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T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
August 1930
August 18—" Whosoever will save his life shall lose it" (Luke 9:24). First and foremost, Christ teaches res urrection and life. The power of Chris tianity is life. It brings us not merely law, duty, example, with high and holy teaching and admonition; but it brings us the power to follow the higher ideal, and the life that spontaneously does the things commanded. It is not only life, but resur rection life. And it begins with a real crisis, a definite transaction, a point of time as clear as the morning dawn. It is not an everlasting dying and an eternal struggle to live, but it is all expressed in a tense that denotes definiteness, fixed ness, and finished action. We actually died at a certain point, and actually began to live the resurrection life. Let us reckon ourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ. — A. B. Simpson. We are often in a religious hurry in our devotions. How much time do we spend in them daily? Can it not be easily reckoned in minutes? Who ever knew an eminently holy man who did not spend much of his time in prayer? Did ever a man exhibit much of the spirit of prayer; who did not devote much time in his closet? Whitefield says, “Whole days and weeks have I spent prostrate on the ground, in silent or vocal prayer.” “Fall upon your knees, and grow there,” is the language o f another, who knew whereof he affirmed. It has been said that no great work in literature or science was ever wrought by a man who did not love solitude. We may lay it . down as an elemental principle of religion, that no large growth in holiness was ever gained by one who did not take time to be, often, and long, alone with God. —The Still Hour. —o— August 20—“ The level path of life. He maketh level all his paths” (Prov. 5:6, 21, R. V .). It is a remarkable expression, "the level path o f life." And there is great comfort in knowing that God is ever be fore us, leveling our pathway, taking in surmountable obstacles out of the way, so that our feet do not stumble. It may be that you are facing a great mountain range of difficulty. Before you are ob- ‘ stacles, apparently insuperable, which rear themselves like a giant wall to heaven. When you cross the Jordan, there is al ways a Jericho which appears to bar all further advance. But you are bidden to believe that there is a level path right through those mighty barriers; a pass, as it is called in mountainous districts. How we dread the thought o f those steep cliffs 1 It seems as though we could never climb them; but if we would only look at the Lord instead of the hills, if we would look above the hills to Jehovah, we should be able to rest in sure faith that He will show us the level path of life. Your path is not level, but full o f boulders which have been rolled down upon it and choked it. There are sorrows and trials in all lives; but they need not obstruct our pro gress. When Peter reached the iron gate August 19—" Could ye not watch with me one hour?" (Matt. 26:40).
and in its light the things that alarm us now will appear in friendly aspect; and in the forms we have dreaded so much, we shall see the benign face of Jesus as He comes to us in love. The black clouds that appear so portentous of evil pass by, leaving gentle rain which renews all the life, and changes desert to garden. In the Canton of Bern, in the Swiss Ober- land, a mountain stream rushes in a tor rent toward the valley, as if it would carry destruction to thé villages below ; but, leaping from the sheer precipice of nearly nine hundred feet, it is caught in the clutch of the winds, and sifted down in fine, soft spray whose benignant shower ing covers the fields with perpetual green. So sorrow comes, a dashing torrent, threatening to destroy us ; but by the breath of God’s Spirit it is changed as it falls, and pours its soft, gentle showers upon our hearts, bedewing our withering graces, and leaving rich blessings upon our whole life.— Silent Times. — o — August 24— - ‘Like rain upon the mown grass” (Psalm 72:6). Amos speaks of the king’s mowings. Our King has many scythes, and is per petually mowing His lawns. The musical tinkle of the whetstone on the scythe por tends the cutting down of myriads of green blades, daisies and other flowers. Beautiful as they were in the morning, within an hour or two they lie in long, faded rows. Thus in human life we make a brave show before the scythe of pain, the shears of disappointment, the sickle of death. There is no method of obtain ing a velvety lawn but by repeated mow ings ; and there is no way. o f developing tenderness, evenness, sympathy, but by the passing of God’s scythes. How constantly the Word of God compares man to grass, and his glory to its flower ! But when grass is mown, and all the tender shoots are bleeding, and desolation reigns where flowers were bursting, it is the most ac ceptable time for showers of rain falling soft and warm. O soul, thou hast been mown ! Time after time the King has come to- thee with His sharp scythe. Do' not dread the scythe—it is sure to be fol lowed by the shower.— F. B. M. — o — August 25— "Rest in the Lord, arid wait patiently for him: fret not thyself" (Psa. 37:7). Did you ever hear of any one being much used for Christ who did not have some special waiting time, some complete upset of all his or her plans first—from St. Paul’s being sent off into the desert of .Arabia for three years, when he must have beeii boiling over with the glad tid ings—down to the present day? You were looking forward to telling about trusting Jesus in Syria; now He says, “ I want you to show what it is to trust Me, without waiting for Syria.” My own case is far less severe, but the same in princi ple. When I thought the door was flung open for me to go with a bound into literary work, it is opposed, and the doc tor steps in and says, simply, “Never ! . She must choose between writing and living; she can’t do both.” That was in 1860. Then I came out of the shell with “Ministry of Song” in 1869, and saw the evident wisdom of being kept waiting nine
The B est Ever Spiritually speaking, I believe The King’s Business is the best it has ever been. —From Hastings, Nebr.
he found it open; when the women reached the sepulchre they found the stone gone. —Daily Devotional Commentary.
August 21— "His rest shall be glorious" (Isa. 11:10). Two painters each painted a picture to illustrate his conception o f rest. The first chose for his scene a still, lone lake among the far-off mountains. The sec ond threw on his canvas a thundering waterfall, with a fragile birch tree bend ing over the foam; and at the fork of the branch, almost wet with the cataract’s spray, sat a robin on its nest. The first was only stagnation; the last was rest. Christ’s life outwardly was one of the most troubled lives ever lived: tempest and tumult, tumult and tempest; the waves breaking over it all the time until the worn body was laid in the grave. But the inner life was a sea of glass. The great calm was always there. At any mo ment you might have gone to Him and found rest. And even when the human bloodhounds were dogging Him in the streets o f Jerusalem, He turned to His disciples and offered them, as a last leg acy, “my peace.” Rest is not a hallowed feeling that comes over us in church; it is the repose of a heart set deep in God. — Drummond. —o— August 22— "He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven ” (Psa. 107 : 29, 30). Storm-tossed, troubled, tempted soul, the Lord is thy Keeper. Be of good cour age; He has hold o f thy hand and will bring thee through all the storms of life, oyer the wild waves, past the dangerous rocks, to the desired haven. He “ever liv- eth to make intercession" for us, and that is why we are so blessedly safe. Your life, and the life of every one who belongs to Him, is in His control. Fear not! As He guided millions of saints before our earthly existence ever began; as He guided and kept and brought to the de sired haven the mighty hosts of martyrs, • so will He bring us Home. “He shall not fail nor be discouraged." As darkness in creases, as storms gather, as winds be come more contrary, as He is nearing, let us learn to lean hard upon Him and walk in greater dependence upon Him. “He bringeth ‘ them unto their desired haven." . — Selected. August 23— "He. shall come down like rain upon the mown grass” (Psa. 72:6). We should learn to trust God in the darkness. The morning will surely come,
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