Let us try to grasp the full comfort of this thought, for we live in a world of surprises.  We rise in the morning, not knowing what the day may bring forth.  We are walking on a road with many turnings, and we never know what may meet us at the next step!

All of a sudden we find ourselves face to face with an unexpected perplexity.  What shall we do?  What course shall we take?  Here is the little prayer made ready for our use—­

    Lord, guide me.

Then, at the next turn, comes a sudden temptation.  Unjust, cruel words are spoken, and we feel we must give an angry reply.  Let us stop one moment before we answer, and in that moment put up the short prayer—­

    Lord, help me.

Or a sudden danger, bodily or spiritual, stares us in the face.  At once we may lift up the heart and cry—­

    Lord, save me.

There is no need to kneel down, no need to speak aloud, no need to move from our place.  In the office, the workshop, the schoolroom, the place of business, the railway carriage, the street, wherever we may be and in whatever company, the short silent prayer may be sent up to the God of heaven.

Thank God, no such prayer is ever unanswered!

CHAPTER III.

The Good Hand.

The mighty universe, the great empire of the King of kings, who shall give us even a faint idea of its size?

It has been calculated that about 100,000,000 stars can be seen from our world by means of a telescope.  Yet who can grasp such a number as that?  Which of us can picture in his mind 100,000,000 objects?  Let us suppose that instead of 100,000,000 stars we have the same number of oranges; let us arrange our oranges in imagination on a long string, which shall pass through the centre of each of them.  How long will our string have to be if it is to hold the 100,000,000 oranges?  It will have to be no less than 6,000 miles long, and our 100,000,000 oranges will stretch in a straight line from England to China.

One hundred million stars, and of all these God is King.  But these are but as a speck compared with His vast universe.  Each telescope that is invented, which enables us to see a little further into space, discovers more and more worlds unseen before.  Who can even guess how many still lie beyond, unseen, unnoticed, unheard of?  The regions of space are endless, as God their Maker is endless.

And all these countless worlds are under the eye of the King of kings.  He rules all, watches all, guides all.  Can I, then, believe that He will have time to take notice of my tiny affairs?  Can He care if I am sick, worried, or poor, or depressed?  Surely I must be ready to say with the Psalmist—­

’When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars which Thou hast ordained, what is man, that Thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that Thou visitest him?’