“We had the sentence of death in ourselves, so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead.”

— 2 Corinthians 1:9

“Sweet are the uses of adversity.” At least so said the bard from Stratfordon- Avon. I am afraid, however, if actually put to the test of a vote, there would be an almost unanimous disagreement with Mr. Shakespeare on that point. “Bitter” is the word. Crushing, wracking, wrenching, discouraging, heartbreaking, and faith-shattering are the uses of adversity. This, I am sure, would be the attitude of most people.

Several years ago I received a call from a woman who was an atheist. Several times in the midst of her conversation she referred to one tragedy or another, always to be followed by the comment: And where was God then?

I suppose there is nothing that causes more people to stumble in the matter of faith than the problem of suffering, because none of us is exempt in this fallen world. We all face it at one time or another in our lives.

But God uses troubles in our lives to clear away the dross. He lets us undergo suffering that we might be of comfort for those undergoing similar problems. Most important is that we will never be like Jesus without the crucible of Jesus, the most desirable person who ever lived, who was portrayed as a “man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3). If we would be like Jesus, we will have to pass through the valley of the shadow.

Dear Lord, give me strength for today to not lose hope in You whenever I suffer. Help me to realize that You are purifying me. Also, help me to weep with those who weep and to be a comfort to those around me who are suffering…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE CAN PERSEVERE
EVEN THROUGH SUFFERING.

“…the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong…”

— Ecclesiastes 9:11

It is the victory of faith that enables us to go on in the final count. When you think of Abraham Lincoln, what qualities come to your mind? Would it be compassion? Concern for the little man? Justice? Humor? I think if we really knew Abraham Lincoln, we would know that the overriding quality of his character was nothing other than perseverance. He was simply a man who persevered to the end.

Abraham Lincoln was a failure. He was a miserable, wretched, repeated failure. As a young man, he ran for the state legislature and was overwhelmingly defeated. He then went into business, failed completely, and spent the next seventeen years paying off the debts of a no-good partner. Although he did win a Congressional seat once, he was not able to successfully return to Congress. After that, he tried to get an appointment to the U. S. Land Office and was turned down.

He then decided that what he ought to do was to run for the Senate of the United States and he was pounded into the ground. He was defeated here, and he was defeated there; he failed in this, and he failed at that; he was overwhelmed here, and he was overwhelmed there; he was a loser, until he ran for the presidency of the United States and became one of the greatest men this world has ever known.

The character of a loser is that he quits. Deep down, Abraham Lincoln was never a loser at all because he never quit.

Lord, give me strength for today to persist in doing what I believe You have laid on my heart to accomplish. Even if I have to plod along and deal with one setback after another, help me to persevere in the end. Spiritually, I thank You that You have promised to finish in me what You have started…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE CAN OVERCOME
ONE SETBACK AFTER ANOTHER.

“O you simple, understand wisdom, and you fools, be of an understanding heart.”

— Proverbs 8:5

Certainly, we should be seeking wisdom. But in one sense the Bible presents wisdom as seeking us. We can see this is the great wisdom chapter of Proverbs 8.

In the first eleven verses we see an introduction of Wisdom personified as a woman standing at the gate calling forth boldly for all to come and hear what she has to say. She sets forth her reasons why men should trust in her in contrast to the seductive, sinful women who are described in the preceding chapters.

Then in verses 12-21, Wisdom displays her various excellencies and points out what she has accomplished and what she continues to accomplish in the lives of those who have sought after her.

In the second half of Proverbs 8, we see that Wisdom is to be sought after and acquired. By seeking Wisdom, we are seeking God. We see here an adumbration, a foreshadowing, of the incarnate Christ. We see that there is something more here than just a human wisdom, but here is the One by whom God created the universe. The creation poem found in verse 22 and following is similar to the Logos passage in John 1.

Finally, in the last few verses of Proverbs 8, again Wisdom articulates the duty of all to harken to her instructions. By Wisdom, God created the world.

God is the source of all wisdom, and He wants us to walk in His wisdom.

Lord Jesus Christ, give us strength today to live in Your wisdom. Help us to see that the wisdom of this world is foolishness to You. Grant us Your wisdom that we might know Your thoughts and practice right thinking…

IN GOD’S STRENGTH, WE
CAN WALK IN HIS WISDOM.

“Why, my soul, are you cast down? Why do you groan within me? Wait for God; I will yet thank Him, For He is my deliverance and my God.”

— Psalm 42:11

From the depths of the psalmist’s sorrow, he calls out unto the depths of the mercy of God, knowing that help shall come, so he has put his hope in the Lord. Consider how many times God has turned things around in a sudden way.

Who would have thought:

• In the hour when Lazarus lay stinking in his tomb, that soon he should be rejoicing around the table with his Redeemer?
• When Jonah was in the depths of the sea that soon he would be preaching at Nineveh?
• When Nebuchadnezzar, the mighty monarch of Babylon, was out munching on the grass in the forest, that one day soon he would again be sitting upon the throne in Babylon?
• When Joseph was deep in the prison in Egypt, that soon he would be prime minister of the greatest nation in the world at that time?
• When Job was sitting there on a dunghill scraping off his sores in the midst of his sorrow, that soon he would be rise up and be richer and more blessed in everything in this world?

Put your hope in God, despite your circumstances. As the hymn notes, “Hast thou not seen how thy desires ‘ere have been granted in what He ordaineth?”

Heavenly Father, give us strength today to praise You in the midst of trouble to wait upon You and to remember that our lives are in Your hands and You will turn all things to benefit my soul and Your kingdom…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE CAN RECOGNIZE THAT
GOD CAN TURN THINGS AROUND IN AN INSTANT.

“Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem…They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and of silver, of bronze, of iron, of wood, and of stone.”

— Daniel 5:3-4

The grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar was the king who held a great pagan feast, using the goblets stolen from the Jewish Temple some decades before. Belshazzar went white when he saw God’s literal handwriting on the wall
against him.

Now that story of Belshazzar the king and the astounding events of that night of his great feast have lessons which are as fresh today as they were when they were first given:

1. Here is a picture of the foolishness of those who trust in merely the things of this world. How foolish was Belshazzar to trust in the impregnable walls of Babylon—the walls that were so easily breached by diverting the river
   Euphrates.
2. It reminds us that those who will not study history are doomed to repeat it. Belshazzar had a tremendous lesson from his grandfather of humbling oneself before God. Nonetheless, Belshazzar went on his way to his
   unexpected destruction.
3. Belshazzar’s sin was not just drunkenness and debauchery, but the superabounding sin of impiety and blasphemy.

Lord, God of history, teach us to heed those who have gone before us and give us the strength to live a godly life in the midst of a blasphemous people. Help us to remember that all who mock Your name and flaunt their sin in Your face will be called to account and that it is Your people who will triumph…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE CAN
LIVE AN HONORABLE LIFE.

“And He was there in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts. And the angels ministered to Him.”

— Mark 1:13

We seem to be living in the time when angels are getting much attention, even in movies or television. One of the most common myths is the idea that an angel was once a human being and now is in process of earning his wings by returning to earth and doing good things. But an angel never was and never will be anything other than an angel. And a human being never was and never will be anything other than a human being. They are separate orders of creation.

All of the angels were made at once. They did not descend from original parents as we did, but they were all created at the same time and they do not procreate.

Angels are far superior to us in almost any way that you can imagine. They are wiser, they are holier—at least those who have kept their first estate and are not fallen angels. The devil and demons are all angels. They are fallen, sinful angels that took part in a rebellion and now are loosed upon this earth, but they are still fallen angels.

Angels are also much more powerful than we are. We realize that in the Old Testament we read of one angel who destroyed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in one night. The Bible makes it very plain that you are not to take on the devil in your strength, and only by Christ do we have any possibility of winning any contests that we may have with him.

Jesus, King of the Angels, give me strength today to know my place in creation, a little lower than the angels, but crowned with glory and honor. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for having dominion over both Your angels, the ministering spirits who do Your will, and the fallen angels who seek to cause us harm. Thank You for Your angels who do Your will…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE CAN
WELCOME THE HELP OF HIS ANGELS.

“…and Jehoiachin king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, his mother, his servants, his princes, and his eunuchs. The king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign.”

— 2 Kings 24:12

Higher critics have done their best to destroy trust in the Scriptures. Yet, all of their efforts only confirmed the reliability of the Bible for those willing to look at the facts.

For the last 150 years, archeologists have excavated thousands of sites in the Near East, sometimes with great animosity toward the Scripture, attempting to disprove it. Yet virtually every time they turned over their spades, they discovered another confirmation of the Bible.

For example. One of the last kings of Judah, Jehoiachin, was taken by Nebuchadnezzar into Babylon and thrown into where he and his family languished for 37 years. Then we read that a later king lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison, spoke kindly to him, gave him new clothes, caused him to sit at his table, and he provided him with an allowance for the rest of his days.

Well, the critics had a field day with that—no Babylonian king would ever treat anybody so graciously as that. But in the hanging gardens of Babylon, 300 clay tablets have been found. These were written from 595 to 570 B.C., and they list many of the nations that were brought captive into Babylon, including Judah. One of these tablets is called the Jehoiachin tablet. The Jehoiachin tablet confirms exactly what the Bible has said all along.

God Almighty, Lord of the kings of the earth, grant me strength today to trust You in all things. Thank You for the reliability of Your Word. Thank You for the trustworthiness of all You say.

IN GOD’S STRENGTH, WE CAN
TRUST HIS ETERNAL WORD.

“After this Samson loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. The Philistine rulers came up to her and said, ‘Trick him!’”

— Judges 16:4-5

How many people have flirted with sin only to find they have fallen into a miry pit? I think of a man who was away on a business trip, and he saw a very attractive prostitute on the same side of the road. He stopped his car and picked her up. A man who had never done anything like this before in his life. A man who had a wife and two or three kids at home. A man who was a respectable businessman, but now he was far from home. He picked her up.

When he woke up the next morning and he went into the bathroom, disgusted with himself, to wash his face. There on the mirror written in lipstick were the words “Welcome to the world of AIDS.”

Samson foolishly dabbled with sin by seeing the Philistine woman, Delilah. She was offered large sums of money by her people if she would discover the secret of his strength. She began to entice him and provoke him and tried to get him to reveal where his great strength lay, but he would not reveal it—at least initially.

Sounds like some young people today: “Honey, if you really loved me, you will do it.” “Buster, if you really loved me you wouldn’t ask,” is the proper response, girls.

Finally, Delilah wore Samson down, he revealed it, and they captured him and blinded him. Giving in to sexual sin was the weakness of the world’s strongest man.

Dear God, give me strength to withstand temptation. Keep me pure and holy and let me never flirt with sin. Keep my family from falling also. Lord, let me never disgrace your church and never bring shame to Your holy name…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE CAN
AVOID THE MIRY PIT OF SIN.

“Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed, lest he fall.”

— 1 Corinthians 10:12

Did you realize that virtually no drunkard on skid row ever thought he would end up there? They all flirted with sin. So did Samson in the Bible.

Now if any man ever had the right to be self-confident, certainly Samson did; as the strongest man in the world, he was not impressed by anyone. You remember that one time when the Philistines came upon him, he had no weapon but the jawbone of an ass, and with that one jawbone he killed a thousand Philistine soldiers and he boasted about it.

The word confident comes from con-fide, literally “with faith.” We should all have faith, but the world tells us that we should have faith in ourselves. The Bible tells us that we should have faith in Christ.

Well, Samson thought he had enough strength to have confidence in himself, and, unfortunately, it was that confidence that caused him to dally with sin— ultimately in the form of his dalliance with Delilah.

When you have self-confidence and you deal with normal problems and you overcome them, it can lead to self-conceit and pride. When you run into a problem big enough, it leads to despair and fear. But in the case of confidence in God, there is nothing bigger than God.

Supposing in their self-confidence that they are never going to fall, some Christians have flirted with alcohol or drugs or tobacco or whatever kind of sexual sin it might be, quite confident that they are never going to become an addict. This can lead to tragic endings. Don’t dabble with sin.

Dear Lord Jesus, give me strength today in order to build Christ-confidence. Help me to rely on You and not myself. Help me in humility to know that I am not strong enough to withstand temptation. I put my trust in You…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE CAN RESIST
TEMPTATION AND NOT DALLY WITH SIN.

“I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, and whose hands are fetters. He who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is taken by her.”

— Ecclesiastes 7:26

The name Samson was derived from the Hebrew word for sun, and he certainly was the light of day for not only his parents, but for all of the people of Israel who had been suffering under the grinding tyranny of the Philistines for so long.

But he also had a great weakness: he had an eye for women—the wrong kind of women. His calling was to deliver the people from the Philistines, and yet he couldn’t deliver himself fast enough to them. He saw this one that pleased him well, and he asked his parents to go get her for him. But they remonstrated: “Are there no women among your relatives, or all of our people, that you are intending to take a wife from among the uncircumcised Philistines?” (Judges 14:2).

He replied, “Get her for me, for she pleases me well” (verse 3).

Strange unbelieving flesh, and so we see that every such woman he went after betrayed him—every one. And how many Christians have gone after unbelievers, men or women, and found that their lives have been destroyed by such betrayal because at the very heart of the marriage there is a great divide that cannot be covered over?

Lord Jesus, give me strength to stay faithful to You and to my loved ones. Help me to never form an adulterous relationship. Help me teach this truth to others to keep them from eternal harm. I pray today for the people I know who are unequally yoked that You would save the unsaved…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE CAN MAKE OUR
EARTHLY RELATIONSHIPS COUNT FOR THE KINGDOM.