November, 1935
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
414
"all” things to work together for good in their lives. Isn’t this a wonderful truth to know? Do you remember the day you had to miss the picnic because it rained ? Then on that very day a special friend came to see you, and you had such a lovely time. At the close of the day you actually said, “ I’m glad I didn’t go to the picnic,” and Mother said, “Yes, ‘all things work together for good.’ ” Because this verse is true, let’s strive to give thanks in “every thing,” even though some o f the “every things” and “all” things are hard to understand at the time. Let us be “thanksgiving Christians” every day of the year! We will then move off of Grumble and Complain Streets, and make our home on Thanksgiving Avenue. Hoping you have a happy Thanksgiving Day, Y our E ditor . For Your Notebooks Write the word “Thanksgiving,” one letter below the other, down the side of a page in your K. Y. B. C. notebook. Then choose a Scripture verse beginning with each letter in the word. You might write the letters of the word “Thanksgiving” in colors by using a colored crayon. Orange would be a splendid color to use. Answers to “ Ethiopian Scripture Puzzle” 1. Moses (Num. 12:1). 2. Ebed-melech (Jer. 38:7). 3. King Asa (2 Chron. 14:9-12). 4. Philip (Acts 8 :26-30). 5. “Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God” (Psa. 68:31). 6. Ahasuerus (Esther 1:1). 7. The Queen of Sheba (1 Ki. 10:1). How to Join the K. Y. B. Club To become a member of the Know Your Bible Club, read through the Gospel according to John, using either your own Bible or a Gospel of John which will be sent upon request. When the Gospel has been read, and a state ment to this effect, signed by parent or Sun day-school teacher, has been sent to the Editor of the Junior King’s Business, a K. Y. B. C. pin will be mailed. Sunday-school classes or clubs desiring to order ten or more Gospels or pins may wish to share the cost of these supplies, as the Lord directs: Gospels, postpaid, five cents each— in quantity, three cents; pins, without postage, two cents each. However, no one is to do without a Gospel or pin because of lack of money. Address: Junior King’s Busi ness, 558 South Hope St., Los Angeles, Calif. New K. Y. B. C. Members The following have read through the Gospel according to John and are now members of the Know Your Bible Club: Blasdell, N. Y .: Betty and Norine Garin; Ruth Hicks; Iva House; Dorothy and Harriet Miller; Ethel and Evelyn O’Neil; Iona and Octavia Pritchard; and Lois Wilson (Miss Rowena Timm, teacher). Henderson, Nebr.: David A. and David D. Block; Linda Cornelson; Adina and Evelyn Ediger; Agnes and Esther Goertzen; Daniel C., Esther, and Walter LeRoy Goossen; Florence Nachtigall; Edna Regier; and Lucille Warkentin (Mrs. David Hooge, teacher). Hollywood, Calif.: Wilma Carrol; Millicent Esper; Eleanor Saunders; and Patsy Rose Stone (Mrs. R. Conner, teacher). Paonia, Colo.: Betty, Georgia Lee, and Lois Hodgs. (Mrs. W. L. Hodgs, mother). Pinehurst, Wash.: Geneva Ruth Osburn. (Mrs. G. W. Lacy, teacher). Riverside, Calif.: Dorothy Pugh. Scotia, Nebr.: Evelyn Callaway; Janice Nelson; Leighton and Shirley Smith; and David and Marie Vanosdoll (Mrs. Norman B. Callaway, leader). Tacoma, Wash.: Shirley Viken. Tulsa, Okla.: Priscilla Rhodes and Mrs. M. P. Doughridge. The work which must be done on the K. Y. B. C. lists before the names of new members appear in the magazine frequently makes it impossible to publish the names promptly. New members may need to watch this column for two or three issues to find their names .— E ditor .
yes, millions o f them—have tried it. It does not pay. On the other hand, to keep sweet and to thank God for Himself and for all He does for us, to pray and read our Bibles, and to sing and be happy every day, knowing that “He doeth all things well,” is to show that we are yielding to the heavenly Potter’s touch as He forms vessels of beauty and usefulness. And thus our great and wonderful God will be honored in the eyes o f the people who watch us. All like to look at lovely vases, pretty dishes, and attractive pottery. It is wonder ful to know that if you will only be good clay in the great Potter’s hands, and will stand His pressings and the heat of the furnace of affliction, many persons will look at you with greater delight and satis faction than ever you looked at a piece of pottery or china I God is our Potter, and we are His clay 1 To Him be all the glory 1 Memory Work November is the month for thanks giving. Let us learn a verse o f praise and thanksgiving for each letter in the month. “Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ” (2 Gor. 2:14). “O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together” (Psa. 34:3). “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life” (John 6 :47). “Exalt ye the Lord our God, and wor ship at his footstool; for he is holy” (Psa. 99:5). “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands” (Psa. 100:1). “Bless the Lord, O my soul : and all that is within me, bless his holy name” (Psa. 103:1). “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thank ful unto him, and bless his name” (Psa. 100:4). “Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice” (Phil. 4:4 ). “ Every Thing” and “ All” Dear Boys and Girls: As I have been thinking o f you at this Thanksgiving season, two verses have come to my mind. Let us read them to gether from our Bibles. The first one is found in 1 Thessalonians 5:18: “ In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” You will notice first of all that this verse com mands us to give thanks for “every thing.” How many, many things “every thing” in cludes! Are we to give thanks when we don’t get to do the things we want to do, or when Mother thinks it best for us not to go to the places where we want to go? Yes, these things are a part of “every thing,” aren’t they? And instead of com plaining and murmuring, we are to give thanks. Did you ever try singing when everything seeems to go wrong? Try it 1 You will notice, too, that this verse says: “This is the will of God . . . concerning you.” To give thanks for “every thing” is God’s will "or desire for each of us, for you and for me. How much we are pleas ing Him when we are giving thanks! I want to please Him, don’t you ? The second verse for us to read together is Romans 8 :28: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God . . .” This verse contains another big word, "all." All who have received the Lord Jesus as Saviour may “know” that God, the heavenly Father, is causing
Did you ever see a potter making these vessels of clay? Before he can shape the clay to fit his pattern, the clay is dug out of its resting place and is carried—in wagons or trucks or on railway trains—to the mills, where it is ground fine. There all the rocks, sticks, and other things not needed are taken out. Then the potter takes the clay into his hands, just about as you take up mud into yours. You would enjoy seeing him pressing that clay, squeez ing and shaping it to suit himself—to make it like his chosen pattern. Then the vessels he has shaped are put aside to dry, and finally they are placed in a very hot oven. The heat burns and sets the clay, so that it will stay as the potter made it and will hold its shape when people buy the pottery and begin to use it. And what a heat is turned on that clay! I f the clay could feel as you do, and talk as you can, it certainly would cry out to the potter as it comes to the heat, “ Oh, please do not put me into the furnace. You have already pressed me, and squeezed me, and changed my shape—surely you will not burn me now in the hot furnace 1” And the potter would make answer: “My clay, you need to listen to me. Without all that pressing, and squeezing and shap ing, you never could have been made into shapes of beauty and usefulness; and with out this hot furnace in which you are placed, you never would hold your shape o f usefulness and beauty.” Now let us notice what God says in His holy Word, the Bible: “As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand” (Jer. 18:6). W e know then, from this verse, that God is our Potter, and that He looks upon us as clay in His hands. And just as you roll the mud, squeeze it, and press it into the shape o f a mud pie or a cake, so God handles us as His human clay, pressing us into shapes o f usefulness and beauty as He sees best. Sometimes He does this squeezing and pressing by letting us have a hard time to get money, clothes, something to eat, nice outings, or other things. But He loves us and does it all for our good. Sometimes we pass through sickness and sorrow or the loss of loved ones, and are deeply disappointed. God is pressing us! God is shaping us! W e are being made into beautiful vessels for His glory! When these things come upon us, we must not complain, say ugly things about God, or even think ugly things about Him. Instead, we must remember, “ He doeth all things well.” He never makes a mistake. He always knows what is best for us. Our loving heavenly Father always seeks our good. And when we are in the fire o f suffering, as when some boy or girl is in very great pain or loses in death a father or a mother, a brother or a sister, or some other dear one, we must stand this fire most patiently, knowing that if we do, we shall come to have lovely shapes in our Christian char acter. These fires of suffering make firm the shapes of beauty we received by being pressed in God’s hands. Now, you know that a piece of mud is helpless in your hands, and that the clay is helpless in the potter’s hands. Just so are we in our loving heavenly Father’s hands. The Apostle Paul, one o f God’s greatest servants o f the past, wrote: “Hath not the potter power over the clay?” (Rom. 9:21). It will do no good to find fault with God, or to complain about Him, or to think or say ugly things about His dealings with us. To fight against God is but to lose out every time! Many thousands of people—
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