(F.B. Meyer)
Suppose Daniel and his friends had lost their faith and courage and had complained saying, "Why didn't God keep us out of the furnace!" They would have been burned, and God would not have been glorified. If there is a great trial in your life today, do not acknowledge it as a defeat. Instead, continue by faith to claim the victory through Him who is able to make you "more than conquerors" (Romans 8:37). May we learn that in all the difficult places God takes us, He is giving us opportunities to exercise our faith in Him that will bring about blessed results and greatly glorify His name.
(Life of Praise)
You will never learn faith in comfortable surroundings. God gives us His promises in a quiet hour, seals our covenants with great and gracious words, and then steps back, waiting to see how much we believe. He then allows the Tempter to come, and the ensuing test seems to contradict all that He has spoken. This is when faith wins its crown. This is the time to look up through the storm, and among the trembling, frightened sailors declare, "I have faith in God that it will happen just as He told me" - Acts 27:25
God wants us to realize that His word - His promise of remembering us - is more real and dependable than any evidence our senses may reveal. It is good when He sends the visible evidence, but we appreciate it even more after we have trusted Him without it. And those who are the most inclined to trust God without any evidence except His Word always receive the greatest amount of visible evidence of His love.
(Charles Gallaudet Trumbull)
Delayed answers to prayers are not refusals. Many prayers are received and recorded, yet underneath are the words, "My time has not yet come." God has a fixed time and an ordained purpose, and He who controls the limits of our lives also determines the time of our deliverance.
(Selected)
The LORD is my shepherd. (Psalm 23:1) Not was, not may be, nor will be. "The LORD is my shepherd." He is on Sunday, on Monday; and through every day of the week. He is in January, in December, and every month of the year. He is when I'm at home or in China. He is during peace or war, and in times of abundance or poverty.
(J. Hudson Taylor)
"walk by faith" (2 Corinthians 5:7) We must learn to take God at His word and walk straight ahead in obedience, even when we can see no way to go forward. The reason we are so often sidetracked by difficulties is that we expect to see barriers removed before we even try to pass through them. If we would only move straight ahead in faith, the path would be opened for us. But we stand still, waiting for the obstacle to be removed, when we ought to go forward as if there were no obstacles at all.
(Evening Thoughts)
Sometimes it's hard to see how God is working. His mysteries don't always reveal their secrets to us, and our journey is often redirected by uncontrollable detours. Perhaps God is showing us a better route. To make sure we benefit from what might seem bad, we must recognise and trust God's "unfailing love".
(Dave Branon)
When God made you a believer, He meant to test you, He made His promises and asked you to trust them, He made His promises suitable for times of storms and high seas.
(Charles H. Spurgeon)
God's promises and His providence do not lift us from the world of common sense and everyday trials, for it is through these very things that our faith is perfected. And it is in this world that God loves to interweave the golden threads of His love with the twists and turns of our common, everyday experience.
(Hard Places in the Way of Faith)
Dear soul, you have not been given only one promise, like Abraham, but a thousand promises. And you have been given the example of many faithful believers as a pattern for your life. Therefore it is simply to your advantage to rely with confidence upon the Word of God. And although He may delay in sending His help, and the evil you are experiencing may seem to become worse and worse, do not be weak. Instead, be strong and rejoice, for God usually steps forward to save us when we least expect it, fulfilling His most glorious promises in a miraculous way.
He generally waits to send His help until the time of our greatest need, so that His hand will be plainly seen in our deliverance. He chooses this method so we will not trust anything that we may see or feel, as we are so prone to do, but will place our trust solely on His Word - which we may always depend upon, no matter our circumstance.
(C.H. Von Bogatzky)
The very time for faith to work is when our sight begins to fail. And the greater the difficulties, the easier it is for faith to work, for as long as we can see certain natural solutions to our problems, we will not have faith. Faith never works as easily as when our natural prospects fail.
(George Mueller)
