5. Hymn: The Inner Calm

The Inner Calm

Author: Horatius Bonar

1. Calm me, my God, and keep me calm, 

    While these hot breezes blow; 

    Be like the night-dew's cooling balm 

    Upon earth's fevered brow.  

2. Calm me, my God, and keep me calm, 

    Soft resting on Thy breast; 

    Soothe me with holy hymn and psalm, 

    And bid my spirit rest.  

3. Calm me, my God, and keep me calm, 

    Let Thine outstretched wing 

    Be like the shade of Elim's palm 

    Beside her desert-spring.  

4. Yes, keep me calm, though loud and rude 

    The sounds my ear that greet, 

    Calm in the closet's solitude, 

    Calm in the bustling street;  

5. Calm in the hour of buoyant health, 

    Calm in the hour of pain; 

    Calm in my poverty or wealth, 

    Calm in my loss or gain;  

6. Calm in the sufferance of wrong, 

    Like Him who bore my shame, 

    Calm 'mid the threatening, taunting throng, 

    Who hate Thy holy Name;  

7. Calm when the great world's news with power    

    My listening spirit stir; 

    Let not the tidings of the hour    

    E'er find too fond an ear. 

8. Calm as the ray of sun or star 

    Which storms assail in vain; 

    Moving unruffled through earth's war, 

    The eternal calm to gain. 

4. Devotional: God Of Every Detail

God Of Every Detail

by Charles R. Swindoll

Numbers 27:12–23; Deuteronomy 34:9

    I am always amazed to hear how the Lord uses His Word in the lives of His people. I don't know your circumstances. I don't know how God intends to use this episode from the life of Moses in your own life.  

    It may be that these words fall on a very hungry heart. Or perhaps you have been strengthened and encouraged with the thought that you're very special to God, that none of His children are insignificant. Or maybe you're engaged in the awesome task of finding a man or a woman for a position that carries a great weight of responsibility, and you've been reminded that you are dependent, more than ever, on God to locate His Joshua. Or perhaps you are that Joshua, and you've been asked to accept a responsibility broader than you ever dreamed.  

    Whatever your circumstances, I want to remind you that our heavenly Father cares about areas of your life that would seem insignificant to a distant deity. He's never too busy to hear your hurts, to wipe away your tears, to whisper words of encouragement, and to put His big shoulder under your load. He's the God who cares about the details.  

    As I write these words, I'm praying that our sovereign God might be a very personal comfort to you this week. I pray especially for you who are wrestling with loneliness and discouragement. Even though you're surrounded by people, deep within there's an ache. Friend, God can meet your need as only He can, even as He did in the heart of Moses just a few hours before the great man's death.  

    If you're God's Joshua, you don't need to worry that you'll be forgotten. You don't need to worry that the shadow of your predecessor will eclipse you and your ministry in the years to come. In fact, you don't need to worry about anything. If you're God's Joshua, you're right where you ought to be. Remind yourself that He is sovereign. He has everything under His control. He will have His way in His time, for His glory, which includes your life, your position, and your future. Worrying over any of that is a waste. He's got every detail covered—every one. 

    Think of it this way: there's no such thing as God's being almost sovereign. We don’t have a God who’s almost sovereign. He's got EVERY detail covered.

3. Hymn: Be Thou Content

Be Thou Content

Author: Paul Gerhardt

1. Be thou content; be still before
    His face, at whose right hand doth reign
    Fulness of joy for evermore,
    Without whom all thy toil is vain.
    He is thy living spring, thy sun, whose rays
    Make glad with life and light thy dreary days.
    Be thou content.

2. In Him is comfort, light and grace,
    And changeless love beyond our thought;
    The sorest pang, the worst disgrace,
    If He is there, shall harm thee not.
    He can lift off thy cross, and loose thy bands,
    And calm thy fears, nay, death is in His hands.
    Be thou content.

3. Or art thou friendless and alone,
    Hast none in whom thou canst confide?
    God careth for thee, lonely one,
    Comfort and help will He provide.
    He sees thy sorrows and thy hidden grief,
    He knoweth when to send thee quick relief;
    Be thou content.
 
4. Thy heart's unspoken pain He knows,
    Thy secret signs He hears full well,
    What to none else thou dar'st disclose,
    To Him thou mayst with boldness tell;
    He is not far away, but ever nigh,
    And answereth willingly the poor man's cry.
    Be thou content.

5. Be not o'er-mastered by thy pain,
    But cling to God, thou shalt not fall;
    The floods sweep over thee in vain,
    Thou yet shalt rise above them all;
    For when thy trial seems to hard to bear,
    Lo! God, thy King, hath granted all thy prayer:
    Be thou content.

6. Why art thou full of anxious fear
    How thou shalt be sustained and fed?
    He who hath made and placed thee here,
    Will give the needful daily bread;
    Canst thou not trust His rich and bounteous hand,
    Who feeds all living things on sea and land?
    Be thou content.

7. He who doth teach the little birds
    To find their meat in field and wood,
    Who gives the countless flocks and herds
    Each day their needful drink and food,
    Thy hunger too will surely satisfy,
    And all thy wants in His good time supply.
    Be thou content.

8. Sayst thou, I know not how or where,
    No help I see where'er I turn;
    When of all else we most despair,
    The riches of God's love we learn;
    When thou and I His hand no longer trace,
    He leads us forth into a pleasant place.
    Be thou content.

9. Though long His promised aid delay,
    At last it will be surely sent:
    Though thy heart sink in sore dismay,
    The trial for thy good is meant.
    What we have won with pains we hold more fast,
    What tarrieth long is sweeter at the last.
    Be thou content.

10. Lay not to heart whate'er of ill
      Thy foes may falsely speak of thee,
      Let man defame thee as he will,
      God hears, and judges righteously.
      Why shouldst thou fear, if God be on thy side,
      Man's cruel anger, or malicious pride?
      Be thou content.

11. We know for us a rest remains,
      When God will give us sweet release
      From earth and all our mortal chains,
      And turn our sufferings into peace.
      Sooner or later death will surely come
      To end our sorrows, and to take us home:
      Be thou content.

12. Home to the chosen ones, who here
      Served their Lord faithfully and well,
      Who died in peace, without a fear,
      And there in peace for ever dwell;
      The Everlasting is their joy and stay,
      The Eternal Word Himself to them doth say,
      Be thou content!

2. Devotional: Stop Mourning Over The Past

Stop Mourning Over The Past 

by William MacDonald 

How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, 

seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel. (1 Samuel 16:1)

    There comes a time in life when we must stop mourning over the past and get on with the work of the present.  

    God had rejected Saul from being king. The action was final, irreversible. But Samuel had difficulty in accepting it. He had been closely associated with Saul and he now wept to see his hopes disappointed. He continued to mourn a loss that would never be retrieved. God said, in effect, "Quit mourning. Go out and anoint Saul's successor. My program has not failed. I have a better man than Saul to step onto the stage of Israel's history."  

    We would like to think that Samuel not only learned the lesson for himself but that he passed it on to David, who took Saul's place as king. At any rate, David showed that he had learned the lesson well. As long as his baby was dying, he fasted and mourned, hoping that God would spare the child. But when the infant died, he bathed, changed his clothes, went to the Tabernacle to worship, then ate a meal. To those who questioned his realism, he said, "Now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him but he shall not return to me" (2 Sam. 12:23).  

    This has a voice for us in our Christian life and service. Sometime it may happen that a ministry might be wrenched away from us and given to someone else. We grieve over the death of an avenue of service.  

    It may be that a friendship or a partnership is severed, and that, as a result, life seems empty and flat. Or that we have been cruelly disappointed by someone who was very dear to us. We mourn the death of a valued relationship.  

    Or it may be that some lifelong dream is shattered or some ambition is frustrated. We mourn the death of a noble aspiration or vision.  

    There is nothing wrong about mourning, but it should not be prolonged to the extent that it cripples our effectiveness in meeting the challenges of the hour. E. Stanley Jones said he made it a point to "recover within the hour" from the grief and blows of life. An hour may not be long enough for most of us, but we must not be forever inconsolable over circumstances that cannot be changed.

1. Hymn: 'Tis To Us No Cause Of Sorrow

'Tis To Us No Cause Of Sorrow

Author: Thomas Kelly

1. 'Tis to us no cause of sorrow,
    That we cannot tell today,
    What it is will come tomorrow;
    'Tis enough that we can say,  
    "He, whom we our Father call,  
    Knows the future, knows it all."

2. Happy they, who, all committing
    To their Father's care and love,
    Let him choose what most is fitting,
    And of all he does approve;  
    They are free from anxious care,  
    Blessed in this his people are.

3. Teach us, O our God and Father,
    Teach us to obey thee thus;
    Be thy choice our portion, rather
    Than what might seem good to us;  
    'Tis not meet we should refuse  
    Aught that thou, our God, shalt choose.

4. Future things with thee are present,
    All to come thine eye can see;
    Safe it is for us, and pleasant,
    Future things to trust to thee;  
    Then thy people happy are,  
    When on thee they cast their care.