tained
Him still: "My God! my God!"

How many a perplexity should we save ourselves by thus implicitly
"committing ourselves," as He did, to God! In seasons of darkness and
trouble--when our way is shut up with thorns, to lift the confiding eye
of faith to Him, and say, "I am oppressed, undertake for me!" How
blessed to feel that He directs all that befalls us; that no
contingencies can frustrate His plans; that the way he leads us is not
only _a_ "right way," but, with all its briers and thorns--_its_ tears
and trials--it is _the_ right way!

The result of such an habitual staying ourselves on the Lord will be a
deep, abiding _peace_; any ripple will only be on the surface--no more.
It is the _bosom_ of the ocean alone which the storm ruffles; all
beneath is a serene, settled calm. So "Thou wilt keep him, oh God, in
perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on _Thee_!"

"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." I shall be content alike
with what He appoints or withholds. I _can not_ wrong that love with
one shadow of suspicion! I have His own plighted promise of unchanging
faithfulness, that "all things work together for good to them that love
Him!" Often there are earthly sorrows hard to bear;--the unkind
accusation, when it was least merited or expected; the estrangement of
tried and trusted friends, the failure of cherished hopes, favorite
schemes broken up, plans of usefulness demolished, the gourd breeding
its own worm and withering. "Commit thy cause and thy way to God!" We
little know what tenderness there is in the blast of the rough wind;
what "needs be" are folded under the wings of the storm! "All is well,"
because _all_ is from _Him_. "Events are God's," says Rutherford; "let
Him sit at His own helm, that moderateth all."

Christian! look back on your checkered path. How wondrously has He
threaded you through the mazy way--disappointing your fears, realizing
your hopes! Are evils looming through the mists of the future? Do not
anticipate the trials of to-morrow, to aggravate those of to-day. Leave
the morrow with Him, who has promised, by "casting all your care on Him,
to care for you." No affliction will be sent greater than you can bear.
His voice will be heard stealing from the bosom of the threatening
cloud, "Be still, and know that I am God!"

"_My Father!_" With such a word, you can stretch out your neck for any
yoke; as with Israel of old, He will make those very waves that may now
be so threateni