Charles Stanley Daily Devotional 18 May 2026 (In Touch) Monday Message
Charles Stanley Daily Devotional TOPIC: A Purpose of Adversity
SCRIPTURE READING: Psalms 37:23-28
When we’re walking through adversity, it’s easy to focus exclusively on the momentary trouble. God, however, has specific purposes for bringing us through times of hardship.
One reason He may allow trials is to teach us to follow Him more closely by rejecting sin. In Psalm 97:10, we are told, “Hate evil, you who love the Lord.” Isn’t it true that we sometimes don’t act as if we hate evil? We may say, “Evil is all around me in this world, so I guess it’s inescapable! The best I can hope to do is to try and manage it.”
But we are not commanded to manage evil; instead, we are instructed to hate its very presence. In today’s passage, verse 27 says, “Depart from evil and do good, so you will abide forever.” When we see evil, we are to turn around and run in the opposite direction.
Adversity has a way of clarifying things. In difficult seasons, God refines our spiritual vision, and we begin to see sin’s destructiveness more clearly. The hardship that once felt purposeless becomes the very means by which He draws us closer to Himself, teaching us to cling to what is good and flee from what destroys.
Bible in One Year: 2 Chronicles 24-25
THOUGHT FOR TODAY: Adversity is often God’s tool for teaching us to hate sin and run toward Him.
Dr. Charles F. Stanley was the founder of In Touch Ministries and a New York Times best-selling author. Throughout his ministry, he demonstrated a keen awareness of people’s needs and provided Christ-centered biblically based principles for everyday life.