December 9: Dwelling and Working

 •  2 min. read  •  grade level: 6
Listen from:
CH 4:23{"There!" Not in any likely place at all, not in the palace, not in the city of the great king, but in about the last place one would have expected, "among plants and hedges." It does not even seem clear why they were there at all, for they were potters, not gardeners—thus giving us the combination of simple labor of the hands, carried on in out-of-the-way places; and yet they were dwellers with the king, and workers with the king. Anywhere and everywhere we, too, may dwell with the King for His work. We may be in a very unlikely or unfavorable place for this—it may be in a literal country life, with little enough to be seen of the goings of the King around us; it may be among hedges of all sorts, hindrances in all directions; it may be, furthermore, with our hands full of all manner of pottery for our daily task. No matter! The King who placed us there will come and dwell there with us; the hedges are all right, or He would soon do away with them, and it does not follow that what seems to hinder our way may not be for its very protection; and as for the pottery, why, that is just exactly what He has seen fit to put into our hands, and therefore it is, for the present, "His work.”
Now I will turn to my own land, and tell
What I myself have seen and heard of Thee,
And give Thine own sweet message, "Come and see!”
And yet in heart and mind forever dwell
With Thee, my King of Peace, in loyal rest,
Within the fair pavilion of Thy presence blest.