Be of Good Courage, a Call to Worship

Scripture:  Psalms 31:24 - Be of good courage and He shall strengthen your heart, all ye who hope in the Lord.

You could  say that what we have now is an unexpected [undesirable] stimulus package in Covid-19, the Corona virus pandemic.  A stimulus is an occurrence which by its irritating, threatening, attractive, or pleasurable features prompts a person, or persons, toward a change of thought, orientation, or action.  Facing a stimulus, a good question to have, for any believer is, "Given this, how should my worship be?"  [we are hard-wired for worship]

Recall how in the middle of all else being freely, and wonderfully available, God put a "don't" in the garden.  "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shall not eat of it..." [Genesis 2:17] So with a bit of a nudge, Eve, the innocent, exchanged her doctorate of divinity for a Ph.D. in Food Science, Aesthetics, and Pharmacology. The stimulus [the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, with God's mandate] put her in the position of being free to obey, or free to justify drifting, whereby seeing the fruit naturally good as food [likely by observing the creatures eating it and not dropping dead] and seeing it as pleasing to the eyes [a fruit plump, shiny, colorful, and low hanging], she then took her natural observations, like a good scientist, elevated them to the level of revelation [on her own] to then step away. "She took the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband WITH HER, and he did eat." [Genesis 3:6] Here the free couple facing the stimulus, chose and acted contrarily through wayward thinking.  Their orientation would follow, letting worship become secondary, letting courage sit down.  Consider family, that not all done as permitted, takes one toward perfecting, and to be of "good" courage is to acknowledge that other types of courage exist.  Psalm 31 is home for troubled folks in troubling times.  It's invitation is to have good courage, to hope in the Lord.

Whatever we face, we are being our best when we believe in God, and believe God, that He is good, and His grace is great, with worship as our sound response.

Given this, how should my worship be?  It may be Corona virus now, but before it was HIV/AIDS, SARS, Ebola, Zika, Hepatitis C, H1-N1 Influenza and God is still in control. Before it was 9-11, a tax audit, a sassy child, an ailing parent, a struggling marriage, a surprise positive pregnancy test, a flooded basement, a pink slip, a borderline biopsy result, a bad report card, an identity theft, a home invasion and God is still in control! If you are reading this now [or having it read by someone] it is because of His mercy and grace.  Maybe your stimulus isn't of the scary sort, but that which is pleasantly distracting, like that eye-catching fruit.

How should my worship be?  How ought my good courage show?

Prayer:  Jesus, thank You so much, for all that You've done for me.  Thank You for Your faithfulness, when I wasn't.  Forgive me, Lord.  Help me to reckon rightly day by day, and strengthen my heart, and my hope.  Help me with my righteous "yes", and my holy "no".  Quicken within me the fruit of love, for You and those whom You love.
May the words from my mouth, and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O' Lord.  And may the promise of the empty tomb be ever fetching. Amen and amen. C'mon good courage. Amen!

(by Dr. McNeal Brockington)