Psalm 27:13-14
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!
When I first saw these two verses I immediately thought of David’s confidence. It takes real faith to believe the goodness of God’s character despite the circumstances, especially in David’s life. and yet in vs 3 we see Him say, “Though an army may encamp against me, My heart shall not fear; though war my rise against me, In this I will be confident.”
When He talks of the land of the living, He is talking about this life. The life that you and I are living right now. David is fully believing that before He dies there are good things to come. Yet he’s got people trying to kill him, But HE STILL believes in the goodness of the Lord, despite everything else. He’s taken a heavenly perspective rather than a worldly perspective. He’s not looking at the circumstances, He’s keeping His eyes on His Lord fully assured in His character .
Romans 8:24 says “for we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.”
It’s easy when we’re going through a rough patch in our life to loose sight of the Lord’s goodness. Sometime’s I myself lose sight of that goodness that He promises. Rather than hoping to see Him working in my life, I solely hope for the day I might see Him in heaven. But I need to believe that I will come face-to-face with His goodness in the daily life. I need to seek Him in all I do, and as I wait patiently, I will see the blessings of hope and joy that He has intended for all of us in Today.
The love of the Lord endures forever for those He has chosen and called according to His purposes. Romans 8:28 says “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” It’s His love that saves us, and its our love for Him, which is fully in response to the one who loved us first, which allows us to bear all things with patience, believe and hope all things, and endure all things. We can have faith in this life because its his love which will continue for all eternity.
IT was the goodness of the Lord that David places real value in. It motivated him to stay connected with the world around him, empowering Him to wait patiently for the Lord’s direction. During those periods of waiting I’m sure it was an encouragement to David to not lose heart. What he is basically saying in this verse is, “There is somethings so wonderful, so amazing about God that I know I’m going to personally experience it while I’m living this difficult life. I’m captivated by it, I will eagerly wait for it because it makes life worth it. I know if I patiently wait for it, It will strengthen my heart.”
Psalm 16:1 says, “Preserve me, O god for in You I put my trust, O my soul, you have said to the Lord, you are my Lord, My goodness is nothing apart from You.” It goes on in verse 8 to say, “I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices; My flesh will also rest in hope.”
These are such powerful verse that David wrote. He was truly an amazing man who feared the Lord and knew and hoped for His goodness even in the trial. So likewise in us, we can confidently put our trust in God because He is our Lord, and we are nothing apart from Him. We are made for Him, by Him, to Glorify His name and allow Him to delight in us. What a wonderful thing that is, when you can finally let you of the reigns that you so often held tight to in your own life, and allow God to pick them up in your stead; To set the Lord before you and press on with joy knowing that you can rest in hope.
So for an application to take from this, I’d say to stop worrying. Stop fretting over every little thing in this world and look to God, because more than the circumstances in our lives, which are always changing, God remains constant. He has gone before those that He loves and will not allow them to handle more than we can endure. Every circumstance in our lives, He is aware of, He is in complete control of it. Be patient. and wait on the Lord. Allow Him to be your strength rather in your own might. Seek first His face and His kingdom.