In Isaiah 41:10 we read: “Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” Over the years I have found that many believers live under a crushing burden of fear, guilt, and spiritual anxiety because they think their relationship with God depends entirely on their ability to “hold everything together.” They are haunted by the possibility of failure: “What if I disappoint God? What if I let God down?” The other day I was reading Dale Sellers’ book, Stalled, when a statement he made hit me like a ton of bricks: “You cannot let God down because you are not holding Him up.” Then I read the passage in Isaiah and was reminded that God never asked His children to sustain Him. He sustains them. The pressure of the universe is not resting on your shoulders. God is not weak, fragile, or dependent upon your perfection to remain sovereign. He is Almighty God — and you are the one being upheld by His righteous hand. BUT STILL: We often live as though God depends on us. Many Christians live exhausted lives because they subconsciously believe everything depends on them. They think: If they are strong enough, things will work out. If they pray enough, God will remain close. If they perform well enough, God will keep loving them. But, if they fail, somehow God’s plans collapse. The Bible never presents God as weak or dependent on human strength. God does not sit in heaven wringing His hands, hoping you can keep everything from falling apart. What does God say in Isaiah? Fear not! How many of us are paralyzed by fear? Fear of failure. Fear of not measuring up. Fear of letting God down. Don’t be dismayed! How many of us are dogged by anxiety over our inability to perform up to the standard we assume God holds us to? Who is carrying whom? The burden is not on you to hold God up. God is the one doing the holding. So, when you stumble, God has not collapsed. When you struggle, God has not panicked. Your failures may grieve Him, but they do not diminish Him. Are you trying to carry a weight God never asked you to carry? Have you have been trying to hold everything together while underneath it all is a foundation of fear? “What if I let God down?” Listen to God! “I will hold you up!” God never asked you to hold Him up; so, stop living as though God’s strength depends on yours. You may fail. You may stumble. You may grow weary. But the everlasting arms of God do not weaken. And the God who holds the universe together is fully capable of holding you up as well. You cannot let God down because you were never the one holding Him up in the first place.
