God is the Strength of My Heart

“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever.”

Psalm 73:26

The first thing I thought of when I read the words “but God is the strength of my heart” is a wall. The wall that we women often build around our hearts in order to protect them from hurt, heart break and damage. These walls are made up of disappointments, sadness, bitterness, despair. This is like building a wall out of chipped bricks, rotting logs and poorly made mortar. Such a wall can not last, it will not stand. The enemy will tear through the wall with ease, allowing our heart to be subject to damage all over again. But this new damage is all the more severe. Not only are we filled with disappointments in others but also disappointment in ourselves. “How could I let that get to me? I worked so hard to protect my heart! What am I, some sort of sap? I can’t let anyone else discover how weak I am.” And so we begin building again.

“But God is the strength of my heart.” God is the only one who can truly protect our hearts. He never disappoints, and is never disappointed in us. He doesn’t care how weak we are; in fact He usually uses our times of weakness to reveal His glory. He never judges us for being sappy, He created us as women, I believe He meant for us to be a little “sappy”, and He certainly meant for us to long for love. He hates to see our hearts ache. If it weren’t for free will He would unfailingly protect our hearts from every hurt. But as it is, we must choose to let Him protect us. We must open up our hearts and say, “God, I have been so hurt. I know that you are the only one who can protect my heart. I’m asking you now to come into my heart and keep it safe.”

The great thing about God’s protection of our hearts is that it is less like a wall and more like a protective force field. The advantage to this is that, unlike the wall, it keeps out the bad but lets in the good. It allows us to be loved and to love.