Daily Affirmations - Day 5 - If We Faint Not - By Faith
Day 5: By faith
You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised... “My righteous one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back” (Hebrews 10:36, 38).
The righteous — [that is, the one] that is pardoned and renewed, or justified and regenerated, and who therefore is humble, meek, sincere, resigned to the will of God, and relying on God's wisdom, power, goodness, and faithfulness; shall live. [Such a person] shall be supported and preserved even in the midst of surrounding dangers, trials, and troubles, and shall live in God’s favour a spiritual and holy life, by faith; as long as that one retains the gift of God.
The prophet [Habakkuk 2:4] as well as the [writer of Hebrews (10:38)] speaks of the [ability] of faith to support and comfort a person under temptations and afflictions in such a manner, that they neither faint in the combat, nor withdraw from it.
But... if the one (who lived by faith) [should] draw back:
— If they make shipwreck of their faith, and cease to believe and rely on God’s promises,
— if, by reason of sufferings and temptations, they cease to exercise faith in Christ,
— if they lose faith in the truths and promises of the gospel,
— if they then renounce their profession of Christ and withdraw from the faith community,
God says of that person, "My soul shall have — or rather, has, (since the present tense is used,) no pleasure in him" — that is, "I withdraw My favour from him, nay, and cast him off in My displeasure."
~ Joseph Benson Commentary (Edited for clarity).
Dire words, O Lord and sobering!
May we not be among those who shrink back. May we not be among the "shrinkers" the writer of the epistle describes before he ends on a note of encouragement:
But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved (Hebrews 10:39).
Give us strength, give us courage, give us endurance; give us a faith demonstrated in obedience to You.
Oh, for a faith that will not shrink,
Though pressed by every foe,
That will not tremble on the brink
Of any earthly woe!
That will not murmur nor complain
Beneath the chast’ning rod,
But, in the hour of grief or pain,
Will lean upon its God.
A faith that shines more bright and clear
When tempests rage without;
That when in danger knows no fear,
In darkness feels no doubt.
Lord, give me such a faith as this,
And then, whate’er may come,
I’ll taste, e’en here, the hallowed bliss
Of an eternal home.
~ William H. Bathurst ~1831
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