I Sit As A Child, At The Feet Of My LORD JESUS CHRIST.

My feeble hand lies in HIS; 
HIS omnipotent hand is 
clasped round mine!
(Alexander Smellie, "The Secret Place" 1907)

"Truly I say to you, unless you are converted 

and become like children, you will not enter 

the kingdom of Heaven!" Matthew 18:3 

One writes of Robert Louis Stevenson that, 

"it was part of his genius that he never 

seemed to grow old like the rest of us--

but was a child, a boy, a young man, 

and an old man all at once."

Just so, JESUS bids me to keep 

the young lamb's tender heart 

amid the full-grown flocks.

I look into the face of the child.
There are no hard and haughty lines
of pride, there is no blatant self-importance
in the features. Humility is written there.

Can I get back my vanished humility? 
I can. GOD the SPIRIT creates it when,
in my conversion, HE shows my sinfulness,
and teaches me to abhor my vile self.

And HE fosters meekness more and more,
as HE confirms in me the conviction that
not for a moment dare I dispense with
my SAVIOR and KEEPER and FRIEND.

I survey the mind of the child.
It is teachable.
It is well aware of its ignorance--
and it hungers and thirsts for
knowledge of every description.
And is there a mind anywhere, that
GOD has touched, which does not feel
itself in the presence of . . .
  problems still to be disentangled,
  mysteries waiting to be unfolded,
  great tracts of truth of which it knows little?

I have parted with the delusion of my
own wisdom. I sit as a child at the feet
of my great Prophet, CHRIST.

I peer into the imagination of the child.
It lives in a realm of marvels. But as I grow
older, I pass out of the magical country.
But when I experience the miracles
of saving grace--
they are more extraordinary
than the marvels I have left behind
in childhood. My sense of wonder 
and astonishment are reborn!

I remember the affections of the child.
They are the shrine of love--
unbounded and enthusiastic and
outspoken love. But by and by,
I am less frank and more reticent.

Convention, if not cynicism, has frozen
the love-look in the eyes, and the love-speech
on the tongue. Is there anything that will 
break the ice? Yes, the sight of GOD'S
love and grace in CHRIST will!

That brings me back to the spring.
That makes my heart grateful,
devoted, and affectionate.

I note the hand of the child.
It is not tremulous and worried.
It trusts. It lies in the father's hand,
certain that the father will lead it aright.

Just so, to the same peace and
unruffled faith, the new birth
should conduct me. Confiding
in my adorable REDEEMER and
Heavenly FATHER, I ought to have no
gloomy fears, about either my temporal
or my eternal well-being. My feeble hand 
lies in HIS; HIS omnipotent hand 
is clasped round mine!

All is well, because I know that

" GOD causes all things to work 
together for good to those who 
love GOD, to those who are called 
according to HIS purpose!" Romans 8:28

   ~  ~  ~  ~

GraceGems has published another superb short article by William Nicholson,
 "Fears Dispelled!"