Basic HTML Version
Help in Daily Living
345
work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither
thou goest.”
Ecclesiastes 9:10
.
If the Lord desires us to bear a message to Nineveh, it will not
be as pleasing to Him for us to go to Joppa or to Capernaum. He
has reasons for sending us to the place toward which our feet have
been directed. At that very place there may be someone in need of
the help we can give. He who sent Philip to the Ethiopian councilor,
Peter to the Roman centurion, and the little Israelitish maiden to
the help of Naaman, the Syrian captain, sends men and women and
youth today as His representatives to those in need of divine help
and guidance.
God’s Plans the Best
Our plans are not always God’s plans. He may see that it is best
for us and for His cause to refuse our very best intentions, as He did
in the case of David. But of one thing we may be assured, He will
bless and use in the advancement of His cause those who sincerely
devote themselves and all they have to His glory. If He sees it best
not to grant their desires He will counterbalance the refusal by giving
them tokens of His love and entrusting to them another service.
In His loving care and interest for us, often He who understands
us better than we understand ourselves refuses to permit us selfishly
to seek the gratification of our own ambition. He does not permit us
to pass by the homely but sacred duties that lie next us. Often these
duties afford the very training essential to prepare us for a higher
work. Often our plans fail that God’s plans for us may succeed.
We are never called upon to make a real sacrifice for God. Many
things He asks us to yield to Him, but in doing this we are but giving
up that which hinders us in the heavenward way. Even when called
upon to surrender those things which in themselves are good, we
[474]
may be sure that God is thus working out for us some higher good.
In the future life the mysteries that here have annoyed and dis-
appointed us will be made plain. We shall see that our seemingly
unanswered prayers and disappointed hopes have been among our
greatest blessings.
We are to look upon every duty, however humble, as sacred
because it is a part of God’s service. Our daily prayer should be,