Do Not Lose Heart

Do Not Lose Heart

“Getting old is not for sissies.” Aches and pains and sorrows pester us and try to take center stage in our conversations. But there is a blessing to growing older. Experience brings a bigger perspective. Questions about our larger purpose loom larger in our minds and the answers to those questions become more urgent.

I follow certain people on the web. One of them is David Powlison. He’s written a lot of stuff concerning the intersection of psychology and God. I’ve found him to be a true disciple of Jesus. David passed away this summer of pancreatic cancer. Allow me to share with you some of his last written words:

Today I am called to fight this final battle with Jesus as my armor and his Spirit as my strength. . . . The world tells us that medicine is our only hope. We don’t want to get fixated on finding a cure. We want to be wise. So we pray. We armor ourselves with the truth that the Lord is near and will be our good Shepherd. We take up the sword of the Spirit and remember Jesus’s words that “sufficient for the day is its own trouble” and ask for help one day at a time (Matt. 6:34).


. . . Now I am staring death in the face. Instead of my faith failing, the promise of a new heart holds true. God is still shining into the darkness of my heart to give me the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. The reality of death has made the truth of God’s Word come alive to me. I am now living out the end of 2 Corinthians 4:

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (vv. 16–18)

At times I am tempted to lose heart. But my good Shepherd is leading me toward life, not death. . .

. . . This is what the whole Bible is about. It’s about life and death; it’s about what is going to happen to you when you die; it’s about right and wrong, true and false, hope and despair, obedience and recklessness, faith and idolatry. This is the drama that we and those we minister to are living in. And the miracle is that we are given a new heart, a heart of flesh, and a new spirit so that we can and will live forever.”

To those who are in the Fall years of your life, to those who are facing physical or emotional battles and to those who are facing your last battle, know that Jesus, the Good Shepherd is leading you through. There are so many around you to pray with you and for you. Please ask them to pray. If you need someone to pray with you through it, DON’T HESITATE to give Pr. Scott or myself a call.

And may our young ones be given ears to hear the old ones as they witness to a grander view of God and the life He has given us to live. We are sinners. Jesus saves sinners. Saved sinners grow to love as God is love. Love unfolds joy even in deep sorrow. Joy is made complete as He leads us home.


Keep and Live the Faith!
-Pr. Dave Dahl

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