Certainty is the mark of the commonsense life-gracious uncertainty is the mark of the spiritual life.
Oswald ChambersRead
Faith by its very nature must be tried, and the real trial of faith is not that we find it difficult to trust God, but that God's character has to be cleared in our own minds. Faith in its actual working out has to go through spells of unsyllabled isolation. Never confound the trial of faith with the ordinary discipline of life. Much that we call the trial of faith is the inevitable result of being alive.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Faith is tested through challenges that clarify our understanding of God's character rather than just our trust in Him.
In this quote, Oswald Chambers emphasizes that true faith is subjected to trials that serve to deepen our understanding of God’s nature, rather than simply questioning our ability to believe. He differentiates between the ordinary difficulties of life and the specific challenges that test our faith, suggesting that these trials are essential for spiritual growth and clarity in our relationship with God.
Themes
FaithTrustGodTrialsCharacterSpirituality
In practice
Example use cases
During a sermon reflecting on the challenges of faith and understanding God's nature.
More from Oswald Chambers
All quotes →Never make the blunder of trying to forecast the way God is going to answer your prayer.
Oswald ChambersRead
Service is the overflow which pours from a life filled with love and devotion. But strictly speaking, there is no call to that. Service is what I bring to the relationship and is the reflection of my identification with the nature of God.
Oswald ChambersRead
When we preach the love of God there is a danger of forgetting that the Bible reveals not first the love of God but the intense, blazing holiness of God, with His love at the center of that holiness.
Oswald ChambersRead
It is much easier to do something than to trust in God; we mistake panic for inspiration.
Oswald ChambersRead
Service is the overflow which pours from a life filled with love and devotion.
Oswald ChambersRead
Similar quotes
God will not turn away from doing you good. He will keep on doing good. He doesn't do good to His children sometimes and bad to them other times. He keeps on doing good and He never will stop doing good for ten thousand ages of ages. When things are going bad that does not mean God has stopped doing good. It means He is shifting things around to get them in place for more good, if you will go on loving Him.
John PiperRead
I was freeborn according to the flesh; I am born of a father who was a decurion, but I sold my noble rank - I blush not to state it, nor am I sorry - for the profit of others. In short, I am a slave in Christ to a foreign nation for the unspeakable glory of the eternal life which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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A man with God is always in the majority.
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I have not lost faith in God. I have moments of anger and protest. Sometimes I've been closer to him for that reason.
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I grew up in a very religious family and it is the motivating force to every thing I do. I am fortunate to have had adults all around me who really lived their faith, in helping other people and doing the best you can do.
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The Bible tells us that God will meet all our needs. He feeds the birds of the air and clothes the grass with the splendor of lilies. How much more, then, will He care for us, who are made in His image? Our only concern is to obey the heavenly Father and leave the consequences to Him.
Charles StanleyRead