God Works Through Adversity - Daily Devotional July 21st, 2010

Daily Bible Reading: Judges 4, Acts 8, Jeremiah 17, Mark 3

God Works Through Adversity

Acts 8:1 tells us that after Stephen was stoned to death a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. We aren’t told how many the “all” were. Five thousand were added to the church after the Day of Pentecost and people were being added to the church daily. There could have been thousands who were scattered, fearing for their lives, especially since Saul was going house to house searching for Christians to put in prison.

But they didn’t go into hiding and try to keep people from knowing they were Christians. Instead they preached the word wherever they went. Then the Lord began using Phillip in Samaria among the hated Samaritans and crowds came to hear him. When the apostles in Jerusalem heard what was going on in Samaria they traveled there, laid hands upon the people and they were filled with the Holy Spirit.

Then the Holy Spirit directed Phillip to go minister to an Ethiopian eunuch. He believed and was baptized in water. He went his way, back to his home country, and of course took the Gospel with him.

All of this occurred because of the persecution. If the believers would have stayed gathered in Jerusalem it would have taken much longer for the Gospel to spread as it did. God used something negative to bring about a positive. These people were living Jeremiah 17:7-8. “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; It’s leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit. The heat came to these believers but they didn’t show fear; instead they continued to live their faith and share it with others and bore fruit.

We don’t like adversity. We would rather that the waters stay calm, that no storms come, that there is no heat and no drought. But that’s not realistic. We live in a sin-filled world and bad things do happen to good people. If our trust is in the Lord, he can turn a bad situation into an opportunity. If you are in a time adversity, ask the Lord how He wants to make it fruitful in your life. Of if things are going smooth for you, the next time adversity comes, trust in the Lord and put your confidence in him. Perhaps He wants to use that situation to jar you from being complacent and bring you into a more fruitful place.

Tomorrows Bible Reading - Judges 5, Acts 9, Jeremiah 18, Mark 4

God is good all the time,

Naomi Brinkman