I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord. Psalm 27:13-14
Waiting for the Lord is something I think many of us are not good at and yet in the activity of waiting the Lord can be doing so much in us, through us and around us. We can take comfort from the words of the Psalmist who confidently and in faith declares they will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living and we can respond to their encouragement to have courage in the waiting.
Waiting for the Lord does indeed require the need for us to be strong and for our hearts to take courage, but what is it?
Courage: The quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain without fear.
You could say courage is a matter of the heart; the word ‘courage’ is from the Latin word ‘cor’ meaning heart and in Middle English it denotes the heart and the seat of feelings.
For each of us letting our hearts take courage is a way of helping us deal with fear so that in stress, difficulty, pain and uncertainty of the unknowingness in the waiting our faith is strengthened and hope engages. Recently the words from William Cowper’s hymn ‘God Moves in a Mysterious Way’ have been affirming the need to take fresh courage and especially in these days where uncertainty and fear are gripping people’s heart we need to en-COURAGE each other to take courage. The truth is “the clouds we so much dread are big with mercy and will break with blessings on your head”, or as the Psalmist puts it; “we will indeed see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!”
I pray that today as you wait may you be blessed with courage, may you be strengthened and may your heart take fresh courage.
Courage to keep asking in the waiting,
Courage to keep holding on to the promises you have been given,
Courage to keep faith for your mountains to be made low and valleys raised up,
Courage to keep hoping when disappointment has come knocking at your door,
Courage to keep trusting not giving doubt a foothold,
Courage to keep loving and praying your prodigals into the Kingdom. Amen