Stand Strong
Memorize this before your next trial starts
===
Be strong and courageous! Do not fear or tremble before them, for the Lord your God is the one who is going with you. He will not fail you or abandon you!
Deuteronomy 31:6 (NET)
===
A lot of people pick the Joshua 1 version of this “be strong and courageous” verse.
I decided to go back a bit and find the Deuteronomy one, where Moses is exhorting Joshua as he prepares to take over leadership for the Israelites.
I like the idea of this message coming not just from God, but from Joshua’s mentor too.
God does not fail us.
In my younger Christian days, I would sometimes get frustrated when God didn’t come through in the ways I wanted Him to come through. Maybe a trial would happen, I’d ask for an end to the trial, and wake up the next day still in the trial.
Did God fail me?
No.
For one thing, I never had a specific promise that God would deliver me from the trial immediately.
For another, I was being driven much more by my own wants rather than humbling myself to hear what God had to teach me through those moments.
There’s always a lesson to be learned in any circumstance.
Granted, I’m a learner by nature. So I’m always looking for ways to improve my knowledge & wisdom.
But more than that, God won’t waste the trials we’re in.
He’ll use our struggles — even the ones we bring upon ourselves through sin — to teach us lessons & move our relationship deeper with Him.
It’s pretty amazing that He can pull that off; turning broken pieces into beautiful & new lives.
— Ricky Ketchum
Copyright © 2025 by Ricky Ketchum. All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication prohibited.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NET) are from the NET Bible® copyright ©1996, 2019 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from the ESV®Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright© 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked (NKJV) are from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.