“The trial of your faith.” 
              — 1 Peter 1:7

Faith untried may be true faith, but it is sure to be little faith, and
it is likely to remain dwarfish so long as it is without trials. Faith
never prospers so well as when all things are against her: tempests are
her trainers, and lightnings are her illuminators. When a calm reigns
on the sea, spread the sails as you will, the ship moves not to its
harbour; for on a slumbering ocean the keel sleeps too. Let the winds
rush howling forth, and let the waters lift up themselves, then, though
the vessel may rock, and her deck may be washed with waves, and her
mast may creak under the pressure of the full and swelling sail, it is
then that she makes headway towards her desired haven. No flowers wear
so lovely a blue as those which grow at the foot of the frozen glacier;
no stars gleam so brightly as those which glisten in the polar sky; no
water tastes so sweet as that which springs amid the desert sand; and
no faith is so precious as that which lives and triumphs in adversity.
Tried faith brings experience. You could not have believed your own
weakness had you not been compelled to pass through the rivers; and you
would never have known God’s strength had you not been supported amid
the water-floods. Faith increases in solidity, assurance, and
intensity, the more it is exercised with tribulation. Faith is
precious, and its trial is precious too.

Let not this, however, discourage those who are young in faith. You
will have trials enough without seeking them: the full portion will be
measured out to you in due season. Meanwhile, if you cannot yet claim
the result of long experience, thank God for what grace you have;
praise him for that degree of holy confidence whereunto you have
attained: walk according to that rule, and you shall yet have more and
more of the blessing of God, till your faith shall remove mountains and
conquer impossibilities.

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