STRENGTH IN THE HEART (2)

“WAIT on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall STRENGTHEN YOUR HEART; wait, I say, on the Lord!” – Psalm 27:14

The Almighty GOD is the Ultimate Source and Supplier of STRENGTH in the HEART: “WAIT on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall STRENGTHEN YOUR HEART; wait, I say, on the Lord!” (Psa.27:14). Divine Strength is found in His Presence. The Psalmist was extremely confident in the knowledge that God was His Strength, that he asserted this in the very first verse: “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the STRENGTH of my LIFE; of whom shall I be afraid?” (v.1).

David wrote Psalm 27 when King Saul was trying to chase him down and kill him. God had chosen and anointed David to be king, and deep down in Saul’s heart, he knew he had been rejected by God because of his disobedience. This made his anger go through the roof and he pursued David like a wild animal. It became so dangerous that David had to hide in deserts and caves and continually had to move from place to place. Yet, David was confident even in the midst of the enemies: “Though an army may encamp against me, my HEART shall not fear; though war may rise against me, in this I will be confident” (v.3). In the midst of wars – spiritual, political, family, economic, or natural – we can rest knowing that the Lord is the Strength of our lives!

Here we see that David wasn’t asking the Lord for strength. To pray, “Lord, give me strength!” may sound pious and spiritual, but it does not indicate maturity in faith and wisdom. It’s a symptom of lack of spiritual wisdom to keep asking the Lord to give us strength when, already, He’s the Strength of our life. To have Him is to have strength; therefore, there’s no room for weakness in our life. For the Believer in Christ, the Lord is already our strength! God is the Strength of my Life and He is committed to strengthening my heart! Psalm 27:1 reveals the secret to operating in His Strength: “WAIT on the LORD; be of good courage…Wait, I say on the LORD!”

Throughout the bible, we see one exhortation after another commanding us to “wait” on the Lord. As much as we hate to wait and as often as we have been told to wait and are forced to wait on many things, waiting is a part of life. To wait means to hope, to anticipate, and to trust. To wait on the Lord is to trust in God rather than grumble or complain. To wait on God is not a stillness of physical movement or stillness in our service unto the Lord, but stillness in our heart and mind. Wait is a place where frantic to-and-fro fury of the heart and mind has ceased. This is where hopeless situations and disheartening circumstances are turned around by God.

The Psalm further describes the Lord as our Light, our Salvation, Defence, and Shield. We must be grateful to the Lord, because not only is He our Strength, He’s also our Protection. We must fear nothing, and fear no one: “Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed; neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame” (Isa.54:4a). As we live with this consciousness, we’ll keep winning every day. We are sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency. Glory and honour are in His Presence; strength and gladness are in His dwelling!

With this understanding, the Apostle Paul, remarked, “For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2Cor.12:10). He knew his strength was the Holy Spirit that resided in him. He also said, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phi. 4:13). The Holy Spirit is the Source of true strength, and He lives in us; hence we must never confess weakness. We must learn to declare always that we’re strengthened and marvellously helped of the Lord. His strength is available to us, and for us, even when we think we’re at our weakest or when circumstances seem to be at the lowest ebb.