"Then believed they his words; they sang his praise. They soon forgot his works; they waited not for his counsel; but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert. And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul."(Psa. 106:12-15.)
WE read of Moses, that "he endured, as seeing him who is invisible." (Heb.11:27) Exactly the opposite was true of the children of Israel in this record. They endured only when the circumstances were favorable; they were largely governed by the things that appealed to their senses, in place of resting in the invisible and eternal God.
In the present day there are those who live intermittent Christian lives because they have become occupied with the outward, and center in circumstances, in place of centering in God. God wants us more and more to see Him in everything, and to call nothing small if it bears us His message.
Here we read of the children of Israel, "Then they believed his words." They did not believe till after they saw-when they saw Him work, then they believed. They really doubted God when they came to the Red Sea; but when God opened the way and led them across and they saw Pharaoh and his host drowned- "then they believed."
They led an up and down life because of this kind of faith; it was a faith that depended upon circumstances. This is not the kind of faith God wants us to have.
The world says "seeing is believing," but God wants us to believe in order to see. The Psalmist said, "I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." (Ps.27:13)
Do you believe God only when the circumstances are favorable, or do you believe no matter what the circumstances may be? --- C. H. P.
Faith is to believe what we do not see, and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe. --- St. Augustine.
七月二十四日
「那时他们才信了祂的话，歌唱赞美祂。等不多时，他们就忘了祂的作为，不仰望祂的指教，反倒在旷野大起欲心，在荒地试探神。祂将他们所求的赐给他们，却使他们的心灵软弱。」（诗篇一○六 :12-15）
我们曾读过摩西，「他恒心忍耐，如同看见那不能看见的主」（希伯来书十一章27节）。在上面一段记载里，我们又看见以色列人，却和摩西适正相反。他们只会在环境顺利的时候歌唱赞美神；环境一改变，信心也随着改变了。他们原应该安息在那看不见的永生的神里面的，可是他们却被四围物质的东西统治了。
有一班基督徒，他们的生活一时冷，一时热；一时高，一时低；这是什么原因呢？原因就是他们被物质的东西占住了，他们本该以神为中心的，却去以环境为中心了。神愿意我们在每一件事物上都看见祂，凡带有祂信息的事物，一件都不能忽略。
刚才我们读过以色列人，「那时他们纔信了祂的话。」他们一直不信－直到看见了神的工作以后纔信。当他们行近红海的时候，他们对神还是怀疑的；但是当神为他们开了路，带领他们过去，让他们看见法老和他的全军被水淹没了━「那时他们纔信。」
他们一直过着一上一下的生活，就是为了这种信心；这是一种倚靠环境的信心。这种信心，不是神所能满足的。
世界告诉我们应当「见而信」，但是神要我们「信而见」。写诗篇的人说：「我若不信在活人之地得见耶和华的恩惠，就早已丧胆了」（诗篇廿七篇13节）。
亲爱的读者，你是单在环境顺利得时候信神呢，还是不论环境怎样，你总是信祂呢？--C.H.P.
信心是相信我们所不见的，信心的酬报，就是得见我们所相信的。--奥古斯丁