Daily Strength for Daily Needs | Page 4

is known to Thee.
A. L. NEWTON.

God knows us through and through. Not the most secret thought, which we most hide
from ourselves, is hidden from Him. As then we come to know ourselves through and
through, we come to see ourselves more as God sees us, and then we catch some little
glimpse of His designs with us, how each ordering of His Providence, each check to our
desires, each failure of our hopes, is just fitted for us, and for something in our own
spiritual state, which others know not of, and which, till then, we knew not. Until we
come to this knowledge, we must take all in faith, believing, though we know not, the
goodness of God towards us. As we know ourselves, we, thus far, know God.
E. B. PUSEY.

January 12
_Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight,
O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer_.--PS. xix. 14.
The thoughts that in our hearts keep place, Lord, make a holy, heavenly throng, And
steep in innocence and grace The issue of each guarded tongue.
T. H. GILL.
There is another kind of silence to be cultivated, besides that of the tongue as regards
others. I mean silence as regards one's self,--restraining the imagination, not permitting it
to dwell overmuch on what we have heard or said, not indulging in the phantasmagoria of
picture-thoughts, whether of the past or future. Be sure that you have made no small
progress in the spiritual life, when you can control your imagination, so as to fix it on the
duty and occupation actually existing, to the exclusion of the crowd of thoughts which
are perpetually sweeping across the mind. No doubt, you cannot prevent those thoughts
from arising, but you can prevent yourself from dwelling on them; you can put them
aside, you can check the self-complacency, or irritation, or earthly longings which feed
them, and by the practice of such control of your thoughts you will attain that spirit of
inward silence which draws the soul into a close intercourse with God.
JEAN N. GROU.

January 13
Speak not evil one of another, brethren.--JAMES iv. 11.
_Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away
from you, with all malice_.--EPH. iv. 31.
If aught good thou canst not say Of thy brother, foe, or friend, Take thou, then, the silent
way, Lest in word thou shouldst offend.

ANON.
If there is any person to whom you feel dislike, that is the person of whom you ought
never to speak.
R. CECIL.
To recognize with delight all high and generous and beautiful actions; to find a joy even
in seeing the good qualities of your bitterest opponents, and to admire those qualities
even in those with whom you have least sympathy, this is the only spirit which can heal
the love of slander and of calumny.
F. W. ROBERTSON.

January 14
_Thy servants are ready to do whatsoever my lord the king shall appoint_.--2 SAM. xv.
15.
I love to think that God appoints My portion day by day; Events of life are in His hand,
And I would only say, Appoint them in Thine own good time, And in Thine own best
way.
A. L. WARING.
If we are really, and always, and equally ready to do whatsoever the King appoints, all
the trials and vexations arising from any change in His appointments, great or small,
simply do not exist. If He appoints me to work there, shall I lament that I am not to work
here? If He appoints me to wait in-doors to-day, am I to be annoyed because I am not to
work out-of-doors? If I meant to write His messages this morning, shall I grumble
because He sends interrupting visitors, rich or poor, to whom I am to speak them, or
"show kindness" for His sake, or at least obey His command, "Be courteous?" If all my
members are really at His disposal, why should I be put out if to-day's appointment is
some simple work for my hands or errands for my feet, instead of some seemingly more
important doing of head or tongue?
F. R. HAVERGAL.

January 15
For this is the will of God, even your sanctification.--I THESS. iv. 3.
Between us and Thyself remove Whatever hindrances may be, That so our inmost heart
may prove A holy temple, meet for Thee.

LATIN MSS. OF 15TH CENTURY.
Bear, in the presence of God, to know thyself. Then seek to know for what God sent thee
into the world; how thou hast fulfilled it; art thou yet what God willed thee to be; what
yet lacketh unto thee; what is God's will for thee