July 26

He knoweth the way that I take.--JOB xxiii. 10.

Man's goings are of the Lord; how can a man then understand his own way?--PROV. xx. 24.

  Be quiet, why this anxious heed
  About thy tangled ways?
  God knows them all, He giveth speed,
  And He allows delays.
E. W.

We complain of the slow, dull life we are forced to lead, of our humble
sphere of action, of our low position in the scale of society, of our
having no room to make ourselves known, of our wasted energies, of our
years of patience. So do we say that we have no Father who is directing our
life; so do we say that God has forgotten us; so do we boldly judge what
life is best for us, and so by our complaining do we lose the use and
profit of the quiet years. O men of little faith! Because you are not sent
out yet into your labor, do you think God has ceased to remember you?
Because you are forced to be outwardly inactive, do you think you, also,
may not be, in your years of quiet, "about your Father's business"? It is a
period given to us in which to mature ourselves for the work which God will
give us to do.
STOPFORD A. BROOKE.