YOU CAN, SHOULD, AND WILL STAND

When I was in Nigeria, I received a word for the title of this message: You Can, Should, and Will Stand. The Bible declares that no matter where you are or what kind of captivity or weakness has threatened to overtake you, God will see you through. We’ll begin in Isaiah 40, verses 25–26: “‘To whom then will you liken Me, or to whom shall I be equal?’ says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things, who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, by the greatness of His might and the strength of His power; not one is missing.”

The verse says to look into the heavens; God created all of it. Nothing exists that God did not make, and He calls them all by name—even every one of the billions of stars. He knows every one, and none of them exist independently of Him. God has total knowledge of everything in the universe, and where every molecule that has ever existed is now. God will never lose an atom of your body. Sometimes, we take this great grand creator, God, and bring Him down into something little for us to comprehend. Sadly, He has become so small that He can't do anything for us anymore. We continue in verses 27–31:

“Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak O Israel: ‘My way is hidden from the Lord, and my just claim is passed over by my God’? Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”

Jacob is saying God doesn't see him, and God is baffled. We can’t even begin to scratch the surface of everything the Lord knows. All men will eventually grow weak. For those who turn to Him, trust Him for life, and see His heart and know Him, God promises to renew their strength. Don’t let the awareness of your weakness blind you from the strength of God. Weakness is not our portion; the third person of the Godhead dwells inside our physical bodies. Believers are intertwined with God and receive His relentless faithfulness. The word “weight” means to be bound together by twisting. If you can fathom that, it's like taking two twist ties and twisting them together: that’s you and God.

We all go through periods of weakness. If you're not in one now, give it a week. Never forget about the power of God and that He sees you. He's never lost sight of you. Don't ever buy the lie that somehow your situation is too small for a God who is busy running the universe. He will renew you, and you will fly again. We lead right into chapter 41, verse 1: “Keep silence before Me, O coastlands, and let the people renew their strength! Let them come near, then let them speak; let us come near together for judgment.”

We face voices all of the time about God forgetting us. They tell us we’ll always be in the same place and never get victory or freedom. God says, “Be quiet, all of you demonic voices and voices of unbelief!” It doesn’t matter whether they're coming from without or within. The Devil will come to you just like he did to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:1 and say, “Has God indeed said?” Can you trust that God’s promises are true? Can you trust that your life will become everything God says it will be? Remember, in 2 Corinthians 7:5, Paul says, “For indeed, when we came to Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were troubled on every side. Outside were conflicts, inside were fears.” Every Christian goes through battle. Will we believe what God says? Or will we listen to other voices?

Think of Jesus Christ on the cross in Matthew chapter 27. Verses 39–40 say, “And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, ‘You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.’” These voices were mocking the Son of God, who claimed to have supernatural power. Verses 42 and 43 say: “He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him. He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”

Maybe when you first heard the gospel, you believed in a God of victory and talked about your wonderful new life. You told people they could be saved, too. But when old struggles came back, you doubted salvation. In Psalm 18:4–6, King David says: “The pangs of death surrounded me, and the floods of ungodliness made me afraid. The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me; the snares of death confronted me. In my distress, I called upon the Lord, and cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple, and my cry came before Him, even to His ears.”

David is the future king of Israel. He’s the man who has the actual DNA lineage of Jesus Christ in his loins. David is the halfway point to the Messiah. In 1 Peter 4:12, Peter says, “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you.” Everybody in this world will have tribulation. We will all have to fight our minds. But Peter reminds us in the following verse: “Rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.”

Christ has redeemed us by His blood, and our righteousness is not earned by our works but by faith. Psalm 18:16 says: “He sent from above, He took me; He drew me out of many waters.” God quiets the voices, storms, and winds, giving us strength and beauty for ashes. We belong to Him. In John 10:29–30, Christ tells us: “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one.” God will never leave or forsake us.

Remember, Jesus said, whoever believes in me out of his inner parts will flow a river of living water. That's the promise, life, and power of God. But from time to time, other waters will try to come in, and other thoughts will try to wash away what comes from God Himself. But as God did for David, so He will do for us. He will take us out of the waters. He doesn’t find fault in our struggles. God loves us with an everlasting love. Isaiah 49:15–16 reminds us: “Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are continually before Me.” When those nails went through the hands of Jesus, your name was engraved there.

Even after all of David’s mistakes, God still called him a man after His heart. Psalm 18:19 says, “​​He also brought me out into a broad place; He delivered me because He delighted in me.” It doesn’t say God delivered him because he was on the right path. It was because God delighted in David, as He does us. We are the center of God’s attention. Can you imagine what we look like from Heaven's perspective? Everything in Heaven operates in perfection. All the created beings don't need to be redeemed. They fly all over the place with six wings. They do miraculous things and cry, “Holy, holy, holy!” day and night. There's smoke in the temple, and the door pillars have been moved. Everything moves in divine order. The only thing in the Kingdom of God that is a mess is us, and the angels look down and wonder why we are the center of God's affection.

It’s because we were created in the image of God. We were made for fellowship with Him. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. God so loved us. In Romans 8:32, Paul says, “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” In other words, if God wouldn't withhold His Son, what makes you think He'd withhold what you need right now to give us victory? Sometimes—not always—but sometimes, I'm thankful for my weaknesses. It makes me appreciate God's strength. It makes me understand that redemption is not mine; it's His. I haven't earned it, can never earn it, and could never be perfect enough to think I've earned the right to keep it. It was given, maintained, and sustained by God’s grace.

God gives us Himself; He dwells in these frail, flawed bodies. He could have stayed in Heaven, kept us at a distance, and said, “Well, here's my Word, and I'll help you when you need help, but I just don't want to get too close to you.” Instead, He's the one who causes us to rise above our circumstances, makes us more than we could ever be, and lifts us into higher places. We are the balloon, and He is the helium. God is our life source; He is the one who changes us. In Psalm 18:28–30, David says, “For You will light my lamp; the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness. For by You I can run against a troop, by my God I can leap over a wall. As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.” We can do all things in Christ who strengthens us.

Hallelujah! God has a plan for you much bigger than anything you've ever imagined. Through our weakness, His mercy and glory are going to be displayed. If you're struggling and think you can’t tell anyone about Jesus because of it, you’re wrong. The message is not about you; it's about God because you struggle. Your trials don’t change who He is. God is the same He's always been and always will be. I say to every voice condemning you: “Be silent! Let my children renew their strength!” You can, should, and will stand!