ATTITUDES IN ADVERSITY
“In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity
consider: God also has set the one over against the other, to the end that man
should find nothing after him.” – Eccl. 7:14
In the days of “prosperity be joyful.” The Hebrew word for “prosperity” is “tob” meaning GOOD, as in
contradistinction to that which is evil or adverse. We praise the Lord when all
goes well, pressures lessen and times of refreshing come our way. Our vision
soars out into the expanses beyond, contemplating the vastness of His purpose
of the ages, and ultimate victory in the hope set before us. There is the
feeling of a surge of spiritual vitality, so that we could declare, “For by You I have run through a troop; and
by my God have I leaped over a wall.” – Psalm
Then we come to “the day of adversity.” Suddenly
conditions turn, going in a contrary direction, acting against us, with
distress, when we are more limping than running, and crawling instead of
climbing over the wall. It is then we are admonished to “consider.” Consider that God has set the one over
against the other. He sovereignly controls the
interplay of good and evil, prosperity and adversity. And all this, “to the end that man should find nothing
after him.” Just about the time we get everything figured out, prosperity
has broadened our vision and we think we know what direction it’s all going, God veils it all over with times of
adversity, when we follow on just one day
at a time, not knowing what the morrow will bring forth.
It still remains that our challenge is for DAILY OVERCOMING! It
is through the travail, as God sets the one over against the other, prosperity
and adversity, with our actions and re-actions, which will tell us of the degree of our development, and
how we qualify. “If you faint in the day
of adversity, your strength is small” (Proverbs 24:10). “But the people who know their God will display
strength, and take action” (Daniel
From Daily Overcoming
“The motto of the newspaperman, Joseph Pulitzer,
owed much to Jesus: “Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” Jesus does just that! He knows when to assure and when to
alarm. Our own judgment of our needs is
often wrong. When we think we need
comforting, He often comes with a disturbing challenge, which gets us on our
feet...when we do not know our need for fortification, He builds us up in love
to face some imminent difficulty which lies before us.” Lloyd John Ogilvie