7. Resignation to the Will of God.—Trusting in God’s goodness, we are contented with the lot which [[278]]He determined for us. When we are prosperous we hope for His protection, lest we become corrupted and unworthy of His goodness; when we fail, faith in God will keep us from despair and encourage us to fresh attempts; when misfortune befalls us which it is impossible for us to remedy, we resign ourselves unto His Will, and say, “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away! blessed be the Name of the Lord!”
“My flesh and my heart failed; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever” (Ps. lxxiii. 26).
“I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the Lord; for his mercy is great” (2 Sam. xxiv. 14).
“We are bound to bless God in evil even as we bless Him in good fortune. It is written: ‘And thou shalt love the Lord, thy God, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might’ (Deut. vi. 5); love Him with all thy soul or life—i.e., even though for His sake thou risk thy life; and with all thy wealth—that is, whatever measure He metes out to thee, acknowledge with exceeding gratitude”[4] (Mishnah Berachoth ix. 5).
(b.) Duties towards God: In Speech.
The feelings of fear and love of God, of reverence, obedience, faith, gratitude, and resignation, must also [[279]]find adequate expression in our speech. God, the Omniscient, knows our thoughts and sentiments, and there would be no necessity for giving them an outward expression, if we only intended thereby to make them known to the Almighty. But as in our relations to our fellow-men—e.g., to our parents or to our children—we frequently, in obedience to an irresistible impulse, communicate to them in words what we think and what we feel, even when convinced that we only tell them things well known to them already, so we address the Almighty, who is everywhere near unto us, and listens to our speech, although our wishes are known to Him before we utter them, and our innermost feelings are open before Him before we express them in words. We are aware that there is an immeasurable difference between the Divine Being and earthly creatures like ourselves. We know that He is not subject to human weaknesses, and that the audible sound of words cannot move Him more than the thoughts and feelings that prompt the words to come forth. And yet the mere communion of our heart with our Creator does not satisfy us; we feel ourselves impelled by some inner force to give it an outward expression. Besides, there is a constant interaction between our thoughts and our spoken words. Thoughts and feelings that remain unspoken, are seldom permanent: we soon cease to be conscious of them ourselves, and they often disappear without leaving any trace behind them, whilst sentiments and ideas expressed in spoken words become strengthened and take a deeper and firmer root in our hearts. The relationship between our lips and our heart is therefore [[280]]of mutual benefit to both: the words uttered with the lips receive their value and importance from the heart, and the emotions of the heart derive strength and support from the lips.
1. Prayer.—All our feelings and sentiments towards the Almighty, our love and fear, faith and confidence, gratitude and resignation, find in Divine worship their due expression. When our soul is full of the love of God, and yearns for His presence, we call upon Him in hymns and songs of praise, and He is “nigh to all them who call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth” (Ps. cxlv. 18).
“I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have any being. Let my meditation be sweet unto him: I will rejoice in the Lord” (Ps. civ. 33, 34).
“Praise ye the Lord: for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant, and praise is comely” (Ps. cxlvii. 1).
“I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth” (Ps. xxxiv. 2).