Trust in God’s Unseen Care

FATHER ALMIGHTY! Evermore we would strive to trust in Thee; and when for our sin and for our folly we scarce dare ask Thy help, may we still remember this—“We are Thy offspring.” Whom Thou hast created, Thou wilt bless. We trust in Thee. When as yet we were not, Thou didst care for us. While we could not know of it, Thou didst lay up sweet store of love in the hearts of those who waited for us, and when our little eyes first opened on this world all was ready; the love, the patience, the tender service which we needed. Shall we not then trust Thee, Almighty! that Thou wilt make ready for us in that other life whereinto our souls one day shall be born?

While we do our little service here, and patiently walk through this the twilight of our mortal life, Thou art preparing our place in yon better world, and when we lie down to the quiet sleep of death we shall know no fear. Thou hast taken thought for us, and all will be well. Thus, then, we will trust in Thee, and we shall never be confounded. We trust in Thee!

Night by night dost Thou not work for us in the silence of our sleep? In the hush and in the darkness, when the busy hands lie still, when the strong will moves us not, and the pulses of our inner life do rest, still Thy mighty world moves on. At its appointed time the sunlight dawns again, the flowers unfold, the birds sing their morning hymn, and when we unclose our eyes, lo! what hast Thou done for us in the glory and the beauty of this newly-awakened earth! While we lay still, how Thou didst work! while we knew not of it, how this earth which Thou hast given to us has been clothed by Thee in the glow and splendour of the spring! Dost Thou, O Father, care for us thus tenderly in our nightly sleep, and shall we not trust Thee that when the deep slumber of death falls upon us, Thou wilt still take thought for us, and make ready for our awakening into that eternal world which Thou hast prepared for us?

So, then, we will lie down to our long sleep gladly and quietly, content that, while we rest in God’s-acre, men shall come and go around us, and our memory be forgotten, and the great pulse of nature go beating on, though we no longer feel it. For even as the world is new created day by day for those who live and move and have their being upon it, so in the upper world Thou wilt work for us, Thy sleeping ones, and make ready for us the glorious new life to which one day we shall wake.—AMEN.