June 2

Rests in the divine symphony

“And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested” (Gen. 2:2).

In our whole life-melody the music is broken off here and there by “rests,” and we foolishly think we have come to the end of the tune. God sends a time of forced leisure, sickness, disappointed plans, frustrated efforts, and makes a sudden pause in the choral hymn of our lives. We lament that our voices must be silent, and our part missing in the music which ever goes up to the ear of the Creator. How does the musician read the “rest”? See him beat the time with unvarying count, and catch up the next note, true and steady, as if no breaking-place had come between.
Not without design does God write the music of our lives. Be it ours to learn the tune, and not be dismayed at the “rests.” They are not to be slurred over, not to be omitted, not to destroy the melody, not to change the keynote. If we look up, God Himself will beat the time for us. With the eye on Him, we shall strike the next note full and clear. If we sadly say to ourselves, “There is no music in a ‘rest,’” let us not forget “there is the making of music in it.”
—John Ruskin.

There’s a song that God is writing on the staff for you and me,
And its melody is sweeter than the songs of earth could be;
For the major and the minor of this song of life sublime
Bring us nearer home to Heaven—when God beats time. . . .

There are “holds” and “rests” before us, and to pause it may be hard,
But we find a hidden meaning when we come to God’s “retard”;
He alone can give expression, make the song of life sublime,
If we only mind the pauses—when God beats time.

There are chords of minor music that we may not understand,
In this song of life unfolding, written by the Master’s hand;
Yet how patiently He lingers till we catch the glory chime,
And the song is made the sweeter—when God beats time.

When at last the curtain’s lifted, and the choirs of Heaven stand
In the Hallelujah greeting to the happy, blood-washed band,
Then our sharpest “accidental” with the angel notes will rhyme
In the chorus of redemption—when God beats time.
—F. M. Lehman.
“When God Beats Time,” by F. M. Lehman. Copyright property of the Nazarene Publishing House, U.S.A. Used by permission.

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