Devotional

Have faith in God –
The fruitage of His Word;
Have faith in God –
How deep the heart if stirred;
Have faith in God –
His love you’ve felt and heard.
Have faith, dear friend, in God.

And the Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely. Revelation 22:17.

    Words by Stephen of Mar Saba (Judea), 8th Century; translated from Greek to English by John M Neale in Hymns for the Eastern Church, 1862. Neale gave it the unusual title “Idiomela, in the Week of the First Oblique Tone.” However, Neale later said these lyrics contained little of the original Greek version.
    Some years ago, writes Mr. James A. Watson, of Blackburn, England, ‘I often visited one of our adult Sunday school scholars who had just been brought to the knowledge of the Saviour. She heard a gospel of full and free salvation, embraced it, and gradually became a faith-filled, consistent Christian. She was laid low with a serious illness, but it was always a pleasure to visit her. On one occasion she told me that the evening before, when she had been left alone for the night, a cloud came over her spirit, the sense of loneliness grew upon her, and she seemed forsaken of God. All looked black, and she dreaded the long, lone night. This was a most unusual thing and she wondered why it should be so. Just then, in the quiet night, she heard steps on the flags of the footway. A man wearing the clogs of the factory operator was coming along, evidently returning late from some religious meeting. He was full of joy, for before he reached the house where my scholar was laying awake, he struck up in a joyful and loud song, ‘Art thou weary, art thou languid?’ The singer, an ‘angel in clogs,’ went on his way, singing aloud out of a full heart; but deep down into the heart of the lonely woman went the words, ‘Be at rest!’ Again she cast herself upon the Lord; the cloud parted, peace and rest filled her heart, and she doubted no more.”
    This hymn was sung in the 1940 movie Our Town, which was nominated for several Academy Awards.

Art thou weary, art thou languid,
Art thou sore distressed?
“Come to Me,” saith One, “and coming,
Be at rest.”

Hath He marks to lead me to Him,
If He be my Guide?
In His feet and hands are wound prints
And His side.

Hath He diadem, as monarch,
That His brow adorns?
Yes, a crown in very surety,
But of thorns.

If I find Him, if I follow,
What His guerdon here?
Many a sorrow, many a labor,
Many a tear.

If I still hold closely to Him,
What hath He at last?
Sorrow vanquished, labor ended,
Jordan passed.

If I ask Him to receive me,
Will He say me nay?
Not till earth and not till Heaven
Pass away.

Finding, following, keeping, struggling,
Is He sure to bless?
Saints, apostles, prophets, martyrs,
Answer, Yes!