(3) Faith looks forward to the future. When the workmen were all at their posts; when the builders laboured, every one having his sword girded by his side; when the trumpeter stood by the chief, ready at any moment to sound the alarm; when the voice of prayer had been heard day and night all along the line of the rising walls; when all had been done that man could do—then the heart rose high above all that man had done, and in calm, confident trust, Nehemiah assures the people, saying, “Our God shall fight for us.” He had made preparation, but he trusted to God for victory. He was at the head of a feeble people, but he was the servant of the Most High God. He knew that the battle was not to the strong, nor the race to the swift; so he rested his hope on the strong hand of his God, and in simple faith he trusted Him to give the victory. THE JOY OF THE LORD “By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also.”—ROM. v. 2, 3. THE joy of the Lord is a subject that goes to the heart of many. Some are rejoicing in the Lord, while others are longing to be partakers of it; it is a gift after which their heart is yearning. Let us consider the real foundation of true, solid, well-founded joy. In these two verses there is a description of the joy and its power. There is the joy, for “we rejoice in hope of the glory of God,” and there is the power of that joy, for it rises above the troubles of life, and we rejoice “even in tribulation.” There is, therefore, such a bright hope of the coming glory, that we may go on our way with a thankful heart, rejoicing in the Lord; and there is such a manifestation of the love of Christ in the soul by the power of the Holy Ghost, that the distress of tribulation is overpowered, and even in the midst of sorrow there may be an abiding joyfulness in Christ Jesus the Lord. Observe the foundation of this joy, and see how it is the consequence of our sure standing in Christ Jesus. When we rejoice in hope of the glory of God, and rejoice even in tribulation, this joy is the consequence of a previous transaction, and the result of our occupying a new position. We have had access, or admission, and are now standing in His grace. It is the standing in that grace that is the foundation of the joy of hope. This leads us to the question, “What is the grace?”