454
September 1929
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
buffeted by storms of disaster and dis appointment, and yet to know assuredly in our hearts that God loves us; to know it so assuredly, with the intercourse that lies between our heart and His, that we can freely let go the outward tokens of His love—this surely is the perfection of a faithful life.— Phillips Brooks. — o — September 22— “I waited patiently for the Lord” (Psa. 40:1). Oh, for the faith that does not make haste, but waits patiently for the Lord, waits for the explanation that shall come in the end, at the revelation of Jesus Christ! When did God take anything from a man without giving him mani fold more in return? Suppose that the return had not been made immediately manifest, what then? Is today the limit of God’s working time? Has He no provinces beyond this little world? Does the door of the grave open upon nothing but infinite darkness and eternal silence? Yet, even confining the judgment with in the hour of this life, it is true that God never touches the heart with a trial without intending to bring upon it some grander gift, some tenderer benediction. He has attained to an eminent degree of Christian grace who knows how to wait. —Streams in the Desert. Abram sat moodily in his tent. God “brought him forth” beneath the stars. And that is always the line of divine lead ing........... He wishes us to exchange the tent for the sky, and to live and move in great spacious thoughts of His purposes and will. . . . How is it with our prayers'? How big are they? Will a tent contain them, or do they move with the scope and greatness of the heavens? Do they con tain just our own families, or is China in them, and India, and “the uttermost parts of the earth” ? “Look now t o w a r d heaven” I Such must be our outlook if we are companions of God.— J. H. Jowett. — o — September 24 —“Be still and know that I am God” (Psa. 46 :10). “What do you do when you are about to faint physically? You cannot do any thing. You cease from your own doings. In your faintness, you fall upon the shoulder of some strong loved one. You lean hard. You rest. You lie still and trust. “It is so when we are tempted to faint under affliction. God’s message to us is, ‘Be still, and know that I am God.’ ” — o — September 25—" Who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?” (1 Peter 3:13). “We are ever to keep in mind that Satan cannot do anything except he has permission from God. The hedge, or protection, is never broken down except by permission from our heavenly Father. A wall of fire is round about us,- and Satan dare not touch us except God gives permission, and this permission isS never NEVER, NEVER given, except God has September 23— “They looked, and be hold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud” (Ex. 16:10).
determined to overrule it all for our good and profit, so that We come under this precious verse, ‘All things work together for good to them that love God.’ If Satan is permitted to break down the hedge, per mission is only given for the purpose of confounding him, a n d of bringing greater blessing out of it than if the hedge had not been broken down.” So wrote that mature saint, George Muller, many years ago. To grasp this great truth is to obtain a spiritual enrichment that is hard to describe. How it takes the smart and sting out of the unpleasant ex periences which God permits 1 To look behind these, and know that they are all intended to teach us some spiritual les sons which otherwise we could not learn, is an experience precious beyond words. We immediately begin to ask, “Why has my heavenly Father permitted this? What new lesson does He want me to learn?” Then we can sing: “Enemies may seek to injure; Satan all his arts employ; God will turn what seems to harm me Into everlasting joy.” — G. M. There are always “buts” and “howbeits” when the eye is focused to see only the things that are seen. These men saw great cities, high walls, tall giants; but Him who is invisible they saw not. Faith always reasons from God to difficulties; it begins with God. Unbelief reasons from the difficulties to God; it begins with them. Faith brings in the living God, and looking to Him, says, “We are well able” (v. 30). Unbelief departs from the living God, and looking at the difficulties, says, “We are not able” (v. 31). Unbe lief says, “Our wives and our little ones shall be a prey” (14:3). Faith says, “The people of the land are bread for us,” and so it turns its difficulties into spiritual sustenance. Unbelief says, “Can God pre pare a table in the wilderness?” “Can He give bread also?” (Psa. 78:19,-20). Faith says, “I know that Thou const do all things, and that no purpose of Thine can be restrained” (Job 42:2). The one thing they dropped out of their calculations was Almightiness.— J. G. M. —«0— September 27— “In all these thirigs we are more than conquerors” (Rom. 8:37). This is the purpose of God in all your trials. He did not bring you into that hard place simply that you might get out of it by the skin of your teeth. The great object was not merely to be delivered. You are there in a very definite and pub lic manner, as a representative of heaven, to defy the enemies of God and to over come, in order that you may teach some great lesson to the heavenly world or to the people around you, and that you may go forth from that trial more than con queror, but go out in the strength of this victory, and win battles of the Lord for the help of others. Rise above the thought of your mere escape from trouble, and ask God to make you such a conqueror that Satan shall be weakened by the blow he struck you, and that you shall be so strong that he will be glad to let you alone, for the time to come, or if he meets you, it will be simply‘to try to hold September 26— “And there we saw the giants” (Num. 13:33).
L E T Y O U R G I F T TO FOREIGN MISSIONS PAY YOU A LIFE INCOME You can make a generous gift to foreign missions and have a needed income for yourself and others from the money you give by the Annuity Gift Plan T ins plan relieves you of uncertainty ■ and worry caused by changing values of invested funds and assures you a fixed income of 4 XA % to 9% per year for the rest ofyour life A reserve fund of over $1,500,000 j guarantees the prompt payment of annuities to you.
Protect yourself against loss through unwise investments and at the same time help send the gospel to all the world. For full information write E rnest F. Hall, Secretary, Dept • o f A nnuities
B oard of F oreign M issions of the Presbyterian Church, U. S.A. 156 Fifth A venue, N ew Y ork
CHANNELS G OD is seeking channels in which the W ater of Life can flow from its source in His heart of love to the needy millions of earth who are in the desert wastes of sin and death. Channels, not storage tanks, are needed. To the church of Christ has been committed the word of recon ciliation. Every member is respon sible to aid in its proclamation. Is your life an open channel of the ful ness of Christ, not only to those near at hand, but to needy ones to the ends of the earth? The more generous the outlet, the greater will be the stream of life and blessing which flows into and through our lives. Keep the inlet clear through holy living and enlarge the outlet by gen erous cooperation in world-wide evan gelization. Do not clog the channel by failing to obey God. The Christian and Missionary Al liance is responsible to give the Gos pel to about 65,000,000 people in the mission fields of the world among many tribes and tongues. Many souls are being saved, and a strong, spir itual church is being established. Forty-four new m issionaries are un der appointment to sail to the various fields, thus perm itting advance into many unoccupied areas. P ray th at the anointing of God may be upon each worker and th at funds may be pro vided for th eir transportation and support. THE CHRISTIANANDMISSIONARYALLIANCE 260 West 44lh Street New York, N. Y. in)CHURCH FURNITURE Lit Everything fo r Church and Sunday School ] use. From Factory to You. Finecatalogfree. DeMoulin Bros. 8C Co. p S 1151 South 4th St., Greenville, Illinois ITBlr
Made with FlippingBook Annual report