" . . . For by faith you stand."
No matter what happens to us, no matter what troubles and/or struggles we have to face--so long as we have and exercise sincere faith in Christ we "stand." This is an encouragement of great magni-
tude, because otherwise we must seek to "stand" on some other basis--and this usually comes down to our works, or what we do (and these are always insufficient).
Justification is apprehended by faith; but so is sanctification. Some-
times the pruning process is difficult and tedious--but, so long as we have genuine (though yet imperfect) faith, we "stand" before Almighty God.
[Puritan quote of the day: "Thus, affliction is nothing to them who have no guilt, but those who have the guilt of sin upon them, when they come to suffer, their guilt is a thousand times more than their affliction." --Jeremiah Burroughs, in "The Evil of Evils"]
