Our Hope and Strength

Psalm 31:24 Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart, All you who hope in the Lord.

In John 16:33 Jesus said, "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." Many of us know this verse and can quote it. However, we often only quote a portion of the verse and fail to also look at the previous verse, which also contains more of what Jesus said. Today's verse is the last verse of Psalm 31, a Psalm where David is crying out for protection. It reminds us that we are to stand strong in times of adversity because our God will strengthen our hearts when our hope is in the Lord. Far too often we are unable to enjoy the peace that is promised because we put our hope in something, or someone, other than Jesus. We put our hope on things that can be lost or fade away, and in people who often fail us. We plan and scheme, and fail to realize that we are limited in what we are capable of accomplishing because of life's instability. The only true source of hope, joy, peace, and strength is Jesus. When Jesus spoke the words recorded for us, by John, He also said (in the previous verse) that His time had come and that soon His disciples would be scattered, leaving Him alone to deal with the cruel suffering He was about to endure. Nonetheless, He also said to them, "And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me." Jesus knew that no matter what lie ahead, the Father was with Him. For those of us who have put our faith in Jesus, and accepted Him as our Savior and Lord, we have the promise that He will never leave us, nor forsake us. Because we have this unfailing promise, we can have the peace that Jesus said we have, in Him, in John 16:33. He made it clear that in Him, we can overcome because He already has. No matter what God allows us to walk through in this life, Jesus is with us, and if He is our Hope, then we can know with all certainty that we too will have our hearts strengthened during difficult times.

Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His free gift of salvation (Romans 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive His free gift of salvation today (Romans 10:13).