“Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.” (Isaiah 40:1)
We are excited today to be able to launch this encouragement website. We hope that you find it a place of comfort, for that is the purpose of it. As you visit and read our posts, we pray that you will find the meditations from Scripture to be a source of help if you are tired, weary, or struggling. In the past couple of years, we have experienced trials, struggles, sicknesses, and disappointments. It has been easy to get discouraged, and there have been times of weeping. But it is our desire that the tears that have fallen upon our path through these valleys of life will become wells from which others may draw refreshing water for their thirsty souls. The story of these wells of fresh water comes from Psalm 84.
Psalm 84 was written by one whose heart was heavy and who longed for the comfort of the living God. Here are some encouraging thoughts from this Psalm.
The Condition of My Heart - Verses 1 - 3
“How amiable are thy tabernacles, O LORD of hosts! 2My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. 3Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O LORD of hosts, my King, and my God.”
My soul longeth
My soul fainteth
My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.
Then I remember that God cares, even for the sparrows. He allows them to nest in His house. Would He not allow me to find refuge and shelter in Him as well?
Praise in the Midst of Depression - Verses 4 – 6
“4Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. Selah. 5Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them. 6Who passing through the valley of Baca [weeping] make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools.”
I praise, in spite of my depression.
God is my strength when His ways are in my heart.
I pass through the valley of weeping. My tears pour down like rain. But my tears can make a well and fill the pools so that those who follow after me in the same path might find refreshment when their heart and their flesh cry out for the living God.
Wells of Strength - Verse 7
“They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God.”
Perhaps I must make many such wells so that weary travelers after me will have strength for their journey. They will be able to make it from one refreshing well to the other – to go from strength to strength. Consider the picture above. It seems that the artist imagined two women traveling through the desert. In the middle of the desert they found a well that someone had dug. There they were able to fill their water pots. A cool, refreshing drink from this well would give them strength to walk further. However, the water pots will eventually become empty. Therefore, it would be important that there would be another well. At the other well, the ladies can fill their water pots again and refresh their weary bodies and gain strength to go on to the next one. If wells are dug at intervals along the path, these ladies can find strength to complete their whole journey.
It is the same in life. Some parts of life’s journey are like traveling through the desert. The traveler becomes weary and tired, and her soul is thirsty for the living God. If the traveler is very weary, she may not be able to dig and search for water. She is delighted to discover that those who had gone before her on the same journey prepared wells along the way. As she goes from well to well, she is able to find strength to endure to the end.
My Prayer and My Heart Cry - Verses 8 and 9
“8O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer: give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah. 9Behold, O God our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed.”
I cry out to God to answer me in my sorrow, in my heaviness. “You chose me to work for You – O God, look upon me!”
A Better Dwelling Place - Verse 10
“For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.”
I do not want to stray from You and dwell among the wicked, no matter how prosperous they may seem to be. A day spent with God is better than a thousand spent with the wicked of this world.
The LORD God – My Sun and My Shield; My Grace and My Glory - Verse 11
“For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.”
The LORD God is a sun – a Light to show me the way
The LORD God is a shield – my Protection
The LORD will give grace
The LORD will give glory
He will not withhold from me any good thing if I walk in His ways.
He is mighty. He is the LORD of hosts. I can trust in Him. That is the source of true joy in my life.
“O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.” (verse 12)