“Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10.
When they storm rages, be still and KNOW that He is God. When the storm rages, the natural reaction tends to be panic, stress, despair and sorrow. It is quite hard when you are in the thick of chaos to make yourself still.
So how do we build strong faith in order to stand when those tough seasons come? For starters, that faith must be built before the tough seasons come. You do not wait for the trials and tribulations to start building faith. That is instead the time when you tap into the reserves.
Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest. Proverbs 6:6-8.
Like the writer of the Proverbs says, look at the ant, who stores up food in harvest for the time of scarcity. That is the same with our faith. We build it up daily, during the ordinary mundane I dare say boring seasons and also when all is going well.
The last few weeks have been trial by fire! It has truly been a time of proofing for our family. It is all well and dandy to profess God’s Word and promises when life is going well, but when the rubber meets the road, we see what we are really made of.
If you faint in the day of adversity, how small/weak is your faith. Proverbs 24:10
That is the verse that God gave me when I asked Him for encouragement. I was taken aback honestly. I expected Him to say something more soothing and encouraging in the way I wanted encouragement. Something more like I will take away all your trials and never ever let you go through hard times. Yes, I know that is not Biblical, but that is what I wanted to hear. God in His wisdom told me what I needed and not wanted to hear. He told me the truth. Which got me asking, is my faith strong or weak? Do I believe God and His word no matter what? Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Romans 10:17. If you find yourself asking if your faith is strong or how to build your faith, the answer is read God’s word over and over, consistently and diligently. Store up His word as a treasure in your heart and ask for the grace to live by it. That is how faith comes. And faith grows by exercising it. Choosing to believe God’s word over your circumstances and seeing it work grows your faith.
And David was greatly distressed; for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God. 1 Samuel 30:6.
I have never been a big fan of this verse. I would rather other people encouraged me. God saw that I needed to grow in this area and gave me the “opportunity.” Oh my! This is what Paul must have been talking about moving from milk to meat/solid food.
Concerning this we have much to say which is hard to explain, since you have become dull in your [spiritual] hearing and sluggish [even slothful in achieving spiritual insight]. For even though by this time you ought to be teaching others, you actually need someone to teach you over again the very first principles of God’s Word. You have come to need milk, not solid food. For everyone who continues to feed on milk is obviously inexperienced and unskilled in the doctrine of righteousness (of conformity to the divine will in purpose, thought, and action), for he is a mere infant [not able to talk yet]! But solid food is for full-grown men, for those whose senses and mental faculties are trained by practice to discriminate and distinguish between what is morally good and noble and what is evil and contrary either to divine or human law. Hebrews 5:11-14.
Here’s a newsflash! In case you did not know it, the Christian walk requires work!
Continue to work out your salvation [that is, cultivate it, bring it to full effect, actively pursue spiritual maturity] with awe-inspired fear and trembling [using serious caution and critical self-evaluation to avoid anything that might offend God or discredit the name of Christ]. Philippians 2:12.
The Christian walk is not passive. Spiritual growth to a level where you can encourage yourself in the Lord does not just happen by chance. It is the result of consistent, diligent time in prayer, in worship, in Bible reading and in Bible following. It is a result of work. God still requires obedience. The good news is that when we do our part of yielding unto the Lord, He does what only He can do.
Come close to God [with a contrite heart] and He will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; and purify your [unfaithful] hearts, you double-minded [people]… Humble yourselves [with an attitude of repentance and insignificance] in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you [He will lift you up, He will give you purpose]. James 4:8,10
There is no situation too hard for God. Go to God in prayer, He is to God of impossibilities. Indeed, God is our refuge and strength. A very present help in times of trouble. He rescues us from the fowler’s snare and declares: touch not my anointed. Do my prophet no hard! We have tasted and seen, time and time again that this God can be trusted.
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