Many years ago in one of the Southern states, a woman from the city and her country cousin were traveling in a horse-drawn carriage through a dense forest when darkness overtook them.
There was no moon, only a bit of starlight. Soon it was impossible to see the road. The city dweller became a bit frightened when she thought they had lost their way, but her country cousin seemed unconcerned.
She stopped the horse, stepped to the ground, walked around a bit, and came back, saying she had found the road. She got back into the carriage, and they continued on their way.
As they went along, the city dweller noticed that her companion, instead of looking down at the ground, was looking up.
"Why", she asked, "are you looking up when the road is below us?" "Because", her friend explained, "that is the only way I can tell where the road is. The trees have been cleared to make way for the road. On a night like this it is impossible to see the road, but by looking up I can tell where the road is by the stars in the open sky."
This is the way it is on the road of life. As we travel along, there are times when trials and perplexities close in around us as black and impenetrable as the darkness in a dense forest on a moonless night.
At such times many lose their way but this need not happen! When the "downlook", and even the "outlook", are dark and forbidding, never forget that the "uplook" is bright.
Take comfort in the fact that "the darkness and the light are both alike" to God. He can see when we can‘t see a thing. Even when the sun is shining and everything seems bright and clear, it is always wise to look to heaven, where God rules, for no road is safe unless He is guiding.
At a time when everything seems bleak; one look at your local newspapers and you get this fuzzy little feeling like there‘s no more hope for this country. Political leaders not after the good of our country but after their own petty personal agenda, business people insensitive to the needs of their employees, career people unfaithful to their companies, and professional people short changing their clients.
Enough reason to make you feel that the whole world is caving in. But just as the skies are dark, the stars shine the brightest. Just when the outlook is bleak and the downlook permeates, the more we need the uplook.
Oswald Chambers says: A saint‘s life is in the hands of God as a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer.
God is aiming at something the saint cannot see; he stretches and strains, and every now and again the saint says, "I cannot stand any more". But God does not heed; he goes on stretching until his purpose is in sight, then he lets fly. We are here for God‘s designs, not for our own.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon says: "As sure as ever God puts his children in the furnace, he will be in the furnace with them".
Hope for the best; get ready for the worst; then take what God chooses to send. In Him, you will never fail. So look up!
Comments