May 30Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation — Rom. 12:12.
Here is an important part of the great battle of the Christian's life. He must fight the natural tendencies of the old nature and confidently anticipate the victory in the strength of the great Captain of his Salvation. He must not succumb to the flattering and deceptive influences of prosperity, nor faint under the burdens of adversity. He must not allow the trials of life to sour and harden his disposition, to make him morose, or surly, or bitter, or unkind. Nor may he allow pride or ostentation or self-righteousness to grow and feed upon the temporal good things which the Lord's providence has granted him to test his faithfulness as a steward—Z '95, 20 (R 1759). Our hope of being in God's and Christ's image and of sharing in the Kingdom blessings and work is a strong basis for joy. Our tribulations are steps preparing us for the realization of our hopes, and they call for the exercise of patience, lest we fail, while considering our tribulations, to persevere in looking with cheerful constancy to the glorious hope set before us. Let patience have her perfect work, and the glorious hope will be ours—P '35, 62. Parallel passages: Phil. 4:4; 1 Thes. 1:2, 3, 6, 7; 5:16; Luke 10:20; Rom. 15:3, 4, 13; 5:2-5; Heb. 3:6; 10:36; 1 Pet. 4:13; Luke 21:19; Psa. 37:7; 40:1; Hab. 3:17, 18; Col. 1:11; Jas. 1:2-4; 5:7; 1 Pet. 2:19, 20; Heb. 12:1-3; 2 Thes. 1:4. Hymns: 25, 7, 21, 32, 58, 88, 92. Poems of Dawn, 185: I Can Trust. Tower Reading: Z '11, 408 (R 4909). Questions: What have this week's experiences been in the light of this text? How were they met? In what did they result? |
|
I CAN TRUST
I CANNOT see, with my small human sight,
Why God should lead this way or that for me;
I only know He saith, "Child, follow me."
But I can trust.
I know not why my path should be at times
So straitly hedged, so strangely barred before;
I only know God could keep wide the door.
But I can trust.
I often wonder, as with trembling hand
I cast the seed along the furrowed ground,
If ripened fruit for God will there be found.
But I can trust.
I cannot know why suddenly the storm
Should rage so fiercely round me in its wrath;
But this I know, God watches still my path—
And I can trust.
I CANNOT see, with my small human sight,
Why God should lead this way or that for me;
I only know He saith, "Child, follow me."
But I can trust.
I know not why my path should be at times
So straitly hedged, so strangely barred before;
I only know God could keep wide the door.
But I can trust.
I often wonder, as with trembling hand
I cast the seed along the furrowed ground,
If ripened fruit for God will there be found.
But I can trust.
I cannot know why suddenly the storm
Should rage so fiercely round me in its wrath;
But this I know, God watches still my path—
And I can trust.
