“Because Of Their Belief”

"Because Of Their Belief"     

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

    In one sense, our strength is always small, even as the Lord Jesus Christ declared to His disciples, "Without Me, ye can do nothing" (John 15:5).  God calls born again believers to live according to His abundant enabling rather than by the delusion of our own strength.  How then are we to interpret Solomon's statement regarding our response to "the day of adversity?"

    The answer lies in our capacity to access God's promised enabling in all things.  "Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might" (Ephesians 6:10).  If we experience small strength in challenges, the problem lies in failure to avail ourselves of the Lord's promised empowering of our steps.  We do not trust Him well enough, which originates in our failure to know God and His truth as well as we should.  It was said of His home country that the Lord Jesus "did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief" (Matthew 13:58).  This sad indictment is preceded in Matthew's account by the rhetorical question offered by His unbelieving countrymen, "Is not this the carpenter's son?" (Matthew 13:55).  No, He was not.  He was the Son of God, and those who did not believe acted upon their ignorance regarding the true identity and ability of the Lord Jesus.

    Born again believers can do the same.  We are the Lord's spiritual "home country," as it were, our spirits being united to the Spirit of Christ.  If we do not know Him well, however, or if our knowledge and understanding of Scripture is lacking, days of adversity can become days of sad distrust.  Small faith, based upon small knowledge, leads to small strength.  We trust a person to the degree we know them.  This is especially true regarding fellowship with our Heavenly Father.  Life leads us to some difficult circumstances wherein walking by faith can be greatly challenging.  If we do not well know the Lord and His Word, we will find it very difficult to take the steps of faith that ascend through the power of Christ into the highlands of faith and faithfulness.  This is a great tragedy, far greater than the Lord's earthly days when the unbelief of His fellows led to "not many mighty works."  Thus, we must seek to know the God of the Scriptures and the Scriptures of God in order to trust Him in adversity, and thus, to honor and reveal Him to our spheres of influence.  May it be said of us, "He did many mighty works there because of their belief."   Great strength will result, the strength of God that enables our capacity to face adversity by the power of His might.

"Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God."

(Romans 10:17)

"And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life."

(I John 5:20)

Weekly Memory Verse 

     He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

(I John 5:12)