope in the Lord. If our hope is in others or other things we are destined for disillusionment and despair. Only by hoping in the Lord is our hope made secure. In addition, the confidence needed to calm the soul is only made possible by the possession of a secure hope.

When we hope in the Lord, our hope is not only secure, but eternal. In 1 Peter 1:3, the Apostle Peter writes, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” According to Peter, ours is a “living hope,” since it is in the resurrected Christ. It is a hope that will live and last as long as Christ is alive.

In Revelation 1:18, the resurrected Christ assures John that there is no need to fear. He does so by saying to His frightened apostle, “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen.” Christ rose from the dead to live forevermore. As the Apostle Paul put it in Romans 6:9, “Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.” 

Now that Christ has risen from the dead and is alive “forevermore,” all who put their hope in Him have a “living hope” that will live and last forever. They have nothing to fear, not even death. What greater calming agent could there possibly be for the human soul than the possession of a secure and eternal hope in the resurrected Christ? 

There is nothing you possess in this world that cannot and will not be taken from you. Even your life will eventually be taken if Jesus tarries. However, there is one thing that you can carry with you out of time and into eternity. There is one thing that nothing or no one can ever take away from you, no demon in hell, no angel in heaven, no man on earth. It is your hope in Christ. It is eternally secure and proven to be so by Christ’s resurrection from the dead.

The calm soul possesses a living and eternal hope in the resurrected Christ.