GEORGE MULLER ON FAITH
During his visit to America, Mr. Miiller made the following points in speaking of “Faith, what is it, and how to increase it.”
I. Faith: what is it.
Positively, faith is confidence that God will act according to what He has declared in His Word. It is reliance on God’s Word through the assurance that He will act truthfully. It is based altogether on His character. Negatively, faith is not an impression, whether strong or weak. We believe because God has spoken and not because we have impressions. Neither is it any degree of feeling or emotion. It has nothing to do with probabilities. Faith begins where probability ends. Many go under a cloud when they might be in clear light, because they are looking at their own impressions or feelings, or are weighing probabilities.
II. Faith: how to increase it.
(1) Welcome all the trial of faith. It grows by the exercise trial gives. But if we do not welcome the discipline, we get little from it but the suffering. To repine at affliction is to miss the most ennobling joy, to incur the most needless distress, and to lose the culture of faith besides.
(2) Seek acquaintance with God as He is revealed in the Bible. Trust will be spontaneous if we really know Him. The notions of God which the world, and even some in the Church, entertain, are not true. “God is the most lovable Being.” “God is the most lovable Being.” “God is the most lovable Being.” (Mr. Miiller said this very solemnly and tenderly). Is not this the language of your inmost soul? If not, you are not acquainted with God as He is revealed in Scripture. Seek above all to know God, so that you shall from your inmost soul say, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.” “They that know thy name will put their trust in thee.” If one is really acquainted with the God, not of the world nor of many in the Church, but the God of the Bible, he is so satisfied that he will not complain of anything, but will rejoice in all things.
A brother in America, twenty years ago, expected to see me a decrepit man. I roll all the burden on God. A hundredth part of it would crush me. It is not only God’s advice, but His positive command. “Cast thy burden on the Lord, and he will sustain thee.”
The Evangelical Advocate.