2. Devotional: Be Still!

Be Still!

by Stopford A. Brooke

He knoweth the way that I take. (Job 23:10) 

Man's goings are of the Lord; how can a man then understand his own way? (Proverbs 20:24)

    We complain of the slow, dull life we are forced to lead, of our humble sphere of action, of our low position in the scale of society, of our having no room to make ourselves known, of our wasted energies, of our years of patience. So do we say that we have no Father who is directing our life; so do we say that God has forgotten us; so do we boldly judge what life is best for us, and so by our complaining do we lose the use and profit of the quiet years. O men of little faith! Because you are not sent out yet into your labor, do you think God has ceased to remember you? Because you are forced to be outwardly inactive, do you think you, also, may not be, in your years of quiet, “about your Father’s business”? It is a period given to us in which to mature ourselves for the work which God will give us to do.

Be still, my soul, let nothing stir
Thee from the sweet repose
Of those who to their God refer
Their joys, their cares, their woes.

Be quiet, why this anxious heed
About thy tangled ways?
God knows them all, He giveth speed,
And He allows delays.

What though He let thee not perform
Some good and loved design?
Thou would'st not wish Him to conform
His perfect will to thine!

My God! the hearing ear impart,
To hear Thee tell Thy will,
And then bestow the ready heart
All meekly to fulfill.
                                  - E. W.