“What, what would have become of me had I not believed to
see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living! Wait and hope for and expect
the Lord; be brave and of good courage, and let your heart be stout and
enduring. Yes, wait and hope for and expect the Lord.” ‒Psalm 27:13 & 14
Perhaps you are very familiar with the last two verses of
Psalm 27. They are one of many go-to passages for people under trial, who are
hoping and waiting for relief. The rendition above is a little different
though. It is from the Amplified Bible[i]
I really love this version of the Bible, because it gives
such rich meaning to many of my favorite passages. As I meditated this morning on
Psalm 27:13 and 14, I thought about how we are to get to that place where we are
brave, of good courage, where our heart is stout and enduring. I have never considered
myself brave, and often lacked courage in many areas of my life before I knew
Christ. The reason I was so fearful is because I was relying on my own strength
and abilities to accomplish the things I felt inadequate for, and to deal with
the people of whom I was afraid. Since Christ has begun to live in me, I have
learned to let Him take over for me in fearful situations. Passages like this
one give me great courage. I do often wonder what would have become of me had I
not believed that I would see the Lord’s goodness here, in my earthly lifetime.
He has taught me to see many good and perfect gifts (James 1:17) in the trials
and tests He sends, and as I have relied on Him to help me through them, I have
become more brave. I'm not intimidated by very many people any more, and I am usually
quite bold in defending my faith.
The second verse in this passage is especially encouraging
in this Amplified Version. Here, the Psalmist tells us we are to wait, and hope
for, and expect the Lord. When we do this, we will be brave and of good
courage, and our hearts will be stout and enduring. There is a difference
between waiting, and hopeful, expectant waiting. When we are waiting for
something of which we don’t know the outcome (it may or may not happen, and it
may or may not be good), we can be anxious, nervous, or full of dread. When we
are waiting for something good, and it is a sure thing, we wait with eager
anticipation. So, if we are waiting in expectation that the Lord is going to
work in our situation, we don't have to be fearful. We can be brave and
courageous, with stout-hearted endurance, because His presence and strength in
the trial are a sure thing.
No matter what we are going through, we can be sure that the
Lord will make us brave. John 16:33, in the Amplified Bible, says:
“In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress
and frustration; but be of good cheer—take courage, be confident, certain,
undaunted—for I have overcome the world. –I have deprived it of power to harm,
and have conquered it for you.”
Did you catch that last line? Jesus Christ has deprived the
world of power to harm me, because He has conquered it for me. A conquered
enemy is a powerless enemy. This world can do many things to challenge our
strength and courage. It can bring illness, pain, persecution, and struggle.
But it can never take away our position in Christ. That is a finished work (John
19:30).
Tribulation, trials, distress and frustration are all a sure
thing in this life. But Jesus says that we are to be of good cheer, confident,
courageous, and undaunted. Sound familiar? It sounds a lot like “brave, of good
courage, stout and enduring.” That’s because the same God who bolstered David’s
courage is the One who is speaking in the John 16 passage! Jesus Christ, who is
the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8) is the one from whom both
David’s readers and Jesus’ listeners (you and I) are to get our courage!
Hundreds of years passed between David and Christ, and
thousands of years have passed since Christ went to be with the Father. But no
matter how much time passes, or how many changes we must meet, we can be brave
because our loving heavenly Father has overcome and conquered the world for us.
Because of this, we can bravely wait, with eager expectation, for Him to fulfill His good plan for us. Hallelujah! What courage! What a Savior!
[i] “The
Amplified Bible (AMP) was the first Bible project of The Lockman Foundation. It
attempts to take both word meaning and context into account to accurately
translate the original text from one language into another. The Amplified Bible
does this through the use of explanatory alternate readings and amplifications
to assist the reader in understanding what Scripture really says. Multiple
English word equivalents to each key Hebrew and Greek word clarify and amplify
meanings that may otherwise have been concealed by the traditional translation
method.” (From Bible Gateway)
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