From J. C. Philpot's Daily Portions
December 27 "For we walk by faith, not by sight." 2 Corinthians
5:7 The nature of faith is to trust in the dark, when all
appearances are against it; to trust that a calm will come, though the storm
be overhead; to trust that God will appear, though nothing but evil be felt.
It is tender, child-like, and therefore is an implicit confidence, a
yielding submission, a looking unto the Lord. There is something filial in
this; something heavenly and spiritual; not the bold presumption of the
daring, nor the despairing fears of the desponding; but something beyond
both the one and the other--equally remote from the rashness of presumption,
and from the horror of despair. There is a mingling of holy affection
connected with this trust, springing out of a reception of past favors,
insuring favors to come; and all linked with a simple hanging and depending
of the soul upon the Lord, because He is what He is. There is a looking to,
and relying upon the Lord, because we have felt him to be the Lord; and
because we have no other refuge. And why have we no other refuge? Because poverty has
driven us out of false refuges. It is a safe spot, though not a comfortable
one, to be where David was, "Refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul"
(Ps. 142:4). And until refuge fails us in man, in self, in the world, in the
church, there is no looking to Christ as a divine refuge. But when we come
to this spot, "You are my refuge and my portion in the land of the living"
(Ps. 142:5)--"if I perish I will perish at your feet--my faith centers in
you--all I have and all I expect to have, flows from your bounty, I have
nothing but what you freely give to me, the vilest of the vile"--this is
trust. And where this trust is, there will be a whole army of desires at
times pouring themselves into the bosom of the Lord; there will be a whole
array of pantings and longings venting themselves into the bosom of
"Immanuel, God with us."