"The just shall live by faith." (Heb. 10:38)
Seemings and feelings are often substituted for faith. Pleasurable emotions and deep satisfying experiences are part of the Christian life, but they are not all of it. Trials, conflicts, battles and testings lie along the way, and are not to be counted as misfortunes, but rather as part of our necessary discipline.
In all these varying experiences we are to reckon on Christ as dwelling in the heart, regardless of our feelings if we are walking obediently before Him. Here is where many get into trouble; they try to walk by feeling rather than faith.
One of the saints tells us that it seemed as though God had withdrawn Himself from her. His mercy seemed clean gone. For six weeks her desolation lasted, and then the Heavenly Lover seemed to say:
"Catherine, thou hast looked for Me without in the world of sense, but all the while I have been within waiting for thee; meet Me in the inner chamber of thy spirit, for I am there."
Distinguish between the fact of God's presence, and the emotion of the fact. It is a happy thing when the soul seems desolate and deserted, if our faith can say, "I see Thee not. I feel Thee not, but Thou art certainly and graciously here, where I am as I am." Say it again and again: "Thou art here: though the bush does not seem to burn with fire, it does burn. I will take the shoes from off my feet, for the place on which I stand is holy ground." --London Christian.
Believe God's word and power more than you believe your own feelings and experiences. Your Rock is Christ, and it is not the Rock which ebbs and flows, but your sea. --Samuel Rutherford.
Keep your eye steadily fixed on the infinite grandeur of Christ's finished work and righteousness. Look to Jesus and believe, look to Jesus and live! Nay, more; as you look to him, hoist your sails and buffet manfully the sea of life. Do not remain in the haven of distrust, or sleeping on your shadows in inactive repose, or suffering your frames and feelings to pitch and toss on one another like vessels idly moored in a harbor. The religious life is not a brooding over emotions, grazing the keel of faith in the shallows, or dragging the anchor of hope through the oozy tide mud as if afraid of encountering the healthy breeze. Away! With your canvas spread to the gale, trusting in Him, who rules the raging of the waters. The safety of the tinted bird is to be on the wing. If its haunt be near the ground--if it fly low--it exposes itself to the fowler's net or snare. If we remain grovelling on the low ground of feeling and emotion, we shall find ourselves entangled in a thousand meshes of doubt and despondency, temptation and unbelief. "But surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of THAT WHICH HATH A WING" (marginal reading Prov. 1:17). Hope thou in God. --J. R. Macduff.
三月十日
“义人必因信而活”(来十：38直译) 。
眼见和感觉常会代替信心。高兴的情感和满足的经历仅是基督徒生活中的一部分，并不是全部分。前途中埋伏着的试炼，逼迫，战争，绝非不幸，乃是我们必受的训练。
在这一切患难的经历中，我们须认定主活在我们里面，不管我们的感觉怎样。许多人因为感觉而跌倒；他们依靠感觉，不依靠信心。
有一个姐妹告诉我们：她有一次觉得神离开了她。他的恩典怜悯，似乎完全跑开了。她在这种情形之下有六星期之久，有一天神对她说:“凯塞林，你一直在外面的感觉上寻找我，所以找不着我；这六星期中我却在里面等待你；你应当到你灵中内室里来找我，因为我在那里”。
我们应该分辨情感和事实，这是何等快乐的一回事：当魂感觉孤单凄凉的时侯，我们的信心仍能说：“我看不见你，我觉不到你，但是你始终在这里，所以我一直是这样的我。哦，主，你一直在这里；荆棘虽然没有烧毁，但是的确被火烧着。我要把我脚上的鞋脱下来，因为我所站的是圣地”。——基督徒报
我们应该信神的话语和能力过于信我们自己的感觉和经历。我们的磐石是基督，涨落的不是磐石，乃是我们魂中的海潮。——罗斯福特
我们的眼睛应该凝视基督所已经完成的工作。我们应当仰望耶稣，张起我们的帆来，勇勇敢敢地与浪相搏。不要留恋在不信的港口里，不要躺卧在黑暗的死寂里，不要任你的感觉上下颠簸像碇泊在港口的船只一般。属灵的生活不是蹲伏在情感上的，也不是留恋在浅水里的。撑开去！撑到大风大浪中去。信靠主，他是管理洋海的主。飞鸟越飞得高，越是安全。如果它飞得低——靠近地面——它也许会陷入捕鸟者所设的网罗里去. 照样，如果我们一直匍匐在低地上——依靠感觉，情感 ——我们就要看见我们自己将要被千万种网罗——怀疑，失望，诱惑，不信……——所缠累。这就是“好象飞鸟，网罗设在眼前仍不躲避”(箴一：17) 。——马克特夫