I ran across this poem in doing some research on Annie Johnson Flint. Her insight into the grace of God is tremendous. The grace of God is a theme of many of her poems, but that is not surprising when you consider she spent the last 40 years or so of her life with painful, crippling arthritis. The more I learn about her, the more I am impressed with the sustaining grace of God in her life, and her faith in the Lord. This poem has to do with our focus. It needs to remain on Jesus. None else will sustain and comfort through the trials of life. Enjoy!
“I See Jesus”
I don’t look back: God knows the fruitless efforts,
The wasted hours the sinning, the regrets;
I leave them all with Him Who blots the record,
And mercifully forgives, and then forgets
I don’t look forward, God sees all the future,
The road that, short or long, will lead me home,
And He will face with me its every trial,
And bear for me the burdens that may come.
I don’t look round me: then would fears assail me,
So wild the tumult of earth’s restless seas;
So dark the world, so filled with woe and evil,
So vain the hope of comfort or of ease.
I don’t look in; for then am I most wretched;
Myself has naught on which to stay my trust;
Nothing I see save failures and short-comings,
And weak endeavors crumbling into dust.
But I look up —Into the face of Jesus,
For there my heart can rest, my fears are stilled;
And there is joy, and love, and light for darkness,
And perfect peace, and every hope fulfilled.
