We all need faith for desperate days, and the Bible is filled with accounts of such days. Its story is told with them, its songs are inspired by them, its prophecy deals with them, and its revelation has come through them.

Desperate days are the stepping-stones on the path of light. They seem to have been God’s opportunity to provide our school of wisdom.

Psalm 107 is filled with stories of God’s lavish love. In every story of deliverance, it was humankind coming to the point of desperation that gave God His opportunity to act. Arriving at “their wits’ end” (Psalm 107:27) of desperation was the beginning of God’s power.

Remember the promise made to a couple “as good as dead,” that their descendants would be “as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore” (Hebrews 11:12). Read once again the story of the Red Sea deliverance, and the story of how “the priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan” (Joshua 3:17 NASB). Study once more the prayers of Asa, Jehoshaphat, and Hezekiah when they were severely troubled, not knowing what to do. Go over the history of Nehemiah, Daniel, Hosea, and Habakkuk. Stand with awe in the darkness of Gethsemane, and linger by the tomb in Joseph of Arimathea’s garden through those difficult days. Call to account the witnesses of the early church, and ask the apostles to relate the story of their desperate days.

Desperation is better than despair. Remember, our faith did not create our desperate days. Faith’s work is to sustain us through those days and to solve them. Yet the only alternative to desperate faith is despair. Faith holds on and prevails.

There is not a more heroic example of desperate faith than the story of the three Hebrew young men Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Their situation was desperate, but they bravely answered, “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up” (Daniel 3:17–18). I especially like the words “But even if he does not”!

Let me briefly mention the Garden of Gethsemane and ask you to ponder its “nevertheless.” “If it be possible . . . nevertheless . . .” (Matthew 26:39 KJV). Our Lord’s soul was overwhelmed by deep darkness. To trust meant experiencing anguish to the point of blood, and darkness to the very depths of hell—Nevertheless! Nevertheless!

Find a hymnal and sing your favorite hymn of desperate faith. S. CHADWICK

When obstacles and trials seem Like prison walls to be, I do the little I can do And leave the rest to Thee.

And when there seems no chance, no change, From grief can set me free, Hope finds its strength in helplessness, And calmly waits for Thee.

The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee; send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion.

We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners.

Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.

They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and stand upright.

When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able: but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

If God be for us, who can be against us?—The Lord is on my side; I will not fear.

Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us, and he will deliver us.

The Lord reigneth, he is clothed with majesty: thy throne is established of old: thou art from everlasting.

The Lord is . . . great in power.—If God be for us, who can be against us?—Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us, and he will deliver us.—My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.—Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

Not unto us, O Lord , not unto us, but unto thy name give glory.—Thine, O Lord , is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord , and thou art exalted as head above all. Now therefore, our God, we thank thee and praise thy glorious name. But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee.