Mar 10 2022

Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord.

David wrote Psalm 31 while King Saul was persecuting him. His writing included a mix of prayers, praises, and exhortations to others. Today's verse, the final line of the Psalm, encourages us to press on in our relationship with the Lord in all circumstances. Today we'll break it down to understand it more thoroughly.

The Psalm's first instruction is for us to be of good courage, meaning that we can have hope in the Lord. Even when it seems like all is lost, we have no reason to give up on the faithfulness of the Lord. Remember that God's battle plan was to march around Jericho seven times—and that battle was won! God doesn't work in the ways or through the means that we expect. He rarely works the same way more than one time. This is what makes a relationship with Him so exciting: we're always discovering new ways that God works! This can help us summon courage in even the direst of circumstances. We never know what His method of deliverance will be.

The Lord strengthens our heart when we make the decision to be courageous. Notice that the Lord responds to our decision. He does not force us to trust Him but instead leaves it up to us to choose the pathway that we should travel on. We have free will in all circumstances to choose our path, and the Lord will honor our decision by strengthening us—or leaving us alone. The choice is our own.

At the end of the verse, David specifies his audience: "all that hope in the Lord." In other words, God will strengthen those who hope in Him—which points to a certain exclusivity. The Lord does not strengthen those who don't wish to know Him. Instead, He strengthens those who have a relationship with Him. Think about it this way: If you reject the source of hope, that source cannot offer anything to you. In the same way, people who don't know God cannot experience the hope that He gives those who do know Him.

Like David, because we know the Lord, we can be strengthened in all circumstances and can endure all things. We do not have to live life on the defense, struggling to cling to our faith in the midst of suffering. Instead, we can call out to the Lord to strengthen us and believe that He will make us stronger in Him alone.

Dear Lord, I thank you for the strength that you offer me. You know the parts of my life and my spirit that are weak. Please reveal them to me and help me to walk with you in deeper and deeper commitment and love for you. In Jesus' name, amen.

Mar 09 2022

The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. :

Psalms 140-144 are songs of prayer, and they are followed by six songs of praise, beginning with Psalm 145, from which we take today's verse. This structure shows us that after we have spent time in prayer, the natural response is to praise the Lord! Today's verse focuses on some of the reasons that we praise God. He is gracious, compassionate, not easily angered, and merciful. We'll think through those characteristics and how we should respond to them.

The Lord is gracious—full of grace. This means He is not looking for us to do something wrong or waiting for us to mess up. Instead, He sees the good and gives us grace for sin when we repent of it. The Lord does not hold our wrongdoings over our heads, but rather, forgives us once we recognize them. He does not want us to be afraid to come to Him. His throne is a throne of grace.

The Lord is full of compassion. Jesus knows exactly what it is like to live in a fallen world and to suffer under its cruelty. Jesus knows what it is like to be tempted and misunderstood. Think about the word compassion. It has two parts: co, which means "with" or "together," and passion, which means "emotion." Jesus feels with us. This means He will not respond harshly to our faults and failures, but instead, accepts us with compassion.

The Lord is slow to anger. While He is holy and we should fear Him because He is all-powerful and mighty, we can also take comfort in the fact that He is not waiting for an excuse to exercise that power against us. He uses wrath only to help us turn back to Him; He never becomes angry to alleviate Himself of stress as we humans do. When He finally displays His anger, He does it for our ultimate benefit.

Finally, the Lord is of great mercy. He knows that we are weak and living in a world that makes it very difficult to be holy and to serve Him well. He does not want us to walk around in fear, afraid to approach Him. He showed His mercy to us by sending Jesus to die on a cross for our sins. A God who does something like that is powerful and takes sin seriously, and this action shows that He also loves us immensely and is full of mercy. For this—and countless other reasons—He is worthy of our praise.

Dear Lord, thank you for all that you are. You are above and beyond anything that this world has to offer, and I praise you. Help me to adopt an attitude of praise that goes beyond my emotions and feelings, tapping instead into the core of who I am. I want to serve you and praise you for all of my days. In Jesus' name, amen.


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