The NIV 365 Day Devotional
Dark Moments
The dark moments of our life will last only so long as is necessary for God to accomplish his purpose in us.
If you want God’s best for your life and desire to be used by him, at some point you will have to travel the road of adversity. This means that God can and will use adversity in your life for a good purpose—and yet, sadly, many people view adversity as only negative and defeating. Yet you don’t have to be among them!
God has designed adversity, regardless of its source, to become a turning point from which you take your greatest leaps forward in spiritual growth. He allows adversity to remain in your life only until he accomplishes his purpose in you. He will not keep it in your life one second longer than is necessary.
Adversity shows us where we stand in our faith. Do we doubt God? Or do we thank him for his faithfulness during the stressful, heart-wrenching times? Do we trust that he will never leave or forsake us? Adversity is God’s most accurate measure of our faith—it reveals our endurance level. None of us knows how much difficulty we can withstand until we are tried.
Right now, right where you are, remember this: God has put a limit on all adversity. Because you are a child of God, the Holy Spirit is living inside of you, and he knows how much you can bear. The psalmist said: “The righteous person may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all” (Ps 34:19). And, “As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust” (Ps 103:13-14).
When we learn and mature in the midst of tremendous adversity, God is pleased because he sees his purpose being fulfilled in us. We are growing spiritually, becoming stronger in areas of weakness and increasingly being conformed to the likeness of Christ. God is thrilled when we respond correctly to adversity!
Taken from The NIV Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible.