•June 1926
T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
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But I have come to see that you cannot have an oak without exposure in the open. For you never saw an oak tree grown under glass. And who would not prefer to be an oak to being an orchid? I recall how in my old church I was asked to go and see a sick woman. And when I entered the room on that Sun day afternoon, she suddenly had a spasm of pain. And never but once in my life have I seen a human countenance so contorted with agony. And I stood there silent like a fool, for I could not think of a word to say. And that woman was twisting in the convulsions of pain. But when after a while it subsided a little and I found my tongue, I said, “ My sister, I do not know why you suffer so; and you do not know; and nobody knows. . But God knows; and some day God will explain it to you, and then you also will know and be quite content.” And I walked out. And when I came to myself on the street, I said, “ You are a pretty preachet, are you not? You went there to see a woman who is going to die. You read her no Scripture, prated no prayer, and here you are going home. The best thing you can do is to go farming and quit preaching.” But three days after when that same member came to me and said, “ Would you bury the woman you visited last Sun day?” I answered, “ Yes.” And she said, “ I want to tell you something before you go down to the undertaking room. After you left, that woman looked up and said, ‘Thank God for that man, for he told me I did not know, and I have been trying to And out the reason; and he told me God knows, and God will some day^tell me why I had that cancer and why I am dying in this awful pain.’ And she said, ‘I can trust God now, and I can die in peace, for I am going to heaven.’ ” “What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter.” I know the meaning of a good many things that have hap pened to me, but I do not know the meaning of all the things that have happened. And I have got where I do not want to know. For if I had known in January what would come into my life during this year I should have died of shock. But I did not know, I am glad I did not, and I do not know what will come into my life next week, and if God said, “ There is the scroll of your life; do you want to read it?” I would say, “ God, I would rather go blind than read it. I do not want to’ see it.” But I am glad Jesus Christ knows. I should be a very sad man this morning if I thought Christ was as ignorant of my future as am I. For He knows where in the darkness I shall go up against the big boulder, and Just before I get up to it He will say, “ Better turn to the right,” and so I shall miss it. And He knows where the venomous snake is in my pathway, and just before I put my foot upon it and might receive the pois onous fang, He will say, “ Stop a minute," and the snake will get out of my way! Nothing is going to surprise Him. He*knows, and He is going to tell me some day. "Not now, but in the coming years, It may be in the better land, We’ll read the meaning of our tears; Sometime, up there, we’ll understand.1’ What We Do Know Shall I now tell you what I know? I know the attributes of God. I know God is infinite in power, and I know if God liked He could make as many mountains like Mount Hood before I finish this sentence as there are stars in the sky; and I know if God saw lit he could dry up the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans before I draw another breath. He has infi nité power. And I know He has infinite wisdom. I know (Continued on page 367) V
HIS CHOSEN PATH FOR THEE
He chose this path for thee; No feeble chance, or hard, relentless fate, But love, His love, hath placed thy footsteps here * He knew the way was rough and desolate, Knew hoy? thy 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 thy way, Knew all the hidden dangers thou would st meet, Knew how thy faith would falter day by day, And still the whisper echoed, "Yes, I see This path is best for thee.” - He chose this path for thee, What need’st thou more? This sweeter truth to know: That all along these strange bewildering ways, O’er rocky steeps and where dark rivers flow, His loving arms shall bear thee all thy days; A few steps more, and thou thyself shalt see, This path is jbest for thee. — Selected.
perfume and feel thankful, and your little face-like blos soms will remind them of their children ¿who went to heaven in the by-gone days. You will know hereafter.” And then Friday afternoon I buried another kind of seed ---for I buried a body. And I put the body down under the ground and I said, “ Do not be frightened. It looks strange — it does not look right— I grant it. But there is a day coming when a great noise will go rumbling over all the earth, and every sleeping Christian will hear that noise and recognize it, and come out in incorruptibility, in immortal ity, in power, in glory. Thou shalt know hereafter. The Backward Look Sometimes after I have climbed a hill and looked back on the road traveled I have seen the reason for all the turning and twisting of that road. It turned this way to avoid a pitfall, and then it turned a little farther on to reveal a beautiful landscape. I did not know why the thing was so crooked as I progressed upon it; but when I reached the hilltop and looked back, I could see the meaning of all that devious traveling. And then I thought of Joseph, who had the flashy coat that excited the envy and hostility of his brethren so that they wanted to kill him. One brother per suaded them to put him in a pit where he might die of starvation, but from thence he was sold into slavery, and through Potiphar’s house passed into Jail. And that must have looked very strange to Joseph, because he was a good ' man. But we know the pit, the/slavery, Potiphar’s house, and the jail, were all necessary to.'his becoming the third, ruler of the kingdom and sitting oh a golden throne. And when Joseph got upon the throne he would understand the meaning of that which had been so mysterious before. Oak or Orchid? Are you getting any comfort out of this, my people? I am. For I have been God’s oak, I have not been His orchid, and I have felt the swish of the hail, been drenched with the rain, stung by the frost, burned by the heat, and some times I have said, “ God, do you know what you are about?”
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