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T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
August, 1940
Around the King s Table E D I T O R I A L
called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face,, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.’ Lay upon our . hearts, and the hearts of our na- tional leaders, the yearning to turn to Thee, not only in fear, but also in repentance. Make us to acknowl edge our terrible sins of lust and avarice, of desecration of the Lord’s day, of drinking and vice, of ig noring Thy Word, of rejecting Thy Son. “May we get a right view of eter nal consequences that are involved. It is comparatively easy for us to pray for the suffering ones of earth —for wives and husbands who are being torn from each other’s arms, , for little children, like our own pre cious babies, who cannot understand why their daddies do not come home. Yes, we can pray for these, and God grant that we shall, for we know what their pain must be. But, O God, enable us to catch the vision also of the exceedingly great horror, of being separated not only from loved ones, but FROM THEE.” Prayer for leaders of nations occu pied a large part of the day. It was pointed out, with the assurance of faith, that if God could touch the heart of Nebuchadnezzar, and of Constantine, and of others who do not readily choose His will, there can be no dictator on earth today who can withstand the dealing of Almighty God in his life and in his nation. 'Finally, for the members of the body of Christ—particularly those suffering ones in Germany, in Britain, in France, in Russia, in Belgium, in Holland, in Scandinavia, in the Orient—tender and earnest pleading was directed to “the God of all grace.” “Praying in the Holy Ghost” (Jude 20), was the text for a concluding mes sage given by James R. Graham, Jr., a message that put warm love for Christ into the hearts of praying people, and sent them forth to “rejoice evermore” and to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:16, 17). The meeting closed with the observance of the Lord’s Supper. It was a beautiful sight to see hundreds of be lievers, their hands clasped while 'they sang “Blest Be the Tie That Binds Our Hearts in Christian Love*' —Louis T> Talbot.
When God’s People Pray France has set aside a day for mourn ing. It is an amazing thing that, in this hour of national and international dis tress, no call as yet has issued from Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.—the headquarters of this nation which sol emnly, if only theoretically, proclaims, “In God we trust”—no little word of de sire has come for a national day of humbling before God and of beseeching His favor. But is this failure on the part of gov ernmental leaders to be an excuse for the inactivity of the Lord’s people who know the power of prayer? More than forty pastors in Los Angeles and vicin ity vigorously declared themselves as believing there is no such excuse. In their own churches, many of them had ar ranged for a day, or days, of prayer for the nation and for the world, and had urged for prayer in their church bulle tins and over the radio. And when a great mass meeting for prayer, which would have as its objective world con ditions and world leaders, was called by the pastor of thé Church of the Open Door for Wednesday, June 26, not only did these pastors cooperate hearti ly, but their people also responded, so that in the course of the day, approxi mately 3,000 individuals erxgaged in the intercession. Expressing the opinion of many others, one pastor declared: “I believe that prayer will do more to protect our country than will billions of dollars ¿pent for armaments, and it is the only power that will be able to stop the Çod- denying, Christ-hating, Bible exter minating dictators. LET US EAR NESTLY AND MIGHTILY PRAY!” It was understood that the petitions on this particular day were to be world wide in scope. Written requests for prayer were sent to the patform. “ Oh, let us not pray for ourselves” was the burden of many, “but for our nation and for those in authority that they may know that ‘righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people’ (Prov. 14:34).” Earnestly beseeching God, through the merits of a risen Saviour, one pas tor’s prayer was in reaUty the utterance of a multitude when he prayed: “O gracious Lord, may we con fess our sins—we who call ourselves a Christian nation. We read in Thy Word: ‘If my people, which are
Slow Down! There is a book by David Grayson, en titled Adventures in Solitude, from which we quote the following: “Many times in my life I have repeated Rodin’s saying . . . that ‘slowness is beauty.’ . . . To read slowly, to feel slowly and deeply; what enrichment! “In the past I have been so often greedy. I have gobbled down innu merable facts, ideas, stories, poeti cal illusions—I have gobbled down work—I have even gobbled down my friends!—and indeed had a kind of enjoyment of all of them. But rarely have I tasted the last flavor of anything, the final exquisite sense of personality or spirit that secretes itself in every work that merits se rious attention, in every human be ing at all worth knowing.” * Is there any word more greatly need ed by most Christian people today ? When it comes to the study of the Word of God and fellowship with God’s peo ple, how much we are missing because we take our Bible knowledge in cap sule form from some one else! And we gobble down our Christian friends!. We fail to take time lor true appreciation of their contribution to our lives. How few there are who know the meaning of lying down “in pastures of tender grass” and strolling “beside the waters of rest” (cf. Psa. 23)! The Bible is full of terms like these which call upon God’s people to slow down and take time “to get the flavor.” Can we not get out of this hot noon tide of life and the mad rush of the throng, and under trees that whisper in the breezes where we can rest upon moist herbage and really fathom some of the deep things of God? Have we no time to appreciate our brothers and sisters in Christ whose lives have meaht so much to us? Surely we can all enter into these rich experiences. But only our Good Shep herd can lead us to it. Do we really ask HIM to help us to slow down? —Keith L. Brooks. A Gift That Multiplies Itself THE KING’S BUSINESS recently re ceived the following delightful message: “Enclosed find a check for sixty- five dollars to be used . . . for mis- *From Adventures in Solitude, by David Grayson, copyright, 1931, by Doubleday, Doran, & Co., Inc,
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