Spurgeon: November AM
* 11/12/AM
"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 dwarfish so long as it is
without trials. Faith never prospers so well as when all things
are against her: tempests are her trainers, and lightnings are
her illuminators. When a calm reigns on the sea, spread the
sails as you will, the ship moves not to its harbour; for on a
slumbering ocean the keel sleeps too. Let the winds rush howling
forth, and let the waters lift up themselves, then, though the
vessel may rock, and her deck may be washed with waves, and her
mast may creak under the pressure of the full and swelling sail,
it is then that she makes headway towards her desired haven. No
flowers wear so lovely a blue as those which grow at the foot of
the frozen glacier; no stars gleam so brightly as those which
glisten in the polar sky; no water tastes so sweet as that which
springs amid 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 water-floods. Faith increases in solidity, assurance, and
intensity, the more it is exercised with tribulation. Faith is
precious, and its trial is precious too.
Let not this, however, discourage those who are young in
faith. You will have trials enough without seeking them: the
full portion will be measured out to you in due season.
Meanwhile, if you cannot yet claim the result of long
experience, thank God for what grace you have; praise Him for
that degree of holy confidence whereunto you have attained: walk
according to that rule, and you shall yet have more and more of
the blessing of God, till your faith shall remove mountains and
conquer impossibilities.