remember Uriah and Bathsheba; he remembered God. Men sometimes are troubled over others they have wronged but they do not think in terms of God. Godly sorrow does not come until we remem ber God and are troubled. Again, WHEN I REMEMBER HOW GOOD GOD IS AND HOW UNTHANKFUL I AM, I AM TROUBLED. “ The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.” It ought never be necessary for God to send affliction in order to bring us to tears. The goodness o f God ought to put every one o f us on our knees. How can any man reflect on God who daily loadeth him with benefits and then not weep for his ingratitude ? The sin of unthankfulness, taking God for granted, is the commonest of evils. We are like the ten lepers of whom only one returned to thank Jesus. We take the beauty of creation, the loveli ness o f nature, for granted. We take health for granted until we have time in a hospital to feel our loss. We take America for granted and forget that millions would give everything for a day of our freedom. We take loved ones as a matter of course until we stand at a grave with our hearts buried there. Above all, we take the Gospel for granted, the grace o f God, the privilege o f living for Christ, the fellowship of saints, . . . God help us that we fail to stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene and fail to wonder how He could save us sinners, condemned, unclean. “We never miss the water till the well runs dry.” “O that men would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the chil dren o f men.” His goodness is meant to produce rejoicing but first His goodness is meant to lead us to repentance. Adversity often brings about a prayer-meeting but before we have praise on Thanksgiving Day we ought to begin with confes sion of sin. It is a good thing to remember God and be thankful but first we had better remember God and be troubled. Finally, WHEN I REMEMBER HOW BUSY GOD IS AND HOW UNFAITHFUL I AM, I AM TROUBLED. The colored people have a spiritual, “My God’s a-workin’ all the time.” Jesus said “My Father worketh hitherto and I work.” The night is coming when no man can work. We are laborers together with God but what miserable stewards we have been! It is required in stewards that a man be found faithful and how unfaithful we have been! So much to do, so little done! It is said that Samuel Johnson carried on his
watch the inscription, “ The night cometh.” God is doing great business in this world and His eyes run to and fro looking for workers, The harvest is plenteous; the laborers are few. “Whom shall I send and who will go for us?” Alas, we say “ I go, Sir” and go not, or else we go but we build with wood, hay and stubble. There is no substitute for work. God is a busy God and our Lord was a busy worker. Our idleness and laziness ought to trouble us and sometimes I think our very busy-ness is a substitute for the real work of God. A lot of church activity today is not God’s business at all and keeps us from His work while all the time we congratulate ourselves that we are active Christians. Often God is out to do one thing and we are out doing something else. Un faithfulness to the work of God is not confined to idlers and backsliders. There are dear people work ing seven days a week in religious activity who are not helping God at all. They are actually in His way. Faithfulness to a cause, an organization, a project is not always loyalty to God, even though it bears His name. Our Lord started out as a boy about His Father’s business. Some of us are about a lot of busy-ness but we are not always doing the most business when we seem most busy. “While thy servant was busy here and there, behold he was gone” and a lot of worth-while things get away while we are not idle but busy puttering around in the name of religion. Yes, I remember how busy God is and I am troubled, not merely at the quantity of work I have done, for I should have done so much more, but at the quality o f what I did perform. God is not inter ested in quantity production. That is an American, not a Bible, standard. Sometimes we do more by doing less. But I am grieved over the poor quality o f my service, how little heart I put into it. I have not done it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men. “Not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord” . . . I remember that and am troubled! But the kind of trouble that remembrance of God brings is trouble that leads through tears to triumph. When we remember how holy God is and how sinful we are, we seek His cleansing. When we remember how good God is and how unthankful we are, we sing His praises. When we remember how busy God is and how unfaithful we are, we do His will. May He stir up our minds by way o f remem brance “ lest we forget!”
JULY, 196«
13
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker