If Jesus built a ship,
She would travel trim;
If Jesus roofed a barn,
No leaks would be left by Him;
If Jesus planted a garden,
He would make it like Paradise;
If Jesus did my day’s work,
It would delight His Father’s eyes.
But do not settle down into an attitude of “It will never be different.” It will be different if only, in earnest, we “follow on to know the Lord” (Hos. 6:3).
O what a Love that patiently empowereth;
O what a Love that blesseth common days,
In earthly garden soweth seed that flowereth
In light and gladness; Lord, Thy love we praise!
It may be you are not clear as to what is God's will for you. You are in doubt, you are honest, but a thousand questions perplex you. Will you go to God about it, and get the answer direct?
What if, by His great art
Perceiving what thou know’st not, He
Saith even now, “Yea, thou shalt be
O broken reed, a flute for Me,”
O broken life, take heart.
“Let not thy heart be troubled. Could I cease
To care for thee?
Can vapors cancel peace, My gift of peace?
O rest in Me.
I wait to meet thee in that cloudy place,
And in that cloud thou shalt behold My face.”
I thought the way upon the mountainside
Would lead to certain clearness; but my Guide,
Whose thought was otherwise,
Led to a cloud which blotted out the skies.
Looking back, there is so much to grieve over. We can see nothing at all in ourselves to praise, but so much in our Savior. His patience has never failed. He has never given up hope for us. There is something very heartening in this.
Dear helpers-together, all of you, will you ask this for us, as your Christmas wish, and I will ask for it for you, as mine—that we may work while daylight lasts; for the night cometh when no man can work.
But all are not called to come! We know it. We do not forget it. But is it a fact so forgotten at home that a missionary need press it? What is forgotten surely is that the field is the world.
Sometimes, when asked to do something we do not want to do, instead of gladness there is gloom. How that must hurt Him, whose love has so tenderly followed our lives from the first day until now. How can we ever have the heart to hurt such love?