The Trial of Faith

If you have faith as a mustard seed . . . nothing will be impossible for you —Matthew 17:20

We have the idea that God rewards us for our faith, and it may be so in the initial stages. But we do not earn anything through faith— faith brings us into the right relationship with God and gives Him His opportunity to work. Yet God frequently has to knock the bottom out of your experience as His saint to get you in direct contact with Himself. God wants you to understand that it is a life of faith, not a life of emotional enjoyment of His blessings. The beginning of your life of faith was very narrow and intense, centered around a small amount of experience that had as much emotion as faith in it, and it was full of light and sweetness. Then God withdrew His conscious blessings to teach you to “walk by faith” (2 Corinthians 5:7). And you are worth much more to Him now than you were in your days of conscious delight with your thrilling testimony.

Faith by its very nature must be tested and tried. And the real trial of faith is not that we find it difficult to trust God, but that God’s character must be proven as trustworthy in our own minds. Faith being worked out into reality must experience times of unbroken isolation. Never confuse the trial of faith with the ordinary discipline of life, because a great deal of what we call the trial of faith is the inevitable result of being alive. Faith, as the Bible teaches it, is faith in God coming against everything that contradicts Him— a faith that says, “I will remain true to God’s character whatever He may do.” The highest and the greatest expression of faith in the whole Bible is— “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13:15).

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信心的辨識

你們若有信心像一粒芥菜種（太十七20）

我們往往認為神會因我們的信心，報答我們。初時可能是這樣，但其實我們不能藉信心賺取什麼。信心使我們與神的關係正確，以致神有機會作工。你若是聖徒，神往往要把你的經驗底板抽去，好使你直接與他接觸。神要你明白，這是信心的生命，而不是情感化地享受他祝福的生命。你早期的信心生命是狹窄的、緊張的，環繞著一小撮光明的經歷，滿了陽光與甜蜜，可是其中信心的成他分，與常理的成他分差不多同等。後來神把可見的祝福挪開，教你行信心的路，你如今在他手上更有價值，遠超那些感覺喜樂、滿有激動見證的日子。

信心必須經過試驗。信心真正的考驗，不是在於我們覺得難以信靠神，而是在於我們對神的性情，必須有清楚的認識。信心的實現，必須經過一連串個別孤立的考驗。不要把信心的試驗與一般生活的操練混為一談。許多我們成為信心的考驗，不過是活在地上無法避免的事情。聖經中的信心，是在一切違反神自己的事上，還持定信神－－[不管神怎樣做，我必定忠於神的本性。 ][他雖然殺我，我仍要信靠他。 ]－－這是聖經中信心的最高表現。

祈禱◆主啊，今天早上，一堆微小但實際的事情擠進我的思想，我將它們直接帶到你的面前。你以智慧說：[住了吧！靜了吧！ ]願我們那接受你吩咐的生命，承認你的平靜是何等美好。