Let’s go back to James 1:3. It says, “…count it all joy WHEN you fall into various trials.” Note that we are to count our sudden trial as a joyous event at the beginning. We are ready to rejoice when it is over, but are we rejoicing at the beginning?
Proverbs 24:10 says, “If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.” David wrote Psalm 61. How did he deal with things that came at him? Verse 2 says, “From the end of the earth I will cry to You, when my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.”
David was asking the Lord to help him hide in Him. He wanted the Lord to be his Protector. Verse 4 says, “I will abide in Your tabernacle forever; I will trust in the shelter of Your wings.” David’s ‘I will’ was a faith declaration based on his assured future and his unknown present.
I love his words in Psalm 18:1-2. It says, “I will love You, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold”
The impact of the trial we fall into, helps us to instantly recognize that we need the Lord. He replaces our weakness with His strength when we cry out to Him. Here is a word picture I like to think about.
In your mind’s eye, take a long strand of hair. Weave it in and out of the links in a chain. Do you see how the hair is fully supported? How much more are we empowered through God’s resurrection power?
Ephesians 1:19 Amplified says, “And (so that you can know and understand) what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His power in and for us who believe, as demonstrated in the working of His mighty strength.”
Verse 20 says that it is the same power that God used to raise Jesus from the dead. His power dwells in us. It is perpetually available. Immeasurable. Unlimited. Surpassing greatness.
Ephesians 3:16 Amplified says, “May He grant you out of the rich treasure of His glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man by the (Holy) Spirit (Himself indwelling your innermost being and personality).” Strengthened. Reinforced.
Why do we cry out? It is our acknowledgment that we cannot do this without Him! Our heart affirms that we absolutely need Him. He is Ever Present, but He makes Himself known in a new way when we cry out.
2 Peter 1:4 says that we share in His divine nature through His enduring promises. Psalm 136 has 26 verses. Each one ends with, “…For His mercy endures forever.” We are empowered to endure by abiding in His word. It will enable us to know Him in ways we have not experienced Him before.