You’ve done everything they asked you to do. You’ve worked and sacrificed to be a good son, a diligent worker, a faithful husband, or a loving father who’s in the picture.

You want to “keep the faith.” You don’t want to lose hope. But it’s hard when you’re holding down two jobs, find success elusive, trying to blend families, coping with a divorce, want get married but can’t find the right mate, have destructive behaviors that keep holding you back, or struggle to be a single dad.

That’s because the fallen world is a never-sleeping juggernaut that relentlessly crushes everything in its path – our hopes, dreams, plans, health, finances, and relationships.

So, even when you’ve checked all the right boxes, you’re still going to get beat up. This is the struggle we all face. It’s baked in. The apostle Paul said it well in Acts 14:22: “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of heaven.“

Surely these hardships were on God’s mind when He charged Moses (which Moses repeated to the people and later to Joshua): “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:6).

So what does it mean to be “courageous”? Courage—#12 of 70 things every man needs to know—is defined as the quality or state of mind or spirit that enables you to face hardship or disaster with confidence and resolution.

In other words, we don’t need courage to get a promotion or a new car. We need courage when the way is tough.

The Bible is filled with stories of courageous men who met tough times—stories preserved, in large part, to inspire and encourage us:

JOB: When Job lost his family, his business, and his health, he declared, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised” (Job 1:21).

JEREMIAH: When Jeremiah was released after being beaten and locked in stocks overnight, he complained to God about all of his hardships. But then he wrote in his journal, “But if I say, ‘I will not mention his word or speak anymore in his name,’ his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot” (Jeremiah 20:9).

PAUL: After Paul had prayed three times for the removal of his thorn in the flesh, the Lord told him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9a).

With that revelation ringing in his ears, Paul declared, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (9b-10).

Wouldn’t you like to have the courage of these men?

The truth is you can—by putting the full weight of your trust in the goodness and greatness of God and the promises of His Word.

In one of my darkest hours I discovered Proverbs 3:25-26, which says, “Have no fear of sudden disaster or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked, for the LORD will be at your side, and will keep your foot from being snared.” I chose to believe that promise by faith. You would not be surprised to learn that everything worked out, would you?

During a different disaster I was led to another heart-pounding promise in Isaiah 40:29-31: “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” And, once again, His promise proved to be true.

Read the stories of God’s courageous men for yourself. Repeat out loud what they spoke against their hardships and disasters. Allow God to strengthen you with His courage—a courage that comes by faith.

And what comes after courage? Yet another promise: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9).

Where is your battle today? What is the hardship or disaster you’re facing? How are you weary?

You don’t have to do this alone. His grace really is sufficient, and His power really is made perfect in weakness.