THE FAMILY ALTAR 

September 13.

"
." PsALMS 31:15.

In these evil-boding days it is especially comforting to lift up

our eyes to our heavenly Father and to confess with the Psalmist :

"My times are in Thy hand !" For what evil can befall us if our

God and Father in heaven has all the days and hours of our life

in His almighty and loving hand? He then directs and governs

all things for us, blesses our work, sustains us in all trials, and

when He sends us afflictions, He does so for our good. "I know

the thoughts that \ think toward you, thoughts of peace and not

of evil, to give you an expected end," He assures us by the mouth

of His holy prophet Jeremiah. And because that is so, He also

has all the circumstances of our dying hour in His blessed hand.

No matter when or where or how death comes to us, we shall be

upheld and saved by His almighty hand from which nothing,

nothing can pluck us. 0 what deep and heart-satisfying comfort

this is: "My times are in Thy hand!" May God in His mercy

help us that we may never forget this consoling truth and also

the sacred obligation it involves. Because our times are God's

times, they constitute a sacred trust. We shall have to give an

account to God of the manner in which we employ our days. Let

us not waste them in mere pleasure-seeking, nor idle them away,

nor misuse them for selfish and miserly purposes, but let us faith-

fully redeem the time by ever doing our Father's will, seeking

first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and by deeds of

helpful love gathering for ourselves treasures in heaven, where moth

and rust cannot corrupt and where no thieves break through and

steal. Every new day which He gives us is also in His hand.

May we use it