A Voice Behind

 

“I heard a voice behind me, as of a trumpet” 

—Revelation 1:10

 

I heard a voice behind me;

On the road I had passed by;

It was lost in the way of the garish day;

It was powerless while it was nigh;

It was like the ram in the thicket

That Abraham did not find

Till he turned his back on the coming track,

And looked on the days behind.

 

And so, my soul, it is ever

With the blessings round thy head;

They are not known till the bird is flown,

And the bloom of the flower is dead.

Thou art pressing on to the future,

And the past is out of mind

Till the hour of pain calls thee back again

To dwell in the days behind.

 

Thou art asking a revelation    

Of thy Father's guiding love,

And it seems to thee that thy light shall be

From the things that are stored above,

But the path whereon now thou movest

Is itself with mercy lined,

And the brightest gleam of the upper stream

Shall be caught from the days behind.

 

0 Father of light and leading,

From the top of each rising bill

Let me cast my eye on the road gone by

To mark the steps of Thy will!

For the clouds that surround the present

Shall leave this heart resigned,

When the joy appears in the path of tears

That led through the days behind.

 

—George Matheson

 

God’s will is better seen in retrospect than in prospect. It’s by casting our “eye on the road gone by” that we “mark the steps of (his) will.” 

 

God has an itinerary for each of us, a “course” that we must run (2Timothy 4:7). Our course is charted in the councils of heaven and rooted in the sovereign purposes of God. Yet our choices are not irrelevant. We make decisions every day, large and small, many of which may have life-altering consequences. The question then—forgoing the confounding mystery of God’s sovereignty and human free will—is this: How can we, in our choices, suitably reflect his will? 

 

The answer is clear to me, now that I’m older and have more of the past to see. It is by looking back that I see my Father’s guiding love. I have tasted again and again of the goodness of God; Love and Wisdom have led me all the way. With old Jacob I can truthfully say, “God has been my shepherd all my life to this day” (Genesis 40:15). 

 

So…though clouds “surround the present” and much uncertainty lies ahead, my heart is duly resigned. The “Father of light and leading” will be faithful to show me the way. My task is to follow Him in love and obedience, and leave the next step to Him. 

 

And how will I know the next step? I do not know. I do know, however, that I shall know when I need to know. “My light shall be from the things that are stored above.” On what basis can I have that assurance? By “dwelling on the days behind.”  

 

David Roper

5.11.19

“Fish!”

“As no man is born an artist, so no man is born an angler.”

—Izzak Walton

A number of years ago our three sons and I spent a couple of days drifting and fishing the Madison River in Montana. We hired two guides who also served as our boatmen. The guide I drew was a man who had lived on the river all his life and knew where the big trout held. He was a taciturn man—spoke scarcely two-dozen words in two days. (His longest sentence was muttered under his breath when I broke off a trout: “If you play tug-of-war with a fish, fish will win every time.”) But his few words were immensely helpful. Let me tell you why. 

We were fishing with tiny flies in choppy water; my eyesight is not good these days and I was missing every take. Eventually, my guide began to alert me when a trout moved under the fly by quietly murmuring, “fish.” When I raised the tip of my rod there was indeed a trout on my line. 

I’ve often thought about that guide, the occasion and the great and mysterious opportunities that come our way each day, not to catch fish, but men and women, boys and girls. All day long folks circle around us, endlessly cruising, searching for that elusive “something” that will satisfy the hunger of their souls—all represent occasions to show compassion and understanding in Jesus’ name—opportunities you and I might miss if not alerted. 

May the Great Angler, who knows every heart, whisper “fish” in our ears all day long (Luke 5:9).

David Roper

5.11.19

All through this day, O Lord,

Let me touch as many lives as possible for you... 

      through the life that I live,

      the words that I speak, and

      the prayers that I breath,

In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen