Steadfast Trust, Grief, and Lasting Joy

ALMIGHTY! not with a trust that has never known trembling, not with a faith that has never known fainting, have we put our trust in Thee, O God! But we have at times trusted in Thee; yea, when it has been dark we have trusted in Thee. In the valley of the Shadow of Death, in the hour of sickness, and in the time of mortal pain, we have trusted in Thee. Let us never be confounded. Teach us that heavenly trust is earthly strength, that they who put their trust in Thee never can be confounded. We beseech Thee, if this trust of ours has been too broken, that it may, in the years to come, be constant, confiding, secure. Let it borrow from Thy steadfastness. Like some earthly loves that we have trusted (for there have been some loves in life that the more we knew the more we trusted) let our poor wavering faith gain constancy from Thee. May our faith grow constant because it is in Thee; so may our trust be constant because it is in the unchanging God. Grant that oft-times we may meditate upon Thy changelessness. For even when we know Thee least we know this much of Thee, that Thou art ever the same. Let not these poor waves of mortal feeling rise so high, or sink so deep, as to make us think that Thou changest. Let the light of God be with us when the tide of life is low, and when we ride high upon the crests of joy. Let nothing shake us, because our trust is in the unshaken joy of God. Sorrow is hard, and pain is sad. It kills and mars. We want Thy joy. Thou knowest what the sunshine is to us and to all that Thou hast made. The child grows and the birds carol and all things grow fruitful when the sunshine is upon them. Lord God! without Thy joy how shall these sweetnesses come forth? Give us the Joy of God. One hath written of "the oil of gladness." We need it. Grant unto us wise gladness, the joy that passeth the test of time. Forgive us if we have followed the mourning crowd who disfigure by their faithlessness the glorious portal through which man passes to God the Lover, unto His Rest. Let us have the oil of gladness in the hour of death, the risen Christ, the stone rolled away. Let us hear the words, "I am the Resurrection and the Life," that when the day shall come when this little lease of our life is out and it is time to go, we may do so without fear and without fainting. And when we hear the bell that tells us the Heavenly supper is about to begin, let us hear the blessed cry that came to those whose lamps were found burning, "Arise, the Bridegroom cometh!" Lord God! when the Heavenly bridegroom shall come for us, with quick step and joyous soul let us arise, that we may be of the happy number who shall sit for ever at the eternal banquet of God. Lord God! if these things seem hard for us let the dead help to instruct us. Teach us that they are not closer to Thee than we are, but in a happier clime, for there the sunshine is brighter. When the day comes round upon which we mourn those that are dead, and count up, as oft-times we do, the number of those that have loved us and are gone to rest, and see the places that none can fill, and "sigh for the touch of a vanished hand, and the sound of a voice that is still," and miss the sweet windows through which God hath looked upon us through the dearest eyes that ever we have known, then,—Lord God! anoint us with the oil of gladness, then teach us that adown the same dark path we too shall tread, and help us to say, as we get near to it, "Though I walk through the valley of the Shadow of Death I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me." Do this for us and more. Bring us at last, through Thy grace, unto the quiet death of a trusting soul and the glory of Thy redeemed children. Hear these our supplications, we beseech Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord.—AMEN.