Like a blind spinner in the sun
I tread my days;
I know that all the threads will run
Appointed ways;
I know each day will bring its task,
And, being blind, no more I ask.
There is a secret of living which, if people knew it, would make all life easier for them. It may be stated thus — that as we take up any duty and go forward with it, we shall receive the strength we need to do it. There are several divine promises that give this assurance. One reads, “As thy days, so shall thy strength be.” This seems to mean that the help which God gives varies according to the necessity of the particular day. When we have abundance of ordinary human strength, we do not need so much special divine help, and God then gives less. Really it is always God’s strength that we have, whether it is what we call natural, or whether It comes in supernatural way. When we have human friends about us, with sweet companionships, we do not need so much the revealing of the divine presence and the companionship of the unseen Friend; but when we lose the human, then we need the divine more deeply; and in the loneliness God makes himself known to us as never before. So it is in all our experiences. God fits his blessing to our days. When we faint, he increases strength. When we are sorrowful, he gives comfort. When we are in danger, he grants protection. When we are weary, he gives rest. “As thy days, so shall thy strength be.”
Another of the promises reads, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” Every word of this assurance shines with radiant light. It is Christ’s grace that is sufficient. We know that he has all divine fullness, and therefore we are sure that no human need can ever exhaust his power to give help. It is Christ’s grace that is sufficient. If it were anything else but grace, it might not give us such comfort. Grace is undeserved favor, — goodness shown to the unworthy. We deserve nothing, for we are all sinners. But it is grace that is sufficient for each one — “for thee,” the promise runs; and that means each one who reads it or hears it. It is present tense, too, — “is sufficient.” Christ is always speaking personally to the one who is in any need, and saying, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” Then the word “sufficient” is one whose meaning expands and amplifies with the measure of the need. No necessity is so small as not to be included, and none is so great as to go beyond the capacity of the blessing that is promised.
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