A three-year-old girl stood up in Sunday School and said her verse this way: "Be sure my sin will find me out." Innocently, she applied to herself the truth of Num. 32:23,23But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the Lord: and be sure your sin will find you out. (Numbers 32:23) "Be sure your sin will find you out." It may be that already in her young life she had found out this fact by experience.
A small boy said his verse this way: "The Lord is my shepherd and that's all I want." In simplicity, this boy has put before us an excellent motto. It would be so wonderful if every Christian could live out the truth of that way of expressing Psa. 23:11<<A Psalm of David.>> The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. (Psalm 23:1).
A very aged and devout brother in the Lord who rarely said much publicly, became so filled with Christ at the close of the worship meeting that he stood up and said. "If you only knew Him you could not help but love Him." He was like Mary in John 24:15 who said to the One she supposed to be the gardener. "Sir, if thou have borne Him hence, tell me where thou hast laid Him, and I will take Him away." Both of them had none other in their thoughts but Christ alone.
The teaching of a man named Caryl who lived from 1602 until 1672 is very instructive. He said. "The reason why God is trusted so little is because He is so little known. We say of some men, 'they are better known than trusted' and if we knew some men more, we would trust them less. But the truth is that God is always trusted as much as He is known, and if we knew Him more, we would trust Him more. Every discovery of God shows that which renders Him more worthy of trust.”
Considering this, we conclude that in order to increase our faith, what we need is to learn to know God better. He is the faithful God that cannot lie. God is revealed in His Son Jesus Christ. John writes in 1 John 5:20,20And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. (1 John 5:20) "We know that the Son of God is come, and hath, given, us, an understanding, that we may know Him that is true; and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.”
Paul expresses his earnest desire in Phil. 3 by saying, "That I may know Him." v. 10. Then in verse 12, "I follow after, if that I may apprehend [lay hold of] that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus." What a marvelous state of soul in which to be and surely each of us should desire the same thing for ourselves.
The very top of what any of us might attain to is found in Rom. 5:11: "Not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement [reconciliation]." As we learn to know God and what He has done for us, we can reach to the height of having our joy in God Himself. It was the light and the truth that led the Psalmist to write in Psa. 43, "Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy.”
We who are living in 1989 can say that the true instruction of Caryl of the 17th century stirs our consciences somewhat as to why we frequently fail to trust God as we ought. Surely it is because we do not know Him as we should. In Job 22:2121Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee. (Job 22:21) it says, "Acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee." It would be good for us to practice more the exhortation of our Lord Jesus Christ in Matt. 11:29,29Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. (Matthew 11:29) "Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me: for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls." Ed.