March 1932
107
T h e K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
If you have never found God to be the El Shaddai, if you are still trying to satisfy your thirst with water drawn from broken cisterns, throw away your worldly water pots and drink henceforth of the “living water” which alone can satisfy. Jehovah Jesus, “the God who is enough,” wishes not only to save, but to satisfy. “E nough ” for S ervice The third way in which we may know God as the El Shaddai, is as “the God who is enough” for strength in His service. If God ever calls you into His service, no matter how weak you are, or what sense of insufficiency you may have, He will be your sufficiency. Before He went away, He said to His disciples: “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the age.”: He gave them that -assurance in connection with the greatest task that He ever committed to any one. He was sending them into a world filled with selfishness, sensual ity, and materialism, to be His witnesses “unto the utter most part of the earth,” to preach His word, to proclaim His gospel, and to make disciples of men. What a sense of insufficiency must have taken possession of those disci ples as they realized the tremendous task that the Lord had given them to do ! And how often they must have reminded themselves of His reassuring promise, “Lo, I am with you alway” ! Endued with power from on high, they went into the world and made converts everywhere. In the strength of El Shaddai, they preached the gospel of Christ; and at the close of the first century, they had brought to Him over two hundred thousand men. At the close of the third cen tury, the number had increased to about eight million, or one-fifteenth of the entire population of the Roman Em pire, and that took place in spite of “dungeon, fire, and sword,” in spite of arenas filled with wild beasts, in spite of persecution and hardships of every description. What was the secret of their success, their persistence, and their en durance ? El Shaddai, the living God, was with them! If He calls you for difficult service, whether it be at home or abroad, remember that the great El Shaddai, “the God who is enough,” will go with you, and will give you strength. Fortify yourself, even as the early disciples for tified themselves, with His promise, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the age.” id you ever hear the story of the preacher who was visiting an old Scotch lady, who knew her Bible well ? He thought it his duty to leave a text with her, and as he rose to depart, he remarked: “What a wonderful promise that is, ‘Lo, I am with you alway’ !” [Continued on page 120]
“E nough ” for S atisfaction T he second way in which God wants us to know Him is as “the God who is enough” for our satisfaction. What a multitude of dissatisfied people there are in this world today! And their thirst for satisfaction is greater than their thirst for water. One of the saddest sights we have seen in recent years was brought to us through the newspapers which published pictures of starv ing Armenian children. Long rows of little children were shown, waiting their turn, when their little cups—one in each child’s hand—would be filled with soup, the only daily ration to satisfy an appetite that was never fully appeased. I can tell you of an even sadder sight than tha t: to see hu man beings trying to satisfy the great desires of their hearts with the weak and beggarly elements of the world. God created us, that He might dwell within us, and He is the only One who can satisfy our hearts. He said to the woman at the well, “If you drink of the water that I shall give you, you shall never thirst.” That woman was like many people living today. She had tried everything else. She had gone into the depths of sin, looking for satisfac tion. But that day at the well, she came face to face with the El Shaddai. She drank of the water that He offered, the “living water,” and the result was that “she left her water pot.” Did the significance of that action ever strike you? She left the thing which she used to draw water. Does it not seem to you that, in this little incident, God is teaching us the fact that, when a man comes in contact with the Son of God, with El Shaddai, all the water pots that are" used to draw water from the broken cisterns of this world are left behind ? The Pacific Garden Mission of Chicago is a place where thousands of men have been redeemed and reclaimed. A visitor there will hear wonderful stories of how sinners, after meeting the Son of God, found there was no more need for them to drink from the muddy streams of the world, of how the things in which they sought satisfac tion, the “water pots” which they used to draw water to satisfy their thirst, were left behind. I wonder, have you ever Heard the voice of Jesus say, “Behold I freely give The living water, thirsty one, Stoop down, and drink, and live!" And can you, with countless multitudes, sing,
/ came to Jesus and I drank Of that life-giving stream; My thirst was quenched, my soul revived, And now I live in Him!
AUDITORIUM OF THE BIBLE INSTITUTE OF LOS ANGELES, IN WHICH THE CHURCH OF THE OPEN DOOR WORSHIPS
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