Hallowed Work

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I asked of God that He should give success
To the high task I sought for Him to do;
I asked that every hindrance might grow less
And that my hours of weakness might be few;
I asked that far and lofty heights be scaled;
And now I humbly thank Him that I failed.
For with the pain and sorrow came to me
A dower of tenderness in act and thought;
And with the failure came a sympathy,
An insight which success had never brought.
Father, I had been foolish and unblest
If Thou hadst granted me my blind request.
—J. Stuart Holden. P. 146


This poem should be of great encouragement to many of us who feel we have been hindered in life from being a true success. In God’s economy, He turns seeming failures into the greatest of our achievements although we usually cannot view them as such at the time. This poem is taken from in the book, Royal Insignia, a compilation on humility written and compiled by Edwina and Lillian Harvey.
Frances Ridley Havergal tells us that “weakness will be power,” when we realize our need of total reliance on the Lord:

“I could not do without Thee!
I cannot stand alone:
I have no strength or goodness,
No wisdom of my own.
But Thou, beloved Savior,
Art all in all to me;
And weakness will be power,
If leaning hard on Thee.”
—Frances Ridley Havergal, Royal Insignia, p. 178

Without humility religious progress is impossible. The true growth of the soul is not to be measured by our attempting many extraordinary duties but by our power of doing simple duties well. And humility, when it reigns in the soul, carries this principle into practice. It bids us hallow our work, especially whatever may be to us hard or distasteful work.—H. P. Liddon, Ibid, p. 146
Royal Insignia is published by Harvey Christian Publishers and is available in their Online Christian Bookstore.

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They Knew Their God—Frances Ridley Havergal

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Frances Ridley Havergal
Most of us are acquainted with Frances Ridley Havergal, poet and hymn-writer. The words “Take my life and let it be, consecrated, Lord to Thee” are from one of her most well known hymns. Edwin and Lillian Harvey have quoted her in several of their compilations and they have written about her in Volume Two of the They Knew Their God Series.

She is also included in the first volume of The Call Back Series, Illness. Frances knew well what it was to suffer pain and she “calls back” to us to remind us that pain often brings us nearer our Lord if we use it rightly. The following poem sums it up for us:

“I take this pain, Lord Jesus
From Thine own hand,
The strength to bear it bravely
Thou wilt command.
I am too weak for effort
So let me rest,
In hush of sweet submission,
On Thine own breast.

“I take this pain, Lord Jesus,
As proof indeed
That Thou art watching closely
My truest need:
That Thou, my Good Physician,
Art watching still;
That all Thine own good pleasure
Thou wilt fulfill.

“‘Tis Thy dear hand, O Savior
That presseth sore,
The hand that bears the nail-prints
Forevermore.
And now beneath its shadow,
Hidden by Thee,
The pressure only tells me
Thou lovest me.”
—Frances Ridley Havergal.
Written in severe pain, Sunday afternoon, October 8th, 1876, at the Pension Wengen, The Alps, Switzerland.

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