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Faith versus assaying to do.
The active faith of Israel begins with the crossing of the Red sea:
"By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians
assaying to do were drowned" (Heb. 11: 29).
There is a lesson here regarding faith that may well detain us for a moment. By
comparing the faith of Joseph with that of Moses, as given in Heb. 11: 22 and 24, we
learned that the selfsame faith in different circumstances may produce very contrary
actions. Faith led Joseph to occupy the throne of Egypt. Faith as certainly led Moses to
turn his back on it. Now in the case before us we have two peoples performing the same
act. Israel ventured to cross the Red Sea, and the Egyptians ventured to do the same.
Externally the acts were similar; internally they were wide apart. Israel's faith rested
upon the Word of God: "Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward"
(Exod. 14: 15). Egypt's following of Israel, though the same act, was not by faith but
through hardness of heart: "I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall
follow them" (Exod. 14: 17). Is there no "assaying to do" on the part of the Lord's
people, that ends in disaster?
An outstanding example of faith in modern times is that of George Muller. Doubtless
many have thanked God for that noble witness, but does it follow that because George
Muller passed through that Red Sea of difficulties triumphantly, all should or could? The
Lord's will has as much to do with faith as with obedience. He wills that one should
suffer weakness, while He wills that another should be divinely healed. He wills to one
pecuniary straitness, while to another He wills a full and plentiful supply. Faith will
never seek to override these divine appointments. If it is His will that one should be
poor, it will not be "faith" but an Egyptian "assaying to do", if that one seeks to alter this,
however plausibly he may speak of the triumph of faith that can move mountains. Let us
see to it that our Red Seas are crossed at the Word of God; that will be by faith. Let us
have an holy shrinking from any act that looks like faith, but is a counterfeit.
Between Heb. 11: 29 and 30 lies a tragedy of unbelief. Marah, Manna, Meribah,
Kadesh Barnea are passed over in silence. In the reckoning of faith they do not exist.
There is no recorded gap between the triumph of the Red Sea, and the overthrow of
Jericho forty years afterwards. Alas, we all know too well what these driftings and
doubtings mean on the pilgrim path and they are recorded in chapters 3: and 4:
The faith that accomplished the overthrow of Jericho rested upon the Word of God:
"The LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho . . . . . ye shall
compass the city . . . . . six days . . . . . and the seventh day ye shall compass the city
seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets. And it shall come to pass, that
when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when ye hear the sound of the
trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall
down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him" (Josh. 6: 2-5).