You are setting out tomorrow evening on a train, and your heart carries the weight of many small uncertainties, whether there will be a seat for you, whether the journey will be safe, whether you will return in peace, and whether, in the few days that follow, your mind will be clear and your hand steady for the examination that stands between you and the work you need. I want you to carry a picture with you as you wait on that platform. It is an old picture, drawn from the very book of God, and it has been a warm blanket around many a cold heart. The psalmist says of the Lord, “He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings shall you trust.”
Think of a hen gathering her chicks when a hawk circles overhead. She does not give them a lecture on aerodynamics or scold them for straying too far. She simply spreads her wings, and they run into that soft, feathered refuge. The world outside may still be full of shadow and sudden motion, but under those wings there is a little kingdom of warmth and quiet. That is where you are, child, even as the train rattles through the night. You may not have a reserved seat, but you have a reserved place in the heart of Him who holds the winds in His fist. The wheels on the iron track, the strangers in the carriage, the unknown hours of travel, all of them are under His eye. Not a bolt works loose, not a signal shines, without His leave. So you may pillow your head upon that promise and sleep, if sleep will come, as one who is neither forgotten nor exposed.
And then the morning will break, and you will walk into that examination room. Perhaps your pulse will quicken, and your mind will question whether it has stored up enough, whether it will recall what it must in the nick of time. Here is another picture for you, and it is as homely as the first. Have you ever watched the grass after a long drought? It turns brown and crackles underfoot, and the gardener frets that nothing good will ever come of that patch again. But God sends the rain, not because the grass has earned it, not because it has scrubbed itself clean or tried harder to be green, but simply because He knows when His inheritance is weary. The rain falls silently in the night, and by morning the blades are standing tall and soft with new life. That rain is a figure of His grace. The same God who holds the storms in His hand holds also the gentle showers that refresh a single heart. You cannot make the rain fall, and you cannot by sheer effort conjure up the recollection of every fact or the composure you need. But He can, and He does, send timely help. Lean on that.
Your part is to prepare as well as you are able, to rise and go, to set your hand to the task, and then to look up. He does not promise that the journey will be without jolts, or that the paper will be filled with easy questions. But He does promise that under His wings you shall find a refuge, and that He will cause His grace to rain upon your weariness. In the carriage, in the exam hall, on the road home again, you are as near to Him as the chick is to the hen’s breast. There is no corner of the railway network, no timetable so tangled, no examiner’s office so imposing, that Christ is not present there before you.
So go, and do not let your heart be a chaos of anxious forecasts. The future is hidden from us for good reason: if we saw the whole map, our feet would grow leaden before we had taken ten steps. Instead, He gives us just the next thing, and the next, and with each one He gives the strength that matches it. Commend your journey and your sitting to Him, and then leave tomorrow’s trouble where it belongs, with the God who already holds tomorrow.
Let us pray.
Lord Jesus, You are the same yesterday and today and forever. You who once stilled the storm with a word now watch over this Your child on the train and in the examination. Cover him with Your feathers; let him find shelter under Your wings from every real danger and from the torment of needless fears. In the place of testing, send the quiet rain of Your grace upon his mind: quicken his memory, steady his hand, and let him do his best as unto You, not as unto men. And whether he gains the seat he desires or the job he seeks, settle his heart in the deeper certainty that he is already secure in Your love, which nothing in all creation can take away. Bring him home again in safety, and let the whole journey, outward and inward, be a fresh mark of Your faithfulness. In Your mighty name, Amen.
Prayer Focus: God, Thank You for loving me. Thank You for loving me, Jesus. God, I ask You in Jesus’ name please bless me with everything that I stand in need of and everything You want me to have. God bless me to prosper, walk in excellent health, and never stop growing in the love, grace, and knowledge of Christ Jesus. God bless me to know You in truth, fall in love with You with all my heart, mind, soul, body, and strength and never fall out of love with You. Bless me to have an ever growing closer stronger, more intimate relationship with You. Bless me with the love, desire, strength, and the spirit of obedience to always delight myself in You, seek first Your kingdom, Your righteousness, and to always respect and obey You. Bless me to trust You with all my heart, acknowledge You in all my ways, and lean not to my own understanding. Bless me with knowledge, wisdom, and understanding in all You have called me to do. 
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