By Thomas Reade (1776 – 1841)
O my soul, rejoice that the Lord reigns! He can calm the rough surges of the mind. He can bid the inward tempest cease. He can pour an enlivening ray upon the drooping heart and cause a sweet serenity and peace to reign within. Trust in the Lord always. Be still, and know that He is God (Psa. 46:10).
There is something peculiarly soothing to the heart of a pious Christian to know that He who rules over all worlds, in whose hands are the destinies of nations, and who guides the minutest concerns of families and individuals, is his Father and his Friend. The more we know of God, of His power, wisdom, love, faithfulness, and truth, the more we shall bow before His throne in humble adoration and filial confidence and love.
To know God in Christ, to know Him as our God, is to possess all the sources and secrets of true peace in the midst of surrounding storms and tempests. This knowledge will raise us above the agitated elements of the world and place us in that pure region where the soul can breathe more freely and expand her powers more fully. Faith views with admiration the perfections of the Lord. Hope rests the fulfillment of her expectations on these perfections. Love delights in them and gradually assimilates the soul to them. Patience calmly waits, under every changing dispensation, for that abundant harvest of rich blessings, which the God of truth has promised and which His faithfulness will perform.
Come, then, O my soul, and learn from this view of your privileges the blessedness of trusting in God, “with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (Jas. 1:17). All His promises are yea and amen. All His ways are righteous and true. Cast your care upon Him who cares for you; and under every trying event, be still, and know that He is God.
The Lord Reigns
The purposes of God are moving steadily and directly towards their fulfillment. Many things, according to our shortsightedness, appear to thwart His designs. Hence, we are ready to exclaim with David: “Let me not fall into the hand of man” (2 Sam. 24:14). But is not this the language of despondency, the language of a soul looking through a dark and gloomy medium? Man had never and never shall have the upper hand. David was in a right frame when he sang, “…The Lord reigneth…” (Psa. 96:10). This is the triumphant song of the redeemed above: “…Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth” (Rev. 19:6).
Can anything, then, unforeseen, strike across His purposes or derange His plans? Ah, no! As everything respecting the eternal purposes of the Lord springs from His own will, so everything shall terminate in His own glory. Higher and farther than this, we cannot go. “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last” (Rev. 22:13).
Clouds and darkness may surround the throne of the Eternal and veil His bright designs, but faith can pierce the veil, and view beyond this darkening scene, the rising glories of Emmanuel’s kingdom.
Great Blessings
How great, then, is the blessedness of true religion! How highly privileged is the child of God! As nothing can happen without the divine permission, so shall “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28).
Satan may rage, the world may frown, the flesh may rebel, and providence may seem to cross the humble believer; but, notwithstanding all this tempest, his soul is safe, being “hid with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3). He may “groan, being burdened” (2 Cor. 5:4); yet still he can rejoice. He looks through the curtain of time, which hangs over the glories of eternity; and in joyful expectation of soon entering within the veil, he endures, with much long-suffering, the trials of this transitory state.
Happy is the man who receives with childlike simplicity the Word of God and acts upon it. He sees God in everything and can feed upon the hidden manna. He finds the promises to be full of truth and comfort.
He knows that glorious days are hastening on and therefore is not discouraged, though they be preceded by a stormy night. He hears the voice of his Almighty Father speaking in gracious accents to allay his fears, “Be still, and know that I am God,” and is kept in perfect peace.
Come, then, O my soul, and take courage. The Lord reigns, be the earth ever so unquiet. Sing with David, and say: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psa. 46:1). Be dismayed at the troubles of the earth. Only fear God; only believe in His promises; only love and serve Him; and all things shall work together for your good, as they assuredly will for His glory.
– Adapted from Spiritual Exercises of the Heart.
