That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever. So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
He was a man who found joy in creation, pointing others toward hope and eternal beauty—even while he quietly walked through grief and mental anguish.
Maltbie Davenport Babcock wrote a well-loved hymn called ‘This Is My Father’s World.” The song opens our eyes to the beauty around us—and reminds us Who it belongs to. The rustling grass, the morning light, the song of the birds—all of it speaks of God’s presence. Even when the world feels broken, God is still in charge. He’s the Creator, the Ruler—and one day, through Jesus, everything will be made right again.
Though his words spoke of beauty and hope, Babcock’s own life was filled with deep sorrow. He and his wife lost both of their baby sons. And Babcock quietly battled depression. He became seriously ill while traveling and in a hospital room far from home, the minister took his own life. He was just 42.
Babcock wrote, “If God puts or permits anything hard in our lives, be sure that the real peril, the real trouble, is what we shall lose if we flinch or rebel.”[1] Babcock embodied this scripture: “ … Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever. So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).
What is your gaze fixed on today?
[1] Maltbie Davenport Babcock, Thoughts for Every-Day Living (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1901), “The Tests of Life: Opportunity of Trouble.”
