“If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small” (Proverbs 24:10).
There are many covert blessings in adversity. The trials of life can purify your faith, sharpen your focus, rejuvenate your hope, identify a definite need for wisdom, and burst the deceptive bubbles produced by overconfidence.
On the evening of Jesus’ final meal with His apostles before His death, Peter was quite certain of his spiritual strength and loyalty to Jesus: “Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble…Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” (Mat. 26:33, 35). Yet, when adversity came and before the rooster had crowed twice, Peter had denied Jesus three times. His bubbles of self-overconfidence were burst.
Adversity is the most accurate measuring stick of the strength of your faith, your marriage, your commitment to obeying Christ. It brings each of us face to face with who we really are. If you faint in the day of adversity like Peter, you are blessed to know the brutal truth about yourself and your overconfidence.
Overestimation of yourself is a most insidious form of self-deception.
