Faith, Facts and Feelings (part #1)
By F.B. Meyer,
Now I have found the
ground wherein
Sure my soul's anchor may remain --
The wounds of Jesus, for my sin
Before the world's foundation slain;
Whose mercy shall unshaken stay,
When heaven and earth are fled away.
Feeling – Fact – faith
or Feeling – Faith – Fact.
Others seek Faith
first, without considering the Facts on which alone Faith and
Feeling can rest. They resemble a man who, desiring to get warm
on a frosty night, refuses to approach the fire which burns
brightly on the hearth. The only possible order that will bring
blessing and comfort to the heart is that indicated in our
title.
God's Facts, laid
like a foundation of adamant.
Our Faith, apprehending, and resting on them.
Joyous Feeling, coming, it may be, at once, or after the
lapse of days and months, as God will.
The facts of which we
are told in the Bible are like stepping-stones across a brook
Before you reach the shallows where they lie, you wonder how you
will get over, but, on stepping down to the margin of the water,
they span the space from bank to brae. When you have reached one
you can step to another, and so across. It is absurd to consult
feeling, or look for faith, whilst still at a distance from the
brookside, or if you persist in going above or below that
primitive bridge of stones. You must come down to them, consider
them, see how strongly fixed they are in the oozy bed, notice
how easily the villagers pass and repass; then you will
feel able to trust them, and finally, with a light heart and
great sense of relief, step from one to another.
Let us recall a few
facts which may help us first to faith, and then to feeling.
It is a fact that God
loves each of us with the tenderest and most particular love.
You
may not believe or feel it; the warm summer sun may be shining
against your shuttered and curtained window without making
itself seen or felt within; but your failure to realize and
appreciate the fact of God's love toward you cannot alter it
being so.
It is a fact that, in
Jesus, every obstacle has been removed out of the way of your
immediate forgiveness and acceptance.
God was in the dying
Savior, putting away sin, bearing our sins in His own body on
the tree, reconciling the world to Himself. You may not believe
this, or feel the joy of it, but that does not alter the fact
that it is so.
After the peace was
signed between the North and the South in the great American
war, there were soldiers hiding in the woods, starving on
berries, who might have returned to their homes. They either did
not know, or did not credit, the good news, and they went on
starving long after their comrades had been welcomed by their
wives and children. Theirs was the loss, but their failure in
knowledge or belief did not alter the fact that peace was
proclaimed, and that the door was wide open for their return.
A friend may have paid
all my debts in my native village, from which I have fled,
fearing arrest and disgrace; he may have done it so speedily
that my credit has never been impaired, nor my good name
forfeited; there may be all the old love and honor waiting to
greet me; and he may have told me so; but, if I still absent
myself, and refuse to return, my folly in this respect cannot
undo those beneficent acts, though it perpetuates my misery.
It is a fact that
directly a soul trusts Christ it is born into God's family, and
becomes a child.
There is no doubt about
this. You may not feel good, or earnest, or anxious; you may
even be conscious of recent failure; you may be spending your
days under a pall of sombre depression; but if you have received
Christ, and have truly trusted in Him, you have been born again,
not of man, or of the will of the flesh, but of God (John 1:12).
You may be a prodigal or inconsistent child, but you are a
child. If you were wise, you would take the child's place at the
father's table, and enjoy his smile; they await you, but if you
still remain out in the cold, as the elder brother in the
parable, you do not alter the fact that your place is ready for
you to occupy when you will.
It is a fact that God
takes what we give, and as soon as we give it.
There is no long
interval; when we let go, He receives; when we place ourselves
on his altar, we are immediately sealed as his; when we
consecrate ourselves, He accepts. The divine act is
instantaneous. You may not be aware of this, and continue giving
yourself day after day. If you do, you burden yourself with
needless anxiety; you continue offering what is not now yours to
give, and you lose the blessedness of realising what it is to be
the absolute property, chattel, and slave of the blessed Master;
but your mistake cannot alter the fact that God took you at your
word when first you made yourself over to Him in a solemn act of
dedication. "Shall our want of faith make of none effect the
faithfulness of God?"
We
are seated in the heavenlies
It is a fact that in
Jesus Christ we are seated in heavenly places.
We cannot alter this. We
may not believe it, or avail our selves of all the privileges
which it implies, or enjoy the blessedness of nearness to Jesus;
but such is, nevertheless, our rightful position in the divine
order. If we are united with Jesus, by the slenderest strand of
faith, we are as much one with Him as the loftiest saints; and
where the Head is, there is also the Body.
In Him we died on the
cross, and so met the righteous demands of the holy law; in Him
we lay in the grave, and so passed out of the region ruled by
the Prince of the Power of the air; in Him we rose and ascended
far above all might and dominion, principality and power. Is
Satan under Christ's feet? In God's purpose he is under ours
also. Are death and the grave for ever behind Christ? So, in
God's purpose, we have passed to the Easter side of them both,
and are to the windward of the storm. As far as their sting or
terror is concerned, they are like the Egyptians dead on the
sea-shore. Has the great High Priest passed through the heavens
within the veil? So, in the purpose of God, we, too, have passed
from the outer Court into the Holy Place, where we offer gifts,
sacrifices, supplications, and intercessions for all men.
All this may appear
unreal and impossible, as the idea of being the bride of a
prince, to a poor Cinderella, but it is, nevertheless, our true
position. These are the facts of the eternal world whether you
avail yourself of them or no: There are not a few cases on
record of slaves starving in bondage because they would not
avail themselves of freedom and of noble men living a hard and
difficult life because they would not claim their rights!
We
share in the gift of Pentecost
It is a fact that
there is a share in the gift of Pentecost waiting for each
member of Christ.
He received gifts even
for the rebellious. To each grace has been given. The promise of
the Holy Ghost is to as many as the Lord our God shall call.
Without doubt you have a share in that infilling, that divine
unction, that marvelous power in service, which transformed the
apostles from being timid sheep to lions in fight. You may never
have put in your claim, but there is no grace that others have
which you may not obtain. All things are yours. God has made
over to you the unsearchable riches of Christ. Eye hath not
seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, all the
stores of grace, and love, and power which are yours in Christ,
accumulating for you in the Divine Deposit Bank. It seems a
thousand pities that you should live a beggar's life when such
wealth and power are yours; but if you persist in doing so your
folly and blindness do not alter the fact that the fulness of
God is yours in Christ.
These are some of those
facts, made known to us in the Word of God, which will conduct
us over the brook of turbid emotion to firm standing-ground. Let
us give up worrying about our faith, or feeling the pulse of
emotion, and come to rest on them, assured that they are more
stable than heaven or earth.
If you want a true
faith, do not think about it, but look away to the facts of
which we have been speaking. We find no difficulty in trusting
our friends, because we open our hearts, like south windows, to
their love; we recall all their interpositions in our behalf; we
remember all they have promised and performed. Where would be
our difficulty about faith if we ceased worrying about it, and
were occupied with the object of faith -- Jesus Christ our Lord?
Faith is more than
Creed.
In a creed we believe
about a person or circumstance; but in faith we repose our
trust upon a person. We must not believe about Christ
only, but in Him, as Livingstone did, when, on one occasion, he
was opposed at nightfall by an army of infuriated savages, and
was tempted to steal away in the dark; but his eye lit on the
promise, "I will be with you all the days," and he wrote, "I
went to sleep because I knew it was the word of a perfect
gentleman." Do not believe about Christ, but in Him.
Faith concerns itself
with a person. We are saved and
blessed by the faith that passes through the facts of our
Savior's life to Himself. We rest not on the atonement, but on
Him who made it; not on the death, but on Him who died; not on
the resurrection, but on Him who rose, ascended, and ever lives
to make intercession; not in statements about Him, but in Him of
whom they are made. Many a time the question is asked by the
inquirer, "Have I the right kind of faith?" It is a needful
question, because there is a dead and spurious faith, which will
fail us in the supreme crisis, as the badly-tinned meats did the
Arctic exploration party, who, on returning to their cairn of
stores, found them useless, and starved.
There is one simple
reply, "All faith that turns towards Jesus is the right faith."
It may bring no conscious rapture; it may be as weak as the
woman's touch on His garment's hem; it may be small and
insignificant as a grain of mustard seed; it may be despairful
as Peter's cry, "Lord, save, or I perish!" But if its deepest
yearning be Christ -- Christ -- Christ, it is the tiny thread
which will bring the lost soul through subterranean passages, in
which it had been well-nigh overwhelmed, into the light of life.
True faith reckons on
God's Faith.
In earlier life I used
to seek after greater faith by considering how great God was,
how rich, how strong; why should He not give me money for His
work, since He was so rich? why not carry the entire burden of
my responsibilities, since He was so mighty? These
considerations helped me less, however, than my now certain
conviction that He is absolutely faithful. Faithful to His
covenant engagements in Christ; faithful to His promises; and
faithful to the soul that, at His clear call, has stepped out
into any enterprise for Him. We may lose heart and hope, our
head may turn dizzy, and our heart faint, lover and friend may
stand at a distance the mocking voices of our foes suggest that
God has forgotten or forsaken, but He abideth faithful; He
cannot deny Himself; He cannot disown the helpless child, which
He has begotten, because it ails; He cannot throw aside
responsibilities He has assumed; He has made, and He must bear.
Oftentimes I have gone
to God in dire need, aggravated by nervous depression and
heart-sickness, and said, "My faith is flickering out, its hand
seems paralysed, its eye blinded, its old glad song silenced for
ever, but Thou art faithful, and I am reckoning on Thee." The
soul loves to go behind the promises of God to Himself who made
them, as the wife needs not quote the pledges made by her
husband in the marriage service on their wedding-morning, when
she is sure of him, and feels the pressure of his hand.
Do not trouble about
your Faith; reckon on God's Faithfulness. If He bids you step
out on the water, He knows that He can bring you safely back to
the boat. When an Alpine guide takes you over a ragged piece of
ice, he considers whether, in the event of your utter collapse,
he is not able to carry you through by the strength of his iron
grasp and sinewy frame. What iron is to the blood, that the
thought of God's faithfulness is to faith. "Sarah received
power... since she counted Him faithful that promised:" "Abraham
waxed strong through faith giving glory to God."
Faith bears Fruit.
It cannot help it,
because it links the soul with Christ, so that the energy of His
life pours into it through the artery of faith, and, as it comes
in, so it must make a way for itself out. Fruit is, so to speak,
forced from the believing soul. Why does the lark sing? It
cannot help it, because the spirit of spring has been poured
into its heart. Why does the branch bear fruit? It cannot help
it, because the life forces are ever pouring up from the root.
Why does a child run to meet its mother? It cannot help it,
because its heart has imbibed her nature. So, the believer,
united to Christ, receives grace upon grace from His heart, and
from the abundance of His in dwelling his life speaks.
It is not difficult
to obtain faith like this.
Put your will on the
side of Christ -- not a passing wish, but the whole desire and
choice of your being. Be willing to believe; or be willing to be
made willing to believe. Lift your eyes towards Christ; if you
cannot see Him, look towards the place where you think He is.
Remind Him that He is the author of faith, and that it is His
gift. Claim it from Him, and reckon that, in answer to your
appeal, He does confer this priceless boon. You may not feel
faith, but you will find yourself unconsciously thinking of
Christ, counting on Christ, going out towards Christ; and that
engagement of the soul with Christ is faith.
Be careful of the tender
plant which has thus been planted within you. Give it plenty of
sunshine. Live outside yourself in the consideration of what
Christ is. Feed faith on her native food of promise, and let her
breathe her native air on the hills of communion. Treat all
suggestions of doubt as you would questions as to the fidelity
of your dearest friend. Avoid the cold blast that sets in from
sceptical books and talk. Be sure to live up to your highest
conceptions of duty towards God and man. Your faith will be in
exact proportion to your obedience. Inability to trust almost
always denotes some failure to obey. If faith is faltering, ask
yourself whether you have not dropped the thread of obedience,
and go back to the place where you lost it. Christian could not
face the lions till he had sorrowfully retraced his steps to the
arbour where he slept, and had recovered his roll.
Faith is
pre-eminently the receptive faculty.
It not only reckons that God gives, but it stretches out its
hand to take. "As many as received .... even to them that
believed" (John 1:12). We receive the at-one-ment from
the Lord who died, and we receive the abundance of God's grace
from the Lord who ever lives, so that we reign in this mortal
life as we hope to reign when the heavens and earth have fled
away, and there is no more sea to divide us from our beloved
(Romans 5:11,17). The beautiful garments are prepared, faith
arrays herself in them; the armour hangs on the wall, faith
girds herself in it; the water of life gushes at her feet, but
faith catches it up as did Gideon's three hundred men. Faith
thus deals definitely with God. She does not simply see His
Gifts as the passer-by the jewels in the shop window, but she
knows that all the regalia of God's kingdom are hers, and she
takes them as she will. She hears the voice of her father
saying: "Thou art ever with Me, and all that I have is thine."
It was not enough that
God should give the land of Canaan by promise and covenant to
the chosen race They had to go in to possess it, to put their
foot down on its soil, to till its acres, and to live on its
rich products.
So it must be with the believer. He is first united with Jesus by a living faith, which rests in Him as Savior, Friend, and King; then he reckons that the Son of God is well able to make him His joint-heir of all His boundless wealth; and, lastly, he learns the art of receiving and using the plenteous heritage, and year by year presses the fences of his possession further back, taking in more and more of that vast extent of territory which has been assigned to Him in Jesus. Oh! settler on the boundless continent of God's fullness in Jesus, get thee up into the high mountain. Look northward, southward, eastward, and westward, over the lengths, and breadths, and depths, and heights of the love of God. It is all yours from the river of Time, which rises at your foot, to the utmost sea of Eternity. Be not slack to go up and possess the land, and to inherit all which God has freely bestowed on you in the Son of His love.