Weekend Words

 From A Year's Journey with God...

When His Power is Greatest

"My grace is all you need, for my power is greatest when you are weak." - 2 Corinthians 12:9a

In 1822 Charlotte Elliot would have described herself as a very religious young woman - until she had a chance encounter with a man who infuriated her by asking if she was a Christian.  She quickly snubbed him, but for three weeks she thought of nothing else.  Fortunately she 'chanced' to meet the man again and told him how she had been trying to find Jesus.  "You have nothing of merit to bring to God.  You must come just as you are," he replied.  Charlotte later wrote the hymn which has brought thousands to Jesus all over the world:

Just as I am, without one plea

but that Thy blood was shed for me

and that Thou bid'st me come to Thee

O Lamb of God, I come, I come!

All her life Charlotte suffered from illness and crippling fatigue.  Confined to her home feeling useless, she often wished she could do wonderful things for her Lord like her brother, Henry, who was a clergyman with a highly successful ministry.  She did not live to hear him say one day, when his work was being highly praised, "I feel far more has been done by a single hymn of my sister's - 'Just As I Am.'"

O Lamb of God, I come.

Be All at Rest

"Be all at rest my soul." O blessed secret

Of the true life that glorifies the Lord:

Not always does the busiest soul best serve Him,

But he who resteth on His faithful Word.

"Be all at rest," for rest is highest service;

To the still heart, God doth His secrets tell.

Thus shalt thou learn to wait and watch and labour,

Strengthened to bear, since Christ in thee doth dwell.

For what is service, but the life of Jesus,

Lived through a vessel of earth's fragile clay,

Loving and giving, poured forth for others -

"A living sacrifice" from day to day.

And what shall meet the deep unrest around thee,

But the calm peace of God that fills His breast.

For still a living voice doth call the weary

To Him who said, "Come unto Me and rest."

Therefore "be all at rest, my soul," toward Him,

If thou a revelation of the Lord wouldst be:

For in the quiet confidence that never doubts Him,

Others His truth and faithfulness shall see.

"Be all at rest," for rest alone becometh

The soul that casts on Him its every care;

"Be all at rest," so shall thy life proclaim Him,

A God who worketh and who heareth prayer.

"Be all at rest," so shalt thou be an answer

To those who question, "Who is God, and where?"

For God is rest, and where He dwells is stillness;

And they who dwell in Him that rest shall share.

- Freda Hanbury Allen