T HE K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
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made me, and may H is blessing aligh t on my endeavors for serving my country faithfully! To Him I resign myself and th e ju s t cause which is en tru sted to me to defend. Amen, amen, am en.” P ra y er in God’s W ill. Even answers to prayer when de manded by us are often a cause. Jesus said, “Not My will b u t Thine.” “A child grew very ill, and his fath er felt th a t he could not give him up. While- others watched he prayed, and w ith such insistence th a t he recorded, “About six o’clock my anxiety was in a m easure relieved, and in going to the sick room I found th a t th e boy had fallen into a sleep and from th a t hour he grew b etter. And yet, looking back aftè r th è lapse of years, it had been b etter and happier for parénte and child, fo r o thers also, if th e sh o rt life had ended th e n .” Do not ask beyond God’s will. Again comes ano th er sim ilar case, and one of the paren ts recorded, “Saved in answer to im portunate p ray er.” The life was saved b u t the n atu re seemed to be changed, and th e boy grew to manhood a curse, a sorrow and a burden to those more nearly connected w ith him. And yet he was the child of Chris tian parents. It may be God could make g reater characters of some of our chil d ren by tak ing them to glory, th a n leav ing them in our train ing . If God so will we ought no t to demand of Him th a t they live. v. 32. They came. The th ree whom Jesus took w ith Him are th e same th ree whom He took into th e Mount of T rans figuration. If He tak es us into the Mount of Transfig- COMMENT FROM uration, we may ex- MANY SOURCES pect-H im to tak e us K. !L. B rooks w ith Him to th e Garden of Gethse mane also.— Torrey. P lace nam ed Geth semane. The name means “ oil press.”—
Camb. Bible. H is experience in Gethse- mane was exactly th e reverse of th a t of th e first Adafn, who began in a garden and was driven thence into the desert because he failed to refuse him self one pleasure more beside ten thousand. Jesus began where th e transgressions of men had driven them , in the desert among th e wild beasts, and resisted not a luxury, bu t th e passion of hunger, craving for bread. Now He is in a gar den, bu t how diffierent from theirs. ^—Chadwick. v. 33. T aketh w ith Him . He se lects those who will be least likely to m isunderstand H is intense distress.-— Plummer. These th ree had boasted most of th e ir ability and w illingness to suffer w ith Him. (1 0 :3 9 .) It is fit th a t they who are most confident should be first tried th a t they may be m ade sen sible of th e ir folly and weakness.-^- Henry. Sore amazed— very heavy. The word “ heavy” means extreme distress. Nowhere else used in th e Bible except in Phil. 2:26.—-Lightfoot. v. 34. Sorrow ful un to death. The skeptic supposes th a t a to rre n t of emo tion swept our Savior off His feet, yet He not once loses self-control nor wavers in loyalty to H is F ath e r, nor renounces His subm ission to the F a th e r’s will. He has won th e only perfect victory.— Ex pos. Bible. This is not a complaining voice. We have never heard, th e Mas te r complain. The purpose of His own h ea rt is ripening and th e divine decree is coming to th e u tterance of its last syllable.— P ark er. He cried to Him who could save H im from dying before His tria l and sentence and was saved from w h at He feared.— Meyer. T arry ye here. He yearned in th is te rrib le hour for hum an sympathy so He asks the th ree disciples to watch w ith Him. It is about th e only personal request re corded th a t He ever made. The dis ciples failed H im , and according to prophecy, He tro d th e w inepress alone.
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