“If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.”
–Prov. 24:10
How do you increase strength?
Exercise. Repeat the same motion again and again—even when it isn’t easy. Then you simply increase resistance incrementally over time. In other words, you practice the actions you need to use when that day of adversity comes.
Isaiah says,
“Have you not known? Have you not heard?
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.
He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.”
–Isaiah 40:28–31
How do you keep from fainting in the day of adversity? You wait on the Lord. You spend time at his feet with your Bible open, listening and praying—seeking to know him as you would a close friend or loved one.
If you feel your strength is small, it’s time to regularly exercise your spiritual eyes to see & ears to hear, so when the day of adversity strikes, you can echo the words of Habakkuk when he says, “God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.” (Hab. 3:19).
And that strength will be larger than you ever imagined because it emerges from your steadfast relationship with Jesus.