Daily Strength for Daily Needs Part 20

_Into Thy hand I commit my spirit_.--PS. x.x.xi. 5.

Thou layest Thy hand on the fluttering heart, And sayest, "Be still!"

The silence and shadow are only a part Of Thy sweet will; Thy presence is with me, and where Thou art I fear no ill.

F. R. HAVERGAL.

Be still and cool in thy own mind and spirit from thy own thoughts, and then thou wilt feel the principle of G.o.d, to turn thy mind to the Lord G.o.d, from whom life comes; whereby thou mayest receive His strength, and power to allay all bl.u.s.tering storms and tempests. That is it which works up into patience, into innocency, into soberness, into stillness, into stayedness, into quietness, up to G.o.d with His power. Therefore be still awhile from thy own thoughts, searching, seeking, desires, and imaginations, and be stayed in the principle of G.o.d in thee, that it may raise thy mind up to G.o.d, and stay it upon G.o.d; and thou wilt find strength from Him, and find Him to be a G.o.d at hand, a present help in the time of trouble and need.

GEORGE FOX.

April 20

_I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry_.--PS. xl. 1.

_Tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope,_--ROM. v. 3, 4.

Lord, we have wandered forth through doubt and sorrow, And Thou hast made each step an onward one; And we will ever trust each unknown morrow,-- Thou wilt sustain us till its work is done.

S. JOHNSON.

It is possible, when the future is dim, when our depressed faculties can form no bright ideas of the perfection and happiness of a better world,--it is possible still to cling to the conviction of G.o.d's merciful purpose towards His creatures, of His parental goodness even in suffering; still to feel that the path of duty, though trodden with a heavy heart, leads to peace; still to be true to conscience; still to do our work, to resist temptation, to be useful, though with diminished energy, to give up our wills when we cannot rejoice under G.o.d's mysterious providence. In this patient, though uncheered obedience, we become prepared for light. The soul gathers force.

WM. E. CHANNING.

April 21

_Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect_.--MATT. v. 48.

_As for me, I will behold Thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness_.--PS. xvii. 15.

The righteousness he marks in Thee His will to right doth win; Delighting in Thy purity, He deeply drinks it in.

T. H. GILL.

To love G.o.d is to love His character. For instance, G.o.d is Purity. And to be pure in thought and look, to turn away from unhallowed books and conversation, to abhor the moments in which we have not been pure, is to love G.o.d. G.o.d is Love; and to love men till private attachments have expanded into a philanthropy which embraces all,--at last even the evil and enemies with compa.s.sion,--that is to love G.o.d. G.o.d is Truth. To be true, to hate every form of falsehood, to live a brave, true, real life,--that is to love G.o.d. G.o.d is Infinite; and to love the boundless, reaching on from grace to grace, adding charity to faith, and rising upwards ever to see the Ideal still above us, and to die with it unattained, aiming insatiably to be perfect even as the Father is perfect,--that is to love G.o.d.

F. W. ROBERTSON.

April 22

_Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory_.--I PETER i.

8.

If our love were but more simple, We should take Him at His word; And our lives would be all suns.h.i.+ne In the sweetness of our Lord.

F. W. FABER.

What would it be to love absolutely a Being absolutely lovely,--to be able to give our whole existence, every thought, every act, every desire, to that adored One,--to know that He accepts it all, and loves us in return as G.o.d alone can love? This happiness grows forever. The larger our natures become, the wider our scope of thought, the stronger our will, the more fervent our affections, the deeper must be the rapture of such G.o.d-granted prayer. Every sacrifice _resolved on_ opens wide the gate; every sacrifice _accomplished_ is a step towards the paradise within. Soon it will be no transitory glimpse, no rapture of a day, to be followed by clouds and coldness. Let us but labor, and pray, and wait, and the intervals of human frailty shall grow shorter and less dark, the days of our delight in G.o.d longer and brighter, till at last life shall be nought but His love, our eyes shall never grow dim, His smile never turn away.

F. B. COBBE.

April 23

_These were the potters, and those that dwelt among plants and hedges: there they dwelt with the king for his work_.--I CHRON. iv. 23.

A lowlier task on them is laid, With love to make the labor light; And there their beauty they must shed On quiet homes, and lost to sight.

Changed are their visions high and fair, Yet, calm and still, they labor there.

HYMNS OF THE AGES.

Anywhere and everywhere we may dwell "with the King for His work." We may be in a very unlikely or unfavorable place for this; it may be in a literal country life, with little enough to be seen of the "goings" of the King around us; it may be among hedges of all sorts, hindrances in all directions; it may be, furthermore, with our hands full of all manner of pottery for our daily task. No matter! The King who placed us "there" will come and dwell there with us; the hedges are all right, or He would soon do away with them; and it does not follow that what seems to hinder our way may not be for its very protection; and as for the pottery, why, that is just exactly what He has seen fit to put into our hands, and therefore it is, for the present, "His work."

F. R. HAVERGAL.

April 24

_Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ_.--GAL. vi.

2.

Is thy cruse of comfort wasting?

Rise and share it with another, And through all the years of famine, It shall serve thee and thy brother.

Is thy burden hard and heavy?

Do thy steps drag heavily?

Help to bear thy brother's burden; G.o.d will bear both it and thee.

ELIZABETH CHARLES.

However perplexed you may at any hour become about some question of truth, one refuge and resource is always at hand: you can do something for some one besides yourself. When your own burden is heaviest, you can always lighten a little some other burden. At the times when you cannot see G.o.d, there is still open to you this sacred possibility, to _show_ G.o.d; for it is the love and kindness of human hearts through which the divine reality comes home to men, whether they name it or not. Let this thought, then, stay with you: there may be times when you cannot find help, but there is no time when you cannot give help.

GEORGE S. MERRIAM.