Devotional: In the Day of Adversity

In the Day of Adversity

When adversity comes (and stays a little while), how quickly our heart is revealed! Job is the perfect example. When he lost his children and property, yet remained silent, his wife said, "Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!" (Job 2:9). Job answered his wife by saying, "You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we accept good from God, and shall we not acccept adversity?" (Job 2:10a). By all outward appearances, it would seem Job was handling his adversity easily. But that's only the beginning of the story. Most of us get through the short-term trials fairly well. But what about when the trial lingers on... and on... and on...?

Job's response to his wife sounded calm and collected, didn't it? But the scriptures indicate God could see his heart. "In all this Job did not sin with his lips" (Job 2:10b). Did that read "with his lips"? Is it possible Job sinned in another way? I believe so. We can "say" and even "do" the right thing, yet have sin in our heart. And that's where Job was guilty.
"At last Job spoke, and he cursed the day of his birth. He said, 'Curse that day for failing to shut my mother’s womb, for letting me be born to see all this trouble'" (Job 3:1-2,10, New Living Translation). I'll say it again: when adversity comes, and stays awhile, how quickly our heart is revealed!

The moment Job opened his mouth, the truth spilled out. Jesus said, "Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks" (Matthew 12:34). In fact, scripture is clear: "The lips of the [uncompromisingly] righteous know [and therefore utter] what is acceptable, but the mouth of the wicked knows [and therefore speaks only] what is obstinately willful and contrary" (Proverbs 10:32, Amplified). Personally, the Message Translation sums it up well for me: "The speech of a good person clears the air; the words of the wicked pollute it."

My point is, think before you speak. And if you make the mistake of speaking your feelings, then listen to what you say. Your words are an indicator of your heart and they either exonerate you or condemn you. But we mustn't be foolish... we all have the ability to hide our true feelings for a while. Jeremiah said, "Their tongue is a murderous arrow; it speaks deceitfully; [it can] speak peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart he lays a snare and waits in ambush for him" (Jeremiah 9:8, Amplified). So true. We put on a half-smile and speak kindly when we bump into our enemy out in public, then secretly groan and roll our spiritual eyes when they can't see us anymore. Am I telling the truth?

Adversity is two-fold. First, it is the result of an enemy whose only aim is to weaken your faith. And secondly, it is used by God in those times, to strengthen your faith. This is why the scriptures say, "If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small" (Proverbs 24:10). One translation says, "If you fall to pieces in a crisis, there wasn't much to you in the first place" (Message).

Many have made the mistake of thinking every quote from the Book of Job is gospel-truth. It is and it isn't... The truth is many things that were said by Job and his friends were based on their ignorance of God and their own self-consumed flesh. So although it was quoted accurately, not everything said is the truth regarding God's character or how His kingdom operates. This is why God corrected Job and his friends at the end of the story. The lesson we are to learn from Job is revelation and repentance. We must first attain wisdom in our situation and then own up to what adversity may have revealed in us.

John said, "My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God" (1 John 3:18-21). In other words, listen to your words, AND your heart. The Holy Spirit will convict our heart when God is grieved by what's there. He first gives us the ability to hear our own words and discern if we are in the flesh or in the spirit. But because we can religiously "say" what's expected, God has assigned the Holy Spirit to prick (or condemn) or heart when we are in sin. It's a safety mechanism used to keep us on the right path. And if we're honest, we'll admit God's conviction is also an expression of His love for us.

So, remember this: "In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider that God has made the one side by side with the other, so that man may not find out anything that shall be after him [taking nothing for granted]" (Ecclesiastes 7:14).