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T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
July, 1933
soul is given up to ChristSsuch a man must have an overflowing heart; and as his heart is, such will his life be. —C harles H addon S purgeon . Blest hour o f prayer, unmarked in fleeting time By any period like the day or year: God sets no star, nor tide, nor outward sign To wait and watch for, e’er we venture near To ask for pardon at His gracious ear. Now is the appointed time, no need to wait ; Pray now, O man; tonight may be too late. —S elected . AUGUST 7 “It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation o f the Lord" (Lam. 3:26). Do not be discouraged, dearly beloved, because God bears long with you—because He does not seem to answer your prayers. Your prayers are not lost. When the mer chant sends his ships to distant shores, he does not expect them to come back richly laden in a single day—he has long patience. Perhaps your prayers will come back, like the ships of the merchant, all the more heavily laden with, blessings because of the delay.|=R obert M urray M c C heyne . Father, I dislike delays. Time-marking irks me. I f I could only remember that Thou, too, art waiting, what a new sanctity would surround the experience! Thou art waiting, with what infinite patience, to see me, Thy child, conformed to the image o f Thy Son, always choosing His will, bending to His purpose. What a long wait this has been for Thee! Millenniums slip by. Men and nations brazenly defy Thee. They shake infinitesimal fists in the face of the Almighty. Still Thou dost wait and wilt wait until the last event has been fitted into Thy perfect program, and the hour has struck for the return to earth of Thy Best-Beloved, my Saviour, to reign in righteousness. Father, I know nothing about waiting as Thou dost know it. Teach me, I pray.—S elected . AUGUST 8 “ Be filled with.all the fulness of God” (Eph. 3:19). Amongst thé readers of these lines there may be many who are suffering from dif ferent forms o f spiritual weakness, all of which are directly attributable to the lack of the Holy Spirit. Not that they are com pletely destitute o f Him; for if they were, they would not be Christians at all; but that, being within them, He is present only as an attenuated thread, a silver streak, a shallow brook. Why should we be content with this? The Pentecostal fullness, the enduement of power, the baptism o f fire are all within our reach. Let us be inspired with a holy ambition to get all that our God is willing and eager to bestow. —F. B. M eyer . There is a sense in which the Spirit of God dwells in every believer, but it is only a believer who is living in fellowship with Christ who realizes what the indwelling of God actually means. —G. H. C. M acgregor . AUGUST 9 “ Ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Cor. 15:58). Oh, my brethren, let us cherish this pre cious word, “not in vain” ; let us indeed be persuaded of it and embrace it, not giving up our glorious heritage. No little one re freshed with even a cup of cold water, but that soon the fruit of even that little labor of love shall meet its sweetest recompense in the smile, the approval, the praise o f our
CDaily CDevoiionalc^J^eaclings A M E S S A G E F O R E V E R Y D A Y O F T H E M O N T H
AUGUST 1 “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him” (Psa. 103:13). The word “ father” stands for the strength of love. A father protects, he plans, he provides, he gives. All fathers are not good. How we do spoil God’s plans down here, we humans 1 There are men who have children in a perfectly proper way, but who are not fathers, ex cept in the mere technical use of the word. But if one might call to mind the best fa ther ever1he had, or knew, or knew about, or tried to be, then, remember, God is a Father. Only He is so much better a Father than the best father any one o f us ever had, or knew, or tried to be. And (quietly! Jesus put the touch of the real on the homely word) His will for your life and mine is a father’s will for the darling of His heart.—S. D. G ordon . AUGUST 2 “I will be . . . a little sanctuary” (Ezek. 11:16). The “ sanctuary” was a place where the Divine Presence was manifested, and where God met with His people as they came to offer their prayers and praises and gifts. For the believer today “every place is hallowed ground,” and we may find everywhere such a sanctuary, for the Lord Himself is with us. Amidst “all the changes and chances of this mortal life,” if the ear is attuned to heavenly melodies, and the eye is trained to behold things that are invis ible, we shall hear and see the Divine Pres ence in all the incidents o f daily life, and in all our surroundings.-—H. J. H orsefield . AUGUST 3 “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matt. 28:18). The power of Christ was manifest in its most effective and triumphant way when He raised the dead. He called back the daughter of Jairus, who had just died; He raised the son of the widow of Nain, stop ping the burial party on the way to the sep ulchre and restoring the lad to his mother; Lazarus He beckoned from the sealed cus tody o f the tomb itself. The early fathers did not hesitate to make these miracles par ables of what Christ does in the spiritual realm. Over all degrees and states of death, Christ is Master. “He is able to save to the uttermost,” and in this saving process all the power is His. Where He comes, beauty springs out of ashes, life rises out o f death. ,—J ohn M acbeaxh . AUGUST 4 “ I hid not my face from shame” (Isa. SO:6). Tertulus has no slightest understanding o f Paul. Paul is too great to be measured by his accuser. Yet under the misrepresen tation o f Tertulus, I see the truth lurking. A pestilent fellow, the hired advocate said. And I learn that mine should be an active faith; one which disturbs those who do not like it; one which will not leave them alone in quietness and peace. I am too much dis posed to compromise; to indolence, inof fensiveness in my following o f Jesus Christ. I ought to be so alert, so astir, that I am
sure to awaken distaste, antagonism, and rebuke. A mover o f sedition, the reasoner said, too, and I learn that there is a right eous propagandism, a holy iconoclism, to which I am pledged. Something revolu tionary throbs and burns, works and fights in all vital Christianity . . . It has to uproot. It has to destroy. And then it will build its fair fabric on the ruins of the old. And a ringleader o f the sect of the Nazarenes, Tertulus said. And I learn that,'wherever I go, Jesus of Nazareth is to be my boast, my Banner, my Delight. I am to sound His praise. I am to adorn His doctrine. I am to illustrate His mercy and His power. I am His kingdom’s vassal and thrall. I am out to win souls for Him. —A lexander S mellie . AUGUST 5, “Loooking up to heaiven, he blessed them, and brake, and gave to the disciples’’ (Lk. 9:16). The Lord Jesus still prays over what we bring to Him. “ He ever liveth to make intercession for us.” Through His prayer and by His blessing, we shall be enabled to bring the Bread o f Life within the reach of all men. A las! the church of God, like the apostles., does not yet fully realize her responsibility and her power 1 We have a Father in heaven who has sufficient sup plies of grace and salvation for the world. He is omnipotent. We feel impotent. But there is a blessed link between our impo tence and God’s omnipotence. It is the up ward look.—A. W . P arsons . AUGUST 6 "Watch unto prayer” (1 Pet. 4:7). He who lives without prayer, he who lives('■-,]with little prayer, he who seldom reads the Word, he who seldom looks up to heaven for a fresh influence from on high —he will be the man whose heart will be come dry and barren; but he who calls in secret on his God, who spends much time in holy retirement, who delights to medi tate on the words of the Most High, whose In the Silences B y M artha S nell N icholson O thing o f clay, crushed to the sod, Be still, and know that I am God. Nay, do not strive to climb to Me, But let Me enter into thee. Give Me thy heart and learn o f Me. The whole wide world Mine eyes can see; To Me, and to My heart alone Are all the hidden things made known; All the beauty o f the skies Opens like a swift surprise, All the wonder o f the land Was shaped and carven by My hand. All the riddle o f thy life, All thy weariness and strife, Are known to Me, who understands. Put thy whole life into My hands. 0 child o f clay, crushed by the sod, Be' still, and know that I am God!
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