“If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.” (Prov 24:10)
When we were in school, we had to take tests to pass to the next level. Those tests typically threw a lot of tough questions at us that we wouldn’t normally have to deal with in a similar period of time elsewhere. And yet, we were measured by them. More importantly, we were able to get a measure of ourselves, discover our weak points and realize our strengths.
So it is with adversity. It comes to test, to try us, to measure our strength. So how do you respond to adversity? Do you moan and complain or do you embrace the adversity knowing it is a tool to reveal both weakness and strength? Not that adversity is pleasant, but the fruit of it can be sweet indeed. This verse in Proverbs transliterates into “If you slacken in the day of tightness, your firmness is as a pebble.”
Imagine you are holding on to one end of a piece of rope and out of nowhere, someone or something grabs the other end and begins to pull – tightly. If you offer little or no resistance, you are at the whim of the circumstance. Your supposed firmness that you thought you had carries no more weight than a pebble. Are you going through adversity now? Faint not. Hold on tightly to the rope, your lifeline, your faith in the Rock of Ages, who will anchor you safely and bring you through any and every storm.