Adversity – Are we ready? 2014

Repost from 2008

If you faint in the day of adversity, Your strength is small. Prov. 24:10

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In Psalm 91:14-16 we have a beautiful account of God's faithfulness to protect a saint, one who has sanctified the Lord always in his heart. A man, woman, or child that has made the Lord of Heaven his love and his refuge.  The Lord is able even at the latest hour to save those who have put their trust in Him.  Let's read the words of Ps. 91 with great care, 

“Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My Name.  He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him.  With long life I will satisfy him, and show him My Salvation.”

In the very first part of this reading you are pressed immediately with this word, “because”.  In verses 9 & 10 of this same Psalm, the writer reveals another reason why the Lord is going to deliver those who love Him, 

“Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you, nor shall a plague come near your dwelling.”

Do you really believe that the Living God will deliver you from any form of calamity in times of great adversity? 

Are you confident that if a horrible plague were to visit your community, where almost everybody dies, that your God would pass over your house and keep you and your family in His safe care? 


Are you that sure and confident in your obedience to his prescribed will?  

Are you confident of His call upon your life? 

Have you surrendered all plans and your self-will to Him?


Testifying to the fact that there is a real cause to our being delivered in the day of adversity.

The cause, my friends, is quite simple and obvious in the context of this psalm, it is because "you" made the Lord your refuge when others did not.

When your friends, family, and acquaintances chose to make their church membership and reputation their trust, their secure job, and their worldly possessions maintained the place refuge, you, the remnant, held on to the simplicity of faith in the One and Only Living God.

So let me ask you some sincere open ended questions:

What if a line of UN sanctioned military tanks were rolling through the center of your town to insure order in a time of devastation caused by an epic earthquake which released a 100 ft tidal surge in the Atlantic Ocean that destroyed millions of homes on the east coast of America? 

What if an foreign military foe and its army marched through your neighborhood shooting humans like decoys at a practice range?

Would you trust the Lord to keep you alive? 

Would He be the true anchor of Your soul? 

This is not the product of well-funded special effects movie, this the world's and the remnant's reality, it will happen someday and the elect of God must get ready firstly in our hearts, consider what you would do, and then do the work of preparing your mind to face it with a real living assurance that your back is covered by angels of God.

Ps. 91 was written for times that await the world and the remnant of God to provide them with the much needed comfort needed in times of great adversity.  

Just because we can't fathom that these kinds of adversities will visit our shore let's not make the same mistake that our fathers committed in latter days of the kingdom of Israel at the time of the Babylonian captivity. Let's not allow our inability to fathom their occurrence limit their impending possibility.   

Soon, the many who have lived in times of peace and prosperity will see, with hearts aghast in shock and horror, so much devastation, even more than our eyes and hearts can bear. No matter how terrible the circumstances, be assured dear saint of God that His loving care is the true anchor of your soul in times of great emotional turbulence.

Our heart will bring to the surface our natural born fears which will weaken and totter our senses unless the Lord is Our True emotional support at our right hand.

He has always maintained the details of our life, even in the good times, so if we don't make Him our stay and support today we will potentially fall prey to worldwide deception that masquerades as “government help” and offers to relieve our horrors. This very thing may soon come all the way to our doorstep.


If your faith is not bound inextricably to your personal commitment to the Lord's care, you will “give up” on the God of Israel and succumb to the powers of the “gods” of this age. 

If your heart is fainting because you can not find your faith in the dark hours, your goose will be cooked in the day of adversity. 


We must take to heart today in the real comfort offered to us in this Psalm and learn from its words that the kind of people that will experience supernatural salvation in the day of adversity are those that have made the Lord “our refuge” in the good times, who now are supernaturally made ready to endure adversity in the terrors of future days.


The Word of God declares that “because” we have loved the Lord in the days of prosperity, we will be saved from trouble in the harder days to come.  

Will we let God train us today for such a time in the future?


We must dwell in God's heavenly sanctuary today!  We must love Him supremely today!  We must cling to Him with all our strength today!  Our trust must be perfect and exclusive in His Word and promises. We make this claim knowing that it must be tested by a sober self-examination.  If we take the time to struggle with the challenge of this text, we can be assured that when our world spins out of control we will be protected by the God of history and supernatural deliverance s.


To dwell in the secret place of the most high is live a life of staying close all the time. To live before the eye of God.  To walk with Him and to talk with Him, to take all your burdens and lay them at His feet.  To speak of His Grace and His Love.  To know His heart.  To love His Law and His commandments.  Jesus said to His disciples, “if you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”


Call upon the Lord, and He will answer you in your hour of need.  Call upon the God of Israel, and He will come to your rescue.  Because you made Him your refuge, your dwelling place.  Because you have made Him “your” love, He will deliver you in the day of adversity.


Recount all His many blessings to you this day and worship Him.  Walk in His paths of love and peace.  Know His compassion for those who are hurting and in need of His grace.  Be like His Son, who willing laid down His life, His will, His comfort for you and me, if we learn this way, if we take on His yoke, we will be “secure” from all kinds of evil. 


Let Him hold you safe in His arms.


In Christian Love,

Jonathan