The Meyer Minute for January 23, 2014

Sometimes God’s hand is heavy upon us, humbling us (1 Peter 5:8; yesterday’s Minute). We might chafe under His discipline, but when we’re afraid, childlike faith reaches out for that same hand of our Father. August Mennicke wrote: “Our daughter shared a conversation she overheard at home. Our 3-year-old grandson was standing at the basement stairs, trying to muster enough courage to make the descent. Before taking the first step, he said, ‘Oh Jesus, it’s awful dark down there. You’d better hold my hand.’” (“Devotions for the Chronologically Gifted,” p. 58)

John Greenleaf Whittier put it this way:

A tender child of summers three
Seeking her little bed at night,
Paused on the dark stair timidly.
“O Mother, take my hand,” said she,
“And then the dark will all be light.”

We older children grope our way
From dark behind to dark before;
And only when our hands we lay
Dear Lord, in Thine, the night is day.

Reach downward to the sunless days
Wherein our guides are blind as we,
And faith is small, and hope delays;
Take Thou the hands of prayer we raise,
And let us feel the light of Thee