The Verse of the Year

Not too long ago, YouVersion, a popular Bible reading app, chose its Verse of the Year for 2025. The verse came from the Old Testament, Isaiah 41:10.

“Don’t be afraid, for I am with you!

Don’t be frightened, for I am your God!

I strengthen you—

yes, I help you—

yes, I uphold you with my victorious right hand!” (Isaiah 41:10, NET)

The prophet Isaiah is relaying God’s message to His people. Several words in this verse are interesting. First, He tells the people not to be afraid or frightened, suggesting that the people are fearful and dismayed. Second, God promises to strengthen, help, and uphold them. The source of this help is the power of God, illustrated by the expression “victorious right hand.”

The people of Israel who would have received Isaiah’s message from God had reasons for fear. Isaiah wrote during the Babylonian exile where many of his fellow Israelites had been taken captivity into Babylon. Of course, being far from their homeland and the place of worship in the Temple would cause anxiety. There was also the temptation to assimilate into the Babylonian culture and religion, to “go along just to get along.”

The word “afraid” is used twenty-three times in Isaiah, two of those instances in chapter 41. The people certainly had cause for fear and fright. How many times do we use the words “fear” and “fright” to describe our condition or circumstances? Perhaps it’s a situation with a friend or work colleague, or a medical diagnosis. There are any number of situations which can cause fear or anxiety. The second part of the Verse of the Year speaks loudly and clearly that our God hears us in our fear and is willing to help us.

Does God expect us to respond faithfully in the midst of fear?

The answer is yes.

Let me give you three reasons why.

First, God created the universe (Gen 1:1). He is all-powerful. If He created the universe, He could certainly intervene in your problem.

Second, God is not surprised by our situation. He is all-knowing. In fact, He knows the end from the beginning (Is. 46:10). He knows how this situation and our response to it will work for His glory (Rom. 8:28).

Third, God has promised to be with us. Every believer has the Holy Spirit dwelling in us (Jn. 14:17). The Third Person of the Trinity is with us even when the times seem to be dark and the situation is at its lowest.

Just like the people of Israel, God calls me not to respond in fear to the circumstances of life, even though they may be overwhelming. The promise of help and support that He gave to them comes down to me over twenty-seven hundred years later.

How do I look at the circumstances that come my way? How do I respond? Do I give in to fear and anxiety? Yes. Do I forget that there is a God who has promised help with His victorious right hand? In moments. Do I have to catch myself to say that God has been there before and will be there again? Absolutely.

I pray that moving forward my response to circumstances will be tempered by this Verse of the Year. God has promised to help and He will!