THE QUIET HOUR

Hawera Star, Volume LIII, 10 March 1934, Page 2

THE QUIET HOUR

FOR THOSE SHUT IN -

By Rev. Basil Metson •‘O God. our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come Our shelter from the stormy blast, And our eternal home.” j PRAYER: Blessed God I thank Thee for the good news. Thou didst tabernacle m flesh so that Thou mightost be able to be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. Thou didst go about doing good, healing the sick, comtoitihg the bereaved' and direicti.no; penitent souls in the way of pardon and peace. And best of all;, Thou didst take upon Thyself the burden of our sins bearing them in Thine own hotly on the tree. Thou hast given us. a great promise. “I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you; and lo! I am with you always. ’ Let- me, Lord claim the fulfilment of that promise- now.' Come to me, -foi in Tht :presence is fulness of joy. Amen; HYMN : “Teach me Thy patience; still with Thee In closer, dearer company. In work that keeps faith sweet and strong, In trust that triumphs over wrong. In hope that sends a shining ray Far down the future’s broadening way In peace that only Thou can’st give With Thee, O' Master, let me live.’ PSALM 121: “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help. “Mv help cometh from the Lord, which made Heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved; He that keepeth thee will not skunks “Behold. He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. “The Lord is thy keeper, the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. “The sim shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. “The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: He shall preserve thy soul. “The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thv coming in from this time forth and even for evermore.” HYMN: “I’ve found a Friend; O' such a friend. He loved me ere I knew Him. He drew me with the cords of love And thus he -bound me to Him. And round iny heart still closely twine Those ties which nought can sever, For I am His and He is mine. Forever and forever.” MEDITATION: The marvellous influence of one life. “Behold I am alive for evermore.” Revelation 1 : 18. i Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village. He worked m a carpenter’s shop until He was thirty and then for three years he was a travelling -preacher. He never wrote a book. He never held an .office. He never owned a home. He never had a family. He' never went to college. _ He never put His feet inside a big city. He never travelled 200 . miles from the place where he was born. He never did one of the things that usually -accompany greatness. He had lio credentials but Himself. While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against Him. His friends ran away. One of them denied Him. He was turned over to His eriemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed upon a cross between two thieves. His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth. while He was dying and that was His coat. When He was dead He was taken down and laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend. Twenty centuries have come and gone, and to-dav He is the centre of the human race and the leader of all true progress. I am well within the mark when 1 say that all the armies that ever marched and all the navies that ever were built and all the Parliaments that ever sat' and all the kings that ever reigned put together have, not affected the life, of man ripen this earth as that one solitary life. 'And this Man is the Living Christ. This is the truth that gladdens life. i glorifies faith and makes the Gospel the power of God unto isulvation. Liiti up your eyes; He is here. Ts the bed hard, the burden heavy, the lot a lonely one ? There is One. by the bedside, who lov.es, with a love that is ■ wonderful and He will not let you go. HYMN: This, this is the God wo adore, Our faithful, unchangeable Friend; Whose love' is as great as His power; And neither knows measure nor end. ’Ti.s Jesus, the first and the last, Whose spirit shall guide us .safe home; We’ll praise Him for a~li that is past, j And trust Him for all that’s to come. PRAYER: O Lord, may I be mindful henceforth that I am never alone. In the hour of temptation keep' me. In the dark va-lle-v of sorrow, walk witn me. On the path of duty when the burden is heavy, .strengthen me. If I forget, put me in remembrance with the word: “Lo. I am with thee’’—for Thv name’s sake. Amen.