At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)
If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small (Prov. 24:10).
In Scripture, true strength is measured in the doing, and not in the accumulating and storing. Energy is given that it may be expended, and if, after all the training, there is not enough energy for the task, then the training was pointless.
In this proverb, the testing point for the strength is described as the “day of adversity.” In other words, the test that must be passed is a genuine challenge, a real situation. It is a day of adversity.
This means that the strength is really put to it. The strength doesn’t feel adequate. If it proves itself to be inadequate, then Scripture dismisses that kind of strength as “small.” If you were unable to carry someone out of the burning building, then it does not matter how much you were able to bench press at the gym.
In a real situation, there are any number of additional variables. In the gym, there is just one thing to do, the bench is straight and even, and you have a spotter, and he says encouraging things. In addition, there are mirrors everywhere so you can see how marvelous you were. With real time adversity, there are no mirrors, only duties. There are many things to do, not just one, and you have rank them. Not only that, you have to rank them on the fly.
And when you are tempted to “faint,” it is important to remember that the accumulation of strength has a telos, it has a point. That point is to acquit itself well in the midst of a chaotic present. The point is to not faint.
