HOPE TO FAINTING HEARTS

“MY SOUL FAINTS for Your salvation, but I HOPE IN YOUR WORD” – Psalm 119:81

GOD’S WORD is more than sufficient to give HOPE to FAINTING HEARTS: “MY SOUL FAINTS for Your salvation, but I HOPE IN YOUR WORD” (Psa.119:81). Here, the psalmist cried out for God to rescue him from his foes who had tried to trap and persecute him unjustly. On the brink of despair, he cried out “like a wineskin in smoke” (v.83). Wineskins are usually soft and flexible, but long exposure to smoke makes them brittle. The psalmist felt like he was about to crack from abuse; hence, he pounded on heaven’s door: “God, where are you? When will you comfort me? How long must I wait? When will you punish my persecutors? Rescue me from troubles, now!” (vv.84-86). Thankfully, in this season of seeming silence, Hope re-surfaced: “They almost made an end of me on earth; but I did not forsake Your precepts” (v.87).

Rather than reject or turn away from God, the ­trials fuelled the psalmist’s passion and desire to be closer to God by meditating on His Word. He found assurance of unfailing love in the Word, and this made him want to please God by living an obedient life: “Revive me according to Your lovingkindness, so that I may keep the testimony of Your mouth” (v.88). Though the troubles we face may or may not be as challenging as the psalmist’s, we all often have reasons to wait for God. While we wait, resting on His ­promises, we can grow in following and serving the Lord. God will answer in His time. The question is: Would we continue to seek Him through His Word and obey while we wait?

Torrents of troubles and avalanche of adversities are common to the world, but we can stay strong through Hope in God’s Word! Our Lord Jesus said concerning the end-times: “Men's hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heaven will be shaken” (Lk.21:26). As days go by, and the world’s expectations tend more toward fear and woes, God’s people are called to rejoice: “Therefore REJOICE, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! WOE to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea!” (Rev.12:12a). At such times we are instructed: “LOOK UP and LIFT UP your heads because your redemption draws near” (Lk.21:28b).

Our Lord speaks Hope to fainting hearts: “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have PAECE. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (Jh.16:33). Whatever may be the challenge or obstacle in life, there is absolutely no reason for Believers to lose heart or faint. Prayer is a chief cure against fainting: “Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to PRAY and NOT LOSE HEART” (Lk.18:1). Isaiah 40:31 says, “But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and NOT FAINT.” Paul, the apostle affirmed concerning God’s ministers: “Therefore, since we have received this ministry, as we have received mercy, WE DO NOT LOSE HEART” (2Cor.4:1).

Beloved, your soul need not faint. Your faith need not fail. Do not lose heart. But also, beware of exhaustion that comes from mere busyness and religious duties! Service to God without communion with Christ, leads to spiritual fatigue. Let’s allow life’s pace to be governed by grace. Fainting comes from the pressures of the world, the push and pull of sin, and the enemy’s incessant attacks. The world is out to parch our souls, but our is out to hydrate our hearts and turn our lives into well-watered gardens. Rooted in His Word, our faith will not fail, but flourish again: “For ever, O LORD, Your Word is settled in heaven” (v.89). Settling our souls on the settled Word cancels any cause for fainting.