March 1929
T h e
K i n g ' s
B u s i n e s s
131
“Our midnight is Thy smile withdrawn, Our noontide is Thy gracious dawn.”
Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, i f thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.” As God inspired faith in Abraham by pointing him to the countless stars, so may God help us to renew our faith in the promises of God every time we go forth at night to view the starry heavens.
But alas, how often earth-born clouds come between us and the Sun of Righteousness. The sun remains the same on cloudy days as on other days, but the clouds which have their origin in the world come between and cut off our view, and the sun is not able to do its healing work as on other days. Is there no way to rid ourselves of the clouds of sin? Yes, thank God there is a way! Isaiah 44:22 says: “I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins.” With the sin clouds cleared away by God’s help, we can join the happy group of those who continue to bask in the sunshine of the Saviour’s love. “Sun of my soul, Thou Saviour dear, By night, the moon is the most prominent heavenly body which meets our view. What message does the moon bring us ? In Phil. 2:15 we read : “That ye may be blame less and harmless, the Sons o f God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.” The marginal reading would give it this way: "Among whom ye shine as luminaries in the world.” In other words Paul wants us to be like the moon and the stars. He wants-us to let our light shine forth in the midst of darkness all around us. The moon is a particularly fitting type of the Christian. The glory of the moon is a reflected glory, the sun being its source of light. And surely ours is a reflected glory, for all that is beautiful in us has come to us from the Sun of Right eousness. Apart from Him there is no glory in us. And then the moon does not always give to the earth the same amount of light. The moon may be eclipsed by the earth. Even so, the glory of the Christian shining as the moon is often eclipsed by the world. We cannot reflect the glory of our Saviour if we allow worldly things to enter our lives. Again, the moon gives light by night. And how true this is of the Christian! If the world seems dark around you, do not complain. God has put you in a dark place to shine. Thank God for the privilege of letting "your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” His lamps are we, To shine where He shall say; And lamps are not for sunny rooms, Nor for the light of day;' But for dark places of the earth, Where shame and wrong ¡and crime have birth; And for the murky twilight gray, It is not night if Thou be near; Oh, may no earth-born cloud arise To hide Thee from Thy servant’s eyes!”
“’Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, Just to take Him at His Word; Just to rest upon His promise; Just to know, ‘Thus saith the Lord’.’.’
But if we are astronomers we will not be satisfied until we have attempted to-measure the distance to the stars. To do this astronomers must determine the paral lax of the stars they wish to measure. The parallax of the stars is the apparent change in the position of the stars due to the different angles from which the star is viewed. The fixed stars are so far away that their parallax is so small it takes a marvelously delicate instrument to meas ure it. But James 1:17 tells us that with God there is no parallax at all. "Every good gift and every perfect g ift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness [parallax] neither shadow o f turning.” In other words, God’s Word informs the astronomer that God is absolutely the same no matter from what angle He is viewed. Things in this world may change, but through all the eternities of the future, God will always remain the same. As we look up into the heavens, let us learn the lesson of the immutability of God. But to the Christian worker the stars have another important lesson. Daniel 12:3 gives us this lesson: "And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness o f the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.” The faithful Christian worker can go out at night and enjoy the starry heavens, realizing that his reward shall be glorious, like the stars above, and everlasting as the stars. Not all Christians will be rewarded alike. Our reward shall be according to our faithfulness. Some of us will shine like a dim star in the distance, while others of us will shine like the brightest star in the heavens. Paul tells u s : "There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory o f the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory” (1 Cor. 15:41). Astronomers did not always believe that, but they now agree that stars do differ from one another in glory and that the brightness is not due to distance alone. And remember, our reward is to be like the stars. Our souls should thrill with rap ture as we think of the glorious day when we receive our eternal reward! “The heavens shall glow with splendor; But brighter far than they, The saints shall shine in glory, Let us listen again to the language of the heavens. This time they speak to us of God’s omnipotent power. In order to grasp the stupendous power of God in all the universe, let us begin with some manifestations of power nearer home. Take, for instance, the power of the atmos phere. The pressure of the air upon the earth is esti mated at five thousand millions of millions of tons. That is tremendous. But let us take another example. Every year 200,000 cubic miles of rain falls to the earth. Think of the power thus exerted! Again, scientists say that there As Christ shall them array: The beauty of the Saviour Shall dazzle every eye, In the crowning day that’s coming By and by.”
Where wandering sheep have gone astray. And where the lamp of faith grows dim, And souls are groping after Him. And as sometimes a flame we see, Clear shining through the night So dark we cannot see the lamp— But only see the. light, So may we shine, His love the flame, That men may glorify His name.
Annie Johnson Flint. But what is the message of the stars? Perhaps the first thought that comes to us as we look up into the spangled heavens is the number of the stars. And that takes us back in our minds to the days of Abraham. God had promised Abraham a son, and that from his seed an innumerable host of descendants should spring. Notice how God makes this promise sure to Abraham. Genesis 15:5-6: "And he brought him forth abroad, and said,
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