While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
— 2 Corinthians 4:18
For ye are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance, which the LORD your God giveth you.
— Deuteronomy 12:9
For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
— Romans 8:24-25
For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
— 1 Corinthians 13:12
Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
— Hebrews 10:38
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city. By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure. By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff. By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones. By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment. By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.
— Hebrews 11:1-26
Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
— 1 Peter 1:8
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.
— 1 Peter 5:8-9
A Devotion to Our Walking by Faith, and Not By Sight, by Charles Haddon Spurgeon. This is the devotion for April, the 26th.
We walk by faith not by sight.
— 2 Corinthians 5:7
Numbers 13 verses 1, 2, and 17 to 21 and 23 to 33.
And the Lord spake unto Moses saying, send thou men that they may search the land of Canaan which I give unto the children of Israel.
Because of the hardness of the people’s hearts, the Lord permitted Moses to send spies, and it had been far better for them to have believed the word of the Lord and to have followed the pillar of cloud. How foolish for them to have the land spied out, which the Lord had long before spied out for them. The Bible continues, of every tribe of their fathers shall you send a man, every one a ruler among them.
The best man should always be the most ready for works of daring and self-sacrifice. He is noblest in the church who is readiest to be the servant of all. And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain, and see the land, what it is, and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many.
And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad, and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents or in strongholds, and what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein or not, be of good courage and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes. So they went up and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath. They came unto the brook of Eshcol and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff, and they brought of the pomegranates and of the figs. They brought home conclusive evidence of the fertility of the country. This cluster of Eshcol is typical of those holy comforts which saints enjoy, even in this world, which are earnests of the joys hereafter.
Verse 24. The place was called the brook Eshcol because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence, and they returned from searching of the land after forty days. Every day of spying cost Israel a year of wandering. Walking by sight is expensive work.
Verse 26. And they went and came to Moses and to Aaron and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and to the wildernesses of Paran and to Kadesh, and brought back word unto them and unto all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. And they told him and said, We came unto the land with a thou sentest, and surely it floweth with milk and honey, and this is the fruit of it. Nevertheless, the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled and very great.
Moreover, we saw the children of Anak there. The Amalekites dwelt in the land of the south, and the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites dwell in the mountains. The Canaanites dwell by the sea and by the coast of Jordan. Thus the report of sight was altogether discouraging. How much better would it have been for Israel had they walked by faith? Every circumstance which could discourage the heart these spies took careful note of, but they omitted or misinterpreted many hopeful tokens. If we will leave the line of faith, we are sure to be sorely put to it.
Verse 30, and Caleb stilled the people before Moses and said, Let us go up at once and possess it, for we are well able to overcome it.
But the men that went up with him said, We’d be not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, the land through which we have gone to search it is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof, and all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come from the giants, of the giants. And we were in our own sight, as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. Spursen says, but what of all this if they had but believed their God? Had he not smitten the Egyptians, Caleb and Joshua had faith, and hence they had courage. But unbelief is cowardly.
Oh, for grace to trust in the Lord and cease from all confidence in man. Then shall our lives grow great and good before the Lord.
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