“Prone to wander, Lord I feel it”–the words to that old song describe how we all feel at certain time in our life. So how do we keep going? How do we maintain our way and continue walking in the straight and narrow path? It is by faith alone that we are able to do so. An old publication, written over a century ago, called “Life of Praise” said:

True faith counts on God, and believes before it sees. Naturally, we want some evidence that our petition is granted before we believe; but when we walk by faith we need no other evidence than God’s Word. He has spoken, and according to our faith it shall be done unto us. We shall see because we have believed, and this faith sustains us in the most trying places, when everything around us seems to contradict God’s Word.

The Psalmist says, “I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of living” (Ps. 27:13). He did not see as yet the Lord’s answer to his prayers, but he believed to see; and this kept him from fainting.

If we have the faith that believes to see, it will keep us from growing discouraged. We shall “laugh at impossibilities,” we shall watch with delight to see how God is going to open up a path through the Red Sea when there is no human way out of our difficulty. It is just in such places of severe testing that our faith grows and strengthens.

Have you been waiting upon God, dear troubled one, during long nights and weary days, and have feared that you were forgotten? Nay, lift up your head, and begin to praise Him even now for the deliverance which is on its way to you.

–who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the Lord? –Deut. 4:11

 

“How can a God of love, who has everything in His control, let such a thing happen to me?” So asked a young woman who had received severe injuries through a fall from a horse. “Crippled for life,” she overheard the doctor say.

The pastor was silent for a moment. “Did you suffer much pain when they put you in the cast?”

“The pain was terrible,” she replied.

“Where was your father then?”

“He stood right by me,” she replied.

“Did your father allow the doctor to hurt you that way?”

“Yes, but that was necessary.”

“Did your father allow the doctor to hurt you even though he loved you, or because he loved you?”

“You mean to suggest that because God loves me, He also allowed

me to be hurt?”

The pastor answered with a nod. “ ‘This thing is from Me.’ Let these five words comfort you. They will furnish a silver lining to the cloud. Yours is not a case of ‘hard luck.’ This trial was planned by God.”

If you are His child, He is preparing you for better service. Shakespeare said: “In sickness, let me not so much say, ‘Am I getting better of my pain; but am I getting better for it.’ ”

Let us not say, “When will I be getting out of this?” but, “What will I be getting out of this?” He will draw you closer to Him through this trial. –copied

Have you ever notice what great portions of the Scripture are devoted to what God has has done in the past? It is remarkable to my mind and it is for good reason that God designed it so– we need to live in the awareness of what God has done and can do. Some parents worry and work to leave their children the wrong things– as if material things will solve all their problems. But there is something much better. Old John Henry Jowett put us on the right track when he left us this bit of advice:

Our yesterdays are to be the teachers of our children. We are to take them over our road, and show them the pitfalls where we stumbled and the snares that lured us away. And we are to show them how we found the springs of grace, and how the Lord made Himself known to us in daily providence and care. We are to relate His exploits, “His wonderful dealings with the children of men.” We must make our life witness of God to our children, and when their minds roam over our road they must see it radiant with the grace and mercy of the Lord.

The best inheritance I can give my child is a steadfast witness of my knowledge of God. The testimony of a light that never failed may give him the needful wisdom when his own way becomes troubled with clouds and darkness. And what a story it is, this story of the deeds of our gracious God. It is full of quickening for weary and desponding souls. It is a perfect reservoir of inspiration for those whose desire has failed, and in whose lives the wells of impulse have become dry. Let us bring forward yesterday’s wealth to enrich the life of to-day. “Do ye not remember the miracle of the loaves?”

Now therefore stand still, that I may reason with you before the LORD of all the righteous acts of the LORD, which he did to you and to your fathers.–1 Samuel 12:7

In light of man’s mind-set in the 21st century the words “stand still” almost seems laughable. People are so busy in the pursuit of self-interest that they seldom if ever take the time to sit down and reflect on their blessings. Instead of seeing it as a good thing, they consider it a waste of time. It is no wonder that they can’t cope with their circumstances. We would all do well to consider these words from J. R. Miller:

“It is good to stand still sometimes, and look back over the way by which God has led us. Of one thing we may always be sure—all God’s dealings with us are right. Some of them may seem hard. We all have our trials, disappointments, sorrows, sufferings, our cups of bitterness. There is no way in which we can see goodness in all these experiences, except by faith in the unfailing righteousness of God. Yet a firm conviction of this truth brings peace in the darkest hour. God cannot be unloving. He is our Father.

It does us good to stand still before God at times, and look back over our life—and see all our experiences in the light of the love that streams from his face. We cannot understand, all seems mysterious and dark; yet we know God is righteous, and righteousness is goodness. If we firmly believe this all through life, whatever may come, faith will live, and its light will shine as a bright star in the blackest midnight.”