U
TH E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
January, 1940
The Strange God By GRACE LIVINGSTON HILL
time for worldly amusement, or per sonal pleasure, and he was not espec ially fond of money. He had always given, largely of what he possessed. But now the speaker had come to an other god, the commonest one, he said, the one most often enshrined in the human heart. That was Self. Self- will, self-esteem, having one’s own way, the desire to dominate, even over God Himself, and bend His way to our will. He went into the matter most fully and keenly. Like a surgeon using the scalpel of the Word of God, he laid bare Frank Brandon’s true self to his own eyes. He saw himself by his very ac tivities putting God out and himself in, getting praise to himself instead of God; actually singing praises to him self. That heathenish little verse flash ed through his harried mind. He began to see that his very attend ance tonight at this strange meeting had been for the worship of Self, an attempt to put Self back on its ped estal before the world. In closing, the speaker brought out the fact that this self-worship was the sin of Satan who once was Lucifer, son of the morning, the anointed cherub, until iniquity was found in him. Sa tan’s sin was in trying to put himself in God’s place. The speaker quoted the awful condemnation: “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! “ For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congre-' gation, in the sides of the north: “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the'Most High. “Yet thou shalt be brought down to. hell, to the sides of the pit.” From then on Frank Brandon was engrossed in his task of heart-searching until they’ began to sing in closing that" hymn of consecration: “Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way! Thou art the Potter; I am the clay. Mold me and make me after Thy will, While I am waiting, yielded and still.” He knew those words. He had taught them to many an audience. He had al- “I love me! I love me! I’m wild about myself !”
The newly wedded Brandons, tireless church workers, are popular and promi nent figures in the religious activities of their city. Frank and Emily Brandon are indispensable in the social machinery of young people’s work, but they can find no time for a Bible conference. sponsored by spiritual men who empha size regeneration and sound Bible teaching. Frank, coming home from work on the train, hears two supporters of the conference speaking of him as a self- satisfied worker with no real vision of the Lord’s program, one who will not cooperate in the Bible conference be-y cause he is not featured. To illustrate his point, one of the men lightly quotes the song, " I love me! 1 love me!’ ’ A l though very ill, Frank goes io the next meeting to defend his reputation. The spirit and message of the music are a revelation to him, and his thoughts turn inward to his own heart. The Holy Spirit’s dealing extends to Emily's heart as well. P A R T II K HE voice of the preacher broke our hands to a strange god; shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.” The verse was utterly unfamiliar to Frank Brandon and startled him as if the words had been spoken for him alone. It reached even to joints and "marrow and divided the very soul and spirit of him. It seemed to Frank Bran don that he had never heard a verse of Scripture before that so searched his being. He wondered in his astonishment where the preacher had found such a verse. He did not remember having heard it before. Some new translation probably! But it gave him for the first time in his life the cpnsciousness of God searching out his innermost secrets. A great panic swept over him, causing him to really doubt whether God would find everything in him entirely satis factory. [ Copyright, 1935, by Grace Living ston H ill; published by J. B. Lippincott Company. The story as it appears on these pages and in the preceding install ment is a condensation of a longer nar rative which is available in booklet form. — E ditor .]
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, , the one most often enshrined in the human heart. That was Self.” The preacher swept on with a dis course that burned into his soul with a new kind of torture. He began by speaking of things that go toward mak ing a soul forget God. Prominent in the list he'mentioned great Christian activ ity, especially the kind in which men make a plan and ask God to bless it, rather than waiting on the Lord to dis cover what He would have done. He tore the halo from the Christian who is immersed in this sort of man-planned activity by holding up to view a Lord whose very love constrains the heart to look to Him and “lean not to its own understanding.” Frank Brandon listened in amazement to a doctrine he had never heard even hinted at before. He knew in his honest heart that nearly everything that he had ever done in the name of Christ had been after this sort and if this were true he was being condemned. He tried to reason against it all, to protest in his soul, but the preacher was backing up every word he said with a verse of Scripture. Then the preacher wept on to speak of strange gods that men commonly set up in their souls. Money, Pleasure, Worldly Amusement, Fleshly Lust— Ah! Frank lifted up his head trium phantly. None of these were enshrined in his heart. Of that he was very sure. He had lived a clean life, he had no
in upon Frank B r a n d o n ’ s thoughts: “ If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out
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