"My soul faints for Your salvation, but I hope in Your word" (Psalm 119:81).

The human soul is for ever in search of salvation, whatever it may mean to it. The word "salvation" is beyond adequate definition. Dictionaries define it as "the act of saving, the state of being saved." The writer to Hebrews calls it the "so great salvation". It is indeed great and is the outstanding theme of all sixty-six books of the Bible. Whatever its true meaning, salvation touches every phase of human life and is the reason for the existence of all faiths and religions, good or bad, true or false.

Let us attempt to define this word by referring to an Old Testament type: the Temple. Salvation is the work of God to restore humanity to the condition and constitution originally intended by God for them. Man was designed to be the temple of the Holy Spirit, an expression and manifestation of God in the material world. Mankind, even in its fallen state, carries traces of the grandeur of the original Jewish Temple - a habitation of God through the Spirit. The people we meet on our city streets, even in their prideful best, are but walking ruins of what they were meant to be - human beings indwelt by the Holy Spirit, in possession of divine life. 

Everywhere about us we see human beings engaged in futile attempt to self-restore. They are busy almost exclusively with exteriors, forgetting that the altar within is broken down. Some, however, are trying to do something with the inner shrine and have devised ways (philosophies, religions, etc.) of worship quite unworthy of the divine intent.

Restoring man to be the temple of the Most High is the work that only God can do, and He calls this work by the beautiful name "salvation". David, looking at himself as a replica of ruined temples everywhere, must have wondered if complete restoration was possible; but faith triumphed in him and he said, "My hope, my faith, my confidence, my assurance, is in Your word." And since salvation includes all aspects of redemption, we can rightly assume that David made reference to more than just forgiveness of sins and the experience of saving grace.

By looking at the statement made by David, we may safely conclude that
1) he was seeking a conscious manifestation of the salvation he already possessed. Prior to this he testified to having been pardoned (Ps. 32:1). Salvation is certainly by faith; but genuine faith results eventually in the blessing of conscious assurance. Apparently, he desired this blessing.
2) David might have had in mind deliverance from his foes. God met him in his desire, not by removing or silencing his enemies, but by removing David's inner resentment. Someone rightly said, "ulcers are often caused not by what you eat but by what is eating you".
3) He could have been seeking physical deliverance from the effects of his sin. Psalm 38 gives his prayer in this respect in considerable detail. Salvation reaches to one's body; David knew this to be true and may also have been seeking physical healing. But most assuredly, his longing heart was reaching out in anticipation and expectation of the coming of the promised Redeemer and Saviour, the hope of Israel. He himself, a prophet, had predicted this event (Acts 2:22-36). And beyond the great atonement for forgiveness of sins,
4) he could have had in mind the Messianic Kingdom, the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to this earth, and the golden ages of eternity.

Every good experience a true Christian may have in this present life is just a foretaste of that which "eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him" (I Cor. 2:9).

And God said, "Let us make man in our image ... so God created man in His own image." Sin ruined the image and likeness; salvation restores it.

What is our hope? In what do we put our trust? Do we rejoice in our present salvation? Do we wait and look for the coming of our Redeemer and Saviour? Do we long for our full conformity to His image?

We should pray with David: "My soul faints for Your salvation [in all its aspects]; but my hope is in Your word."

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