November 9 Daily Devotional

More than conquerors—rejoicing in tribulation

What was there to sustain [Habakkuk] when the Chaldeans arrived and began to destroy the city? ... It was not merely resignation or saying, ‘Well, there is no use crying over spilt milk, or getting alarmed and excited, because we cannot do anything about it’. Nor was it just applying the principle of psychological detachment. It was not ... saying, ‘The best thing is not to think about it! Go to the pictures, read novels and don’t think!’—a sort of escapism. Neither was it an attempt at being courageous ... ‘psychological’ treatment differs greatly from the scriptural method. It is often sheer cruelty to a man who is in a state of uncontrolled fear to say to him, ‘Pull yourself together’. If he could, he would, and the trembling would stop.... The methods which the world offers at such a time are effective only for certain people, and at a stage when their help is hardly necessary. They are of no value when a person is in this stage of utter physical alarm [Habakkuk 3:16]. Instead of mere resignation, or plucking up one’s courage, the Scripture shows that it is possible even under such conditions to be in a state of actual rejoicing (Habakkuk 3:17–18). The Christian claims nothing less than that. Your man of the world may, if he is in a physically good condition, school himself to a state of resignation. He may put on a courageous air as many did during the last war ... and that as far as it goes is a commendable spirit. But, in contrast to that, the Christian is assured that though he may be a person who is physically disposed to be thoroughly alarmed, he may experience not only strength but positive joy in the midst of danger. He may ‘rejoice in tribulation’ and be triumphant in the midst of the worst circumstances. That is the challenge of the Christian position. Herein we as Christians are to differ from the world. When hell is let loose ... we are to be ‘more than conquerors’.... We are to rejoice in the Lord.

Such a time is a test for our Christian profession. If we are not then more than conquerors we are failing as Christians.

From Fear to Faith, pp. 70–1