“In the Day of Adversity”

       The Lord is my strength" (Psalm 118:14).

      "If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small" (Proverbs 24:10).

      David and his son Solomon unite to teach us that failure to deal well with adversity indicates our need for growth in our relationship with God.  Indeed, if He is our strength, and if trouble overwhelms us rather our seeing it as opportunity to overcome, the problem must lie in our knowledge of the Lord and our understanding of His truth.  We all need growth in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus.  However,  if the God-determined or allowed difficulties of our lives consistently seem more than we can handle, we do well to acknowledge that our weakness involves more than merely the natural process of spiritual maturing.  There may be rather be truths about God's presence and working of which we may be unaware, or that we do not know well enough.  We may even be wrong in some aspects of understanding our Lord's truth.  

     One of the reasons we so desperately need to apply ourselves to a strong relationship with the Lord is that trouble is coming.  Trouble is always coming, whether in minor irritations, major calamities, or the everyday challenges faced by all.  "Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward" (Job 5:7).  If we don't take the opportunities God gives to prepare ourselves spiritually, we will find ourselves far less likely to avail ourselves of the strength, wisdom, and presence He provides to enable the overcoming of difficulty.  As we frequently reference, our Lord is "a very present help in trouble" (Psalm 46:1).   Failure to know this truth, or to know it well enough, means that far more strength than necessary will be present and accessible for every challenge.  But we will fail to avail ourselves of it.  

    "It is a good land which the Lord our God doth give us.  Notwithstanding, ye would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God… The Lord your God, which goeth before you, He shall fight for you… Yet in this thing ye did not believe the Lord your God" (Deuteronomy 1:25-26; 3032; ).

    Israel unnecessarily languished for forty years in the wilderness because they did not know the Lord well enough to adequately experience His presence and power.  Tragically, the same can be true of born again believers in the Lord Jesus, with even greater culpability and consequence.  The Spirit of God literally dwells within us to enable our triumphant facing of every challenge.  "Now thanks be unto God, which always caught us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savor of His knowledge by us in every place" (II Corinthians 2:14).  To the degree we know Him will be the degree to which we trust and submit ourselves to Him in times of trouble.  Thereby we reveal the power that magnifies our Lord, helps us, and enables others to see the glory of the Lord Jesus in open display of His goodness and greatness…

"Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.  Unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world with end.  Amen."

(Ephesians 3:20-21)

"Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might."

(Ephesians 6:10)

Weekly Memory Verse

    All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.

(John 1:3)