October | 2011 | The Little Adventures of Western Rose

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October 28, 2011 Leslie T. Leave a comment

Psalm 31:24

October 24, 2011 Leslie T. 1 comment

“Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord.”

“Courage” – what does that word really mean?

“Courage” is defined as “the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery.”, “The ability to do something that frightens one.”, “the confidence to act in accordance with one’s beliefs, especially in spite of criticism.” A few synonyms are “fearlessness, dauntlessness, pluck, spirit, bravery, valor.” Bravery implies true courage with boldness. Valor implies heroic courage: valor in fighting for what is right.

So we are to “be of good courage”. We are to “face difficulty, danger, pain, etc. without fear.” We are to have “the confidence to act in accordance with one’s beliefs, especially in spite of criticism.” We are to be fearless, dauntless, to have pluck, spirit, to be brave and have valor…

But we obviously can’t do that on our own. Which leads us on to the second part:

“he shall strengthen your heart”.

“Strengthen” means “to make strong or increase the strength of”, “to make stronger; give strength to”. A few synonyms are buttress, reinforce, fortify, support…

He shall “make strong, increase the strength of”, “give strength to”, “buttress, reinforce, fortify, support” your heart.

“all ye that hope in the Lord”

“Hope” means to “look forward to with desire and reasonable confidence, to believe, desire, or trust”.

In this verse, he is talking to those of us who “look forward to, desire, believe, trust” in the Lord.

So the next time you are struggling with something, remember:

“Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord.” – Psalm 31:24