His Guidance by Llewellyn A. Morrison

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Jun 13, 1911

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 38, No. 23.

His Guidance

By Llewellyn A. Morrison

"Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. . . . They went down to Bethel. . . . They came to Jericho. . . . And they two went on and . . . stood by Jordan."

So we come to Gilgal — separation — As the prophets came in days of yore; Came at Duty's call for consecration, Hearing voices from the other shore; Came to Bethel on their way to Jordan — Anxious tension pulsing in each breast. Be it strife or service, bane or burden, Jordan floweth at the Port of Death.

Every land is full of kingdom choices, Floating where redemptive mercies fall; Every heart doth hear their kindly voices Calling soft or sternly unto all. Still the siren songs are languor-luring While the human hopes delay and wait; Still the trembling trust needs re-assuring, When, like them, we tarry by the gate.

As they came to Bethel, so we gather — Silences around and overhead, Guided by the loving heav'nly Father, Toward the bitter Jericho we dread. As a flint we set our feet and faces To go onward to the journey's end, Doubting not to find the daily graces That shall prove us right, and God our friend.

Thus we pass with quietness and promise All the way from birthland to life's close, While the hours of toil slip freely from us, And we find the Spirit's calm repose 'Mid the stormy turbulence around us, In the din and tumult of the strife, Till the peace of God hath kept and crowned us With His blessed resurrection life.

Tho we tarry, waiting for the vision, All the years, obedient to the Word — While the prophet won the life Elysian In a moment — for the chariots of the Lord, Yet our God's delays are Love's surprises. Like a flash our vassalage is done When the curtain falls and light arises, Then life's perfect mission is begun.

New York City.