November, 1934
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
41!
DAILY ‘Devotional‘Readings 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
DECEMBER 6 Christ Plumbed the Depths of Woe "Consider him that endured such con tradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds” (Heb. 12:3). He shall best meet the wants o f God’s people who has had those wants himself ; he shall best comfort God’s Israel who has needed comfort; and he shall best preach salvation who has felt his own need of it. If there be one place where our Lord Jesus most fully becomes the joy and comfort of His people, it is where He plunged deepest into the depths o f woe. Come hither, gracious souls, and behold the Man in the garden o f Gethsemane; be hold His heart so brimming with love that He cannot hold it in—so full of sor row that it must find a vent. Behold the Man as they drive the nails into His hands and feet. Look up, repenting sin ners, and see the sorrowful image o f your suffering Lord. If we would live aright, it must be by the contemplation of His death ; if we would rise to dignity, it must be by considering His humiliation and His sorrow.— C harles H addon S purgeon . DECEMBER 7 Always Your Brother’s Keeper "The members should have the same care one for another” (1 Cor. 12:25). Probably there are very few aspects o f the Christian life which have been, in practice, so completely overlooked and neglected, as this intimate relationship be tween the members and their dependence one upon another. “And whether one mem ber suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the mem bers rejoice with it.” . . . Believer, your brother’s loss is your loss; and your brother’s gain is your gain. Help him to success, and you will share its glory; leave him alone in his trouble, and you will surely suffer by its burden. — H ubert B rooke . Oft when the heart aweary grows And sinks ’neath its burdens and c a r e - just when the path seems with snares beset, Then, like refrain o f soft-murmured prayer, Is the clasp o f a hand, whole-hearted and free, The greeting o f warmth so tender, so true— Magnetically drawing hearts closer to Christ, Restoring lost courage, faith to renew. — M abel M . B rown . DECEMBER 8 The Lord God Omnipotent Reigneth “ That he might make his mighty power to be known” (Psa. 106:8). The tried believer has often to remind himself that the God o f his salvation is the Lord Omnipotent. Without giving way to open unbelief, the soul sometimes yields to the habit o f limiting God’s grace and power. This was the sin o f God’s redeemed people of old. They said He could do this and that, but could He spread a table in the wilderness? Can God give us meat to eat? This was as much as to say that God was not omnipotent; to deny His omnipotence was to deny His deity. A las! how often God’s children are guilty of limiting Him ! W e need ever keep be fore us this divine attribute: The Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. He is almighty to save, and to keep. . . . A view o f His attributes will calm our fears, and deliver us from the sin o f unbelief. —Alliance Weekly,
DECEMBER 1 Blindfolding the Lord
about our anxieties, in order to relieve us of them, and fill our hearts with His own ineffable peace. . . . Having freed our hearts from every care, and given us His own peace, He presents Himself as the object to be enjoyed by our tranquilized hearts. In other words, instead o f care we- have peace, and instead o f self we have God. Christ died to put away our sin; He lives to take away our care; and it is our privilege, with a conscience free from guilt and a heart free from care, to delight in God Himself. i'f^r-Things New and Old. DECEMBER 4 The Christian Grace of Humility “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness o f mind let each esteem other better than themselves" (Phil. 2:3).. The Christian grace of humility is some thing altogether different from mere natural gentleness and mildness of dispo sition. Christian humility lies in a certain temper of soul, springing out o f a deep sense o f the infinite majesty, greatness, and purity o f God, and o f our own de pendence, meanness, and unworthiness. We often find a great deal o f native gentle ness and modesty of demeanor in men wholly ignorant o f God, and who want, therefore, the principle out of which hu mility springs ; nor is it any uncommon triumph of the gospel, on the other hand, that men of a naturally fierce, proud, and impetuous temper, once brought to a knowledge o f the divine character and of their own, are subdued into a meekness and gentleness to which formerly they were utter strangers. Christian humility is characterized chiefly by a lowly, reveren tial sense o f the greatness and purity of Jehovah, and of the creature’s utter noth ingness and unworthiness before Him. — C harles J. B rown . _ DECEMBER 5 Living in Divine Love "I have loved you, saith the Lord" (Mai. 1 : 2 ). God is saying: “ I have loved you.” That is why He never gives any rest about that particular habit, which appears so inno cent, and yet which is the very crux of the controversy between you and Himself. “I have loved you, saith the Lord.” It is the infinite proof o f love when God does not let you rest. It is as dangerous to let your conscience assume a state o f apathy as it would be to allow a sleepy man to slumber in the snows o f the Sierras. Have you a controversy with God which has been going on for weeks, aye for months, and even years, until you are weary of it, and in danger of growing rebellious because o f His interference? Hold, man! —“ I have loved y ou !” I f God had not loved you, He- would have left you to your own devices and evil. . . . We must live in the element o f this divine love. ■ —G. C ampbell M organ . Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
“And the men that held Jesus mocked him, and smote him. And when they had blindfolded him, they struck him on the face" (Lk. 22:63, 64). Dr. Samuel M. Zwemer has so truly pointed put why our Lord was blind folded : “Was it not because His eyes were filled with such a holy wonder at their [the spectators’ ] unbelief, eyes full o f compassion for their ignorance, and yet flashing with a light that smote their consciences like a flame o f fire? They could not bear to look Him in the face,” and so they covered His face. W e can blind the Lord Jesus by accept ing views and ideas that rob Him of His essential deity, or water down His death to that o f a mere martyr. W e blindfold the Saviour by. accepting unsound views concerning the Bible. . .. Oh, do not blind fold Him! “ Oh, let me see Thy features, The look that once could make So many a true disciple Leave all things for. Thy sake! The look that beamed on Peter When he Thy name denied; The look that draws Thy lovers Close to Thy pierced side!” — R obert L ee . Very different . . . are the feelings of the worldling and the Christian in the hour o f distress. The former, when stripped of his wealth, deprived o f his friends, or languishing on a bed o f sickness, experi ences all the horror of despair; this world was his only portion, and when it fails, he has lost his all. The latter is not in sensible to.the ills of life. . . . To the good man, the pleasures o f health are as dear and the delights o f friendship as sweet as to the man o f the world. But he submits with a holy fortitude to the blow which the Omnipotent is pleased, in wis dom and in mercy, to inflict. . . . He views the calamities o f life as sent, not in wrath, but in tender compassion and love to his immortal soul; as intended to re mind him o f his weakness, his dependence, and his guilt; to refine and elevate his in tellectual and moral nature; to check his inordinate love of time and sense. . . . It is chiefly from the contemplation o f the character and sufferings o f the divine Re deemer that the Christian derives that firmness o f mind which cheers and sup ports him under the discipline o f ad versity. — J o h n H unter . DECEMBER 3 God’s Ineffable Peace "And the peace o f God . . . shall keep your hearts" (Phil. 4 :7 ). God occupies Himself about our very failures and follies, in order to deliver us from them; and He occupies Himself DECEMBER 2 How Will You Meet Suffering? “Happy is the man whom God correct- eth: therefore despise not thou the chas tening pf the Almighty” (Job 5:17).
But trust Him for His grace; Behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face.
— W illiam C owper ,
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