like those of the two who walked to Emmaus when Jesus was beside them and they did not know it.  Your feeling or not feeling that He is there has nothing at all to do with it, because His word must be true and is true, and He has said, “I am with you alway.”  All you have to do is to be happy in believing it to be true.  And if you go on believing it, you will soon begin to realize it; that is, to find that it is a real thing, and that Jesus really is with you.

How long will He be with you?  Always, “all the days!” He hath said, “I will never leave thee.”  “Never” means really never, not for one moment.  You can not get beyond “never.”  It goes on all through your life, and all through God’s great “forever.”  And “always” means really always, every single moment of all your life, so that you need never ask again, “Is Jesus with me now?” Of course He is! the answer will always be “yes,” because He hath said, “I am with you alway.”  How safe, how sweet, how blessed!

    “O Jesus, make Thyself to me
    A living, bright reality! 
    More present to faith’s vision keen
    Than any outward object seen;
    More dear, more intimately nigh,
    Than even the sweetest earthly tie.”

21.  Twenty-first Day.

Doing God’s Will.

   “Teach me to do Thy will.”—­Ps. cxliii. 10.

When you see some one doing with very great delight some beautiful and pleasant piece of work, have you not thought, “I should like to be able to do that!” and perhaps you have said, “Please, teach me how to do it.”

Can you think of anything pleasanter to do than what the very angels are full of delight in doing?  Can you think of anything more beautiful to do than what is done in the “pleasant land,” the beautiful home above?  Can you fancy anything more interesting to do than what the dwellers there will never get tired of doing for thousands of millions of years?  Would you not like to be taught to do it too?—­to begin the pleasant and beautiful and most interesting work now, instead of waiting till you are grown up, and then perhaps never learning it at all, because it was put off now?  Then pray this little prayer this morning with all your heart, “Teach me to do Thy will.”  For it is His will that is the happiest work above, and the very happiest thing to do here below.

What is His will?  The Prayer-Book version of this Psalm tells you very simply and sweetly.  It says, “Teach me to do the thing that pleaseth Thee.”  So doing God’s will is just doing the things, one by one, that please Him.

Why did David ask this?  He goes on to say why—­“For Thou art my God.”  If God is really our God, we too shall wish to do the thing that pleaseth Him.  David did not think he could do it of himself, for he says next, “Let Thy loving Spirit lead me.”  That loving Spirit will lead you too, dear child, and show you how beautiful and grand God’s will is, and make you long to do it always, and teach you to do it.  So that even on earth you may begin to do what the angels are doing in heaven!