"Let Us Go Hence" - A Poem by Annie Johnson Flint and A Thought

Photo taken near Kingston, Tenn.

I think pretty much all of us have experienced the difficulties, dramas, and sorrows of the last couple years in one way or another. This poem reminded me that we are not always called to a quiet, peace-filled life, though there are times of that. There will also be periods of turmoil and confusion, sometimes more than others. It is a bit daunting when it feels like everyone is going through things at the same time, but it is good to remember that other eras of God's workings with mankind have also ended on a sour note, so perhaps we are only tasting the first traces of the next era as we finish out ours. Revelation 22:20 He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Whatever the case, let's remember that in these troubled times we're going through there are still ways that we can be about our Father's business as we follow the Lord Jesus Christ.

“Let Us Go Hence”

 

“Let us go hence—from out the quiet chamber

Where soul with soul could meet,

From peace and safety, love and deep communion,

From tender counsel sweet:

“Hence”—to what grief, what terror and confusion,

Bewilderment and loss,

To shrieking mobs, to furious reviling,

The lash, the thorns. the cross.

 

And hast Thou called us, Lord, from peaceful pastures

To turmoil and to care,

To days of toil and nights of weary waking,

To watch with thee in prayer?

Then let us go, be it to shame and scorning,

To suffering and loss;

Even,—if Thou art with us, blessed Master—

 Yea, even to a cross.

- Annie Johnson Flint -

1 Peter 2:21-24 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

I would add one word of caution here. If you are going to suffer persecution or even death, let it be for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. Politics and personality cults are not worth dying or suffering for in the context written here.

Revelation 1:9 I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.