Kathleen and I ascended with the elevator when it began to shake noisily. The two women beside us discussed when the old box was going to fall, evidently used to its rattle. But as we walked into the office there on the eighth floor we noticed the building swaying. It was an eerie feeling. Less than 150 miles away,
Meditation
Psalm 54:4—Surely God is my help; the Lord is the One Who sustains me.
Psalm 73:26—My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Tremors test the integrity of our structure. They also reveal our convictions. How many people dive under desks in fear without a clue what death might bring? How much better it is to know that even if we should take an 8-story tumble we will go to be with our Savior!
Adversity measures how we are doing in our quest to know God. If we are secure in our relationship with Him we maintain spiritual equilibrium even in the midst of dirt-moving trials. We recognize that our strength comes in the Lord. He is the One Who sustains us. Redemption has permanently countered the effect of sin and afforded us a holy hope in an evil earth. We wouldn’t understand this if life was a continuous party void of any problems.
Are you spiritually balanced? Do you emerge through conflict, pain and trauma with your faith intact? Do those around you see stability in your perspective and quiet confidence in your character? If not, get out of the sink hole caused by self-reliance and climb on the Rock!
Inspiration
Life without conflict is impossible, either in nature or in grace. This is an open fact of life. The basis of physical, mental, moral and spiritual life is antagonism. Physical life is maintained according to the power of fight in the corpuscles of the blood. If I have sufficient vital force within to overcome the forces without, I produce the balance of health. The same is true of mental life . . . Virtue is the result of fight; I am only virtuous according to the moral stability I have within. If I have sufficient moral fighting capacity, I produce the moral balance of virtue. We make virtue out of necessity, but no one is virtuous who is good because he or she cannot help it. Virtue is the outcome of conflict. And spiritually it is the same. "In the world you will have tribulation"; that is, everything that is not spiritual makes for your undoing; "but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." When this is understood it is a perfect delight to meet opposition, and as we learn so win over the things that come against us, we produce the balance of holiness. Faith must be tried, and it the trial of faith that is precious. If you are fainthearted, it is a sign you won’t play the game; you are fit for neither God nor society because you will face nothing.—Oswald Chambers in Not Knowing Where
Holiness means a perfect balance between our disposition and the laws of God. Oswald Chambers in Studies in the Sermon on the Mount
