Daily Devotional • Deuteronomy 2:8

- Deuteronomy 2:8

God sometimes uses suffering to humble and test his people.

Some of us are suffering right now because we need to be humbled.

We need to be reminded of who is in charge, that our life is but a mist; from the dirt we’re made, and to the dirt, we will return.

And through this humbling, we'll discover who we are - whose we are.

A few years back, after the Alabama Crimson Tide lost the national championship football game, Coach Nick Sabian was asked if "anything good could come from the loss?"

Coach Sabian said "it was good for his team to lose, that the loss, the adversity would build character..."

Coach Nick Sabian is right about a lot of things, but he’s wrong about adversity.

Adversity does not build character; adversity reveals character.

Trials, temptation, suffering, these things show you your true colors.

What comes out of you amid your suffering and trials helps you see what is really inside - it tells you who you really are.

God allows us to wander in a wilderness from time to time.

Not because He does not love us or because He is sinister, but because He wants to know us.

He wants "to humble and test us in order to know what was in our heart, whether or not we would keep his commands."

How we respond shows who we truly are.

Fight on,
Pastor Chris

Paper Sunday is blessed to collaborate with Chris Harper on today's devotional!

Chris Harper is a speaker, writer, and disciple-maker. Chris is President of 252Edu, a consulting firm based in Dallas, Texas. Chris serves schools, churches, and non-profits by helping them "grow in wisdom, favor and stature with God and man.”

When not taking ground for King Jesus, you can find Chris on the basketball court playing a pick-up game. Chris is a sneakerhead, an avid reader, and loves a good cheeseburger. You can follow him @252consulting on Instagram.