August, 1942
TH E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
293
God Uses A Bit
0
By BERNICE THURSEN
A BOUT forty years ago, I knew . a little girl. I knew her very JL , well. She lived in the same house I did. She slept in the same bed I did and ate at the same table with me. In fact, everything I had was hers and whatever belonged to her was also mine. When I looked in the mirror, it was her face I saw, and when people spoke to me, she answered.. Wherf they spoke to her, I knew that I was the one they wanted. .She was. not a. very pretty girl, but she was .very much in earnest to be a good Christian. I knew this very well because her’ thoughts were my thoughts and the problems that worried her made me very miserable. Now that, you are satisfied about who she was, I’ll tell you that she was about ten years old when our story begins. Oh! did I tell you how old ! am? Anyway, it seems just like yesterday. This little girl, (let’s call her “Bernie” ) had a pony and a little black buggy, With yellow spokes in the wheels, and rubber tires. The seat was very comfortable for two people. It had a lovely soft cushion at the back and was supported by rods painted yellow. Zip was an Indian pony, a little bigger than most ponies. She was really a little horse. She could carry quite a heavy load and enjoy it. I
There were brothers in the family, but Bernie loved to take the purry comb and rub Zip’s slick sorrel coat till it was glossy. Then she would take the pony’s long head in her arms, and Zip couldn’t say anything, • but she would bend her head down for her caresses. A ll the boys and girls in the neigh- - borhood used to love to ride in the little buggy behind Zip. Even Miss De Jarnette, Bernie’s b e s t - l o v e d teacher, loved Zip and used to go for long rides with Bernie outside of school hours. She and Bernie had planned to go for a ride one Saturday morning, and Bernie was bubbling oVer with joy at the thought of spending the morn ing with Miss De Jarnette.
not force that big piece of iron into Zip’s mouth unless she knew it was right. One of Bernie’s brothers loved to tease her. She wouldn’t dare let him know, of her questioning this. She dreaded asking her mother, for she knew that for some reason other peo- ' pie seemed never to think it wrong to put bits in the mouths of horses. Even Grandmother, who was such a devoted Christian, rode with Grand father behind two big horses. "Well,” she thought, “the Bible says, ‘If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God.” ’ Now it was clear that that was her only way of finding out whether it was right. In the morning she awoke with the same question. It was very puzzling. She didn’t know what to do. She went out'and gave Zip her corn and rubbed her coat ■clean with the curry comb, all the time questioning whether she should'put the bit in her mouth. Bernie had had the Bible read and taught to her every day in family worship and had attended Sunday- school and church with her parents so much that there seemed a Bible verse for every occasion. Right here she remembered something about peo ple’s not eating if they doubt about it s ,being right to eat a certain thing. She was “ doubting” this question
On Friday afternoon while Bernie was thinking of tomorrow’s .ride, an idea popped up like a goblin in her mind. This is what she thought: “If I were a horse, how would I like to have a bit in my mouth and have some one pull on it every time he wanted to go a different direction?” The more she thought of it, the more wicked she felt; and then as if it were an accusing angel, she thought of the verse in the Bible, “Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.” More and more she felt she could Junior King's Bus By MARTHA S. HOOKER ■Member of Faculty, Bible Institute of Los Angeles
think Zip some how knew that Bernie loved her very much. She seemed always to m o v e j u s t where it would most help Bernie to take care of her.
a b o u t the bit, and she straight ened her shoul- ders b a c k and said to herself, “ No, I will not go unless I am sure that it is really right fo r, me to put the bit
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