January 20

The careth for you. — 1 PETER v. 7.

Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the foods of the air; for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? — MATT. vi. 25, 26.

"TAKE no thought" (Revised version, "Be not anxious"), which means do not worry; and the reason is, you have a heavenly Father who can and will provide. Whatever betide, we must not lose confidence in God. When Abraham departed from the home where he expected to spend his old age, and turned his face toward the unknown scenes of Canaan, God said, "Fear not, I am thy shield," and this same "fear not," like a soothing refrain, purls to the end of Holy Writ.

The world tries to cast away care. Hence the endeavor to drown it in pleasures, to neutralize it by absorption in business, to amuse it with the aims of ambition. But care thus cast away, often returns like a boomerang. Scripture tells us, "Cast thy burden on the Lord, he shall sustain thee." The care is a care. Often it is a painful reality. We must have prudent thought about temporal affairs, and about our families. Scripture has no encouragement for lazy people, but it abounds in consolation for the toiling children of men. Now the true course is, not to cast away that care, but to consign it to God, who is as deeply interested in the objects of our care as we are; whose wisdom will direct what is best for them, and whose power can secure the accomplishment. Cares tend to crossness. Let us sweeten each cup of bitterness by some promise of our heavenly Father.

Geo. H. Mott

The birds without barn or store-house are fed; From them let us learn to trust for our bread.

NEWTON.