Fail

“Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the Lord your God is the one who goes with you, He will not fail you or forsake you”.   Deuteronomy 31:6 

Fail – Hebrew (rapa).  This word has a wide variety of meanings in the Old Testament.  It can mean to let go, to let drop or to sink down. It also may mean weakening or sinking.  The most common stem usage is translated as to drop, to abandon, to let alone.  In other places it means to slack or dishearten, to faint in the day of adversity.  It is interesting that some of the derivatives of this word are used to refer to the ghosts of the dead or to Sheol or death itself.  In another derivative, the word takes on the meaning of giants of mythology.  All of these nuances have importance for our spiritual growth.  God promises not to let us down, to allow us to sink, to abandon us or leave us alone.  He is not slack or absent in the day of adversity.  He is ready to stand by us until death as we encounter the giants on our paths to healing.

How many times have we felt that the monsters of our past are so overwhelming that we might never become what we so long to be – free and whole?  How many times have we cowered under the accusations of our old life as it demands recompense?  God says that the evil giants are no longer to be feared.  He is there in our moments of adversity and He will not fail or forsake us.  With His strength to back us, we can be courageous.  Now we know that success does not depend on our frail, broken spirit but rather on the mighty One of heaven. 

The entire Bible is a testimony to God’s faithfulness in spite of human failure.  God’s promise is good forever.  He will not fail us.  He will not leave us.  The comfort in this word reaches beyond anything we come up against in life. 

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