BROWNING'S BALM

The Satisfied Mind discovered this poem by Robert Browning and thought it would be of great encouragement to those of you who read my blog.

If I forget,
Yet God remembers! If these hands of mine
Cease from their clinging, yet the hands divine
Hold me so firmly that I cannot fall;
And if sometimes I am too tired to call
For him to help me, then he reads the prayer
Unspoken in my heart, and lifts my care.

I dare not fear, since certainly I know
That I am in God's keeping, shielded so
From all that else would harm, and in the hour
Of stern temptation strengthened by his power;
I tread no path in life to him unknown,
I lift no burden, bear no pain, alone;
My soul a calm, sure hiding-place has found:
The everlasting arms my life surround.

God, thou art love! I build my faith on that.
I know thee who hast kept my path, and made
Light for me in the darkness, tempering sorrow
So that it reached me like a solemn joy
It were too strange that I should doubt thy love.

RUMINATUS BREVIS
"...the God of endurance and encouragement...the God of hope." Romans 15:5,13.

Many of the Satisifed Mind's friends (and the Mind as well) are subject to feelings of despair and discouragement. In Paul's words in Romans 15 I discovered a spiritual balm for such times. How comforting it is to know that our God is a God of endurance, encouragement, and hope. Each new day provides enough cares of its own, and we need these holy salves for our weary souls. In a world filled with hopelessness, despair, and weakness, what a blessing it is to know that our God stands ever ready to provide endurance,hope, and encouragement -- knowing that our hope is not grounded in this world, or the people of this world, but in the eternal, enduring, and omnipotent God!

My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
but wholly lean on Jesus' name.