I remember as a little kid, maybe 5 or 6 years old, hearing my parents fighting and feeling like the whole world was crumbling all around me. As an only child, I didn’t have the comfort of a sibling, so I would sit in my closet with my knees pulled to my chest, my ears covered, my eyes shut tightly, whispering to myself what I wanted to be true — “It’s going to be ok. It’s going to be okay.”

Psalm 31:24 says, "Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord."

This is David talking to us. He is a king at this point in his life, and things are pretty intense. His son is trying to kill him, his neighbors are slamming their doors in his face. David himself says that he is unwanted and forgotten, and his power and leadership are dissolving. He is pouring his pain and grief and suffering out.

And at the same time, David is calling out for the absolute deliverance of God — his heart is tender and open. In this Psalm, David is reminding God, or rather reminding himself, that God once before pulled David out of the pit and would God please be that God once again?

But God does not change, even when we do. God’s mind does not change about whether we are worth being rescued. You are always and forever worth being rescued by God.

The verse says, "Be strong and take heart…" Another translation says, "Take courage all you who wait for the Lord."

I think about that little kid all those years ago and how God rescued her.

Where are you hugging your knees to your chest and whispering what you believe to be true?

Be strong, this verse says; you know where the power lies.

Take heart, this verse says, because you know that God is not temporarily in love with you, not just temporarily on your side. God is always yours and you are always His. End of story.