Walking by Faith by Wm. Penniman

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 27, 1874

Walking by Faith.

By Wm. Penniman

No character in the Old Testament impresses me with a higher veneration than the patriarch Abraham. His title of nobility was this: he was “the friend of God.” Born and reared in a land of Sabian idolatry, he was converted by the Lord in his own sovereign way and by means of which we have no knowledge. The first thing we learn of him is the abrupt announcement of God’s call to him: “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I shall show thee.”

Abraham obeys. He asks no questions. No map of the strange country is shown him, and no guide-book is given him. By faith, he sets out with his household caravan and follows whither the heavenly hand conducts him. “He went out, not knowing whither he went.”

In this one beautiful line, I read the spiritual history of every child of faith. This line reveals the deepest lesson that a human heart can learn, the lesson of obedient trust in God. It describes itself in one short sentence, the walk of faith. And what is that? Is it an aimless venture, a haphazard wandering by chance? No; but the exact opposite of this. It is the going in God’s way, and not in the way that self most covets. The walk of faith is just walking with my Heavenly Father hand in hand, step by step, over smooth places or rough, up hill or down, moment by moment. Believe implicitly that “the steps of every good man are ordered by the Lord.” I am to obey his orders. To-day, I am to do just to-day’s work only. To-day’s burden I am to carry. My rule of duty is for to-day. The promise of help is for to-day; as my day so shall my strength be. To-morrow’s journey and to-morrow’s toil and to-morrow’s trials I must leave until to-morrow comes. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it; and be not careful for the morrow. This is faith’s first lesson. Suppose that Abraham had lain awake all night worrying over his next day’s route, and refusing to stir a step in the morning till God gave him a map of the road to Canaan! The Lord would have grown tired of his troublesome charge and left him to drift back to Ur.

Abraham knows not whither he is going; but he knows that God knows. Two things he is certain of. The first is, that the way in which God leads him is the right way; and next, that it is a safe way. This is all you and I can expect to know. The future is an unmapped territory; every step is literally a step into the dark. The future is a “seven-sealed book,” and no man can unloose the seals thereof. We discover its contents only as God unlooses the seals, and turns over leaf by leaf, one at a time. Selfishness often aches to peep into the sealed pages. But faith whispers: “No, no; trust God.” And very soon I discover that this, too, is all for the best. Every joy that is lying in wait for me at some new turn in the road, breaks on me as a sweet surprise. The mercies, like transporting views in mountain travel, are all the more bewitching that they were not spoiled by anticipation. God does not let us “discount his mercies in advance.”

The whole journey to Heaven is a walk of faith. Obey and trust is all that God

requires of us. Our poor, blind timidity often falters and whimpers: “Lord, how can we know the way?” Our divine Leader replies: “Follow me. I am the way. I will lead the blind in paths they have not known. I will make the darkness light before them.” Blessed is that soul which has learned to trust and to obey. The real conflict in life is between choosing our own way or walking in God’s way. The sin of the sinner lies just in this, that he follows the path that seems more pleasant to himself; and the end of it is—hell! Even Christians are often terribly tempted to be wilful and wayward. Lot chose his own way, and it led him to Sodom. When he took God’s directions, they led him up to Zoar, and he was safe. Jonah chose his own way, and it sent him overboard into the raging sea. Then he took God’s way, and it led him to Nineveh, on a mission of love. Peter undertook to look out for himself, and he turned liar and coward. Afterward he let God take care of him, and he went to sleep calmly in a prison, to be waked up by a delivering angel. Reader, have you not always found the sweetest peace when you feed most on faith?—T. L. Cuyler.

The foregoing thoughts should be read often because of their practical bearing. We should think often of this sentence, “Even Christians are often terribly tempted to be wilful and wayward.” Is not this fearfully true at this time when so many are inclined to walk in their own way instead of walking in the way God has marked out? God has pointed out a way which tests the faith and loyalty of his people, and he has in great mercy in these last days given them crosses to bear, and required of them sacrifices, which may prove to be blessings which will test the genuineness of their faith; and those who are wayward and unyielding will be sifted out; so that there will be nothing left but the pure wheat. Then, if we would be safe, let us not walk in our own way, but walk by faith in God’s way.

Wm. Penniman.