A Sermon Preached by the Rev. A. N. Rowland on December 31, 1922, in Union Church, Shanghai "My times are in thy hand." Psalm $1.15.
Feels not his eyelids wet with grateful tears, If he hath been Permitted, weak and sinful as he was, To cheer and aid, in some ennobling cause, His fellow-men . The Psalmist was no doubt referring to his destiny, and so Prof. Macfadyen has translated it in his admirable paraphrase. It was one of the comforting thoughts that came to this unknown man in his deep distress, that, whatever happened, a good purpose was over all, and that he would have a happy issue out of all his afflictions.
That our times are in God's hand may be taken first as a definition of Providence. The length of our days, the measure of our success, the events we shall meet, the responsibilities we shall incur are out of our contro] and even our knowledge, but safe in the keeping of God. Whether by steep pathways or by still waters He will deal with us fairly and fatherly.
This faith was very common on the various battlefields of the Great War. Soldiers took it for a consolation, when utterly helpless in arain of projectiles that scattered death with strange uncertainty, that they were safe until their time was up and their number called. The words of the Psalmist were almost like a charm to many a soldier My times are in thy hand."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.