something for us to make us fit to live in this life and in the next. So the Saviour comes to do this for us and the Scripture says, “The God of hope fill you with all joy and peace through believing.” You believe what God says about you. Then you believe what God says about His Son, and what the Lord Jesus said about Him self — also what Paul said about Him. Therefore, we go and kneel at Jesus’ feet and trust Him with our souls and with our sins and ourselves. Then He gives us enough happiness to keep us sweet. Then we need enough trials to keep us strong. So we read in I Peter 1:7 that “the trial of our faith is more precious than gold that perisheth . . .” And every time we have an experience of faith with God, it strengthens our faith, strengthens our trust. It strength ens our testimony and we remember what David did back in the 61st Psalm, “Because Thou hast been my help, therefore will I trust under the shadow of Thy wings.” He wrote this Psalm when he was in a cave running away from Saul. When was God his help? He remem bered one time when a lion snared a lamb out of the flock and he went after the lion and tearing his jaws apart, rescued the lamb and then killed the lion. He had another such experi ence with a bear. And then he remem bered that God was his help when Go- litfth loomed large, complete with spear, shield and armour bearer. It was then that God gave into his hands only a stone. But David’s aim was accurate — it was guided, and he took the sword and cut off the head of Goliath. He remembered that and so he said that “past deliverances” make me trust you in “present distresses.” Then the Lord give you enough la bor to keep you from rusting. And we read in Hebrews 12:28 “Serve the Lord with reverence and godly fear.” What a joy it is to have a job to do for God — helping others or perhaps visiting the sick or ministering to those in sore trouble. We can help make known His truth by helping missionaries in all
phases of their labors. You know a rub ber band gets hard and stiff unless we use it. In this illustration we can see that God wants us to have enough work to do for Him to keep us bright and happy. And listen, when you go into eternity, you will be so glad that you did have this abundance of work be cause He gives a reward to those who live for Him and serve Him. And the Lord give you enough lei sure to keep you broad: In Psalm 37, verse 7 He says, “Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him.” Now lis ten, did you ever sit down just for a while and think things over, get away alone from the busy life, the home life or the business life just to think and meditate on your own soul’s welfare, on your condition, on how you’re getting on and how you’re doing your work and whether its successful or not? Whether it’s profitable or not and whether you’re keeping well in the things of God and strong in your faith. Whether you’re learning from your Bi ble as you should and acting toward others as you should. You know it’s a wonderful thing to do. We read over in Mark 6:31 “Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place and rest awhile for there were many coming and going and they had no leisure so much as to eat.” So we get too busy! Now you take the battery out of the car long enough to charge it, don’t you? You take the sythe out of the harvest long enough to sharpen it, don’t you? We have to do things like that in our souls and bodies so the Lord give you the privilege and oppor tunity, or make it, to get alone and have leisure and that will broaden your vision, and make you a more useful Christian. Then the Lord give you enough sor row to keep you human. We read in Romans 12:15 “Weep with those that weep” and we ought to do that. Share with others their problems, and their griefs. And as you do so, you find the neighbors and friends will love you for it and different ones will come to you for comfort and cheer and help (continued on page 32) 19
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs