24
January 1932
T h è
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
r table each day. It must be wonderful to have a heavenly Father, he reflected. What was it Ellen said to the young people last Sunday? In her characteristic short sentences, she had said: “ You don’t get results in your Christian life, because you don’t trust. And you don’t trust, because you don’t believe in His Word. Faith cometh by hearing it, and you don’t believe in His Word, because you don’t read it. You don’t know it. You take other people’s opinions about it. You don’t take the trouble to look it all up for yourselves. All most of you know about the Bible is what some one else thinks!” That phrase again! William jumped up and walked around and sat down on his stump again, facing in the op posite direction. “ H ’m, what people think! Oh, G od !” William had not expected to say this, but it seemed as if the prayer was first breathed into him and then that he breathed it out. “ Oh, God, help me to believe the Lord as Ellen does, and then help us out of this trouble.” It was William’s first prayer, and, as he opened his eyes, they fell on two letters on top of the stump where he sat. They had evidently been put there with a scribing tool. He had not seen them before. The letters were “ U. S.” They had a strongly official look. They were clear, and stood out distinctly. “ ‘U. S.’ !” He said aloud, then suddenly, “ Uncle Sam ! every one thinks — ha! — it doesn’t matter what any one thinks. Look it up for yourself—U. S., United States!” He jumped off the stump as if electrified. Just a minute now, he must go down on his knees again for prayer and say: “ Oh, Lord, I thank Thee for hearing me right away. Now lead me, dear Father. Show me just how to go about this wisely, and may it all end in my family believing Thy Word.” Straight as a dove flying to its window, a verse heard last Sunday flashed across the lantern of his soul: “ The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.” He said afterward that he started down the mountain knowing that Some One was with him, Some One he copld safely trust. And so it was all the way — the marvelous delaying of the Downieville stage by a flat tire so that he caught i t ; the encounter, dur ing the ride, with the tall, grizzled man who knew all about how to stake out and to record mining claims ;,and the un expected opportunity to telephone his father to wait in Downieville, the county seat, where he had been for a day’s business, until William’s arrival. Then came the meeting with his father, whose anxious face relaxed into something like amusement at his son’s suppressed excitement. “ But, I tell you, it’s Government land, Dad, the entire section there is Government land,” the lad was saying earnestly. “ But it’s always been considered the property of the Sierra Mines.” “ That’s what everybody thinks, but that doesn’t make it true. I ’m banking on the ‘U. S.’ on that stump, and not on ‘what everybody thinks’ or says. Listen to this, Dad,” and William told him of Ellen’s talk to the young people, ending up his little parable with these words, “ This is the point: People don’t believe God’s Book, because they take some one else’s opinion about it. They don’t give it a fair trial. And just as I was thinking of this up there today, somehow I prayed, asking the Lord to help. It was then
that I saw the U. S. on the stump. And of course my first thought was that everybody considers this land part of the Sierra Mine property. But I thought of Ellen’s talk. Why take other people’s opinions ? Perhaps they’re wrong and are losing the fine gold God has for them— ’’William broke off. His father, with a strange new look and a smile, had let his hand fall on his son’s shoulder, and without a word, he, too, proceeded to the County Recorder’s office. It was even as William had hoped. The land was Gov ernment property and therefore open for location. The forestry service, in cutting timber, had scribed “ U. S.” on one of the stumps, as usual. It was well known that the valuable ledge that made the Sierra Mine rich ran into this section which William and his father located and then sold. Great was the excitement on the Butte and in Downie ville as well. The pretty little county seat under its green trees by its smooth flowing river was shaken to its center at the news. And on the Butte, Fred and his father shook their heads silently in public, and berated themselves in private. “ How none of us ever thought of it, I don’t know,” Fred’s father would exclaim at the table. “ Like the Sierra Mine people, we just took it for granted that what every one else said was true. Funny they never checked up on that section.” Then turning to Fred, he said roughly, “ How come you never thought of it? That boy William is the ace up here now. What made him so wise ?” “ I dunno,” Fred replied despondently. “ Going to Young People’s helped—he got an idea.” “ Well, a lot of the leaders of our country get their ideas and their start in Young People’s, as William’s father was saying. I guess you’d better start Young People’s next week, Frederick.” And Frederick did so, to discover in the end that, whether a leader of the country or not, only Christ could keep him truly happy, safe, and useful today. William was made president of the debating club, and Ellen was finally elected vice-president of her class. Fred was consoled by being installed as cheer leader and chief rooter for the school athletic meets. “What,” asked Fred o f William, “ is the subject of the first debate?” And William replied, “ Should we ever be afraid of what people think?” The Promises and the Promiser he promises of needed grace for the passing day are based upon the fact that, after His resurrection, Christ ascended into heaven, there to make contin ual intercession for us. The promises put us in touch with a living Saviour. The promises of future glory are based upon the fact that Christ has entered into that glory, and that He is there now, preparing a place for us. He will return again to take us to Himself that where He is, we may be also. The promises ,on our United States currency are but paper. In the treasury of the Government is the coin that gives them value. The promises of the Bible are written on paper. But the security back of the promises is the person and work of Christ—His life, His death, His resurrection, and His ascension—by virtue of which the promises are yea and amen.
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