Restore Unto Me the Joy of Thy Salvation Psalm 51:12

Restore Unto Me the Joy of Thy Salvation
Psalm 51:12

SEE, Lord, I am but the least of thy disciples: I have not much intelligence, I am not versed in the things of heaven, but I love thee.

No doubt I have been too busy attending to the affairs of my material life, and that is why it is so difficult for thy life to be born in me!

It seems that I am made of a heavier clay than other men. How does it happen that my soul so rarely knows joy, when others more unfortunate than myself I hear laugh and sing? Without joy. Lord, even the faith of thy saints would be an earth without a sun, and their charity would have no perfume. They are like the birds of the air, like the flowers of the field, counting on thee to feed and clothe them, but thou givest them besides that overflowing of the heart that is like the song of birds and the scent of flowers.

It is for lack of this that thou seest me every day dejected. It seems that thou respondest so rarely to my call! So rarely does there sound in my heart that bell of joy that peals in the carillon of the gospel!
And yet thou didst say: "Blessed are they that mourn." Do I not grieve enough? "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst." Knowest thou how I hunger to share the joy of thine elect?

Lord, I am ready to bless thee in spite of thy silences, and in spite of loneliness, but at least rekindle my soul! Give me something, even if it be only the joyous heart of a vagabond whistling along the road, or the song of the nightingale!

I would love thee as one who rejoices, and not as one who carries a crushing burden!

By Philippe Vernier

Thank you for the post, was very blessed and encouraged 'whilst' reading it! Is Philippe Vernier a Puritan? Definitely has the wonderful markings of it :)

G'day Will,

On the inside of the dust cover of one the books it says this about him.-

Philippe Vernier
The young author of these
meditations is called by those
who know him "a modern St.
Francis." His life is joyous and
radiant, no matter what his own
conditions. As pastor of a Belgian
mission church, or working
among children in a summer
camp or with the coal miners
of Quaregnon, his spirit has always
been that of one whose life
is "with the Master." He has
spent twenty-nine months of his
life in French prisons””twenty four
months in solitary confinement””
for his refusal to take
military training, yet even there,
he confided, "God was so near
and real that I was sometimes
almost overpowered." Once he
broke out singing out of sheer
happiness. The warden, exasperated,
had him shut up in a
special cell for eight days, with
only a stone bench for furnishings,
and only bread and water
for food half the time. But the
sense of God's presence continued.
It was, he declared, "like
a song in the depths of my
heart." These meditations have
that same quality of, singing joy.