“God Knows”

[Minnie Louise Haskins wrote “God Knows” in 1907 and published it in 1912. The poem was popularized when King George VI quoted it in his Royal Christmas Message of 1939. A message of peace through faith, “God Knows” brought comfort to a nation plunging into World War II. Terrible things have come, and will come—but God knows, and His will is best. The poem is sometimes called “The Gate of the Year,” but I submit it to the reader under the name given by the author.]

'God Knows'

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:
"Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown".
And he replied:
"Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way". So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night. And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.

So heart be still:
What need our little life
Our human life to know,
If God hath comprehension?
In all the dizzy strife
Of things both high and low,
God hideth His intention.

God knows. His will
Is best. The stretch of years
Which wind ahead, so dim
To our imperfect vision,
Are clear to God. Our fears
Are premature; In Him,
All time hath full provision.

Then rest: until
God moves to lift the veil
From our impatient eyes,
When, as the sweeter features
Of Life's stern face we hail,
Fair beyond all surmise
God's thought around His creatures
Our mind shall fill.