Viktor Frankl was a psychiatrist. He was also a Jewish man who survived the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps.

In one of his books he comments on something remarkable: seeing grown adults walk into a gas chamber reciting the Shema. That’s the central creed of Judaism. It is found in Deuteronomy 6:4.* Christians recognize it as a part of the great commandment as quoted by Jesus: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”

They said this together while marching to their death.

Powerful truths can carry you through perilous times.

Are you tethered to powerful truths? Are they so central to your faith that they can sustain you through the storms of life? 

Deuteronomy 6:4 is a powerful truth about who God is and about our loyalty to him no matter what. Psalm 23 is a powerful truth about God as a caring Shepherd who will provide for us even through the dark valleys of life. The Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20 is a powerful truth about having a life of purpose and doing God’s work in the world.

Maybe you’re going through something difficult right now. Maybe that difficulty is still on the horizon. Maybe it’s something you expect to happen. Maybe it will be something beyond your wildest expectations.

Ground yourself in in a good, gracious, and great God. 

Powerful truths can carry you through perilous times.

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Notes: 

–“The Lord is my Shepherd. What does Psalm 23 mean for us today?” Sermon. May 7, 2023. Click here to listen or watch.

–Bible study podcast: “Growing Deeper with the Twenty-Third Psalm.” Click here or subscribe to ‘The Pulse Podcast with Matthew Ruttan’ wherever you listen to podcasts.

–*Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning (Boston: Beacon Press, 2006), 134.

–Bible quotes are from the NIV.