April 15Father, into thy hands I commend [deposit] my spirit — Luke 23:46.
With full confidence our dear Redeemer looked up to the Father, and full of faith declared that He committed all of life and all of the blessed hopes for the future to the Father's love and to the Father's power, to be provided in harmony with the Father's Plan and Word. And so must we, as followers in our Master's footsteps, look forward with faith, and in our dying hour commit all our interests to the keeping of Him who has manifested His love for us, not only in the gift of His Son as our Redeemer, but all our journey through—in His providential care, as well as in the exceeding great and precious promises which go before us and give us strength, comfort and assurance—Z '99, 128 (R 2473). Though but a few moments before His death our Lord felt Himself abandoned by God, just at the moment of His death He recovered the consciousness of God's favor, and therefore addressed Him as Father; and so complete was His confidence in the Father's favor that without the shadow of a doubt He committed His hopes for future existence into the Father's power, having perfect assurance that the Father would restore Him to life. The literal rendering shows that He also deposited with the Father His human life-rights and His right to human life, for the use of others—P '20, 71. Parallel passages: 1 Chron. 5:20; 2 Chron. 33:12, 13; Job 1:20, 21; 2:9; Psa. 22:1-21; 31:5; 89:26; Isa. 53; Matt. 26:39; John 8:11; Acts 7:59, 60; 21:14; 1 Pet. 2:21-24; Phil. 2:8; Heb. 2:9, 14; 12:3, 4; 1 Pet. 4:12-14, 19; 2 Tim. 4:6. Hymns: 5, 15, 132, 187, 168, 190, 246. Poems of Dawn, 189: He Knows. Tower Reading: Z '15, 38 (R 5621). Questions: What has Christ's deposited merit meant to me this week? How has His trust in God affected me this week? What blessings flowed from these to me this week and through me to others? |
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HE KNOWS
HE knows the way I take,—
What matter then if dark it be,
Or rough, or hedged about,—
His staff shall comfort me.
And should His love withhold
What seems so near, so dear, so sweet,
I'll humbly take this thing
And lay it at His feet.
How sweet to know he knows,
And cares, and holds me by the hand,—
Will safely guide until
I reach the Heavenly Land!
HE knows the way I take,—
What matter then if dark it be,
Or rough, or hedged about,—
His staff shall comfort me.
And should His love withhold
What seems so near, so dear, so sweet,
I'll humbly take this thing
And lay it at His feet.
How sweet to know he knows,
And cares, and holds me by the hand,—
Will safely guide until
I reach the Heavenly Land!
