297
August, 1940
T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
"Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits,” he stopped short and said, in his inimitable way, "You can’t remember ’em all, of course, but dtm’t forget 'em all. Remember some of ’em.”—M. J. McLeod.
As sinners, we find it perfectly natural to praise God for His grace and love and mercy. But we have not reached the place of spiritual maturity until we have learned to praise and worship Him because of His immeasurable holiness. When we have learned this, wd* shall then be ready to take God’s part against all sin, against all sinners, yes, even against ourselves. And the wonder of divine redemption is not merely that God showed mercy, but that He was able to show mercy to sinners without the sacrifice of His holy name. It is no accident that in this Psalm the holi ness of God is put first. 3. “Bless the Lord, O my soul” (v. 2). The thoughtful reader, noticing how the psalmist here speaks to his own soul, may recall the case of a man in the New Testament who also spoke to his own soul, but not so wisely. “And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou has much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry” (Lk. 12:19). No contrast could be more strik ing. The one man thought about God, the other about himself. 4. “Forget not all his benefits” (v. 2). It has been pointed out that the Hebrew term hererendered “benefits” may refer in the Bible to things which are both pleasant and unpleasant. Thus we are not to forget that all of God dealings with His people, whether they are easy or hard to bear, must be counted as “benefits.” “All things work together for good.” 5. “ Forgiveth . . . healeth . . . re- deemeth . . . crowneth . . . satisfi* eth” (vs. 3-5). What a wonderful se quence of blessings is displayed in these five verbs! “Forgiveth” points to Justi fication. "Healeth” points to Sanctifi cation. Even if diseases of the body are involved, let us not forget that physi cal disease is in the last analysis the result of spiritual disease. “Redeem- eth” points to the Resurrection, because this redemption is literally from the “pit. ’ "Crowneth” points to Glorifica tion, the day of our crowning. “ Satis- fieth” points to our final Perfection, when every need is supplied and every thirst is quenched, when we shall 'be satisfied by seeing His face and being in His likeness (Psa. 17:15). Let us not be afraid to see great thiqgs in the Psalms by way of spiritual application. Sir Moses Montefiore, the Hebrew philanthropist, had as the motto 61 his family, “Think and Thank.” In the old Anglo-Saxon l a n g u a g e thankfulness means “thinkfulness.” Thinking of all God’s goodness draws forth gratitude. Once when D. L. Moody was reading Psalm 103, as he came to the verse, Golden Text Illustration P salm 103:2
Our Songs to God P s a l m 103
MEMORY VERSE: “I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God” (Psa. 104:33). APPROACH: King David sang many lovely songs called Psalms which teach us how to praise God every day. At church, too, we can praise God, for we should “enter intq his gates with thanks giving, and ihto his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name” (Psa. 100:4). LESSON STORY1! We should praise the’ Lord not only with our lips, but from our hearts as well. When our eyes see the wonderful works of God, we should praise Him. When our ears hear the wonderful Word oi God, we should praise Him. When we think of the won derful love of God to us, we should praise Him — not forgetting to thank Him for His goodness. We should praise the Lord for healing our diseases. The Lord Jesus wants to forgive our sins and to make our bodies well, if we will only believe what He says. 5 -Division We should praise God for saving our lives. Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden made a bad bargain when they sold themselves to be slaves to Satan. Satan puts sin into our hearts and spoils us or destroys us, making us unhappy here and unfit for heaven. But the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world to save us from our sins and to buy us back to God the Father, so we can some day live with Him in heayen. We now belong to •God, for we were bought back, not with silver nor gold, but with the precious blood of the dear Lord Jesus. “Bought back,” means “redeemed.” The dear Lord Jesus saved our lives from being spoiled by Satan and sin. I will count my many blessings, and from my heart I will sing praises and give thanks unto the God of my salva tion. Object Lesson T he C an C ousins OBJECTS: Three cans of canned vege tables or fruit, graduated in size. (Smear the Lord because He forgives all our sins and r e m e m b e r s them no more for ever, if we tell Him we are sorry we have . done wrong. We should praise
mud over the largest, remove the label and reverse it on the middle-sized one, and leave the label unchanged on the smallest.) LESSON: What do you think these cans contain? “The little one has canned pears in i t The big one is so covered with mud that we can’t read the label. The other has the label reversed, and we can’t tell what is in it.” You are right. The only label which we can read is on the small can. Did you know that these cans are like Christians? They are so much like peo ple that I have n a m e d t h e m Carl, Kenneth, and Charles. They are the Can cousins. On the top of each can I notice some code letters and figures. Carl, the large can, has "KT 264 BZ” impressed in the tin. The cannery which put out the can could tell us'many things about it by looking at the letters and figures of the secret code. Doubtless the food in the large can is just as good as that which is in the small can, but we do not know what it contains. It is often true tnat among those who have professed to take Christ as Saviour, there are some whose lives outwardly do not reveal Him, be cause their lives are unclean. Kenneth, the middle-sized can, is clean, but the label is reversed. Just so, there are those who have accepted Christ, but who re fuse to let others know that He is abiding within. Charles, the smallest can, reveals what is within, showing it by the label, as well as by the secret code impressed in the tin. Not' only the cannery peo ple know what this can contains, but the public as well. Christ knows all those who have accepted Him vas Saviour, and He wants them to reveal the fact to others. Charles reminds me of David. In Psalm 108:1 we read, “Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.” One of the things which caused David to sing the praises of God is found in verse 12 of this same Psalm. “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our trans gressions from us.” All those who have received Christ need to tell others and be like Charles Can and King David.
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