Expositions of Holy Scripture: Second Kings Chapters VIII to End and Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah. Esther, Job, Proverbs, and EcclesiastesMaclaren, Alexander
Religion
Expositions of Holy Scripture: Second Kings Chapters VIII to End and Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah. Esther, Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes
Then there is another piece of advice from this thought of each day
having its own work, and that is--keep your ears open, and your eyes
too, to learn the lesson of what the day's work is. There is generally
abundance of direction for us if only we are content with the
one-step-at-a-time direction, which we get, and if another condition
is fulfilled, if we try to suppress our own wishes and the noisy
babble of our own yelping inclinations, and take the whip to them
until they cease their barking, that we may hear what God says. It is
not because He does not speak, but because we are too anxious to have
our own way to listen quietly to His voice, that we make most of our
blunders as to what the duty of every day requires. If we will be
still and listen, and stand in the attitude of the boy-prophet before
the glimmering lamp in the sacred place, saying, 'Speak, Lord! for Thy
servant heareth,' we shall get sufficient instruction for our next
step.
Another piece of practical wisdom that I would suggest is that if
every day has its own work, we should buckle ourselves to do the day's
work before night falls and not leave any over for to-morrow, which
will be quite full enough. 'Do the duty that lies nearest thee,' was
the preaching of one of our sages, and it is wholesome advice. For
when we do that duty, the doing of it has a wonderful power of opening
up further steps, and showing us more clearly what is the next duty.
Only let us be sure of this, that no moment comes from God which has
not in it boundless possibilities; and that no moment comes from God
which has not in it stringent obligations. We neither avail ourselves
of the one, nor discharge the other, unless we come, morning by
morning, to the new day that is dawning upon us, with some fresh
consciousness of the large issues that may be wrapped in its unseen
hours, and the great things for Him that we may do ere its evening
falls.
Each day has its tasks, and if we do not do the tasks of each day in
its day, we shall fling away life. If a man had L. 100,000 for a
fortune, and turned it all into halfpence, and tossed them out of the
window, he could soon get rid of his whole fortune. And if you fling
away your moments or live without the consciousness of their solemn
possibilities and mystic awfulness, you will find at the last that you
have made 'ducks and drakes' of your years, and have flung them away
in moments without knowing what you were doing, and without
possibility of recovery. 'Take care of the pence, the pounds will take
care of themselves.' Take care of the days, and the years will show a
fair record.
Secondly, we have here the suggestion that every day has its own
worship.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account