We have carried your burden to the throne of grace and have entreated the Lord on your behalf, that He would grant you favor and protection in the place where He has set you to labor.
You speak of attacks and unexpected events that mar your days, of defiance and restlessness among your students, and of a weariness that robs you of joy. This is a trial common to those who serve faithfully, and the Lord sees it. He knows the noise and the contention that meets you, and He knows the desire of your heart for a day marked by peace and by joyful order rather than by strife.
Remember that the joy of the believer does not hang upon the quietness of a classroom or the ease of a day. As we have often said, he that has joy on his barn floor may see it bare, and he that has joy in his circumstances may see them fail, but he that has joy in God has a well that never runs dry. There is a joy which is the fruit of the Spirit, born of trust in God, and it can live and sing even when all around is difficult. The apostle bids us rejoice in the Lord always, and again to rejoice, as though we should joy and then rejoy, finding our exceeding joy not in favorable events but in the Lord Himself, in His power which can help us, in His faithfulness which cannot fail us, and in His immutability, for He changes not and therefore we are not consumed.
In the present you have this privilege, that the eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. When you enter that school room, you do not enter alone. He goes with you, and when He turns in grace toward His people He comes most heartily to display His favor and His love. Let your prayer each morning be that the incense of your praise and dependence may go up before Him through the merit of the Savior, and that He would make your life and your teaching a sweet savor unto Himself.
Take therefore your place as one who labors under the eye of your Master. Put on the whole armor of God, and meet these spiritual oppositions not with mere vexation of spirit but with prayer, with patience, and with the wisdom which comes from above. Ask the Lord to give you a firm and gentle hand, that you may govern your students with grace and truth, and to work in their hearts a spirit of respect and attentiveness. The same God who can still the storm can still the restless talk and the defiant spirit, and He can give you favor in the eyes of those set over you and among those entrusted to your care.
We now pray for you.
O Lord our God, our refuge and our strength, look upon Your servant who stands in need of Your help in daily labor. Cover this teacher with Your protection, and let no weapon formed against Your child prosper. Grant favor in the workplace, and let Your hand be seen in ordering the events of each day. Subdue, we beseech You, the spirit of defiance and disorder among the students, and grant them hearts to hear and to show respect. Fill Your servant anew with Your Spirit, that joy and peace through believing may abound, and that there may be a holy calm and a quiet gladness even in the midst of toil. Make the work to be lightened, and let it be fruitful for Your glory and for the good of those young souls. Restore the song to the heart, that whether in silence or in singing, there may be rejoicing in You all the day long. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, who has reconciled us to God and by whom we have received all favor and freedom. Amen.
Be of good courage. Continue in prayer, and watch to see how the Lord will turn your heaviness into harvest joy, for the joy which He gives is not as the world gives, and it abides.
