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Octavius Winslow, 1856 (edited for
today's reader by Larry E. Wilson, 2010)
Bible Verse
"For we walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Cor. 5:7).
Devotional
We cannot consider the profound meaning of these words too frequently, nor can we study it too deeply. God will have his redeemed child ever looking to him, ever leaning upon him, and ever receiving from him.
At present we are really in an immature state. Therefore, we are not in a condition to be trusted with grace for the future. Improvident and careless, we would soon squander our resources. We would soon exhaust them. Then when an emergency came, we would find ourselves unprepared. The Lord, in wisdom and love, keeps all our grace in his own hands. He deals it out just as our circumstances demand.
Oh, who that knows his own heart and the heart of Christ does not desire that all his supply should be in God, and not in himself? Who, so to speak, would wish to be his own spiritual treasurer? Who that knows the blessedness of a life of faith, the sweetness of going to God in everything and for everything, would wish to transfer his mercies from Christ's keeping to his own, or wish to hold in the present the supply of the future?
Dear reader, be satisfied to walk by faith, and not by sight. You have a full Christ to draw from! You have a faithful God to look to! You have "an everlasting covenant ordered in all things and secure" (2 Sam. 23:5)! You have the precious promise, "as your days, so shall your strength be" (Deut. 33:25) to lean confidently upon all through your journey! Be content, then, to be poor and dependent. Be willing to travel on empty-handed since you see God's heart opened and Christ's hand outstretched to supply your daily bread.
Oh! How sweet it is to be a dependent creature upon God! How sweet it is to hang upon a loving Father! How sweet it is to live as a poor, needy sinner, day by day, moment by moment, upon Jesus! How sweet it is to trace God in ten thousand ways! How sweet it is to see his wisdom here, his condescension there—now his love, and then his faithfulness—all combining and exerted for our good. Truly it is the most holy and blessed life upon earth!
Why, then, should we shrink from any trial, or flee from any duty, or turn aside from any cross, since for that trial, and for that duty, and for that cross, Jesus has provided its needed and appropriate grace?
Perhaps you are exclaiming, "Trouble is near!" Well, let it be so. God's grace is also near! And God's strength is also near! And God's counsel is also near! And God's deliverance is also near! And Jesus is also near! And God himself is also near! And God's throne of grace is also near! Why then must you fear, though trouble is near? "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble" (Ps. 46:1).
A mighty fortress is our God,
a bulwark never failing;
our helper he amid the flood
of mortal ills prevailing.
For still our ancient foe
doth seek to work us woe;
his craft and power are great;
and armed with cruel hate,
on earth is not his equal.
Did we in our own strength confide,
our striving would be losing;
were not the right Man on our side,
the Man of God's own choosing.
Dost ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is he,
the LORD of Hosts his Name,
from age to age the same,
and he must win the battle.
And though this world, with devils filled,
should threaten to undo us,
we will not fear, for God hath willed
his truth to triumph through us.
The prince of darkness grim,
we tremble not for him;
his rage we can endure,
for lo! his doom is sure;
one little Word shall fell him.
That Word above all earthly powers—
no thanks to them!—abideth;
the Spirit and the gifts are ours
through him who with us sideth!;
Let goods and kindred go,
this mortal life also;
the body they may kill:
God's truth abideth still;
his kingdom is for ever.
(Martin Luther, 1529; tr. by Frederick H. Hedge, 1853)
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.
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