How do we live with a courageous heart?

Praying for miracles we don’t know we will receive takes courage. Waiting for God’s answers, whatever his answers will be, takes strength. A courageous heart is essential to live with the hope of heaven when heaven is the only hope left to us on earth.

Psalm 27 is about leaning on the hope of our salvation. We live with that hope every day if we are a Christian. Hope in our salvation gives us a peace that others don’t always understand and a perspective that people who live for earth alone don’t have. The hope of our salvation is the place we will run when we recognize the hope the world offers is insufficient.

The psalmist wrote, “I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lᴏʀᴅ in the land of the living!” (Psalm 27:13). God gives us glimpses of his goodness all the time. We have seen his peace in people who were facing a crisis. We have seen his joy in people who could have felt grief instead. We have seen his strength in people who were called to face huge challenges. We glimpse God at work in the lives of the faithful.

Sometimes we wait for the Lord’s answers in our own lives. Sometimes we live with courageous hope because our circumstances are not yet easy, resolved, or overcome.

Our hearts can take courage even when our heads cannot.

How do we live with a courageous heart? We don’t simply look for the goodness of the Lord in our earthly lives; we look also for the goodness he has promised us eternally.

The psalmist was also saying, “One day I will see the goodness of the Lord face-to-face. I will experience the goodness of the Lord in every moment of the land where I will live forever.”

We can wait with a courageous heart when we eagerly look forward to the joys of heaven. Heaven is the Christian’s ultimate “land of the living.” One day we will see fully the goodness of the Lord. It takes courage to wait for that moment, but we have been given that courage through God’s Holy Spirit and through his word.

Yielding to God’s wisdom is spiritual strength. Trust the wisdom of the psalmist who called us to “be strong” and let our hearts take courage. Every Christian can see the goodness of the Lord in this life, and every Christian will only see the goodness of the Lord in life eternal. That is wisdom that makes this life worth the wait!