Do Not Expect What Has Been Before

I am the God Who made you small
I am the God Who is all in all
I have kept you through the years
And if you look, I am still here

These are days like you’ve not known
Come reverently, come you alone
Do not expect what’s been before
These are the days of The Lord

The glory that was in past days
Now seems emptiness always
Hold up your heart of poverty
Not to the past, but to Me

These are days like you’ve not known
Come reverently, come you alone
Do not expect what’s been before
In these days look to The Lord

Disappointed and betrayed
Things you hoped for slipped away
Look around at all the change
And you’ll see that I am the same

These are days like you’ve not known
Come reverently, come you alone
Do not expect what’s been before
God has not less to come, but more

Sitting lonely and alone
Far away from love you’ve known
Never doubt that I am there
With you, every tear to share

These are days like you’ve not known
Come reverently, come you alone
Do not expect what’s been before
These are the days of The Lord

“Do not say, ‘Why were the old days better than these?’ For it is not wise to ask such questions.”
—Ecclesiastes 7.10

“I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
—Philippians 3:14

Leave God to order all your ways…

“Leave God to order all your ways,
And hope in Him, whatever betide;
Thou’lt find Him in the evil days,
Your all-sufficient Strength and Guide;
Who trusts in God’s unchanging love,
Builds on the rock that nothing can move.

“What can these anxious cares avail,
These never-ceasing moans and sighs?
What can it help us to bewail
Each painful moment as it flies?
Our cross and trials do but press
The heavier for our bitterness.

“Only your restless heart keep still,
And wait in cheerful hope; content
To take whatever His gracious will,
His all-discerning love has sent.
Doubt not our inmost wants are known
To Him who chose us for His own.

“He knows when joyful hours are best,
He sends them as He sees it meet;
When you have borne the fiery test,
And are made free from all deceit,
He comes to you all unaware,
And makes you own His loving care.

“Sing, pray, and swerve not from His ways,
But do your own part faithfully,
Trust His rich promises of grace,
So shall they be fulfilled in you;
God never yet forsook at need
The soul that trusted Him indeed.”
(Georg Neumark/Newmarch, 1653)

From “The Precious Things of God” by Octavius Winslow, Chapter on the Preciousness of Faith