We have heard your earnest cry concerning your work and your daily bread, and we have carried your request before the throne of grace.
You ask for a settled schedule, to take the train near ten in the morning and to return near twenty past five, and to be spared the constant changing of classrooms which has for years brought weariness to your body, to your nerves and stomach, and confusion to your labors. We understand how these outward pressures weigh upon the inward man, and how the thronging duties of a school day can press hard upon the spirit.
Let me point you to that which the Lord Himself holds out as your first need. It is written, You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. There is a peace which is a present possession and may be enjoyed in the ordinary circumstances of life, not only when all is ordered to our liking, but even with sorrows surging round. To do the will of Jesus, this is rest. The blood of Jesus whispers peace within, and that peace is not a mere lull of anxiety or blindness to danger, but a solid ground to rest upon, for He Himself is our peace, made through His blood, wrought in the soul by the Holy Spirit. Seek Christ first, and peace will come next.
We are also reminded that anxiety itself unfits us to meet the difficulty which occasions it. It is beautiful to see how often Scripture is busy with indoor work, the work that has to be done within one's own heart. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. When the mind is stayed on the Lord, He brings daylight where there was midnight. Your work as a teacher is a calling entrusted to you, and our Lord said, I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day. The doctrine of grace does not lull us into sloth, but where the Holy Spirit works He makes men to work with diligence and faithfulness. Yet the particular department of work entrusted to us is not the hinge upon which the whole universe turns. God can be trusted with the ordering of your hours and your place of labor.
Therefore we pray for you, that the Lord in His wisdom and mercy would order your schedule according to His good will, and if it be for your good and His glory, grant you that stability you so desire, a fixed room and settled hours, that you may do your work with quietness and strength. And if in His higher wisdom He appoints otherwise, we pray He will keep you in perfect peace, renew your peace day by day, guard your health, give you grace to bear your burden with Him, and make your mind steadfast and immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. May He give favor with those who form the timetable, give you strength for each classroom and each hour, and let your life and teaching commend the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom alone we have peace with God and the hope of Heaven.
We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, our only Savior and our peace, that His will be done and that you may know His keeping power in body and soul.