Faith and Courage
The Lord directed Moses to recount to the children of Israel His
dealings with them in their deliverance from Egypt and their wonderful
preservation in the wilderness. He was to call to mind their unbelief
and murmuring when brought into trial, and the Lord’s great mercy
and loving-kindness, which had never forsaken them. This would
stimulate their faith and strengthen their courage. While they would
be led to realize their own sin and weakness, they would realize also
that God was their righteousness and strength.
It is just as essential that the people of God in this day should bear
in mind how and when they have been tested, and where their faith has
failed; where they have imperiled His cause by their unbelief and also
by their self-confidence. God’s mercy, His sustaining providence, His
never-to-be-forgotten deliverances, are to be recounted, step by step.
As God’s people thus review the past, they should see that the Lord
is ever repeating His dealings. They should understand the warnings
given, and should beware not to repeat their mistakes. Renouncing
all self-dependence, they are to trust in Him to save them from again
dishonoring His name. In every victory that Satan gains, souls are
imperiled. Some become the subjects of his temptations, never to
recover themselves. Then let those who have made mistakes walk
carefully, at every step praying: “Hold up my goings in Thy paths, that
my footsteps slip not.”
Psalm 17:5
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God sends trials to prove who will stand faithful under temptation.
He brings all into trying positions to see if they will trust in a power
out of and above themselves. Everyone has undiscovered traits of
character that must come to light through trial. God allows those who
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are self-sufficient to be sorely tempted, that they may understand their
helplessness.
When trials come to us; when we can see before us, not an increase
of prosperity, but a pressure necessitating sacrifice on the part of all,
how shall we receive Satan’s insinuation that we are to have a very
hard time? If we listen to his suggestions, unbelief in God will spring
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