June 1929
267
T h e
K i n g ' s
B u s i n e s s
Two or three days later, in a mission meeting that we were holding, I saw this same man hand a note to one of the ushers, who brought it up to me. This was written in the note: “Dear Sir,—Will you please pray today for a boy who is dying? The doctors have given him up. This request is signed by a believing mother, and carried by an unbelieving father. Please pray for him.” I asked my friend Major Cole to come down with me to the house and pray for the boy. The doctor had been in the house at eleven o’clock in the morning, and said, “There is no hope.” At half-past twelve o’clock he came again just to see the mother, expecting the boy to be dead, and he said again, “There is no hope.” And Major James H. Cole, at twenty-five minutes to one o’clock, rose to pray. Taking hold of the back of the chair with one hand, and reaching up with the other, he said th is: “O God, canst Thou not raise up this boy at this moment, and in raising him up, save his unbelieving father?” Then the prayer went on, until I opened my eyes to see my friend standing there with a rapt expression on his face, and with the tears rolling down his cheeks. At a quarter to one o’clock that boy opened his eyes. A few moments later he sat up, and when his father re turned in the evening he was sitting up in the bed. The next day he was seated in a chair, and at the end of the week he was walking about the house. I know the boy. I know his father and his mother. The following summer, one of our greatest theolo gians, Dr. Paton, was speaking at our Bible Conference on prayer and God. It was a magnificent scholarly address, and at the close of it, the people sprang to their feet and began to sing “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name,” and all the ministers present burst into a cheer. When they sat down, a man rose and said, “Dr. Paton, may I speak?” And when he had obtained permission he said, “I was an infidel, but God raised up my boy from a death-bed, and I never knew that He was God. But all these weeks I have been seeking Him, and today I have found H im !” Since then that man has suffered poverty, and almost every kind of ill and pajn that could grip a man’s body, but he has never flinched. God answers prayer. It is written in the Bible, emphasized in history, illustrated in everyday life. He answers prayer. You know why He has not answered yours. The second kind of answer is “No.” “No” is just as much of an answer as “Yes.” Look into the history of your dealings with your own children, and see if “No” has not often been a better answer than “Yes.” Your child came to you and said, “Mother, I want this,” and with all the tenderness of a mother’s nature, and because of your great love, you bent forward and said, “No, my child.” And you came before God and said, “O God, give me this,” and God said, “No, My child.” That was an answer. And you can put your hand over your eyes and think your way back through the past, and God’s “Noes” to you have been better than “Yes.” I was delivering this address in one of our Southern States in America, and had reached this point, when a gentleman rose up and said, “Friends, you know how I prayed for my boy, that God might let him live, and God took him. I have stated publicly that God had not answered my prayer, but now I know that He did. He said, ‘No.’ ” Then, when he could control his emotion, he added, “And, do you know, the greatest spir itual blessings I have had in my life came after my boy went to heaven.” “No” is an answer.
There is a third answer. What is it? You can say, “O God, take away this thorn in the flesh.” God does not say “Yes” ; He does not say “No.” You can go to Him and say “O God, deliver me from this trial.” And God does not say “Yes”.; He does not say “No.” What does He do? Well, I may illustrate it. One of the officers in my church in New York is a great surgeon. One day a father brought in his little boy, and said, “Doctor, you must operate on this boy quickly.” When the doctor made his examination, he found that he would have to operate on the boy imme diately. He also found that the boy’s heart would not stand an anaesthetic. So he said to the father, “I will put him on the table, and I will operate quickly. But you had better not stay in.” The father started for the door, but he came back, and said, “If the boy can stand it, I ought to be able to stand it.” He reached out his right hand and took the boy’s left, then turned his face away. The doctor afterwards told me that he went through the operation, and the boy scarce ly winced. “I have always wondered,” said he, “how much of the strength of the father beat its way into the body of the boy.” There is your answer. You say, “O Lord, I am going to face this trial,” and God lays His hand on your head and says, “Be still , and know that I am God,” and with every touch of God’s hand there comes beating in all the throb of His infinite life. Lord, teach us to pray! Teach us to pray!— Reprinted from “The Christian Herald and Signs o f Our Times.” Recent In s titu te Speakers Dr. Melvin Grove Kyle, President of Xenia Theological Seminary, St. Louis, spent two weeks recently at the Bible Institute, speaking twice daily on the general theme of Biblical Archeology. As is well known, Dr. Kyle is himself a specialist in this field, he having, in cooperation with the American School of Oriental Research, directed his efforts chiefly to un earthing the ruins of Kirjath-sepher, the ancient strong hold of the Canaanites located in the south country of Judaea. According to Dr. Kyle, each succeeding effort of the workmen engaged in this task reveals increasingly interesting evidence of the civilization of this ancient peo ple, which in every instance corroborates the Scripture records. Dr. A. T. Robertson, who has been connected with the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary at Louisville, Kentucky, for over forty years, and who is generally con ceded the world’s foremost master of the Greek New Testament, came to us recently for two weeks of stirring Bible studies. In the mornings at 10:30 he spoke to the students, and in the evenings at 8:00 o’clock gave a series of most helpful public addresses. Dr. T. T. Shields, well-known pastor of Jarvis Street Baptist Church, Toronto, and President o f the Board of Trustees of Des Moines University, spent several days at the Institute recently on the invitation of the Board of Directors, for conference concerning Institute plans and problems, as they wished to have the benefit of his wide experience and consecrated ability. Dr. Shields gave a splendid address on Sunday after noon, May 5, in the auditorium of the Bible Institute, and brought an earnest message to the students on Monday morning following.
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