LOST HEART
LOST HEART
“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-
Have you “lost heart” while you were waiting for a test result? When you got up to another physically painful day? When friends have said things or done something to hurt you? When you feel your family has forgotten you? Time seems to stop! Waiting for answers or better days, is so hard! The word wait means: “eagerly impatient to do something or for something to happen.”
I was talking to a friend, the other day, about waiting on God. She said she tries to fix it or figure things out herself. Then when she can’t, or she loses heart because she can’t fix it, she turns to God in prayer. I do that all the time. Why do we do that to ourselves? We should turn to God FIRST. We could save ourselves from so much stress and sleepless nights, if we would just do that.
I love the words “lost heart” in the verses above. In the verses before, David tells us that he was being falsely accused by witnesses “who were rising against” him and they were “breathing out violence.” When we lose heart, we become discouraged, lose hope or faith. We feel we have been waiting forever for our lives to get back on track. The word heart in the Bible often represents the center of one’s being. It means losing courage or determination from your very own core. I have “lost heart” so many times, I cannot even begin to tell you how many! I have had lies told about me and my life has been threatened. I am sure not to the degree that David did, but none the less, I felt like I just wanted to wrap myself in a blanket, stop and hide giving in to the lies the devil was throwing my way!
In the verses above, we see the words “unless I had believed.” David remembered that God was on his side. God would help him. God would give him strength and courage to go on no matter what was going on in his life. Proverbs 3:5-6 reads “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.” This verse tells us we are not to lean into our own understanding of how our life should be. God will give us direction, if we remember to lean on Him. Our part is to trust, believe, and remember that God has our backs. David was going through tough times. We go through tough times. Times when you feel down. Times when you don’t know where to turn. Times when the stress is so hard to bear that it is affecting not only our spirit, but our physical body as well. Times we question where God is because nothing is changing. Times when our grown children or grandchildren are not making wise choices. Times that this life is just too hard. Times when we feel down. Times we are stressed. Times when people get “under our skin.” Times when we are physically painful. Times we have been hurt by others. Times when others lean so much on us, that we begin to fall. Times we lose confidence in ourselves and we feel we are not good enough. Times when we are bone tired of this world. Times we feel no one cares. Times we don’t feel God is listening to us. Times we want to just curl up into a ball and go to bed. There is nothing wrong with feeling these things. We are made human, by an almighty God. It is normal to feel like we are losing heart at times. When it becomes wrong, is when we forget or don’t believe, in the “goodness of the Lord.” We stay stuck in our own understanding, not in the reality of God’s goodness. When we have these times of doubt, we need to turn to God, instead of losing heart and giving up. Remember what God has promised us. Remember in the faithfulness of our God, in the past. Turn the pages of the Bible and remember to hold onto the faith in the “goodness of the Lord.” Put away the hardness of this world, be still and talk to God, meditate on His words. Calm your spirit through God’s goodness. Even if we have faith the size of a mustard seed (Matthew 17:20), God will meet us where we are at. He will meet us in the middle of the pain. We just have to take action, remember His goodness and reach out to Him in prayer. He is waiting patiently for us.
David in these verses, tells us that he has faith that God will help him while he is still alive, not just in the afterlife. “In the land of the living” signifies that we are to have hope and trust in God even amidst difficult circumstances, in this life here on earth. It is possible to rise up and remember whose we are and that He is always there supporting us. We just have to do our part. Stop, be still, have patience, pray, read scripture, think on what God has told you, and your faith, that has lost hope, will once again, come into your heart.
Verse 14 from above, tells us what to do when our hope is lost because of this life. “Wait…be of good courage.” So, what does it mean to wait on the Lord and have courage? Trust Him and have faith in His promises. Ask God for guidance, protection and wisdom. Be patient and endure. Hold onto hope in the fact that God will deliver us and help us. So, what are the benefits of waiting on the Lord? Waiting strengthens us. We see trials, God sees training for our benefit. It helps us to help others through our testimony of the goodness of God that we have seen in our lives. We feel closer to God. Do you find the days you don’t sit down and read His word or we forget to pray, that you feel far away from God? We find patience and regain our focus. We remember what is truly important! We can look back at our past, and learn from those experiences that we thought were going to tear us down, and instead, we grow in our faith. So, how do we wait on the Lord? Remember that we can have confidence through God and in prayer. Ephesians 3:12 reads “In whom (Christ) we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.” Sing hymns. Keep songs in our heart that give us encouragement, remind us of God’s goodness and lift us up to keep on going. Memorize scripture so when the hard times come, we can bring to memory a scripture that God has given to help us. Remember what He has told us and focus. Remember, this world is not my eternal home. God has something better for us when we leave this earth, if we have clung to His promises. So, what is the result of all of this waiting? “He will strengthen your heart.” Waiting gives us strength realizing that God is all powerful and will give us strength to keep putting one step in front of the other.
Like verses above, I am trying to memorize and keep close to my heart. When those hard days come, and they will, I can reach into my lost heart and instead of feeling lost, I can be strengthened and have a strong heart through our Lord God! Keep on, keeping on! Don’t have a lost heart! God has a plan for you! He is so much stronger than we are!
Till next time!
Keela