January 1932
T h e
m n g ’ s B u s i n e s s
3
rum L from THE KING’S TABLE . . . By THE EDITOR The Providence of God o ne reason why the providence
“ Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.” “ I will recall the years of God’S right hand.” We are not to think of these cases as exceptional. The goodness of God’s providence was not more manifest in the lives of Joseph and David than it will be some day in ours. Some day we shall see that we never drank one bit ter cup too much—O my soul, say that again and think it over!—that we never climbed one steep hill too many, that
of God is so difficult to, interpret is because it is not like creation, a finished work. It is still unfolding, new chapters are constantly being added. God knows what He is going to write; there is no confusion in His mind; from begin ning to end, it is all perfectly clear to Him, but it is not so to us. Go to an architect in the middle of his plan, with
walls half built and arches half sprung, rooms without doors, and pillars without cap itals; what appears as perfect order to the architect who has the plan all in his eye, will seem to you a scene of perfect confusion. And so stands man amid that vast scheme of prov idence which God began six thousand years ago. Stolen away from his fa ther’s side, cast into a pit, sold into slavery, carried i n t o Egypt, and, though innocent of any crime, committed to a fil thy dungeon, Joseph must have felt his lot a hard one in deed; and if he had cried out in rebellion, it would not have been strange. We can sympa thize with dear old Jacob, when he exclaimed, “ All these things are against me!” His father heart was crushed and broken, and we may be sure the sorrow of it all must some times have been overwhelming to Joseph. But by and by,
all our heartaches and disap pointments, that all our sor rows and afflictions, were the unchanging benevolence of our Heavenly Father. We shall see that the way that seemed right to us and most desirable was all wrong, that it was a way of danger and destruction, and that, if the gracious God had not turned us out of it with a stern hand, we would have gone on to inevitable ruin. As children of God, it is a
His Chosen Path for Thee
He chose this path for thee: No feeble chance, nor hard, relentless fate, ■ But love, His love, hath placed thy footsteps here. He knew the way was rough and desolate, Knew how the heart would often sink with fear, Yet tenderly He whispered: “ Child, I see This path is best for thee.” He chose this path for thee: Though well He knew sharp thorns would tear thy feet, Knew how the troubles would obstruct the way, Knew all the hidden dangers thou wouldst meet, Knew how thy faith would falter day by day, And still the whisper echoed, “ Yes, I see Even while He knew the fearful midnight gloom Thy timid, shrinking soul must travel through; How towering rocks would oft before thee loom, And phantoms grim would meet thy frightened view; Still comes the whisper, “My beloved, I see This path is best for thee.” —S elected . This path is best for thee." He chose this path for thee:
good thing to think that we are on the good ship of provi dence;. that He who is at the wheel is Master of every wind that blows, and of every wave that dashes against the vessel; and that all the veer-ing and tacking, all the rough tossing, all the discomforts of the voy age, all the storms and cloudy days are as much a part of the great Captain’s thoughtfulness and love as .are the blue sea and the sunny sky. It must be so if God is what the Bible repre sents Him to be. Nothing but good can come from the One who. is infinitely good. Unity Through Christian Love , T he H oly S pirit names four ways in which Christian unity may be both helped and shown. First, by doing nothing through faction. The party spirit, particularly in a congregation or Christian institu tion, is always a mischievous.spirit. It destroys peace and harmony. The moment a man falls into a factious temper, and thinks not so much of getting on himself as of hinder ing somebody else from getting on, and not so much of promoting good ends as of opposing them in a spirit of sheer willfulness, and makes it his chief business to object and find fault, he becomes an element of discord to every body with whom he may be identified. If there is to be any real unity—unity of mind and heart—the disposition to be self-assertive, and to strive on all occasions MiiSt be cru cified. Second, by doing nothing through vainglory. Or, in
when he was raised to the throne of Egypt, exalted to the premiership of a great empire, put in a position where he could lay up corn with which to save his own people from starvation, he could see, and his old father could see, at every turn of the road- and in every crook in their lot, the manifest goodness of God. Look at David. He was taken from the sheepfold, where his young life was sunny and free from anxiety, and where the days were filled with brightness, to experiences of the most harrowing and cruel sort. He was envied, suspected, hated, hunted over the hills of Judah like a wild beast, and in daily peril of his life. Sdch was the road he had to travel to the throne, which was really thrust upon him; and after he reached it, the road was quite as thorny. But later on, with his kingdom established, with his character purified and enriched by communion with heaven, with his name and fame wrought into Israel’s his tory forever, with the whole providential sweep o f his career lying before him,, he could take his harp and sing,
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