August 1927
496
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
God’s Word to the Weary B y R ev . A lbert S impson R eitz
dom that fills all the space ’twixt the earth and the skies.” Stevenson and Lanier both knew the weariness of bodily illness but one knew a bit better than the other the secret of finding refuge in Him who giveth rest unto the soul. Again there are those who are W eary of S orrow and S in . The world is full of sorrow, and how often we find people who say, “I have more than my share.” We do not minimize the reality of sorrow but we do know that when we compare our sorrow with the sorrow of Him who was called “a 'man of sorrows and acquainted with grief,” we find our own sorrow lessened. How wonder ful to think that, “He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows,” and all we need to do is to come to Him for refuge and we find our burden of sorrow lifted. He speaks to us in the words of the hymn, “Come, ye disconsolate, where’er ye languish, : Come to the mercy seat, fervently kneel. Here bring your wounded heart, here tell your an guish, Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal !” Cast yourself at His feet, even as the little fawn fell at the feet of the hunter ,to escape the baying hounds. Then there are those who are weary of sin.. Walk the streets of, our city at night and see the sin- weary ones. They may not always admit it but their very actions speak louder than their words. See them in our Rescue Missions, men who have “spent all.” The wine that gave color to the cup now yields but the sting of the adder. S e c the weary pleasure-seekers, trying to find some new way oi forgetting their sin. What a privilege to speak a word in season to the sin-sick soul. What joy to lead them to the “fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel’s veins, where sinners, plunged beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains!” Occasionally we find those who arè W eary of S ervice and B urdens ., : After long weeks of service there are “no results,” Like Elijah, we sit down in discouragement; like Mark, we turn-back in the midst of discouragements. But after all, God does not want us to look for results. If we look aftér our responsibility, He will look after the results. Moffatt spent years in Africa before he saw any results, but he met his responsibility and God gave the results. Mitchell spent years in Arizona without any results, but he was faithful to his responsibility and God was faith ful in giving results. “Let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” Finally; let us not be weary of burdens. Moses car ried the burden of anfulfilled desire : he was not per mitted to enter Canaan; but God gave him a vision of the glorified Canaan. Hannah was taunted and mistreated by one of her own household, but in faith fulness she carried her burden until God turned her bur den into a blessing. He who carries the burden for Christ will be honored by Christ. Remember, God’s Word says, “I will come down like rain upon the mown grass.” Pic ture a beautiful field of alfalfa, heavy with the perfume
ERE is a verse in Isaiah which we desire to use nis morning. It is •the ,fourth verse of the ftieth chapter: “The Lord Jehovah hath given ìe the tongue of them that are taught, that I lay know how to sustain with words him that >weary.” And the footnote in the R. V. makes
it more forceful by making it read, “that I may know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary.” How needful that is, and how we .should pray that God would enable us to do that very thing. It. seems to me after eight years in the ministry that the thing the world needs most of all is not so much preaching and teaching, but those who are willing to bear one another’s burdens along with their preaching and teaching. And I have often said that if God enables me to make my ministry a min istry of burden-bearing, then I shall feel that in some small measure at least I shall have done the work He has given me to do. After all, is there any greater privilege than to “speak a word in season to him that is weary” ? For thè world is full of weary,people and a word “in season” is always wel come, and a “word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in network of silver.” All about us we find thosè who are .................... P h y sica ll y W eary . Little mothers of large families,:; ministering in the home, the children top small to give much help, the hus band working long hours at hard labor, himsélf weary in body as he comes home to the evening meal. Yet after all, this is a welcome weariness to one who can hear the voice of Him who says, “He giveth tó His beloved sleep.” How wonderful that God has planned a night of refreshing sleep for the weary brain and body so that, “when purple morning breaketh,” we arise with new strength for the new day.. But there are other forms of wèariness which are not as readily relieved. How con stantly in our ministry we meet those who are ' W eary of S ickne ss .,' They have been on beds of affliction for days and weeks and in some cases for months, and even years. Others seek to carry on their daily tasks and all the while they are bearing a steady burden of illness. How wonderful is the privilege of speaking a word in season to these, and leaving them with a song of hope by pointing them to the one who said, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” I knew à man in Wisconsin who struggled for weeks and months carrying a burden of illness. At night I would see him drag his weary: body up the hill to his home. He knew that the doctors had said he could never get well again, but he also knew the secret of casting his burden upon the One' who doeth all things well, and he finished his course with joy. His was not the gloom of a Stevenson who chanted his requiem thus, “Under the wide and starry sky, dig the grave and let me lie; Glad did I live and gladly die, and I lay me down with a will,” but the triumphant note of a Lanier who said, “As the marsh-hen secretly builds in the watery sod, Behold, I will build me a nest in the greatness of God : In the great ness of God I will fly as the marsh-hen flies, In the free
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