Flourishing when Things are Unpromising

Daily Scripture Threshing for Today, Monday, September 15, 2025

Today's Text: Proverbs 24:10-16

Key Verse: Proverbs 24:10 (NIV): "If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small."

I can't stop imagining how endangered animal species survive in the jungle. Each of them braces daily to fight, flee and feed. Even the picaflors, also known as flying jewels or hummers, small birds as they are: how do they make it through in the turbulent forests? How do they maintain their vibrant beauty and delicate form, living in a forest full of danger. How come they don't just survive; but they thrive. Yes, they blossom, feeding only on fruits of deadly and poisonous manchineel tree. They transform the very poison they consume from it into life and brilliant color. Oh, brethren, nature must be speaking to us on deep existential and spiritual concepts.

God wants us to know that we can turn adversity into a source of strength. He has imputted into each of His creature the needed power of resilience and adaptability needed to overcome all the challenges of life. Just as the picaflors transforms poison into beauty, we, Christians, too, are called to transform our struggles into opportunities for growth and the glory of God. A Christian who is impatient and unable to bear sufferings; whose resolution flag, and who gives way to despondency or dejection of mind so easily whenever buffetted by things shows that his or her strength is narrow.

The Hebrew for the word rendered small depicts something that is thin: something strait, that lies in a little or narrow compass. The sense is that sych a believer shows sign that he or she has but little Christian strength, character or courage, which are best tested, known and proven in/by adversity. Yes, we're all faced with adversity at some point, and it's easy to lose hope or give up. Yet, the Bible teaches us that our response to hardship reveals the true measure of our strength. Like the picaflors, we too have an inbuilt ability to turn a poisonous situations and pressures into our source of life and Christian beauty. We should triumph over struggles instead of letting them define us.

The Christian faith is not just about surviving the storm but about using the very elements of the storm to grow stronger. Tgat financial pressure is a test of your character just for God to approve you for greater blessings but you failed in little, yet expect heavens to commit the much to you. You should have mastered that preasure and maje it a shift in your personal perspective in which you no longer see those adversities and pressures as burdens but as crucibles for character. We only tested on that job; examined on our love for God versus love for money but, unfortunately, we fall for Mammon because our strength is often found too small.

Everything in our world may look ruthlessly unpromising—poverty, cruelty, persecution—but God provides us with an appropriative inner power, a divine resilience, to transmute these experiences into something beautiful and purposeful. Biblical and world history are full of examples of great men and women who didn't let their circumstances break them but instead used those very circumstances to forge an indomitable character, exemplifying the fact that our strength isn't determined by the absence of trials, but by our unwavering faith and determination to flourish in spite of them.

Action Steps: Reflect on a current challenge you're facing. Instead of focusing on the difficulty, ask yourself: How can I use this to grow stronger in my faith? Identify one small step you can take today to face this challenge with renewed courage. Remind yourself that God is with you, providing the strength you need to not just endure, but to flourish. Pray for grace to stand, and strength to overcome.

Quote for the Day: "No hero lets circumstances subdue him. Rather, he makes them subserve him and strengthen his character." (Simon Olatunji #quotablequote)

Let Us Pray: Dear Heavenly Father, we thank You for the strength You provide in times of trouble. Help us to see adversity not as a problem but a platform to thrive better. Deliver us from any sign of smallness, and weakness. Help us to convert every challenge to our opportunity for greatness. Give us the courage to face our life issues and the wisdom to transform them into sources of life and beauty. Please help us, Oh Eternal Father, so that we faint not, but flourish instead, in Jesus's most glorious name. Amen.

_______________

Thank you for being part of this journey. For additional reading on today's meditation, read: Romans 5:3-4, James 1:2-4, and 2 Corinthians 4:8-9.

With all my love and prayers,

Rev Simon Wale Olatunji, Ph.D.

Your Darling Bishop (DaBishop)

Send | Share | Subscribe | Support