Untried faith may be true faith but it is sure to be little faith, and it is likely to remain dwarfish so long as it is without trials. Faith never prospers so well, as when all things are against her.
When a calm reigns on the sea, you may spread the sails as you will, but the ship will not move to its harbor. Only let the winds rush howling forth, it is then that she makes headway toward her desired haven.
No stars gleam so brightly as those that glisten in the polar sky, no water tastes so sweet as that which springs up amid the desert sand, and no faith is so precious as that which lives and triumphs in adversity.
Tried faith brings experience. You could not have believed your own weakness, had you not been compelled to pass through the rivers of difficulty. Just so, you would never have known God's strength, had you not been supported amid the flood-waters. Faith increases in solidity, assurance and intensity, the more it is exercised with tribulation. Faith is precious, and its trial is precious, too.
[Charles H. Spurgeon]
1 Peter 1:6-9 … Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: 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: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.❤
