May 29 Daily Devotional

Bible Verse

"Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward" (Heb. 10:35).

Devotional

There is nothing essentially omnipotent in any single grace of the Spirit. To suppose that would be to deify that grace. Even though regeneration is a spiritual work, and even though all the graces implanted in the soul are produced by the Holy Spirit and must necessarily be spiritual and indestructible in their nature, yet they may so decline in their power and become so enfeebled and impaired in their vigor and tendency as to be classed among the things that are "about to die" (Rev. 3:2).

This is preeminently so with faith. Perhaps there is no part of the Spirit's work that is more constantly and severely assailed, and consequently that is more exposed to deterioration, than faith.

Shall we look at the examples in God's Word? Note the case of Abraham, the father of the faithful. When we behold him bind his son upon the altar and raise the knife for the sacrifice at God's command, we unhesitatingly exclaim—"Surely there was never faith like this! Here is faith of a giant character; faith, whose muscles no trials can ever relax, whose brightness no temptation can ever dim." And yet, as we trace the history of the patriarch still further, we find that very same faith now trembling and yielding under a trial far less acute and severe. He who could surrender the life of his promised son into the hands of God—that son through whose lineal descent Jesus was to come—could not trust that same God with his own life.

Look at Job. At the beginning of his deep trial we find him justifying God. Messenger follows messenger with tidings of ever deeper woe, but not a complaint is uttered. And as the cup, now full to the brim, is placed to his lips, how sweetly sounds the voice of holy resignation, "'The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.' In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong" (Job 1:21–22). And yet the very faith that thus submitted meekly to the rod so declined as to lead him to curse the day of his birth!

See David, whose faith could at one time lead him out to fight Goliath, now fleeing from a shadow and exclaiming, "Now I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul" (1 Sam. 27:1).

Mark how the energy of Peter's faith declined—Peter, who at one point could walk boldly upon the tempestuous sea and yet at another could deny his Lord, panic-struck at the voice of a young girl.

Who will say that the faith of the holiest man of God may not at one time greatly and sadly deteriorate?

But you do not need to look outside yourself for the evidence and the illustration of this distressing truth. Let every believer examine himself. Dear reader, what is the real state of your faith? Is it as lively, vigorous, and active as it was when you first believed? Has it undergone no deterioration?

Is the Object of faith as glorious in your eye as he then was? Or are you now looking at second causes in God's dealings with you instead of lifting your eye and fixing it on him alone?

What is your faith in prayer? Do you come boldly to the throne of grace, asking with no doubting (Jas. 1:5)? Do you take all your trials, your needs, your infirmities, to God?

What is your realization of eternal things? Is your faith here in constant, holy exercise? Are you living as a pilgrim and a sojourner, "choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God" (Heb. 11:25), than to float along on the summer sea of this world's enjoyments?

What is the crucifying power of your faith? Does it deaden you to sin, and wean you from the world, and constrain you to walk humbly with God, and near to Jesus?

And when the Lord brings the cross, and says, "Bear this for me," does your faith promptly and cheerfully comply, "any cross, any suffering, any sacrifice for you, dear Lord"?

In ways like this, you may test the nature and the degree of your faith. Bring it to the touchstone of God's truth and find out what its character is and how it has suffered deterioration.

We have not known thee as we ought,
nor learned thy wisdom, grace and pow'r;
the things of earth have filled our thought,
and trifles of the passing hour.
Lord, give us light thy truth to see,
and make us wise in knowing thee.

We have not feared thee as we ought,
nor bowed beneath thine awful eye,
nor guarded deed, and word, and thought,
remembering that God was nigh.
Lord, give us faith to know thee near,
and grant the grace of holy fear.

We have not known thee as we ought,
nor learned thy wisdom, grace, and power;
the things of earth have filled our thought,
and trifles of the passing hour.
Lord, give us light thy truth to see,
and make us wise in knowing thee.

We have not feared thee as we ought,
nor bowed beneath thine awful eye,
nor guarded deed and word and thought,
remembering that God was nigh.
Lord, give us faith to know thee near,
and grant the grace of holy fear.

We have not loved thee as we ought,
nor cared that we are loved by thee;
thy presence we have coldly sought,
and feebly longed thy face to see.
Lord, give a pure and loving heart
to feel and know the love thou art.

We have not served thee as we ought;
alas! the duties left undone,
the work with little fervor wrought,
the battles lost or scarcely won!
Lord, give the zeal, and give the might,
for thee to toil, for thee to fight.

When shall we know thee as we ought,
and fear and love and serve aright?
When shall we, out of trial brought,
be perfect in the land of light?
Lord, may we day by day prepare
to see thy face and serve thee there.

(Thomas Benson Pollock, 1889)

Be sure to read the Preface by Octavius Winslow and A Note from the Editor by Larry E. Wilson.

Larry Wilson is an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. In addition to having served as the General Secretary of the Committee on Christian Education of the OPC (2000–2004) and having written a number of articles and booklets (such as God's Words for Worship and Why Does the OPC Baptize Infants) for New Horizons and elsewhere, he has pastored OPC churches in Minnesota, Indiana, and Ohio. We are grateful to him for his editing of Morning Thoughts, the OPC Daily Devotional for 2025.