Proverbs Piece #7 – Are You Overwhelmed Or Are You An Overcomer?

“If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.” Proverbs 24:10

I love the translation of this verse in The Message where it says, “If you fall to pieces in a crisis, there wasn’t much to you in the first place.” How very descriptive that translation is!

So how do you hold up in a crisis situation? Are you the level-headed one who goes immediately into action and knows exactly what to do? Are you the one who runs around like a chicken with its head cut off, screaming and yelling and making no sense? Or are you the one who faints dead away?

I remember one incident when I was about eight months pregnant with my youngest child. I was down in the basement doing laundry when my oldest boy (about eight years old) came into the house and yelled for me. I could tell by the tone in his voice that something was really wrong. I ran to the bottom of the stairs and there he was, holding his head and blood was running everywhere. The neighbor boy had thrown a rock at him and he was bleeding profusely.

After hefting my large growing belly up the stairs as fast as I could, I quickly cleaned off the wound and knew it needed stitches, probably more than a few. I gathered the other kids in the car and raced off to the doctor’s office. I didn’t realize until later when we were all home, the stitches in place, and things were calm how mechanical it all happened. I didn’t scream or get upset during the crisis; I kept a level head and did what needed to be done.

This verse doesn’t just talk about a physical crisis situation, but spiritual adversity and trials, too. Where is our strength when a trial comes? Who do we lean on to get us through those tough times when we really don’t know what to do? If our strength is in the Lord and the power of His might (Ephesians 6:10), we will stand through the trial. If we rely on our own strength, we will fall or faint. “He doesn’t have a root in himself…when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, straightway he stumbles,” (Matthew 13:21). You can be a strong, handle-the-crisis person and still need to rely on God’s strength in the hard times. There is nothing written in God’s Word that says a leader or a person who can handle stress doesn’t need God. He should always be the source of our strength!

Keep digging in His Word to get your roots deeply planted so when the storms of life come you won’t be overwhelmed—you will be an overcomer!