Resting in God’s Enduring Counsel

ALMIGHTY GOD! we are children of change, whose days are short, whose purposes are many; yet our eternal joy is to remember that Thy counsel standeth for ever, the thoughts of Thy heart to all generations. For, Lord God! what matter that we pass away so quickly, if we are in Thee? What matter whether we live or die, if we are within Thy loving care it shall be well with us. And we beseech Thee that amid all chance and change of this our fleeting life, we may ever rest in God, and wait patiently for Thee, Whose counsel standeth for ever.

Lord! we look upon the nations that have been, and are passed away, the ruins of ancient things, the dim fame of the things the world has counted great, and we turn and remember that Thy counsel standeth for ever.

When we would lay hold upon life and strength, let us know that Thy counsel standeth for ever, for only in that which abideth can we abide. When we remember how much of the misery of life has come from our foolish neglect of Thy counsel; how we have known the true light, and turned against it; beheld Thy glory, and closed our eyes; known Thy love, and shut our hearts; heard Thy warning, and risked the sin; heard Thy promise, and not tried to earn its fulfilment;—have mercy upon us, and let our doubting hearts be comforted, in that Thy counsel standeth for ever.

And, Lord God! when, in days to come, all seems dark, and we know not what things to believe, give us faith in Thy love and Thy counsel that standeth for ever. And when the mystery of death and the uncertainty of to-morrow seems to crush us, let us remember that Thy counsel abideth for ever. So, with quiet, fixed heart, may we rest in God.

Have Thou mercy upon all poor fainting and failing souls, for, Lord God! it is ever with us a change. Now we are in a rapture of love, and now we are in the chill coldness of disobedience; have Thou, therefore, mercy upon us, and, by-and-by, in Thine own good time, so order the things of our life that we may end in the calm, quiet peace of those whose hearts are stayed upon God.

O Lord God, when we count the little things of this life to be of much value, and the sorrows that torment us in this world to be very great, teach us to smile as we think how small these things be when we remember that Thy counsel abideth for ever. May our hearts learn to be quiet; and grant that out of the quiet heart may come the earnest soul, and a constant dutifulness in whatsoever circumstances of life we may be placed. Let our fixed hearts remain unchanged, our faith unshaken, our hope bright.

So trusting not in knowledge, nor in vision, but simply knowing that “Thou art there,” grant that all these things may bring us to the peace of God, which passeth understanding, through Jesus Christ our Lord.—AMEN.