{ take courage }

But You, Take courage! Do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded.
2 Chronicles 15:7

My husband gave this verse to me and it really impacted my heart. The surrounding story is about a prophet telling a king to take courage and do what the Lord told him. So the king "took courage" and removed the idols from the nations, and the Israelites made a covenant to search for God with all their desire and find him. And they did, and he was found by them.

This scripture stirs my heart for several reasons. First of, just verse 7, "take courage!" Most of the time I don't feel courageous. I feel worried or overwhelmed or afraid. And this is not about natural human courage, because that only goes so far, until something scares it out of you! No, my courage can only come from the choice to believe that the Lord is all powerful, in complete control, and loving. Courage from faith in a God that is bigger than my mind can conceive. Courage from the knowledge that he holds me in the palm of his hand. Courage because his grace has covered me, I need not fear his judgement, and I can be me, with all my uniquenesses, fearfully and wonderfully made. Courage to go wherever He sends me and speak whatever He tells me to. Courage to step out, to release my kids to God. Sometimes I just need courage to make it through the morning, let alone the day or week!

"Do not let your hands be weak", stand up and keep going, apply myself even when I feel sick or fatigued. "For your work shall be rewarded"

In my English Standard Version Bible, the phrase take courage is found in several other places. The ones which grab me are:


Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!
Psalm 27:14

Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the LORD!
Psalm 31:24

But you, take courage! Do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded."
2 Chronicles 15:7

...take courage...
{ take courage }

And here is a summary of the story in Chronicles:


and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, "Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: The LORD is with you while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.
2 Chronicles 15:2
7 But you, take courage! Do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded."
8 As soon as Asa heard these words, the prophecy of Azariah the son of Oded, he took courage and put away the detestable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities that he had taken in the hill country of Ephraim, and he repaired the altar of the LORD that was in front of the vestibule of the house of the LORD.
2 Chronicles 15:8


(you know what the tattoo guy said to me as he prepared to start and I closed my eyes? Yep. Take courage. Ha!)

Blessings and courage be with you!

- just megs