“If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small” (Prov. 24:10, RSV).
Adversity is often a God-sent discipline, not to vex but to strengthen Christians. I recall many times when this verse of Scripture came to mind—during threats of bandits in China, the dangers and tensions of civil wars, the attacks of the Japanese army (for eighteen months before its capture our city was under sporadic siege by the Japanese); and during the devastating and recurring epidemics of disease and other problems that often multiplied overwhelmingly.
In such times there would come to my mind this warning from the Word of God: “adversity,” “fainting,” “small strength.” But there also came the assurances of God’s promises: “Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Matt. 28:20b), or “We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28). As these and other promises flooded into my soul, I knew I was not alone.
Fainting in the day of adversity may result from sheer physical weakness. But as a rule it comes from wavering faith, from looking at the problems and not at the Lord of those problems, looking at the waves and not to the Lord of the seas.
Many Christians waver because they forget the object of their faith. There is the temptation to look at problems in the light of human experience and capabilities; and when this happens, the heart grows faint and the knees weak.
Again and again we read this admonition in the Bible: “Wait for [or on] the Lord.” Yet we find it difficult to obey because we feel we must put our hands out to steady the ark. God’s words through Isaiah apply to us today: “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength” (Isa. 30:15). Or we hear Isaiah saying, “The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary, his understanding is unsearchable” (40:28).
We faint when we see evil men and forces prospering. This results from weak faith and from ignorance of God’s commands. In Psalm 37, David, speaking by the Spirit, tells us, “Fret not yourself because of the wicked.” As we read through this psalm we are admonished to “trust in the Lord,” to “take delight in the Lord,” to “commit your way to the Lord,” to “be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him,” to “refrain from anger, and forsake wrath,” to “depart from evil, and do good,” to “wait for the Lord, and keep to his way.” All these admonitions are designed to bolster our faith, to remind us that God is sovereign.
And remember, God requires of us faithfulness, even when the outlook seems dark or impossible.
Steadfastness is a Christian grace all of us need to cultivate, steadfastness in the things of Christ and his Word. After his sublime affirmation of the resurrection hope, the Apostle Paul concludes with a great “therefore”: “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (1 Cor. 15:58).
Paul has the same word of assurance when he writes, “What then shall we say to this? If God is for us, who is [or can be] against us?” (Rom. 8:31).
We should be steadfast, not wavering, because our faith in Christ is combined with a hope the world cannot dim. This hope is an anchor for the soul, firmly fixed in the certainties of eternity.
God has not seen fit to place us in a sinless Eden. We live in a dying world where sin abounds and where sinners are more and more brazen and perverse. Our Lord said such a time would come, and for it he expects faith and endurance. This he will provide for those who seek it.
We all should know that we are in a spiritual battle and that the leader of the enemy forces is Satan. “We are up against the unseen power that controls this dark world, and spiritual agents from the very headquarters of evil” (Eph. 6:12, Phillips).
And because we are engaged in warfare, we must expect battle fatigue (discouragement) and shell shock (wavering faith)—unless we fight the battle on the Lord’s terms, protected by his armor, by the shield of faith and by the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God.
“If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small”—this is a warning to us to stay close to the One in whom we believe, who supplies the strength necessary for daily living and for the battle in which we are always engaged.
Steadfastness is one of the fruits of faithfulness, and faithfulness is based on our assurance that God is faithful and that he is willing and able to do all he has promised. Wavering, on the other hand, proceeds from a sense of our own weakness and a failure to look to him who not only is strong but also has promised everything necessary for the battle.
The pessimism that comes when faith wavers in the face of difficulties is dangerous. It produces brooding, fear, and a pathological kind of introspection. It stifles the initiative God would have us exert and breeds an attitude of defeat, a “What’s the use?” philosophy of life.
There is a God-given blessing in adversity, a discipline God uses to help us become properly oriented and adjusted to him. Discipline, rightly accepted, means growth in faith and the Christian graces. Discipline resented results in misery of spirit and loss of blessing.
Wavering comes from a loss of confidence. Many a battle has been lost because the soldiers lost confidence in their leaders. In the battle of life, a Christian should never lose confidence in the One who has called him to be a soldier. To do so is a sin that demands repentance and confession. It is no mere platitude to say that we do not know the future but we do know the God of the future. That is the Christian’s heritage, and it is a blessed one.
The writer of the book of Hebrews admonishes us, “In this confidence let us hold on to the hope that we profess without the slightest hesitation—for he is utterly dependable” (10:23, Phillips). Therefore, when we faint in the day of adversity, when we waver in faith and practice, we are denying the faithfulness and the ability of the Lord who has promised to be with us regardless of what happens.
This tenth chapter of Hebrews ends with solemn words that Phillips translates this way: “Don’t throw away your trust now—it carries with it a rich reward in the world to come. Patient endurance is what you need if, after doing God’s will, you are to receive what is promised.
“For yet a very little while
He that cometh shall come, and shall not tarry.
But my righteous one shall live by faith;
And if he shrink back, my soul hath no pleasure in him.”
“Surely we are not going to be men who cower back and are lost, but men who maintain their faith until the salvation of their souls is complete.”
Need anything more be said?
