Touch of Faith
291
for confession of His goodness. “Ye are My witnesses, saith the Lord,
that I am God.”
Isaiah 43:12
.
Our confession of His faithfulness is Heaven’s chosen agency
for revealing Christ to the world. We are to acknowledge His grace
as made known through the holy men of old; but that which will
be most effectual is the testimony of our own experience. We are
witnesses for God as we reveal in ourselves the working of a power
that is divine. Every individual has a life distinct from all others, and
an experience differing essentially from theirs. God desires that our
praise shall ascend to Him, marked by our own individuality. These
precious acknowledgments to the praise of the glory of His grace,
when supported by a Christ-like life, have an irresistible power that
works for the salvation of souls.
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When the ten lepers came to Jesus for healing, He bade them go
and show themselves to the priest. On the way they were cleansed,
but only one of them returned to give Him glory. The others went
their way, forgetting Him who had made them whole. How many
are still doing the same thing! The Lord works continually to benefit
mankind. He is ever imparting His bounties. He raises up the sick
from beds of languishing, He delivers men from peril which they do
not see, He commissions heavenly angels to save them from calamity,
to guard them from “the pestilence that walketh in darkness” and “the
destruction that wasteth at noonday” (
Psalm 91:6
); but their hearts are
unimpressed. He has given all the riches of heaven to redeem them,
and yet they are unmindful of His great love. By their ingratitude they
close their hearts against the grace of God. Like the heath in the desert
they know not when good cometh, and their souls inhabit the parched
places of the wilderness.
It is for our own benefit to keep every gift of God fresh in our
memory. Thus faith is strengthened to claim and to receive more and
more. There is greater encouragement for us in the least blessing we
ourselves receive from God than in all the accounts we can read of
the faith and experience of others. The soul that responds to the grace
of God shall be like a watered garden. His health shall spring forth
speedily; his light shall rise in obscurity, and the glory of the Lord
shall be seen upon him. Let us then remember the loving-kindness of
the Lord, and the multitude of His tender mercies. Like the people
of Israel, let us set up our stones of witness, and inscribe upon them