’Nothing is as wonderful as knowing Christ.’
Philippians 3:8 CEV
The secret to surviving hard times doesn’t lie in what you know, but who you know. You say, ‘Right now I’ve got more troubles than Job.’ Well, when the bottom dropped out of Job’s world, he said: ‘He knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold. My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside. I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread’ (Job 23:10-12 NIV).
And Paul’s life wasn’t a picnic either: ‘I have been in danger from rivers…from bandits…from my fellow Jews…from Gentiles; in danger in the city…in the country…at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have laboured and toiled and…often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and…often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches’ (2 Corinthians 11:26-28 NIVUK).
Reading that list makes us ask the question, ‘How did he do it?’ Paul knew the secret to surviving hard times. What was it? He allowed his troubles to drive him closer to the Lord: ‘I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong’ (2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NIV). Do you want what Job and Paul had? Then draw closer to the Lord – that’s the secret!
Bible in a Year: 1 Chronicles 7-9, Acts 15:22-41
The Word For Today
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