A Magnolia's Heart Beats

WFW - Strengthen Me

A Heavy Heart

Do you have a heavy heart today? Lately I have. The light in my life seemed to grow pretty dim for a number of weeks recently. I was weary and filled with sorrow.

The Hebrew word for soul is sort of what I call a catch-all. Nephesh is a noun that means:

1) soul, self, life, creature, person, appetite, mind, living being, desire, emotion, passion
a) that which breathes, the breathing substance or being, soul, the inner being of man
b) living being
c) living being (with life in the blood)
d) the man himself, self, person or individual
e) seat of the appetites
f) seat of emotions and passions
g) activity of mind
1) dubious
h) activity of the will
1) dubious
i) activity of the character
1) dubious

Our seat of emotions and passions, as well as our mind's activity and our whole living being can get downright weary and sorrowful sometimes. Mine did, and I am so glad God overcame it in me.

The Hebrew word for weary is

dalaph. This verb means:

1) to drop, drip

a) (Qal)

1) to leak

2) to weep (of tears)

I was in a deep depression brought on by a medication change. My physical body would just feel like it was dropping, and oh, how my eyes leaked. This is why I didn't blog for a while. I wept often but am happy to report that I'm better now.

The Hebrew word for sorrow is tuwgah. This is a noun which means:

1) grief, heaviness, sorrow

Strength from the Word

The Hebrew word for strengthen is

quwm, a verb that means:

1) to rise, arise, stand, rise up, stand up
a) (Qal)

1) to arise

2) to arise (hostile sense)

3) to arise, become powerful

4) to arise, come on the scene

5) to stand

a) to maintain oneself

b) to be established, be confirmed

c) to stand, endure

d) to be fixed

e) to be valid

f) to be proven

g) to be fulfilled

h) to persist

i) to be set, be fixed

b) (Piel)

1) to fulfil

2) to confirm, ratify, establish, impose

c) (Polel) to raise up

d) (Hithpael) to raise oneself, rise up

e) (Hiphil)

1) to cause to arise, raise

2) to raise, set up, erect, build

3) to raise up, bring on the scene

4) to raise up, rouse, stir up, investigate

5) to raise up, constitute

6) to cause to stand, set, station, establish

7) to make binding

8) to carry out, give effect to

f) (Hophal) to be raised up

My strength came in many forms; kind words from family and friends, prayer, and some time in the hospital and new medication. Most of all, it came from God's Word. I had my Bible with me and each morning I met with one other lady who was also a Christian. We would read the same thing and compare. She had a different version than I did and we would talk about the difference in translations, what was more easily understood in whose Bible, how blessed we were to have met and to pray and read with each other, etc. We drew strength not only from each other, but what we read in the Bible. 1 and 2 Peter is what we studied. Very interesting!

Like the Psalmist, I was able to arise, endure and be confirmed and raise myself up by God's hand by staying in the Word. It is the best place to go when your heart is heavy and grief stricken, or when you're simply having a rotten day. Of course we should have regular times of daily Bible reading, but sometimes we need extra doses to be strengthened.

The Word

The Psalmist knew what the answer was to his sorrow. He asked God to strengthen Him in the Word. The Hebrew word for the phrase "according to your word" is

dabar. This noun means:

1) speech, word, speaking, thing
a) speech

b) saying, utterance

c) word, words

d) business, occupation, acts, matter, case, something, manner (by extension)

One of the ways God speaks to us is through His Word. It's as relevant today as it was when it was written. There is great comfort, assurance, delight, and hope to be found in His Word.

Remember another verse the Psalmist wrote.

"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path." ~ Psalm 119:105 (NIV)

Wrapping it Up

Questions for Reflection: Do you believe this? If so, join me in reading His Word the next time you're feeling weary and sorrowful.

Verse of the Day: "My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your word." ~ Psalm 119:28 (NIV)

Prayer: Father, thank You for Your Word. It truly does contain the words of strength we need that are straight from You, passed down to those You so divinely inspired. Help us to let You strengthen us according to Your Word when we are down as well as when we are up. Help us to make use of this most wonderful Resource and guide us to where in the Word we need to be when we are weary with sorrow. Thank You for being such a loving and personal Father to us. In Your Son's Name we pray...Amen.

S - Seek Him always as your strength. "Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always." ~ 1 Chronicles 16:11 (NIV)

T - Trust in Him for your strength. "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me." ~ John 14:1 (NIV)

R - Read His Word to strengthen you. "My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your word." ~ Psalm 119:28 (NIV)

E - Expect to be able to act on strength in Him. "I can do everything through him who gives me strength." ~ Philippians 4:13 (NIV)

N - Never doubt Him as your source of strength through faith. "Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done." ~ Matthew 21:21 (NIV)

G - Give your whole heart to Him to receive strength from Him. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." ~ Mark 12:30 (NIV)

T - Thank the Lord in advance for His strength. "The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song." ~ Psalm 28:7 (NIV)

H - Have courage in Him as you stand by His strength. "Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong." ~ 1 Corinthians 6:13 (NIV)

If you enjoyed this post, you might like

Strength in the Lord and/or The Lord is My Strength.

The purpose of Word Filled Wednesday is to share the Word of God through photo's and Scripture. Amydeanne, over at The 160 Acre Woods, is our hostess this week.. Be sure to link up and share your own, and drop her a thank you for hosting this wonderful meme. It always blesses my heart to read all the posts and see the photos and verses. This is a wonderful way to minister to others and to be ministered to by reading others posts. Please visit by clicking on the button below.

Please accept my apology for any formatting issues. I think I used too many colors. I tried to fix it for 2 hours last night and couldn't get the spacing right.