Reading is what I love. But whenever the author of a book is quoting hymns or lines of hymns, you can see them before you get to them, skipping comes to my mind and I don’t read the hymns.

“‘Fear not, I am with thee, oh, be not dismay’d!

I, I am your God, and will give you aid.'”

Spurgeon quotes those two lines in his book MORNING AND EVENING Daily Readings (MORNING, January 16).

The text he is expounding on that day is from Isaiah and we find it in Isaiah 41:14: “I myself will help you, declares the LORD.”

Skipping came to my mind when I read the two lines, but those two lines are at the end of the page and I did not read them, but only glancing at the words was enough to make me pay attention.

What do I fear today? Is there something I am afraid of? Or are there even several things I am afraid of? What about making those phone calls and finding out how things are? And don’t forget to make that appointment. The sooner the better. Is that not our story?

It is so easy to get depressed and discouraged. Are you dismayed today? God is our heavenly Father and does not want us to fear. We are his children and he is with us.

In the second line it says twice “I”. Let us look to him and believe what he says. He will give us support. We want to remember that he is our foundation (First Corinthians 3:11). Let us encourage each other on our way.

And I know also that all that is easier said than done.

I am wondering now if I have learned to pay attention to the quoted hymns in the books I read. The author knows why he is putting the lines there.