Ps. 119 114 You are my refuge and my shield;
your word is my source of hope. ...
116 Lord, sustain me as you promised, that I may live!
Do not let my hope be crushed.
For the past two years, my Brother Mike has been working on his Master's degree with my professor. We met almost every Wednesday for lunch to pray, share, and gain more of the Lord together. He has had a significant impact on my spiritual growth, and today he is moving on to the next phase of life. He doesn't know where the Lord is leading Him yet, so he is going to visit his family and friends, some Brothers and Sisters, and hopefully go on a mission trip to South America. He shared this hymn with me, which really ministers to me as I consider my future beyond the PhD:
- I know not what awaits me,
God kindly veils my eyes,
And o'er each step of my onward way
He makes new scenes to rise;
And every joy He sends me comes
A sweet and glad surprise.
My trust in Him repose;
And every hour in perfect peace,
I'll sing, "He knows, He knows";
And every hour in perfect peace,
I'll sing, "He knows, He knows."
- One step I see before me,
'Tis all I need to see,
The light of heaven more brightly shines
When earth's illusions flee;
And sweetly through the silence comes,
His loving, "Trust in Me!" - Oh, blissful lack of wisdom,
'Tis blessed not to know;
He holds me with His own right hand,
And will not let me go,
And lulls my troubled soul to rest
In Him who loves me so. - So on I go not knowing;
I would not if I might;
I'd rather walk in the dark with God
Than go alone in the light;
I'd rather walk by faith with Him
Than go alone by sight.
(http://www.hymnal.net/hymn.php?t=nt&n=711)
"The redeemed have all their objective good in God. God himself is the great good which they are brought to the possession and enjoyment of by redemption. He is the highest good, and the sum of all that good which Christ has purchased. God is the inheritance of the saints; he is the portion of their souls. God is their wealth and treasure, their food, their life, their dwelling place, their ornament and diadem, and their everlasting honor and glory. They have none in heaven but God; he is the great good which the redeemed are received to at death, and which they are to rise to at the end of the world.
The Lord God, he is the light of the heavenly Jerusalem; and is the 'the river of the water of life' that runs, and the tree of life that grows, 'in the midst of the paradise of God.' The glorious excellencies and beauty of God will be what will forever entertain the minds of the saints, and the love of God will be their everlasting feast. The redeemed will indeed enjoy other things; they will enjoy the angels, and will enjoy one another: but that which they shall enjoy in the angels, or each other, or in anything else whatsoever, that will yield them delight and happiness, will be what will be seen of God in them.
—Jonathan Edwards, "God Glorified in the Work of Redemption," in The Sermons of Jonathan Edwards: A Reader, ed. Wilson H. Kimnach, et al (1999): 74-75
Heavenly Father, you are good, and your mercy endures forever. Lord, may we walk in your gracious presence, and may we desire you more than knowledge. May we know you and your Word, and may we express you with others. I pray that we will celebrate your grace with others. May the Lord Jesus Christ be glorified in me today by the power of the Holy Spirit; I pray in His name. Amen.
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