Day 35 - Issue 23
Psalm 31:24 NLT
'So be strong and courageous, all you who put your hope in the LORD!'
My mum astonished me when my dad died. I was quite tearful as the reality of his death hit me in waves. But she told me she considered tears a sign of weakness and so she would not cry. This took me by surprise, and I didn’t challenge her statement. I was in no place to do so. However, I deeply disagree.
I was listening to a radio broadcast describing the merchant shipping that kept supplying Britain through the Second World War. One seaman told his experience of being sunk by a torpedo. He found himself swimming, surrounded by cold water and darkness. Alongside him was a fellow crew member and they swam with little knowledge if they were heading in a useful direction. Truly all at sea. After a couple of hours of surviving for its own sake, his colleague said, “I’m done with this” and slipped beneath the waters to his death. A little while later, the seaman described his rescue by a small boat searching for survivors. He kept going when all the odds were stacked against him.
The psalmist commands us to stay strong. We know that we are ultimately safe, yet the experience of swimming in the deep waters of life’s uncertainties can weaken our resolve to keep going. We are spoiled, given our geographical location and the benefits of a developed economy. Millions of God’s friends practise our shared faith in circumstances far more challenging than ours. They find strength to keep going and their testimony can be of great value in strengthening our own resolve.
Strength gives birth to courage because every stroke we swim gives us confidence to swim the next. The experience of surviving 30 minutes in atrocious conditions builds within the courage to swim another 30. Courage is a skill that we can each develop, a skill that is born of adversity.
QUESTION: How strong have you found yourself to be when tested?
PRAYER: Lord, please give your people who are facing hardship and persecution the courage to persevere.
