Instruction for Hope in Troubled Times

• Posted on January 3, 2018
• by Nancy
• in Community, Health and Wellness, Spire link
• Comments Off on Instruction for Hope in Troubled Times

I was drawn to Haskins’ poem, God Knows, because like Psalm 46 it speaks of stilling the heart, accepting our veiled human vision and resting in God’s comprehension. Like the Psalm, the instructions are based on unshakable truths and practice.

The poem gained popularity in 1939 when King George VI delivered his Christmas Day message to the English people on a BBC radio broadcast. At a time of national uncertainty and fear, the king sought to calm his people. He reminded them of the only true King, who could restore lasting peace and provide rest. King George concluded his message with the above preamble to the poem, God Knows.

As we cross the threshold to 2018, may your heart be stilled and your arms stretched to take God’s hand.

—Kathleen Zagata, Health Minister for the Ministerial Team

The Gate of the Year
God Knows

by Minnie Louise Haskins

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:
“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”
And he replied:
“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God.
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”
So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night.
And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.

So heart be still:
What need our little life
Our human life to know,
If God hath comprehension?
In all the dizzy strife
Of things both high and low,
God hideth His intention.

God knows. His will
Is best. The stretch of years
Which wind ahead, so dim
To our imperfect vision,
Are clear to God. Our fears
Are premature; In Him,
All time hath full provision.

Then rest: until
God moves to lift the veil
From our impatient eyes,
When, as the sweeter features
Of Life’s stern face we hail,
Fair beyond all surmise
God’s thought around His creatures
Our mind shall fill.