Hope, and begin again

"Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD." Psalm 27:14

The psalm opens with "The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?" It ends with this line. In between, David has asked God not to cast him off, has spoken of his father and mother forsaking him, and has said he would have fainted without the hope of seeing the goodness of the LORD.

In other words: the psalm does not move from fear to peace. It begins in confidence, passes through anguish, and ends with an order the writer gives himself. That is more honest than most of our testimonies.

And look at the shape of the closing line: wait — be of good courage — wait. The same word at the beginning and the end, with the effort in the middle. David repeats because once was not enough. He said "wait," felt it not holding, said "be of good courage," then said "wait" again.

That is what real perseverance looks like. Not a straight line: a sentence you say twice. Many believers think they have failed because they have to start believing again every morning. The psalm says starting again is the thing.

"He shall strengthen thine heart" — the Hebrew verb is used of things made firm, solid, held. It is not a feeling of strength. It is a structure that holds under load. Your heart can be strengthened while your hands shake.

And note who David is talking to. Not God: himself, still. He is not waiting for someone to come and encourage him. He takes authority over his own soul and tells it what to do.

Today, and tomorrow. Say it on waking, before you look at your phone: I wait on the LORD. Then do the day. And say it again at night, even if the day went badly — especially if it went badly.

It is not a formula. It is the watch you take over yourself, the way the porter in Mark 13 takes his over the house.

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