on true faith and simple trust

recently God is teaching me a lot about faith. not the kind of faith that depends on itself and the good feelings it can generate and muster up when things are going as close as possible to expectation and desire, but the kind that holds on to God even when it seems foolish and naive to do so. when it seems God is going against His own character and dashing to the ground every last promise He has ever made. or when you know He has a "plan" and it's "all for our good" but with the human eye we just can't see at all how He is orchestrating all these random, jumbled up, messes of our lives for anything that could possibly bring Him glory.

today i came across this illustration while reading charles spurgeon and it spoke to me. praying God might use it to encourage someone else...

*"in this mortal life trust God for all things; and trust Him alone. this is the way to live. i know it by experience. God's bare arm is quite enough to lean upon. i will give you a bit of the experience of an old laboring man  once knew. he feared God above many, and was very deeply taught of the Spirit. my picture will show you what kind of a man he was—great at hedging and ditching; but greater at simple trust. here is how he described, faith:—

"it was a bitter winter, and i had no work, and no bread in the house. the children were crying. the snow was deep, and my way was dark. my old master told me i might have a bit of wood when i wanted it; so i thought a bit of fire would warm the poor children, and i went out with my chopper to get some fuel. i was standing near a deep ditch full of snow, which had drifted into it many feet deep—in fact, i did not know how deep. while aiming a blow at a bit of wood my bill-hook slipped out of my hand, and went right down into the snow, where i could not hope to find it. standing there with no food, no fire, and the chopper gone, something seemed to say to me, 'will richardson, can you trust God now?' and my very soul said, 'that i can.'"

this is true faith—the faith which trusts the Lord when the bill-hook is gone: the faith which believes God when all outward appearances give him the lie; the faith which is happy with God alone when all friends turn their backs upon you...may you and i have this precious faith, this real faith, this God-honoring faith! the Lord's truth deserves it; His love claims it; His faithfulness constrains it. happy is he who has it!"*