The Day of Adversity Prov. 24:10 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO

A man doesn’t really know how strong he is until he faces adversity – because up until then he is in circumstances that are not beyond his control.

Adversity can be good for you and so God will allow you to go through some – Why will God allow you to go through the day of adversity?

To test your strength and to strengthen you – most people say, “God keep me out of trouble” – but people who have been through real trouble say, “Give me the shoulders to bear up under the load” – they don’t shy away from adversity – Caleb said my strength is as good to day as it was 45 years ago and he lived with adversity those 45 years – each new battle makes you that much stronger to handle the next one – it also gets you to quit your whining – someone always has it worse than you.

To teach you to rely upon God’s grace – 2 Cor 12:7-10 – he said, My grace is sufficient for thee.”

To help you be a better minister – 2 Cor 1:4-6 – when you’ve been through something and have been comforted by God you are more capable of helping others going through similar problems.

To chasten sin out of your life – men in adversity like Job turn to God for help and leave off a lot of foolish sin – we get in trouble with sin when we are in ease [David and Bathsheba] – when we are in the battle like Urijah then we aren’t interested in the stuff that draws us away from God – in Heb 5:8 Jesus learned obedience by the things that he suffered.

To get you to set your affection on things above – Col 3:1-3 – because the best that we have down here is still trouble – man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward.

To show you not to take your enemy for granted – our adversary is the devil in 1 Pet 5:8 and we are to be sober and to be vigilant – in Rev 12:10 he is the accuser of the brethren.