His Encouragement #182

Welcome to His Encouragement Thursday! I don’t know about you, but Thursdays are my struggle day of the week. By Thursday, I have already been working hard at school and at home, and I just wish it would hurry up and be Friday already. LOL! I definitely need a little extra Jesus time on Thursdays.

I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord!
Psalm 27:13-14 (NKJ)

If you’ve ever read a chronological Bible study plan, then you know that Psalm 27 is one of the psalms attributed to the time when David was on the run from King Saul. When I read about this time in David’s life in 1 Samuel, it stresses me out. There are moments in 1 Samuel where a reader can tell it stressed David out, too.

So, what did David do in these seriously stressful moments? Did he whine and complain? Did he shake his fist in anger and frustration at God? Did he break down, give up, and play the victim? The answer is NO. David did not whine, complain, or blame God. He never played the victim, and he never gave up following the plan he knew God had in store for him. David kept moving forward towards his God-ordained future — to be king over a united Israel. And in his free time, he wrote amazing poem-prayers filled with his fears, heartaches, and frustrations. We call those poem-prayers psalms.

What’s so encouraging to me about psalm 27 is David’s confidence in God and his confidence in his faith in God. Nothing — not a giant Philistine, not a crazed king bent on his destruction, not a warring enemy, not even hiding and sleeping in a cave — shook David’s faith in God. I want to be that strong in my faith. I pray to God daily for Him to fill me with His courage and strength. My issue isn’t my faith in God. I know God is strong and sure and steadfast and real. No, my issue is my confidence in myself to be strong in God when I really need to be. I don’t want to be a fraud, but sometimes I worry that I am.

I appreciate David’s honesty at the start of verse 13: “I would have lost heart unless…” — unless he had believed he would have seen God’s goodness while he was in the land of the living. Moments of God’s goodness are what kept David keeping on in his faith. And they’re what should keep us believers keeping on in our faith today. It’s really about perspective. If our focus is on God, we can defeat any giant that may come our way.

I also appreciate David’s impassioned encouragement in verse 14. It’s like between the lines David is saying, “I know that time on earth is hard. There is nothing easy about being a believer in a world filled with non-believers, persecution, and hate, but hold on to all those moments of God’s goodness and wait on Him!” When we wait on God, God will strengthen our hearts. He will make us strong and courageous.

God sees and knows everything. Nothing is hidden from Him. He sees when we are scared or anxious or worried or confused or frustrated or backed into a corner. He wants to take these big, scary feelings away and give us His perfect peace. But to do that we have to go to Him. We have to be like David — 100% confident that God has us no matter what.

Today, dear reader, be of good courage. Remind yourself that God has you no matter what giants you may face. He’s got you. All you need to do is look up and wait on Him!