[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":4},["ShallowReactive",2],{"reading-0831":3},"AUGUST 31\r\nBlessed are they that have not men, and yet have believed (John 20.29).\r\nHow strong is the snare of the things that are seen, and how\r\nnecessary for God to keep us in the things that are unseen! If\r\nPeter is to walk on the water he must walk; if he is going to swim, he must swim, but he cannot do both. If the bird is going to fly it\r\nmust keep away from fences and the trees, and trust to its buoyant wings. But if it tries to keep within easy reach of the ground, it\r\nwill make poor work of flying.\r\nGod had to bring Abraham to the end of his own strength, and to let him see that in his own body he could do nothing. He had to\r\nconsider his own body as good as dead, and then take God for the\r\nwhole work; and when he looked away from himself, and trusted God    alone, then he became fully persuaded that what He had promised, He was able to perform. That is what God is teaching us, and He has to\r\nkeep away encouraging results until we learn to trust without them, and then He loves to make His Word real in fact as well as faith.\r\n--A. B. Simpson.\r\n\r\nI do not ask that He must prove\r\nHis Word is true to me,\r\nAnd that before I can believe He first must let me see.\r\nIt is enough for me to know\r\n'Tis true because He says 'tis so;   On His unchanging Word I'll stand And trust till I can understand.\r\n--E. M. Winter.",1783499793810]