Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Psalms 31:24

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Psalms 31:24. Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart — In 1 Corinthians 16:13, St. Paul says, "Watch ye, stand fast in the faith; quit you like men; be strong:" Γρηγορειτε, στηκετε εν τῃ πιστει, ανδριζεσθε, κραταιουσθε. The latter words he seems to have borrowed from the Septuagint, who translate, "Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart," by Ανδριζεσθε και κραταιουσθω ἡ καρδια ὑμων "Act like men, and your hearts shall be strengthened."

They that hope in God, and are endeavouring to walk carefully before him, may take courage at all times, and expect the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of peace.

ANALYSIS OF THE THIRTY-FIRST PSALM

This Psalm is composed and mixed of divers affections; for David sometimes prays, sometimes gives thanks; now he complains, now he hopes; at one time fears, at another exults. This vicissitude of affection is six-fold, and it may very well divide the Psalm.

I. With great confidence he prays to God; Psalms 31:1-6.

II. He exults for mercy and help received; Psalms 31:7; Psalms 31:8.

III. He grievously complains of the misery he was in; Psalms 31:9-14.

IV. He prays again, upon the strength of God's goodness; Psalms 31:15-18.

V. He admires, exults in, and proclaims God's goodness, Psalms 31:19-22.

VI. He exhorts others to love God, and be courageous; Psalms 31:23-24.

I. In the six first verses he prays to God, and shows his reasons: -

1. That he be never ashamed in his hope: "Let me never be ashamed."

2. That he be delivered, "speedily delivered."

3. That God would be "his rock, and a house of defence, to save him."

4. That God would lead and guide him: "Lead me, and guide me."

5. That God would "pull his feet out of the net which they had laid for him."

The reasons on which he founds his prayer and expectations: -

1. His faith and confidence: "In thee, O Lord I put my trust."

2. The reason of his faith: "Thou art my ROCK and FORTRESS."

3. His deliverance would be to the honour of God: "For thy name's sake."

4. Thou art my strength; exert it in my behalf.

5. I rely upon thee: "Into thy hands I commit my spirit."

6. I expect thee to do for me as thou hast ever done: "Thou hast redeemed me."

7. I rely on thee alone, I seek no vain helps: "I have hated them that regard lying vanities; but I trust in the Lord."

His petition and his reasons are in effect the same; his confidence in God to be his Deliverer, Fortress, Rock, Redeemer, c.

II. He exults for mercy and help already received, and by the experience of that, doubts the less in this: "I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy." And his reason follows from his experience: 1. "For thou hast considered my trouble." 2. "Thou hast known my soul in adversity." 3. "Thou hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy." 4. But "hast set my feet in a large room."

III. He prays, and grievously complains of what he suffered within and without.

1. He prays: "Have mercy upon me, O Lord."

2. Then he complains, and his complaint shows the reason of his prayer.

1. Within - at home, he was in a distressed state: "I am in trouble my eye is consumed with grief; my years with sighing; my strength faileth; my bones are consumed."

2. Without - I have no comfort either from friends or enemies.

1. "I was a reproach among all my enemies."

2. My friends stand afar off: "I was a reproach, especially among my neighbours." "A fear to my acquaintance." "They that did see me without fled from me."

3. He shows the greatness of his grief, and the scorn he endured: "I am forgotten as a dead man;" "I am as a broken vessel," vile and useless.

4. I am mocked by the people: "I have heard the slander of many."

5. And the consequence was mischievous. 1. "Fear is on every side." 2. While they conspired, or "took counsel against my life." 3. And their counsel was, "to take away my life." What more could my enemies do, or my friends permit?

IV. After his complaint he comforts himself with his chief reason, the goodness of God. I have trusted in thee, O Lord, and said, Thou art my God. Let them conspire, take counsel, and devise what they can; yet I know, except thou permit them, they are not able to do it. "My times are in thy hand," not in theirs.

He then begins to pray again, and his prayer consists of three parts: 1. Deprecation. 2. Supplication. 3. Imprecation.

1. A deprecation: "Deliver me from the hands of my enemies," c.

2. A supplication: "Make thy face to shine upon thy servant save me." "Let me not be ashamed, for I have called upon thee."

3. An imprecation: 1. "Let the wicked be ashamed, and be silent in the grave." 2. "Let the lying lips be put to silence, which speak grievous things," c.

In this imprecation four arguments are used to enforce it: -

1. The quality of their persons: "They are wicked, impious men."

2. There is no truth in them: "They have lying lips." 1. Their words are false. 2. Their actions are worse: They speak grievous things, and that against the righteous. 3. But their intention is worst of all, for they do it proudly, contemptuously, disdainfully, despitefully all proceeding from a bad heart.

V. In the fifth part he sets out the abundant goodness of the Lord to his people, and exclaims, in holy rapture, "O how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee - which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!"

This goodness of God is always treasured up and to be had at all times. But observe: 1. It is laid up for none, nor wrought for any one, but them that fear the Lord. 2. And for those who put their trust in him, and acknowledge him, his cause, his people, and his cross, before the sons of men. And the acts of his goodness are here specified: -

1. "Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man."

2. "Thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues." Upon which consideration he breaks out into praise: 1. "Blessed be the Lord, for he hath showed me his marvellous kindness." 2. He corrects his error, and former mistake: "I said in my haste, (rashly, imprudently,) I am cut off from before thine eyes; nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplication."

VI. The last part is an exhortation to the saints: 1. That they love God. 2. That they be of good courage; for he was the same God still, and would be as good to others as he was to him.

1. That they love God, and that for two reasons: - 1. Because the "Lord preserveth the faithful." This is his mercy. 2. That he "plentifully rewardeth the proud doer." This is his justice.

2. That they be of good courage; for then "he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord." They were not to despair, but keep their hearts firmly fixed in the profession of the truth, which would be a seal of their hope.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Psalms 31:0 Trust amid apparent hopelessness

In his distress David is dependent entirely on the merciful goodness of God (1-2). He knows God’s character well enough to be assured that God will save him (3-5). God will bring victory to those who trust in him, and judgment on those who reject him for other gods (6-8).
Nevertheless, the psalmist’s faith is at times shaken by the intensity of his sufferings. Physically and spiritually he feels helpless almost to the point of despair (9-10). Enemies plot against him and friends have deserted him (11-13). Yet he trusts in the steadfast love of God, believing that God will deliver him and destroy his enemies (14-18). He knows that the God in whom he trusts is unfailingly faithful to his people (19-20), and he recalls how God has saved him in the past (21-22). He urges all God’s people to love and trust him with patience and courage. Then they will have the strength to bear whatever troubles they meet (23-24).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

EXHORTATION FOR ALL GOD'S SAINTS TO TRUST HIM

"Oh love Jehovah, all ye saints: Jehovah preserveth the faithful, And plentifully rewardeth him that dealeth proudly. Be strong and let your heart take courage, All ye that hope in Jehovah."

In these verses we have the essence of the great lesson which all true believers should observe and take to heart. "It amounts to this: `Don't ever lose faith in Him.'"H. C. Leupold, p. 263.

"Reason says, "Love and trust the Lord." Gratitude says, "Love and trust the Lord."
Experience says, "Love and trust the Lord."
Faith says, "Love and trust the Lord."
All believers say, "Love and trust the Lord."
The Bible says, "Love and trust the Lord."
The wise say, "Love and trust the Lord."Adapted from W. L. Watkinson, p. 147.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Be of good courage - See a similar exhortation at the close of a psalm, in Psalms 27:14. Compare the notes at that verse. As the result of all his own experience of the goodness of God, and of His gracious interposition in the time of danger, the psalmist exhorts others to be encouraged, and to feel assured that God would not leave or forsake them.

And he shall strengthen your heart - He will animate you; he will enable you to meet trial and opposition; he will keep you from becoming faint and disheartened.

All ye that hope in the Lord - All that put their trust in him, or all whose expectation is from him. It is a characteristic of true piety that all hope centers in God, or that the soul feels that there is no other ground of hope.

(a) The truly pious man despairs of success in anything else, or from any other quarter, for he feels that God alone can give success.

(b) He does hope in God - in reference to all that is needful for himself as an individual; all that will be for the good of his family; all that will tend to bless the world; all that he desires in heaven. Hope in God cheers him, sustains him, comforts him; makes life happy and prosperous; and makes death calm, serene, triumphant.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

24.Be of good courage. This exhortation is to be understood in the same way as the preceding; for the steadfastness which the Psalmist here enjoins is founded on the love of God of which he had spoken, when renouncing all the enticements of the world, we embrace with our whole hearts the defense and protection which he promises to us. Nor is his exhortation to courage and firmness unnecessary; because, when any one begins to rely on God, he must lay his account with and arm himself for sustaining many assaults from Satan. We are first, then, calmly to commit ourselves to the protection and guardianship of God, and to endeavor to have the experience of his goodness pervading our whole minds. Secondly, thus furnished with steady firmness and unfailing strength, we are to stand prepared to sustain every day new conflicts. As no man, however, is able of himself to sustain these conflicts, David urges us to hope for and ask the spirit of fortitude from God, a matter particularly worthy of our notice. For hence we are taught, that when the Spirit of God puts us in mind of our duty, he examines not what each man’s ability is, nor does he measure men’s services by their own strength, but stimulates us rather to pray and beseech God to correct our defects, as it is he alone who can do this.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Let's turn now in our Bibles to Psalms 31:1-24 . This thirty-first psalm is actually divided into three sections. The first one covering the first eight verses, the second one covering verses Psalms 31:9-18 , and Psalms 31:1-24 : ,the final section from nineteen to the end of the psalm. In the first section of the psalm, with David it is sort of a mixture between trust and trial. In the next section the trial is overcome by the trust. And then in the final section it is the triumph of the trusting in the Lord. So the first section through verse Psalms 31:8 the trusting and the trials.

In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness. Bow down thine ear to me; deliver me speedily: be thou my strong rock, for a house of defense to save me. For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name's sake lead me, and guide me ( Psalms 31:1-3 ).

So a prayer of David declaring that he put his trust in the Lord. Asking God to deliver him. Asking God to hear him and to hear him speedily. I like that. When I pray I like God to hear me speedily. I really don't like when God says, "Wait." Or when He exhorts me towards patience. I like... I am a man of action, and I like God to work quickly when I am in trouble.

"Be Thou my strong rock and a house of defense, for Thou art my rock and my fortress." Now David often speaks of God as his rock and as his fortress. I guess you would really have to go over to the land of Israel to appreciate this fully. The Israelis have a joke that they will tell you when you first arrive. They will say that God dispatched two angels to distribute the rocks over the face of the earth. And that the one angel went all over the earth scattering his rocks, sort of spreading them out all over the entire earth. And the other angel just was tired and so he dumped all of his rocks on Israel. It is a rocky place. But the rocks afforded a tremendous place of defense in those days. And so in speaking of God as a rock, you are speaking actually of God being a shield to you, a defense. So God is my rock. He is my place of defense. He is my fortress. And oftentimes God is spoken of in the figure of a rock.

Now in the Proverbs there are three things on the earth that are small, yea four that are small but exceedingly wise. And he speaks of the conies; they are just a feeble folk. It is sort of a... a coney is sort of related partly to the rabbit family. It looks something like a rabbit, and yet on the other hand, it looks sort of like an overgrown rat. Down in Engedi when you go in there, there is a lot of reeds along the stream, and there are hundreds of these conies down in that area. And the scripture says, "The coney is a feeble folk." It is actually a very defenseless kind of an animal. It is sort of... well, it really is a defenseless animal. It doesn't have any way of defending itself from a predatory type of an animal. And so it says that a coney is a feeble folk, but he makes his home in the rock. So the conies crawl back in the rocks and the wolves, or whatever can stand on the outside and just bark and howl and all, but they can't get to them. So it is actually, the four things on the earth small, exceeding wise, the coney is one of them. The wisdom is knowing its weakness. It has enough sense to make its home in the rock.

Now, we, knowing our weakness, ought to have enough sense to make our home in the Rock. "The Lord is my rock and my fortress." I know that I am weak. I know that I cannot really defend myself from the attacks of the enemy. I know his powers. I know his wiles. I know his guises. I know that I am no match. So it is so important, knowing my weaknesses, that I make my home in the Rock, Jesus Christ. Who then becomes my rock and my fortress. And then asking God to lead me and guide me for His name's sake.

Pull me out of the net that they have privately laid for me: for thou art my strength. For into thine hand I commit my spirit ( Psalms 31:4-5 ):

This is what Jesus, of course, cried from the cross at the time of His death, "Father, into Thine hands I commend My Spirit" ( Luke 23:46 ).

thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth. I have hated them that regard lying vanities: but I trust in the LORD. I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy: for you have considered my trouble; you have known my soul in adversities; Thou hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy: you have set my feet in a large room ( Psalms 31:5-8 ).

Now we enter into the second section where the trial is overcome by the trust.

Have mercy upon me, O LORD, for I am in trouble: my eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly. For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing: my strength fails because of my iniquity, and my bones are consumed. I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbors, and a fear to mine acquaintance: they that did see me without fled from me. I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel. For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every side: while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life ( Psalms 31:9-13 ).

So they have set a net for David. They are talking about him. His life is filled with grief and with sighing. He is a reproach of his enemies. Even his friends have forsaken him. They treat him like a dead man. Out of mind. Like a vessel that is broken, of no further value.

But I trusted in thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my God. My times are in your hand: deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from them that persecute me. Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me for thy mercies' sake. Let me not be ashamed, O LORD; for I have called upon thee: let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave. And let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous ( Psalms 31:14-18 ).

Into the final section now, into the triumph of his trusting.

Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men! Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues. Blessed be the LORD: for he hath showed me his marvelous kindness in a strong city. For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes: nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee. O love the LORD, all ye his saints: for the LORD preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewards the proud doer. Be of good courage, and he will strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD ( Psalms 31:19-24 ).

So the triumph of trusting and then the encouragement of others. Having experienced the help of God, I then seek to share and to encourage others to also receive God's help and God's work in their life. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Psalms 31

This lament-thanksgiving psalm grew out of an experience in David’s life in which his foes plotted to kill him. That incident reminded David that the Lord would protect those who trust in Him. He urged others who might encounter similar affliction to love and trust in God as well.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

6. David’s exhortation to the godly 31:23-24

David urged those who hope in God to love Him purposefully because He is faithful to save the godly. He wanted to encourage others as they waited for Yahweh’s salvation.

What about the godly who have perished at the hands of evil oppressors? Our lives do not end when we die. In the light of New Testament revelation we know that God will vindicate the righteous after death if He allows us to fall before the wicked in this life. When David lived he had the promises of the Mosaic Covenant that guaranteed the godly long life in the Promised Land (e.g., Exodus 20:12; et al.). God will vindicate the godly who die prematurely-after death (Isaiah 26:19; Daniel 12:2; 2 Corinthians 5:10).

In view of God’s consistent faithfulness to His promises to bless the righteous and punish the wicked, the godly can endure periods of persecution and suffering with strong confidence. We can trust in the Lord’s eventual deliverance, and even praise Him as we endure rough times.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart,....

:-; by this instance of God's wonderful kindness to the psalmist, he would have the saints take heart, and be of good cheer, even in the greatest distresses, since their case cannot be worse than his was; and yet he had deliverance out of it;

all ye that hope in the Lord; for the eye of the Lord is on such, and he takes delight in them, Psalms 33:18. The Targum is, "who hope for", or "trust in the word of the Lord"; the essential Word, the promised Messiah.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      19 Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!   20 Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.   21 Blessed be the LORD: for he hath showed me his marvellous kindness in a strong city.   22 For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes: nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee.   23 O love the LORD, all ye his saints: for the LORD preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer.   24 Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD.

      We have three things in these verses:--

      I. The believing acknowledgment which David makes of God's goodness to his people in general, Psalms 31:19; Psalms 31:20.

      1. God is good to all, but he is, in a special manner, good to Israel. His goodness to them is wonderful, and will be, to eternity, matter of admiration: O how great is thy goodness! How profound are the counsels of it! how rich are the treasures of it! how free and extensive are the communications of it! Those very persons whom men load with slanders God loads with benefits and honours. Those who are interested in this goodness are described to be such as fear God and trust in him, as stand in awe of his greatness and rely on his grace. This goodness is said to be laid up for them and wrought for them. (1.) There is a goodness laid up for them in the other world, an inheritance reserved in heaven (1 Peter 1:4), and there is a goodness wrought for them in this world, goodness wrought in them. There is enough in God's goodness both for the portion and inheritance of all his children when they come to their full age, and for their maintenance and education during their minority. There is enough in bank and enough in hand. (2.) This goodness is laid up in his promise for all that fear God, to whom assurance is given that they shall want no good thing. But it is wrought, in the actual performance of the promise, for those that trust in him--that by faith take hold of the promise, put it in suit, and draw out to themselves the benefit and comfort of it. If what is laid up for us in the treasures of the everlasting covenant be not wrought for us, it is our own fault, because we do not believe. But those that trust in God, as they have the comfort of his goodness in their own bosoms, so they have the credit of it (and the credit of an estate goes far with some); it is wrought for them before the sons of men. God's goodness to them puts an honour upon them and rolls away their reproach; for all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed,Isaiah 61:9.

      2. God preserves man and beast; but he is, in a special manner, the protector of his own people (Psalms 31:20; Psalms 31:20): Thou shalt hide them. As his goodness is hid and reserved for them, so they are hid and preserved for it. The saints are God's hidden ones. See here, (1.) The danger they are in, which arises from the pride of man and from the strife of tongues; proud men insult over them and would trample on them and tread them down; contentious men pick quarrels with them; and, when tongues are at strife, good people often go by the worst. The pride of men endangers their liberty; the strife of tongues in perverse disputings endangers truth. But, (2.) See the defence they are under: Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence, in a pavilion. God's providence shall keep them safe form the malice of their enemies. He has many ways of sheltering them. When Baruch and Jeremiah were sought for the Lord hid them,Jeremiah 36:36. God's grace shall keep them safe from the evil of the judgments that are abroad; to them they have no sting; and they shall hidden in the day of the Lord's anger, for there is no anger at them. His comforts shall keep them easy and cheerful; his sanctuary, where they have communion with him, shelters then from the fiery darts of terror and temptation; and the mansions in his house above shall be shortly, shall be eternally, their hiding-place from all danger and fear.

      II. The thankful returns which David makes for God's goodness to him in particular, Psalms 31:21; Psalms 31:22. Having admired God's goodness to all the saints, he here owns how good he had found him. 1. Without were fightings; but God had wonderfully preserved his life: "He has shown me his marvellous loving-kindness, he has given me an instance of his care for me and favour to me, beyond what I could have expected." God's loving-kindness to his people, all things considered, is wonderful; but some instances of it, even in this world, are in a special manner marvelous in their eyes; as this here, when God preserved David from the sword of Saul, in caves and woods, as safe as if he had been in a strong city. In Keilah, that strong city, God showed him great mercy, both in making him an instrument to rescue the inhabitants out of the hands of the Philistines and then in rescuing him from the same men who would have ungratefully delivered him up into the hand of Saul, 1 Samuel 23:5; 1 Samuel 23:12. This was marvellous loving-kindness indeed, upon which he writes, with wonder and thankfulness, Blessed be the Lord. Special preservations call for particular thanksgivings. 2. Within were fears; but God was better to him than his fears, Psalms 31:22; Psalms 31:22. He here keeps an account, (1.) Of his own folly, in distrusting God, which he acknowledges, to his shame. Though he had express promises to build upon, and great experience of God's care concerning him in many straits, yet he had entertained this hard and jealous thought of God, and could not forbear telling it him to his face. "I am cut off before thy eyes; thou hast quite forsaken me, and I must not expect to be looked upon or regarded by thee any more. I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul, and so be cut off before thy eyes, be ruined while thou lookest on," 1 Samuel 27:1. This he said in his flight (so some read it), which denotes the distress of his affairs. Saul was just at his back, and ready to seize him, which made the temptation strong. In my haste (so we read it), which denotes the disturbance and discomposure of his mind, which made the temptation surprising, so that it found him off his guard. Note, It is a common thing to speak amiss when we speak in haste and without consideration; but what we speak amiss in haste we must repent of at leisure, particularly that which we have spoken distrustfully of God. (2.) Of God's wonderful goodness to him notwithstanding. Though his faith failed, God's promise did not: Thou hearest the voice of my supplication, for all this. He mentions his own unbelief as a foil to God's fidelity, serving to make his loving-kindness the more marvellous, the more illustrious. When we have thus distrusted God he might justly take us at our word, and bring our fears upon us, as he did on Israel, Numbers 14:28; Isaiah 66:4. But he has pitied and pardoned us, and our unbelief has not made his promise and grace of no effect; for he knows our frame.

      III. The exhortation and encouragement which he hereupon gives to all the saints, Psalms 31:23; Psalms 31:24. 1. He would have them set their love on God (Psalms 31:23; Psalms 31:23): O love the Lord! all you his saints. Those that have their own hearts full of love to God cannot but desire that others also may be in love with him; for in his favour there is no need to fear a rival. It is the character of the saints that they do love God; and yet they must still be called upon to love him, to love him more and love him better, and give proofs of their love. We must love him, not only for his goodness, because he preserves the faithful, but for his justice, because he plentifully rewards the proud doer (who would ruin those whom he preserves), according to their pride. Some take it in a good sense; he plentifully rewards the magnificent (or excellent) doer, that is daringly good, whose heart, like Jehoshaphat's, is lifted up in the ways of the Lord. He rewards him that does well, but plentifully rewards him that does excellently well. 2. He would have them set their hope in God ( Psalms 31:24; Psalms 31:24): "Be of good courage; have a good heart on it; whatever difficulties or dangers you may meet with, the God you trust in shall by that trust strengthen your heart." Those that hope in God have reason to be of good courage, and let their hearts be strong, for, as nothing truly evil can befal them, so nothing truly good for them shall be wanting to them.

      In singing this we should animate ourselves and one another to proceed and persevere in our Christian course, whatever threatens us, and whoever frowns upon us.

Spurgeon's Verse Expositions of the Bible

The Cure for a Weak Heart

March 4, 1886 by C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892)

"Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD." Psalms 31:24 .

There is no preaching like that which grows out of our own experience. You perceive, dear friends, that David had trusted in the Lord; in very sore and singular trouble God had delivered him; and at the close of that deliverance he wrote this Psalm, to be sung by the faithful of all time and every clime, and then he gave this exhortation which grew out of his own experience. O my brethren, we shall never speak to the heart of our hearers, unless what we say has been first engraver on our own hearts. The best noses of a sermon are those that are written on our own inner consciousness. If we speak of the things which we have tasted, and handled, and made our own, we speak with a certainty and with an authority which God is pleased to use for the comfort of his people. Think, then, that you can hear David, who has long since fallen asleep, speaking out of his royal tomb, and saying, as the result of his own happy experience, "Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord." I. In considering this text, I would first of all bid you notice AN APPROVED COMPANY, to whom the psalmist is speaking: "all ye that hope in the Lord." We must not regard all parts of the Bible as alike addressed to every individual. It has many messages to all the sons of Adam, but there are certain portions of it which are enclosed, and belong only to that seed according to promise which is distinguished by faith, whereby it is known to be in covenant with God. Holy Scripture discriminates; it makes some general promises, but its choicer words are given to persons of a special character. Judge for yourselves how far you come under the description of the text, "all ye that hope in the Lord." You perceive, first, that they are men of hope. They have not yet all they expect to have; they have not yet entered into possession of their full inheritance; they have a hope which is looking out for something better on before; they have a living hope which peers into the future beyond even the dark river of death, a hope with eyes so bright that it seeth things invisible to others, and gazes upon glories which the unaided human eye has never beheld. Have you this good hope? Do all your measures lie about you, or behind you? If so, the text speaks not to thee; this arrow flies beyond thee. If thou art indeed a child of God, thy hope lieth where, as yet, thine eye does not see, nor thy hand grasp. God's people are a hoping people, and therefore hoping for the fulfillment of the promises God has made to them. Next, they hope for good things, for this is implied when the psalmist speaks of those that hope in the Lord, for no man hopes for evil things whose hope is in the Lord. We are not led, by hoping in the Lord, to hope even for temporal things beyond a certain limit. We hope not for riches; we hope not for a long continuance here, for we have heard a voice saying unto us, "This is not your rest, for it is polluted." Our hope could not, even if it would, content itself with the things which are seen and temporal; we are hoping for a city whose Builder and Maker is God! We are hoping for joys which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have they entered into the heart of man. We are hoping for things so good that they can only come from God himself; our hope about them, therefore, is entirely in him. Are you a man with this good hope? Are you a man with a hope that you would not exchange for ten thousand worlds? Perhaps, out of your box, like Pandora's, everything that seemed solid has gone; but at the bottom there lies a hope, which does not fly away. This is the bird which sitteth and singeth both day and night within your soul, even though you are shut up from going into the common haunts of men. You have a hope, a good hope, a hope of good things to come, in the hereafter, in the islands of the blessed, where you shall be for ever at home with your God. If you are the persons spoken of in the text, this hope of yours is rooted, and grounded, and established in the Lord: "all ye that hope in the Lord." You have not a hope apart from the ever-blessed Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. To the Father, you look with the expectation of a child who is an heir. To the Son of God you look, waiting for that wedding feast which shall be kept with him to whom you are affianced by a betrothal that never can be contravened. To the Holy Ghost you look, for he is with you even now as the earnest of your inheritance, and you expect your inheritance to be of the same nature as the earnest which you already enjoy, and that you will be filled with his light, and love, and purity, and blessedness. For this you are looking, "My soul, wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from him." Can you say that? We are men of great expectations; but our expectations are not in men that die, or men that live, our expectations are in him who never dies, and never fails, and never disappoints those who put their trust in him. Say, dear hearer, I cannot come round, and put the question to all of you individually, but say, Dost thou belong to this approved company of men that hope in the Lord? I may further say that some of them do not get much beyond hope. I would not condemn them because of this; I must not judge those whom God hath not condemned. I like to hear a child of God speak of the full assurance of faith, for full assurance is the proper tone of an educated faith. He that believeth ought to be assured of the thing which he believeth; else, why doth he believe it? And it is good when the milk of faith has stood quiet so long that you can see the cream of full assurance floating upon the surface of it. Yet I do know that, if you have not full assurance, and if the most you say is, "I hope," you are included in the blessed company to whom the psalmist speaks: "all ye that hope in the Lord." O Little-faith, and Miss Much-afraid, and Mr. Feeble-mind, and Mr. Fearing, all of you who belong to that very numerous family, all of you who are like Pharaoh's lean kine, God loves you! These feeble ones are carried in the Savior's bosom, or gently led by his loving hand. Do not exclude yourself, I pray you, from any sweetness which lies in the text, "all ye that hope in the Lord." Indeed, my text seems to me to have an arm like that of the Good Shepherd. "He shall gather the lambs with his arm," as if he would put his arm around them to draw them close up to his heart. "All ye that hope in the Lord,"-you who are so little, you who are so useless, you who are so trembling, you who are not what you want to be, you who can see rather your own imperfections than anything else, you who groan rather than sing because you cannot as yet overcome your besetting sins, do you hope in the Lord? My text speaks to all that hope in the Lord, and I should like so to preach from it that, if I should omit any of you who are strong, I should at any rate apply the text to those who are very weak and trembling. "All ye that hope in the Lord." This passage picks up the undermost, it seems to come, like the men with the ambulance, to look after the wounded, and carry them on at the same pace as those who march in the fullness of their strength. This, then, is the approved company: "all ye that hope in the Lord." Not, "you that hope in yourselves;" not, "you that hope in your priests;" not, "you that have any confidences anywhere else;" but you who hope in God alone. II. Well now, secondly, my text seems to intimate that there is AN OCCASIONAL WEAKNESS, I might say, A FREQUENT WEAKNESS which is apparent in many of those that hope in the Lord. It is a dangerous weakness, for it is a weakness of the heart. The text says, "Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart;" wherein it is implied that, sometimes, the heart of them that hope in the Lord grows weak. As you well know, heart disease is a very dangerous disease; even if a very little is wrong with the heart, it is a serious matter, for every other part of the body will be affected. Some of God's own people are occasionally, and many of them very often, subject to a weakness of the heart. They lose their courage, their joy departs from them, and they become timorous and fearful. This weakness occurs on many occasions. Sometimes we have seen those who hope in the Lord very weak in heart under great suffering. Pain follows pain; it seems as if every cut of the knife went deeper than the last, and that the knife was sharper every time. Oh, let me tell you, who are in vigorous health, and have no bodily pain, and do not always sympathize as you might with those who are the subjects of acute suffering, it is not so easy as you think to bear such pain as some of us have to endure. Let a man have an intolerable headache by the week together, or it may be a sharp attack of rheumatism; let sciatica come upon him, or some of those terrible nerve pains that touch us to the very quick; and you will see whether he who boasted of his strength finds that he has any strength to spare. At such times, the spirits sink, and the heart's action grows feebler and feebler. So is it also in the battle of life. A man is struggling hard to gain a livelihood; perhaps he has not any means of earning even bread for his wife and children, and it is very trying for a man when the cupboard is bare, and the children's clothes scarcely cover them from the cold. In such circumstances, his heart sometimes fails him, and then it is that God bids him be of good courage, and strengthens his heart. This weakness of heart is particularly felt in times of temptation. I have known Christian men who have had to work among ungodly companions, and their spirits have been vexed every day with the filthy conversation of the wicked, and their taunts, and jeers, and blasphemies; and in such cases the heart has oftentimes grown very heavy, and sick, and faint. Those of us who love the old-fashioned gospel cannot look abroad to-day, and see many pulpits turned against our God, and many so-called "thinkers" deserting the old faith, without feeling that this is a burden which presses upon us very sorely, and our heart grows heavy, and perhaps becomes weak. I have also seen some Christians troubled with this complaint in the midst of great labor for the Lord. They are doing all they can do, and yet they do not see the success they expected. They are not weary of the work, but they are weary in it. They see very clearly the imperfections in their service, and they are further troubled, because some who should help them, do not help them. They meet with cold hearts where they reckoned on enthusiasm; instead of generosity, it may be that there is niggardliness; and, instead of prayerfulness burning like coals of juniper, there is lukewarmness or spiritual death. At such times, the man of God puts his hand into his bosom, and he says, "My heart, my heart faileth me." Then the message of the text comes in, "Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord." Host men are subject to fainting fits at times. Even David became weak and faint; and Samson, after he had cried exultingly, "With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass, have I slain a thousand men," yet, for want of a draught of water, was ready to lie down, and faint and die. The best of men are but men at the best; and, therefore, who wonders if their heart sometimes faileth them in the day of suffering, in the hour of battle, or under the broiling sun, when they are laboring for their Lord? If this weakness of the heart should continue, it will be very injurious. At the present time, I believe that it restricts enterprise. That young man would go as a missionary to China, but his heart fails him. There is another who would be found on the Congo, seeking to preach Christ, but he has not the needed courage. There is a sister who would be taking a Bible-class, or visiting in the district where she lives, but she cannot summon the resolution to begin. Oh, how many good resolves, and holy projects, never come to anything! We see the bud and blossom, but they do not knit into fruit as they ought to do. I hardly dare to think of the vast quantity of talent in the Redeemer's kingdom that lies unused, often for want of moral courage and confidence in God. I do not think that we are at all lacking in confidence in ourselves, at any rate, some of us are not; but it is confidence in God which is wanted, and that is quite another thing. This confidence makes the feeble strong, and the timid brave; may we all have a large share of it! God deliver us from faintness of heart, lest we injure the kingdom of our Lord by withholding our service! And, dear friends, this weakness of heart endangers the success of the best worker. He who fights most valiantly may be on the verge of victory, and yet be defeated, if his heart should then fail him. I have no doubt, in reading the records of many campaigns, you must have noticed that men have gone on from victory to victory, and suddenly there has been a pause because their hearts failed them, just when, had they followed up their previous successes, they must have swept all before them. Beware, you who have served God with courage, lest fear should take hold upon you, and you should flinch in the day of battle, and miss that which you might have won for your Lord. This feeble heart pleads many excuses. I do not marvel that it does so; how can I, when I know myself? O brothers, sisters, if you look within, well may your hearts fail you; and if you look without, upon the temptations that waylay you, upon the powers of darkness so strongly entrenched within their fortresses, well may you faint! What a task we undertake in trying to win a single soul, much more in seeking to win a city or the world for Christ! Well may our hearts fail if we begin to look off from God. The fable is told of Hercules, that he fought with a famous giant, whom he could not for a while overcome because he was born of the earth, and every time he was hurled to his mother-earth, he rose renewed in strength. Hercules tugged and strove with his gigantic foe, and felt that the struggle was hopeless, till he discovered his adversary's secret; then he took him in his arms, and hugged the monster to death. You and I are invincible, though a thousand stronger than Hercules should be against us, as long as we can fall back on our God; and the only hope of the enemy's victory is if he can keep us away from God. But even if he should throw us down, and seem to break us in pieces, yet in that fall we fall upon our God, and rest on him alone. We may lie prone upon the earth, and cry, "Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise." Come into contact with your God, fall upon divine power, and you will rise with new force and new strength; but, if you should once be separated from him, then would it be all over with you. Yet, blessed be his name, nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. III. Now, thirdly, I call your most earnest heed to the trumpet voice of the exhortation in the text, A SEASONABLE EXHORTATION: "Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart." I like the way this is put. It is not alone, "Be of good courage;" there is an "and" with it: "and he shall strengthen your heart." At the same time, the exhortation is not omitted. It does not say, "He shall comfort your heart, therefore you need do nothing." They err from the Scriptures who make the grace of God a reason for doing nothing; it is the reason for doing everything. They who say that predestination and the working of a living God put man out of the field, make a gross mistake; it is these facts that bring man into the field. The sternest predestination is not the least in conflict with the most perfect freedom of the human will. I may not be able to explain to you how it is so, but I know that it is so as a matter of fact; and that God requires us to be of good courage at the same moment that he says that he will strengthen our heart. Dear friends, if you want to get out of diffidence, and timidity, and despondency, you must rouse yourselves up. This is incumbent upon you, for the text puts it so: "Be of good courage." Do not sit still, and rub your eyes, and say, "I cannot help it, I must always be dull like this." You must not be so; in the name of God, you are commanded in the text to "be of good courage." If you are indolent, like that, you must not expect the grace of God to operate upon you as though you were a block of wood, and could be made into something against your will. Oh, no! you must determine to be of good courage. Wherefore, arise, and shake yourself from the dust. Believe thou, dear friend, put thy trust in God. "Give to the winds thy fears." Take down thy harp from the willows. "I cannot play it," say you. Get it down, all the same for that; even if you cannot play it, lay your fingers upon the strings; it is wonderful how, when once those accustomed fingers touch the well-beloved strings, it seems as if they were charmed into music. Do thou what thou canst, and God will do for thee what thou canst by no means do for thyself. I know that a great many, who are very sad and low in spirit, come in here on a Thursday night; and their friends say to them, "We wish that we could cheer you up." I do not say that, but I do say this, "Be of good courage. Be of good courage." It is the Lord's command to you. Do you not think that your God deserves to be trusted? What has he ever done that you should doubt him? Does he not deserve your most confident faith? And what do you expect to get out of your timidity? He that is afraid of the weather, can he change it? He says that there will be a long frost; can he shorten it by a single day by fretting over it? There is great depression in business, and he will be ruined: will he be less likely to be ruined by worrying? Seest thou not, then, that thy God deserves thy trust, and that common wisdom bids thee be of good courage? If thou art not of good courage, what will happen to thee? I will not say that thou wilt be a coward, but I will say that thou wilt look very much like one. I have heard of one who said that he was of a very retiring disposition; he could not take a Sunday school class, or speak to anybody a word for the Master, he was so retiring! I have also heard of a soldier who, in the day of battle, was so very retiring that they shot him as a deserter! I would not have you deserve the coward's doom, and speak of it as "retiring." No, get not into that class; be thou rather like that soldier of Alexander, who was always to the front, and the reason was that he bore about with him what was thought to be an incurable disease, and he suffered so much pain that he did not care whether he lived or died. Alexander took great pains to have him healed, and when he was quite well, he never exposed his precious life to any risk again. Oh, I would rather that you should be stung into courage by excessive pain than that you should be healed into cowardice! Christ ought not to be served by feather-bed soldiers. He deserves that we trust him, and bring ourselves into his service with a courage that cannot be daunted. Though it be upon the pikes of his adversaries, let us find paradise there, for we shall find it if we follow Christ faithfully to the death. God grant us, then, to be of good courage! Why art thou afraid? Is God with thee, and yet art thou afraid? What aileth thee? Hath God forsaken thee? Hath he forgotten to be gracious? Has omnipotence grown weak? What canst thou be about? Has he been a wilderness to thee? Has the manna ceased to fall, or the waters to flow? Go, yield thyself up to him; ask him, by his grace, to make thee heroic, instead of being numbered among the fearful and the unbelieving, who turn their backs in the day of battle, and seek their own selfish ease and comfort. IV. I finish up with A CHEERING PROMISE: "He shall strengthen your heart." God alone can strengthen the heart. I suppose that physicians can do something for weakhearts, though I do not know. As a general rule, when a man dies suddenly, and they do not know what it is that killed him, they say, "It is disease of the heart." The heart is a mysterious portion of our being, and needs great care. Spiritually, the mercy is that God, who made the heart, understands the heart; and he who sees its weakness, knows how to strengthen it. How does God strengthen men's hearts? Well, sometimes, by gracious providences. Something very unexpected happens; I have, myself, learnt to expect the unexpected. I have known what it is almost to wish to get into a defile, through which there was no way of escape, on purpose that I might see the Lord cleave the hills asunder, or divide even the sea, to make a way for his people. It is a grand thing to get into such deep water that you cannot touch the bottom, and must swim, and then to feel the eternal buoyancy of Gods providence bearing you up. It is grand swimming when there are ten thousand fathoms of ocean below you, there is no fear of knocking your foot against a rock then; and when you get right out into a simple dependence upon the living God, and feel the waves of his eternal influences round about you, then will you be happy and blest. The Lord has also a way of strengthening men's hearts by the kindly fellowship of friends. Paul was often much refreshed by Christian associates. The Lord can send someone who, "as iron sharpeneth iron," may sharpen you, and make you ready for service. "A word fitly spoken" "a word upon wheels" as the Hebrew has it, how good it is when it comes in just at the right time! It "is like apples of gold in baskets of silver." Such are goodly words brought to us by men of faith and experience, whom God sends to us. So, too, have I known a man's heart to be mightily strengthened by a precious promise. Who knows the wonderful power of a text of Scripture? We used to have, thirty years ago, I do not know whether you have them now, "poor men's plasters" which we used when we felt weak in the back; but a promise out of the Scripture is a poor man's plaster indeed. What strength it gives to the loins! How we seem to be braced up when we truly lay hold of a promise of God, and it really gets a grip upon our spirit! Beside all that, God the Holy Spirit has a secret way of strengthening the courage of God's people, which none of us can explain. Have you never felt it? You may have gone to your bed, sick at heart, "weary, and worn, and sad," and you wake in the morning ready for anything. Perhaps, in the middle of the night, you awake, and the visitations of God are manifested to you, and you feel as happy as if everything went the way you would like it to go. Nay, you shall be more happy that everything should cross you than that everything should please you, if it be God's sweet will. You feel a sudden strengthening of your spirit, so that you are perfectly resigned, satisfied, prepared, and ready. I have known a man of God on 'Change. Everything has seemed to be going wrong, and he has got worried and troubled, till he has stepped aside, and retired for a little prayer to his God. He has not been absent five minutes, yet he has come back feeling, "Now I am ready for you." All the flurry has gone, all the worry has gone, God has revived his spirit, and strengthened his heart. I have seen a good woman, when her husband has just died, and all her hope has seemed withered. The first burst of grief has passed, and she has bowed by the side of that bed, and lifted up her heart to God, and then has brushed her tears away, and given herself up to fight the battle of life for her children, and God has strengthened her heart, as in a moment. Oh, do not give way! You need not be cowards; do not give way. Do not say, "I must be beaten, I must always be despondent, my life is crushed." You need not be so. "Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart." Get you to your chamber, fall upon your knees, pour out your heart before God, tell your trouble to the Most High, and, as the Lord liveth, before whom I stand, he must and will help those who put their trust in him. Has he ever failed any who trusted in him? Who has ever stayed his hand, or withdrawn him from his designs? Who has ever made him deny his promise, or retract his word? If thou wilt trust him, he will be better to thee than thy fears; nay, better to thee than thy beliefs, or thy largest hopes. Stay yourselves upon him; lean upon the bosom of eternal love; lean hard, lean all your weight there, and leave that weight there, and the Lord be with you, and bless you! Blessed are all they that trust in the Lord. How I wish that all here had trusted in the Lord, or that they would seek him even now if they have never yet found him! The Lord be gracious to every one of you, for Jesus' sake! Amen.