By faith Moses. . . . chose.” Faith rests on promise; to faith, the promise is equivalent to fulfillment; and if only we have the one, we may dare to count on the other as already ours. It matters comparatively little that the thing promised is not given; it is sure and certain because God has pledged His word for it, and in anticipation we may enter on its enjoyment. Had Moses simply acted on what he saw, he would never have left Pharaoh’s palace.

But his faith told him of things hidden from his contemporaries, and these led him to act in a way which to them was perfectly incomprehensible.

One blow struck when the time is fulfilled is worth a thousand struck in premature eagerness. It is not for thee, O my soul, to know the times and seasons which the Father hath put in His own power; wait thou only upon God; let thy expectation be from Him.

It was a rude surprise when he assayed to adjust a difference between two Hebrews to find himself repulsed from them by the challenge, “Who made you ruler and judge over us?” (Exodus 2:14). “Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them” (Acts 7:25). Evidently, then, God’s time had not arrived; nor could it come until the heat of his spirit had slowly evaporated in the desert air, and he had learned the hardest of all lessons, that “it is not by strength that one prevails” (1 Samuel 2:9).

Faith is only possible when we are on God’s plan and stand on God’s promise. It is useless to pray for increased faith until we have fulfilled the conditions of faith. It is useless to waste time in regrets and tears over the failures which are due to our unbelief. “What are you doing down on your face?” (Joshua 7:10). Faith is as natural to the right conditions of a soul as a flower is to a plant.

Ascertain your place in God’s plan, and get on to it. Feed on God’s promises. When each of these conditions is realized, faith comes of itself; and there is absolutely nothing which is impossible. The believing soul will then be as the metal track along which God travels to men in love, grace, and truth.

Oh, for grace to wait and watch with God! F. B. MEYER

Faith is not a magic drug, a spiritual anesthetic: it is the victory that overcometh the world by doing battle with it. E. HERMAN