Stouthearted?

Stouthearted. Now there’s something you don’t hear in everyday language. I am not sure how I would use the word in an ordinary conversation without the flow of discussion coming to an immediate halt followed by either a blank stare or several raised eyebrows. But nevertheless there it was in my morning quiet time with the Lord looming off the page at me just demanding my full attention. Hmm pause for raised eyebrows.


What compelled me to halt and go back over this verse several times and what sent me bolting for my lexical aid to clarify the meaning behind the word? Context my friend, context. It is so important when I read scripture to take everything in light of what is happening in the surrounding scriptures. It sets the tone. I can get obsessive about it.

The word is found in Psalm 138:3 and it is used in the context of answered prayer. It seems any utterance that might illuminate the mystery behind answered prayer draws my full attention. What about you? David in this Psalm is praising God for the victory He brought Him over his enemies. Apparently it was a serious need since he uses phraseology like “preserved my life” and God not to “abandon the works of your hands”.

What is the scripture in question?

“When I called, you answered me; you made me bold and stouthearted.”

Ok David I get what bold means but stouthearted? Well doesn’t stout mean kind of heavy and heart means heart? Are you saying that God gave you a heavy heart? Not sure how a heavy heart helps in serious life threatening situations?

Open lexical aid and look up stouthearted.

Actually, that word is really two words. One word refers to the part of your soul that gives you life or your human spirit. While the other word means strength. What David was saying was that he called to the Lord and He answered him but it wasn’t by just annihilating his enemies which, by the way God could do with a mere glance, but by strengthening David in his spirit. God gave him inner strength or courage. He made David brave.

I wonder when I am asking God to remove the hard and dangerous obstacles that I am faced with, like a potential failing relationship, a serious negative medical report or a financial set back of a cataclysmic proportion, the answer might not be where my perspective is. Maybe the answer He brings isn’t external but internal. Maybe the answer is a stout heart.

Paul the apostle understood this. A few years ago, I studied all the prayers penned by him in the New Testament. I analyzed all the requests that he brought to the Lord in those prayers. Not once, from what I could find, did he ask for healing or for financial provision. The number one thing he asked for was inner strength or power. It seems Paul understood why God allows difficult circumstances in our lives, an understanding that I often shrink from, to bring us into a higher level of spiritual strength. Isn’t it easier for everyone if God just removed the obstacle rather then make us blunder through it with such anxiety laden dispositions? Actually no, scripture tells us that we are called to grow into the likeness of Christ and we do that most often through adversity.

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary afflictions are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweights them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Cor 4:16-18

Maybe the reason why I struggle and I am frustrated with my prayer life is because my focus is on the wrong thing. Maybe I would recognize the power and presence of God more readily in my life if I started to ask Him to give me courage to endure the circumstances rather then to remove them. Maybe I need to start asking for a tenacious spirit, that God “would strengthen me in my inner man so Christ may dwell in my heart through faith” (Eph 3:16-17). That God would make me “bold and stouthearted”. That I would become brave. Maybe therein lies the victory?

Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.
                                —The Special Olympics Prayer