Poem March 20, 1954 Issue

SAFETY

Jessie Ash Arndt

Unfaltering in awareness of his God,
Elijah faced the earthquake, storm, and fire.
So we may stand unmoved as mountains melt,
And outworn structures fall before the blast.
As he, within the shelter of the rock,
Beheld the raging elements of earth,
And yet in quiet safety listened there
To hear God's voice and know the Father's will,
So we, with Christ our Rock, are sheltered as
Elijah was and quieted to heed
God's tender message in the battle's heat,
And midst the tempest, when foundations shake,
Discern, with new conviction and release,
That these upheavals which our eyes behold
Come not from God, who made the universe,
And man the perfect image of Himself.
Then what glad gratitude uplifts our hearts
As we receive this sacred flood of light
And see these dark scenes only dreams of sense—
Not sent by God, and hence but boasts of power—
All causeless, nonexistent, null and void.
Then, like Elijah, in the mighty calm
We are encompassed by the still small voice.