Greg Laurie daily devotion - Dec. 10, 2010
Friday, December 10, 2010
No Trials, No Triumphs
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. —Psalm 23:4
Maybe you are in one of life's storm right now and have cried out for it to stop, and it hasn't. In fact, it has gotten worse. You're asking why—why has God allowed this? There are no easy answers to that. But know this: where there are no trials in life, there will be no triumphs. It has been said, "The hammer shatters glass, but it forges steel." And often in the hardships of life, great things will come as a result.
The apostle Paul died and went to heaven, and he wrote a few lines about it. But then he was imprisoned under house arrest and wrote the epistles of 1 and 2 Timothy. Through his glorious triumph in heaven, he said very little. But through his difficulties and hardships, he said a lot.
Many times when you go through difficulties in life, there are things you will learn and discover that you could not learn anywhere else.
Psalm 23 is a well-loved passage of Scripture that many have committed to memory. It is a pleasant scene of sheep grazing on grass and drinking from cool mountain springs. We love that. We love the green pastures and still waters. But then David continues on: "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me" (Psalm 23:4).
Yes, there will be those times when God will take us to the green pastures and still waters. But He will be with us in the valleys as well. And it is through those valleys we learn important lessons, because fruit does not grow on mountaintops; it grows in valleys.
God has His purposes in the storms of life. And He is with you in your storm.
Copyright © 2010 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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