THE DIVINE REST | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 9, 1901

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 41.

THE DIVINE REST.

THERE are two kinds of people in this world who do not worry. The one is a child of God, the other is a child of the devil. The former does not worry because of his absolute trust, the latter because of his absolute carelessness. To be sure, freedom from worry is an excellent thing. But it should be based upon an excellent foundation, namely, an undimmed trust in an all-loving Father. Then only is our calm enduring.

We sometimes see a youth unconcerned about his future, or, worse still, unconcerned about making the best of his present, and yet his lack of anxiety does not arise from a perfect trust in God and manly resolve to do his best, but from sheer laziness. Perhaps a father is supporting him at school, and he spends more than half his time in pleasure, and trusts to leaning on some influential one to provide him with a sinecure post, and a large salary by and by. But this type of non-worrying is only temporary. By and by he sighs, and wonders why the “other fellows” who started life with him have outstripped him in the race. Then the wonder gives place to despair, and he pours into youthful minds a lot of sickly trash about “having a good time when you’re young,” and “youth being our best days,” meaning, by a “good time” purposeless frivolity.

But there is another type of man, who is “free from care.” “Trust thou in God.” He has heard the message, and his heart is fixed. He knows who “doeth all things well.” They who start life thus with minds at rest are the mighty pillars of their century, strong as the rocks, unshaken as the hills, with a peace as rich and deep as the still underdepths of midocean. They do not let their burden rest on other shoulders, but they take up their share with a calmer spirit, knowing that “their strength shall be renewed like the eagle’s.” To be unworried is not to be unwatchful. To be trustful is not to be unmindful of duty. There is a great gulf between the smile of trust and the lackadaisical air of carelessness. When God lifts the burden of to-morrow from our shoulders, He has surely a right to expect that we put forth our best efforts to-day.—Selected.