Proverbs 24:10

Read this as comfort, not a taunt. The day of trouble is a test that reveals how much strength a man really has — and if he collapses, the verdict is honest: his strength was small. But the cure is not to grit your teeth; it is to draw on a strength that is not your own, for "the eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms" (Deuteronomy 33:27). Even the strongest, holiest believer has his trembling moments — not from the size of the danger but from the weakness of his faith — and the answer is to go to the Strong One for strength and be strong in your very weakness. And do not miss the love hidden in the trial itself: the chastening rod is the seal of everlasting love; the temporal cross comes from the same hand as the everlasting crown. As gold is tried in the fire, so a believer's strength is tried in the furnace — and refined there, not destroyed.