December 19

The spiritual man judges all things, but he himself is not subject to anyone’s judgment. — 1 Cor 2:15 BSB

It’s true that real grace cannot suffer loss or diminishing, but its manifestations and actings can. Who, possessing faith, doesn’t know that it ebbs and flows, rises and falls, is sometimes strong and sometimes weak, and varies from day to day or even hour to hour? When a sharp trial comes, its immediate effect is often to depress faith. It presses down like a weight and bends it to the ground. Faith is like the mercury in a thermometer—the amount of mercury never changes, but it rises and falls according to the temperature. In the same way, faith remains in the heart without diminishing, but it rises and falls in our feelings based on our circumstances, whether the sun of God’s presence shines or is hidden.

Consider Job—was his faith as strong when, in the days of his youth, “the secret of God was upon his tabernacle,” as when he cursed his day and cried, “Oh, that I knew where I might find him”? Was Peter’s faith just as strong when he quailed before a servant girl as when he boldly declared he was ready to go to prison and death? Or Abraham's faith, when he denied Sarah was his wife, compared to when he went to battle with only 318 men against four mighty kings?

If faith never fluctuates, never sinks or rises, we’d have a lifeless, mechanical assurance. Faith would be in our own control and no longer dependent on God's smile or frown. We would no longer be beggars living on God’s provisions, but self-sufficient, without the need to fear or rely on Him.

But if faith does ebb and flow, what is the cause? Is it something in ourselves? Can we add a single inch to its stature or change one hair of it? No, its ebbings and flowings come from God alone.