"Faint Not; For He Is Strong"

"If thou faint in the day of Adversity, thy strength is small." (Proverbs 24:10) Okay now; this word 'Faint' here in Proverbs 24:10 is taken from the Hebrew word 'Raphah', and it means: To be slack, remiss, or idle; to be weak, to be feeble; to be despondent, to be disheartened, to be lazy. Much of what was meant for the two faints of the New Testament are combined here; but this one puts out a little more punch. Because it also means: To let fall, to let drop; to withdraw, to let alone, to abandon, to desert; to let down the hand; to let someone go. This verb appears 43 times in the Hebrew Old Testament, and has a basic meaning of relaxing the hands; which denotes a lack of courage. However; and this is big; it also can mean to discourage. As I have said, There are people around us, who put our Faith in Jesus Christ, that are watching our lives; and when we are going through something, which should cause most to faint, they watch harder, real hard; I am talking: look deep in your eyes kind of hard. You may not even realize that they are, but they are; they want to know if what you say you believe is real; do you really mean it! But what happens when we faint? Well, sadly, we end up discouraging them; and the not so funny part is, we won't even realize that we have; Why? Because they will put it off into their 'I guess he was just a Fanatic' place in their hearts and move on; meanwhile, you will no doubt recover from your ordeal, however, you may have some trouble convincing them again that you are sincere in your Faith. It is really, really important for our Testimony of the Strength of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ that we stay strong; Why is this??? Because, it really comes down to our Faith, which means: How Much Do You Believe??? How much do you believe in God's ability to perform all that He said He will do? God said He would care for you; Do you believe it? God said He would not leave you or forsake you; Do you believe it? God said that All things will work toward the Good; Do you believe it? These are the questions that those watching you want answered in your life; 'Let's see how Big this guys God really is'; that is what they say; and where do you think they will get that answer? And, more importantly; What happens to those that are discouraged when we faint? "If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not He that pondereth the heart consider it? And He that keepeth thy soul, doth not He know it? And shall not He render to every man according to his works?" (Proverbs 24:11 & 12)