How to Have a Strong Heart – Part Four

“Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord!” Psalms 31:24.

         The words “be strong” and “take courage” indicate that we may face challenges. The phrasing of this verse indicates there are times of weakness and a need for strengthening. We don’t want such times, but we should expect them.

        There is a little word amid the promised provisions of strength that we don’t like to comply with. It is the word “wait.” Yet, it is a strategic component of being strengthened. It is the training field for hope. Waiting on the Lord develops hope.

We are not to passively endure, but to actively express hope. Keep it alive.    

        In Isaiah 40:31, it says, “but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles.” This beautiful imagery reinforces the notion that our strength is renewed in God’s timing.

        Waiting is often t-u-f-f. It taxes our patience and gives an opportunity for doubt and fear to develop. Hope counters both. The strength that comes when hope alone survives can’t be developed otherwise. It cultivates faith and prepares us for what is ahead. 

        In the time of waiting we often feel all alone. Not so, note: “all you who wait for the Lord.” It is a collective experience knowing others have waiting times.

A vital source of encouragement regarding being “in the Lord” is companions in the faith. You can not only gain strength from others, you can be a source of strength for others. In giving encouragement you put muscles in your own.

        This battle cry for hope does not include a promise God will remove our challenges. He rather empowers us and thus enables us to be overcomers. He promises to be our companion in our struggles. This enables us to  “be strong” and “take courage.”          

        We often experience our fear and failure when we have depended on our own ability. A “I can handle this one, God” experience leads to certain spiritual implosion. This should teach us to wait on the Lord and get Him involved by faith that fosters the kind of hope only He can provide. Hope in the Lord. 

        God holds the spiritual GPS, therefore follow Him when yours fails. As a matter of fact, knowing yours is inadequate start off following His. Manifest a faith-filled dependence. 

        As you confront challenges, and you will, life offers no exclusion clauses, resolve to be pre-committed to “Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart: wait, I say, on the Lord” (Psalm 27: 14). “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths” (Proverbs 3: 5,6).