My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. ( Psalms 73:26 26 My flesh and my heart faileth; `But' God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever. )

Literally the verb is simply fail: “My flesh and my heart fail!” I am despondent! I am discouraged! But then immediately he fires a broadside against his despondency: “But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

The psalmist does not yield. He battles unbelief with counterattack.

In essence, he says, “In myself I feel very weak and helpless and unable to cope. My body is shot and my heart is almost dead. But whatever the reason for this despondency, I will not yield. I will trust God and not myself. He is my strength and my portion.”

The Bible is replete with instances of saints struggling with sunken spirits. Psalms 19:7 7 The law of Jehovah is perfect, restoring the soul: The testimony of Jehovah is sure, making wise the simple. says, “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.” This is a clear admission that the soul of the saint sometimes needs to be revived. And if it needs to be revived, in a sense it was “dead.”

David says the same thing in Psalms 23:2 2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside still waters. –3, “He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.” The soul of the “man after [God’s] own heart” ( 1 Samuel 13:14 14 But now thy kingdom shall not continue: Jehovah hath sought him a man after his own heart, and Jehovah hath appointed him to be prince over his people, because thou hast not kept that which Jehovah commanded thee. ) needs to be restored. It was dying of thirst and ready to fall exhausted, but God led the soul to water and gave it life again.

God has put these testimonies in the Bible so that we might use them to fight the unbelief of despondency.