Maybe you remember the first line from a popular song: "Mama said there'll be days like this." Those familiar with the Bible know there'll be difficult days. Everyone can expect to face "the day of adversity" mentioned in Proverbs 24:10. To be forewarned is to be forearmed. After referencing Ecclesiastes 5:8, Albert Barnes concludes, "Proverbs 24:10-12 thus forms a complete and connected whole." Let me point out three things from this passage related to daring disciples.

Daring disciples are adaptable. Proverbs 24:10 reads, "If you faint in the day of adversity Your strength is small." In the face of adversity many have sinking hearts that become dismayed and slacking hands that become disengaged. To deal with adversity we need faith to express moral courage and spiritual character. Ecclesiastes 7:14 reads, "In the day of prosperity be joyful, But in the day of adversity consider: Surely God has appointed the one as well as the other, So that man can find out nothing that will come after him." Adrian Rogers said, "You can have faith and calamity all at the same time. Faith is not receiving from God what we want; faith is accepting from God what He gives." We need valiant versatility if we would be victorious.

Daring disciples are available. Proverbs 24:11 reads, "Deliver those who are drawn toward death, And hold back those stumbling to the slaughter." Someone comments, "When a believer sees cruelty, injustice, or atrocity, they are obligated to act in some way." Thus, it is a call to intercession and a call to intervention. King Lemuel recounts the words of his mother in Proverbs 31:8-9, "Open your mouth for the speechless, In the cause of all who are appointed to die. Open your mouth, judge righteously, And plead the cause of the poor and needy." This is an appeal to the cause of equity (justice and fairness). There is an application to the cause of evangelism. Proverbs 11:30b reads, "he who wins souls is wise."

Daring disciples are accountable. Proverbs 24:12 reads, "If you say, 'Surely we did not know this,' Does not He who weighs the hearts consider it? He who keeps your soul, does He not know it? And will He not render to each man according to his deeds?" Romans 14:12 reads, "So then each of us shall give account of himself to God." Hebrews 4:13 reads, "And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account." While we are to give a full explanation, we are not to give false excuses. There is no excuse for indolence and indifference. Billy Sunday said, "An excuse is a skin of a reason stuffed with a lie." Benjamin Franklin said, "He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else." This statement emphasizes the importance of accountability.

May we find the courage to be daring disciples in difficult days.

Dr. Franklin L. Kirksey, of Robertsdale, is the author of "Don't Miss the Revival! Messages for Revival and Spiritual Awakening from Isaiah.