By
Ron Thomas
The answers vary but hear the Lord: “If
thou faint in the day of adversity, Thy strength is small” (Proverbs 24:10,
ASV). The practical application of this means I need to find something strong
that I can wrap my arms around and hold on to when the tempestuous storm comes
roaring through.
One’s strength comes from one of two
sources. It comes from man’s creation, or it comes from a source outside himself.
If it is of man’s creation, then whatever value there is in the gaining of the
strength found or created, what works today may not work tomorrow.
I heard a story years ago of a man who
wrote down all the powerful anecdotal thoughts he heard, knowing one day they
would benefit him as he leafed through them in times of need or interest. The
years came and went and, as it happens with all of us, what he thought in
yesteryear was not the same as he was thinking on the day when he was leafing
through his collected anecdotal thoughts from others. Realizing this, he threw
all those anecdotal remarks away. There had to be a reason for it, wasn’t
there?
There was. It’s called the maturation of
life. At 61, the wisdom I felt I had at 31 is gone. At 31, we had two girls at home
and in school, I was serving in the United States Air Force (Idaho), and my
wife was teaching elementary school on the Air Force Base (Mountain Home). At
61, with four grandchildren, in our physical home, there is only me and my
wife. With 38 years of marriage, what I think now is different from what I
thought then.
It should be this way for everyone. After
these many years of marriage, I look at my wife as my strength in the family setting;
whatever strength she receives from me will be in the same family setting. Our strength
is the Lord. He is the only One to whom we will give an account when my life is
over.
I want to be sure I hold on to Him in my
many days of adversity. Is your strength small? If so, that is because you give
up on the day of adversity.
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