No 32

(Faith and Trials)

“The trial of your faith.” (1 Peter 1:7)

Faith untried may be true faith, but it is sure to be little faith and it is likely to remain that way so long as it is without trials. Faith never prospers so well as when all things are against it. When calm is on the sea no matter if you open the sails, the ship will not move to its harbour. Let the winds rush forth and let the waters lift themselves up. Though the vessel may rock, its deck may be washed with waves and its mast may creak under the pressure of the full sail, it is then that it will make its way to its desired destination.

No stars are so bright as those which are in the polar sky, no water tastes so good as that which springs from the desert sand and no faith is so precious as that which lives and triumphs in adversity. Tried faith brings experience. You could not have believed your own weakness had you not been compelled to pass through the rivers and you would never have known God’s strength had you not been supported amid the rushing water. Faith increases in assurance and intensity the more it is exercised with tribulation. Faith is precious but its trial is also.

Let this not discourage those who have not yet been tried, because you will have trials enough without seeking them. In the meantime, if you have not had long experience, thank God for what grace you have and praise Him for the holy confidence He has given you. The blessing of God will come to you and your faith will be “as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.” (Luke 17:6).