Author: Bacon (UK)

"Smooth sailing is admirable, but sailing against the current is even more admirable." This is Seneca's famous saying (2) following the Stoic philosophy (1). That's true. If miracles are extraordinary, they often appear in the conquest of adversity. Seneca also said a more profound maxim: "The real greatness lies in the invincibility of divinity with fragile mortal body." This is like a poem's punch line, and its realm is meaningful.

Ancient poets once described in their myths that when Hercules went to rescue Prometheus, the hero who stole fire from mankind, he was floating across the ocean in a crock. This story is actually a symbol of life: because every Christian swims across the ocean of life in a boat of flesh and blood.

The virtue needed in the face of luck is temperance, while the virtue needed in the face of adversity is tenacity. In terms of moral cultivation, the latter is more difficult than the former. Therefore, the Old Testament of the Bible regards prosperity as a blessing from God, while the New Testament regards adversity as a blessing from God. Because it is in adversity that God will give people a deeper favor and a more direct revelation.

If you listen to the sound of David's harp in the Old Testament poems, what you hear is not only an ode, but also as many sorrows. And the Holy Spirit's description of Job's suffering is far more touching than Solomon's wealth forever.