Part 2 Faith in God
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In all His dispensations- the severest and the darkest- have faith in God. This is, perhaps, one of the greatest achievements of faith. To believe in God when He smiles, to trust in Him when conscious of His nearness, to have faith in Him when the path is flowery and pleasant, is an easy task. But to have faith in Him when He 'holds back the face of his throne, and spreads his cloud upon it;' to love Him when He frowns; to follow Him when He withdraws; to cleave to Him when He would seem to shake us off; to trust in Him when His arm is raised to slay- this is faith indeed.
And yet all this the faith of God's elect can achieve. If not, of what value is it? Of what possible use to the mariner would be the compass which would only work in the day, and not in the night? which only served to steer the vessel in light winds, and not in rough winds? Faith, as we have already shown, is the believing soul's compass, guiding it as truly and as certainly to the heavenly port through the wildest tempest, as through the serenest calm.
To change the figure, faith is that celestial telescope which can pierce the thickest haze or the darkest cloud, out-distancing suns and stars glowing and sparkling in the far distance. It can discern God's smile under a frown; it can read His name to be 'love' beneath the dark dispensation; it can behold the Sun of Righteousness beaming through the interstices of the gloomy clouds; and now and then it can catch a glimpse of the harbor itself, and the towering turrets and golden spires of the 'new Jerusalem' glittering in the distance. Oh it is a wonderful grace, the precious faith of God's elect!
Is God dealing with you now in a way of deep trial, of dark providence, mysterious to your mind, and painful to your heart? Is He even chastening you for your backslidings, correcting you for your sins? Still "have faith in God." Sensible appearances, second causes, cannot in the least degree affect the ground of your faith, which, as we have shown, is God Himself- His immutable nature, His unchangeable love, His eternal purpose, His everlasting covenant, His own Divine and glorious perfections. Believe that you are in His heart, and that your interests are in His hands. Have faith in His wisdom to guide, in His love to direct, in His power to sustain, in His faithfulness to fulfil every promise that now relates to your best welfare and happiness.
Only believe in God that all things in His disposal of you, in His transactions with you, are working together for your present and eternal good. All that He expects and requires of you now, is to have faith in Him. The cloud may be dark, the sea tempestuous, but God is in the cloud, and "the Lord sits upon the flood." Even now it is the privilege of your faith to exclaim, "My soul, hope in God. He is my God, I will trust in him and not be afraid."
Oh, what inspiring words are these- "hope in God!" I hesitate not to say, my reader, you may hope in God. Though your case may seem desperate, to your eye cheerless and hopeless, not merely too intricate for man, but too unworthy for God, yet you may hope in God. Take your case to Him, hoping against hope, and believing in unbelief. Will He close His heart against you? Never! Will He repel you when you fly to Him? Never! It is not in the heart of God, no, nor is it in His power, to do so. Take hold of His strength- I speak it humbly, reverentially- and you have overcome God. You disarm Him of the instrument and of the power to punish you; you have laid your hand of faith upon the strength of His love, and have made peace with Him. You cannot cherish a hope too glowing, nor exercise a faith too implicit in God; hopeless, cheerless, and extreme as your case may seem to be. Impossible! God never appears so like Himself as in the season of the believer's darkness and suffering. At the very moment in which He sees the least of God, God appears the most what He is. The tenderest unfoldings of His heart are in sorrow, the brightest exhibitions of His character are in darkness, and the most glorious displays of His wisdom, power, and grace are seen looming through the mist.
Have faith in God, as the answerer of prayer. "This is the confidence that we have in him," says the apostle, "that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us; and if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him." And what is the true prayer which the believing soul breathes, which Jesus presents, and which God answers?- is it not the prayer of faith? Unbelieving prayer is powerless with God. It prevails not. It is as the discharge of the rifle uncharged with the bullet- there is the transient flash, but there is no execution. Such is prayer without faith.
But believing prayer is prevailing, successful prayer. It assails the kingdom of heaven with holy violence, and carries it as by storm. It believes that God has both the heart and the arm; both the love that moves Him, and the power that enables Him, to do all and to grant all that His pleading child requests of Him. We may mention a few of the attributes of believing prayer. It is real prayer, because it is the expression of need. It springs from a felt necessity of the mercy which it craves. It is sincere prayer, welling up from a soul schooled in the knowledge of its deep poverty and need.
Oh, how much passes for real prayer which is not prayer! It is not the breathing of the soul, nor the language of the heart, nor the expression of need. There is in it no true approach to God, no thirsting for Christ, no desire for holiness. Were God to bestow the things which had been so thoughtlessly and heartlessly asked, the individual would be taken by surprise.
The prayer of faith is importunate and persevering. It will not take a refusal. It will not be put off with a denial. Thus Jacob wrestled with the Angel of the covenant until he prevailed- "I will not let you go until you bless me." Thus the woman of Canaan would not release the Savior from her hold until He had granted her suit- "If I am a dog, satisfy me with the crumbs." And thus, too, the man who besieged the house of his friend at midnight for bread, and did not leave until he obtained it; and the oppressed widow, who sought justice at the hands of the unrighteous and reluctant judge until he righted her, illustrate the nature of that prayer; even earnest, persevering prayer, which prevails with God, and obtains the blessing.
Believing prayer is humble. How low in the dust the truly importunate suppliant lies before God! There is nothing of bold ruffianism, of unholy freedom, in the cases of earnest prayer which we have cited. There is no irreverence of manner, nor familiarity of speech, nor rushing into God's holy presence as if He were an equal; but rather that awful consciousness of the Divine presence, that profound spirit of self-abasement, which seems to say, "How dreadful is this place!" "Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer you? I will lay my hand upon my mouth." Oh, how low is the heart from where arises the incense of believing prayer! How utterly unworthy it feels of the least of all the Lord's mercies; how unfit to be a channel of grace to others; and with what trembling it lies prostrate upon the spot where God, the Triune God, is passing by! Do not be rash with your mouth, and let not your heart be hasty to utter anything before God: for God is in heaven, and you upon earth: therefore let your words be few."
Submission is another attribute of the prayer of faith. Its utmost range of request is bounded, and its deepest fervor of spirit is chastened, by submission to the Divine will. It presumes neither to dictate to God, nor to counsel Him. It leaves the mode of answering its petitions- the time, the place, the way- with God. Trained, perhaps, in the school of bitter disappointment, it has learned to see as much love in God's heart in withholding as in granting its requests, as much wisdom in delaying as in promptly bestowing the blessing. And seeing that delays in prayer are not denials of prayer, he that believes makes not haste to anticipate the Divine mind, or to antedate the Divine blessing. "Your will, not mine, be done," ever breathes from the praying lip of faith.
Yet another, and the crowning attribute of believing prayer, is that it is presented in the name of Jesus. As it is life from God through Christ, so through Christ it is life breathed back again to God. It approaches the Divine Majesty by the 'new and the living way,' its mighty argument, and its one prevailing plea- the atoning blood of Jesus. This is the ground of its boldness, this the reason of its nearness, and this the secret of its power and success. "Whatever you shall ask in my name," observes Christ, "that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son."
Such, my reader, are some of the features of the prayer of faith. Are you not prepared to exclaim, "What a glorious privilege, then, is prayer!" Ah, yes! and you may add, "What mighty power, too, it possesses!" The power of a holy wrestler with God approaches the nearest to an act of omnipotence of any display of finite might whatever. Angelic mightiness must be weakness itself in comparison. What eloquence in that one word 'Father,' lisped in believing prayer! Demosthenes and Cicero, consumed in the blaze and conflagration of their own eloquence, never surpassed, no, never equaled it. It is breathed- and heaven's door expands; it is uttered again- and the heart of God flies open. With such a key in the hands of faith which may at any moment unlock the treasury of God, as prayer, why do we not oftener use it? Oh that the Spirit of God might stir us up to more earnest prayer! teaching us to enshrine everything, to envelope everything, to pervade and saturate everything in the heart and with the spirit of humble, importunate, believing prayer. Oh what real gainers should we be, did we, "in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let our requests be made known unto God!" "For what nation is there so great, who has God so near unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for?"
In a word, my Christian reader, "have faith in God" at all times and in all things. This is the utmost that He asks at your hands. No unreasonable, or impossible requirement. Would Jesus have limited you to this single duty, making your whole happiness for both worlds dependent upon it, were it so? Never! Relinquishing your own wisdom, resting from your own toil, and ceasing from man, God would have you now cast yourself upon Him in simple faith, for all things. You have had faith in the creature, and it has disappointed you; faith in earthly good, and it has faded away; faith in your own heart, and it has deceived you. Now, have faith in God! Call upon Him in your trouble, try Him in your trial, trust Him in your need, and see if He will not honor the faith that honors Him. "HAVE FAITH IN GOD," -words of Jesus, oh how sweet! spoken to allure your chafed and weary spirit to its Divine and blessed rest. Press the kind message to your grateful heart, responding, in a strain of blended praise and prayer, Lord, I believe; help my unbelief."
"All joy to the believer, He can speak
Trembling, yet happy; confident, yet meek.
Since the dear hour that brought me to Your foot,
And cut up all my follies by the root,
I never trusted in an arm but Thine,
Nor hoped, but in Your righteousness divine.
My prayers and alms, imperfect and defiled,
Were but the feeble efforts of a child;
However performed, it was their brightest part,
That they proceeded from a grateful heart.
Cleansed in Your own all-purifying blood,
Forgive their evil, and accept their good;
I cast them at Your feet- my only plea
Is what it was, dependence upon Thee.
While struggling in the vale of tears below,
That never failed, nor shall it fail me now.
Angelic gratulations rend the skies;
Pride falls unpitied, never more to rise;
Humility is crowned, and FAITH receives the prize."
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