ICS Daily Devotions
Know Who Is the Source of Your Tribulation
Mark 4:15-18 (NKJV) And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts. These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble. Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word.
God is the sower of the Word, whereas Satan is the thief who takes away the seed from our hearts by sending tribulation and persecution. Tribulation and persecution will arise in order to steal the Word or the conviction on which we can develop and ground our faith. According to the above passage, some people stumble, fall away, and leave the Lord—perhaps they are offended and stop attending church all together. Both trials and tribulations should bring out our genuine faith, but we will need faithful friends who can speak into our lives, remind us that tribulation is the work of the devil and point us back to Jesus.
The Word of God is like a seed that is sown into our hearts. It has tremendous power because it will cause our faith to grow. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17), and it is our faith in God that overcomes the world and the tribulation that comes with it. The Word is much easier to steal when it is in seed form, and much more difficult when it has germinated, grown into a plant, or even a tree with continuous watering.
If the Word isn’t embedded in our hearts, it will be easily stolen when tribulation and persecution comes, but once the Word has taken root in our hearts, it will become a strong conviction that’s immovable because faith isn’t affected by our senses but is anchored on what the Word says. We want to be mature believers who have a strong conviction of the Word and act on what we believe, and whose hearts are fertile ground that allow the Word to take root so that it will produce a hundred fold.
God will not tempt us; He is not the source of our tribulation nor will He bring persecution to believers. It is the devil who will use different ways to steal the Word from us because his chief objective is to get us to let go of the Word that we have just received. He doesn’t want us to develop any conviction or faith in the Word of God. However, it is the Word of God that can help us to resist, take authority and defeat the devil. Therefore, we must know the Word and be able to use it appropriately to exercise our faith in God.
Sermon Series: Friends (Part 2) – Facing Test, Trials and Tribulation with Our Friends
