For Trust (Day 2)
by JM · 01 July 2008

Poetry is too often overlooked for its devotional value. Though I am myself a poet, I am guilty of the same forgetfulness about poetry's devotional value. Here is a poem by the Scottish poet John Huie from a book I discovered in the Highlands called The Singing Pilgrim.

For Trust

Lord, when my way I cannot see,
When earth and heaven are dark;
I know my path is clear to Thee,
For Thou my steps dost mark.

Give me to live by faith—I grieve,
And this is all my grief,
I would have sight—Lord, I believe,
Help Thou mine unbelief.

When halt and blind I go, my God,
Still would I hope in Thee,
For Thou art with me, and Thy rod
And staff shall comfort me.

Why should I fret in troubled mood
When I may rest in Thee?
All things together work for good,
Because Thou lovest me.

Thou lovest me—here would I rest
From all perplexity;
O take me to Thy loving breast,
And grant full trust in Thee.

I most like the line above, "When halt and blind I go, my God, / Still would I hope in Thee..." This accords well with a prayer of Thomas Merton's mentioned in last Sunday's sermon at Church of the Redeemer. I quote the prayer below:

My Lord God
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself,
and the fact that I think I am following
your will does not mean
that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that my desire to please you
does in fact please you.
And I hope that I have that desire
in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything
apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this
you will lead me by the right road
though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always
though I may seem to be lost
and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear,
for you are ever with me,
and you will never leave me
to face my perils alone.

This week this is my continual prayer as I feel I can relate so well to Merton's, "I have no idea where I am going". Yet, I want to know more deeply the trust he writes about, so that even when I cannot see the road ahead, I have faith that Jesus will guide and lead me.

 

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