DARK IN THE DISTANCE!

DARK IN THE DISTANCE!

Ps 119:105

105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

Ps 18:28

28 For thou wilt light my candle: the Lord  my God will enlighten my darkness.

I see not a step before me as I tread on another year;

But I've left the past in God's keeping-the future his mercy shall clear;

And what looks dark in the distance may brighten as I draw near.

Mary Gardiner Brainard (C. 1860)

                Mary Gardiner Brainard (June 19, 1837 – November 30, 1905) was an American writer of religious poetry. She was born in New London, Connecticut. She was daughter of William Fowler Brainard (1784-1844), a New London lawyer, whose younger brother was the poet John Gardiner Calkins Brainard, and his second wife Sarah Ann Prentis. Her poem "Not Knowing" first appeared in The Congregationalist, March 1869, and was set to music as a hymn by Philip Paul Bliss in the 1870s. It is based upon Paul’s comments in Acts 20:22.

Acts 20:22

22 And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there:

I know not what will befall me: God hangs a mist o’er my eyes;

And thus, each step of my onward path, He makes new scenes arise,

And every joy He sends to me comes like a sweet surprise.

I see not a step before me as I tread on another year;

But I’ve left the past in God’s keeping,—the future His mercy shall clear,

And what looks dark in the distance may brighten as I draw near.

For perhaps the dreaded future is less bitter than I think;

The Lord may sweeten the waters before I stoop to drink;

Or, if Marah must be Marah, He will stand beside its brink.

It may be He keeps waiting, for the coming of my feet,

Some gift of such rare blessedness, some joy so strangely sweet,

That my lips shall only tremble with the thanks they cannot speak.

O restful, blissful ignorance! ’t is blessed not to know;

It keeps me still in those mighty arms which will not let me go,

And lulls my weariness to rest on the bosom that loves me so.

So I go on not knowing,—I would not if I might;

I would rather walk in the dark with God than go alone in the light;

I would rather walk with Him by faith than walk alone by sight.

My heart shrinks back from trials which the future may disclose,

Yet I never had sorrow but what the dear Lord chose;

So I send the coming tears back with the whispered word, “He knows.”

          God’s lamp lights our feet and a bit further up the path but walking by faith means that it may be “dark in the distance.” Let us trust the lamp and walk in the light!

Dear Lord, today we take the first steps upon the path that is another year. It looks dark in the distance but we know that you are near and that you will guide each step with your lamp. AMEN