Daily Strength for Daily Needs | Page 5

now; what thing thou mayest now do, by
His grace, to obtain His favor, and approve thyself unto Him. Say to Him, "Teach me to
do Thy will, for Thou art my God," and He will say unto thy soul, "Fear not; I am thy
salvation." He will speak peace unto thy soul; He will set thee in the way; He will bear
thee above things of sense, and praise of man, and things which perish in thy grasp, and
give thee, if but afar off, some glimpse of His own, unfading, unsetting, unperishing
brightness and bliss and love.
E. B. PUSEY.

January 16
_Now our Lord Jesus Christ, Himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us,
and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort your
hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work_.--2 THESS. ii. 16, 17.
When sorrow all our heart would ask, We need not shun our daily task, And hide
ourselves for calm; The herbs we seek to heal our woe Familiar by our pathway grow,
Our common air is balm.
J. KEBLE.
Oh, when we turn away from some duty or some fellow-creature, saying that our hearts
are too sick and sore with some great yearning of our own, we may often sever the line
on which a divine message was coming to us. We shut out the man, and we shut out the
angel who had sent him on to open the door. There is a plan working in our lives; and if
we keep our hearts quiet and our eyes open, it all works together; and, if we don't, it all
rights together, and goes on fighting till it comes right, somehow, somewhere.
ANNIE KEARY.

January 17
_Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though
some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of
Christ's sufferings_.--I PETER iv. 12, 13.
We take with solemn thankfulness Our burden up, nor ask it less, And count it joy that
even we May suffer, serve, or wait for Thee, Whose will be done!
J. G. WHITTIER.

Receive every inward and outward trouble, every disappointment, pain, uneasiness,
temptation, darkness, and desolation, with both thy hands, as a true opportunity and
blessed occasion of dying to self, and entering into a fuller fellowship with thy
self-denying, suffering Saviour. Look at no inward or outward trouble in any other view;
reject every other thought about it; and then every kind of trial and distress will become
the blessed day of thy prosperity. That state is best, which exerciseth the highest faith in,
and fullest resignation to God.
WM. LAW.

January 18
_Thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the Lord thy God hath given unto
thee_.--DEUT. XXVI. 11.
Rejoice evermore. In everything give thanks.--I THESS. v. 16, 18.
Grave on thy heart each past "red-letter day"! Forget not all the sunshine of the way By
which the Lord hath led thee; answered prayers, And joys unasked, strange blessings,
lifted cares, Grand promise-echoes! Thus thy life shall be One record of His love and
faithfulness to thee.
F. R. HAVERGAL.
Gratitude consists in a watchful, minute attention to the particulars of our state, and to the
multitude of God's gifts, taken one by one. It fills us with a consciousness that God loves
and cares for us, even to the least event and smallest need of life. It is a blessed thought,
that from our childhood God has been laying His fatherly hands upon us, and always in
benediction; that even the strokes of His hands are blessings, and among the chiefest we
have ever received. When this feeling is awakened, the heart beats with a pulse of
thankfulness. Every gift has its return of praise. It awakens an unceasing daily converse
with our Father,--He speaking to us by the descent of blessings, we to Him by the ascent
of thanksgiving. And all our whole life is thereby drawn under the light of His
countenance, and is filled with a gladness, serenity, and peace which only thankful hearts
can know.
H. E. MANNING.

January 19
Let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord.--PS. cv. 3.
The joy of the Lord is your strength.--NEH. viii. 10.
Be Thou my Sun, my selfishness destroy, Thy atmosphere of Love be all my joy; Thy

Presence be my sunshine ever bright, My soul the little mote that lives but in Thy light.
GERHARD TERSTEEGEN.
I do not know when I have had happier times in my soul, than when I have been sitting at
work, with nothing before me but a candle and a white cloth, and hearing no sound but
that of my own breath, with God