Day 253

Isaiah 6:1–7:25; 2 Corinthians 11:16-33; Psalm 54:1-7; Proverbs 23:1-3

IN OUR READING today, we encountered two stories that boil down to the same essential core: Life is not always easy, and much of the time we face opposition and resistance.

In Psalm 54 today, David had been running for his life from King Saul, but someone had betrayed his whereabouts. He was facing a life-or-death situation, full of opposition and resistance, trying to stay alive. Knowing this context makes his desperate prayer clear:

Come with great power, O God, and rescue me! Defend me with your might. Listen to my prayer, O God. Pay attention to my plea. For strangers are attacking me; violent people are trying to kill me. They care nothing for God.

In 2 Corinthians 11, Paul had been undermined by people who validated themselves through association with “super apostles.” These people taught a different message than Paul taught, and he felt the need to “boast” about all that he’d been through to offer the gospel of Jesus to the world:

Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? I know I sound like a madman, but I have served him far more! I have worked harder, been put in prison more often, been whipped times without number, and faced death again and again.

Life was not always easy for Paul —or for King David. And they are just the tip of the iceberg in Scripture. The stories found in Scripture are full of challenging trials. We have many examples of people who buckled under the weight of resistance, and we have many examples of those who grew stronger. But the common denominator is that they all faced challenges. So why are we so surprised and incensed when we experience them? In fact, Jesus told us plainly that our lives would contain opposition and resistance: “If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first” (John 15:18).

Let’s face it: Resistance is a normal part of life. And neither Jesus —nor the Bible —ever claimed to be the magic elixir that will take it all away. Believe it or not, resistance is necessary. It’s how we grow. Resistance makes us strong. And we need to be strong because we are here to bring the Kingdom of God and reflect His glory on earth.

If you are in a challenging season, take heart. You’re not the first person, and you won’t be the last. Every one of us face resistance. We can buckle or we can rise up, and the Bible reveals where both of those roads lead.

If you’re about to buckle, let me assure you that you can do this. You actually can. You’re not alone. Everyone in the world faces the same kinds of opposition and resistance. People can go through incredible hardship when they believe in what they are doing. And that becomes the central question, doesn’t it? Do I believe in this enough to endure the resistance?

Rather than asking God to make things easier for us, perhaps we should ask Him to make us stronger, because this is what we actually need. This is how we grow.

MEDITATION:

Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means “God is with us”).