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T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
563
( v h A ' s r r i f t i T T v f £ w / - t - O T - ^ 0 D T h e M a n W k h A n U n u s e d B i b l e
a a l L s s & f l i
B y H. V . A ndrews ( Huntington , Wew York )
OD, who is the Creator of man, and who de sires to be a Father to him, has made known His will for His children, and the Bible is the only book that contains that will. For this reason, it should be known, respected, and obeyed. Ignorance of the revealed will of God always results in serious loss and often in complete disas ter. “ All have sinned” ; therefore, because the Word o f God deals with sin, its nature, its penalty, and its remedy, a thorough knowledge of the book is imperative. The ex posure of sin, which is one of the chief purposes of the Bible, ‘is extremely distasteful to the guilty. Yet ignorance of and disrespect for the Scriptures, especially as they
law, His promises, and His warnings if he had so desired. His ignorance made him unprepared in the time of famine and, therefore, an easy prey to suggestions that prompted him to go the wrong way. The man who does not know the way of God will, like Elimelech, choose the path that looks ea.sy and pleasant. F ailure T hrough I gnorance of the W ord From the experience of Elimelech, we learn some of the results that may be expected to follow ignorance of the Word of God. 1. He could not see a divine purpose in the famine. Had he known God’s Word, he would have understood that such visitations were predicted to follow a willful
relate to sin and salvation, are a grief to God and a shame to man. F ull K nowledge N eeded Complete and thorough knowl edge of the Word of God is essen tial to an understanding of the will of God. The man with an unused Bible, who is familiar with only cer tain passages in the book, is like a wayward young man who left a good home in order to escape its re straints and the admonitions of par ents who earnestly desired his high est good. After a time of reckless living, he received word of his fath
departure from God’s laws. More over, he would have realized that the object of the affliction was repen tance and a return to the Lord, and that, as soon as these conditions were met, God would cause the trouble to cease. 2.
/ j T % m u r ò 3 ^ l y t ò i n m i n e f y e a r i t f y a t 3 m i g t y t nnt B i n a g a i n s t t t y e e . —Psalm 119:11
His sense
wrong was perverted. He probably asked himself, “ What harm can there be in going to Moab for a time ?” He should have known that God had pronounced a curse upon the Moabites because of their at tempt to defile the camp of Israel. They were idolaters and enemies of God’s people however good some individuals among them may have been. 3. His sense of spiritual danger to himself and his family was weakened. To deliberately choose the fellow ship of those who do not know and who do not fear God is to invite spiritual death. 4. His sense of responsibility to others was affected. It is tragic to go wrong oneself, but it is infinitely worse to lead others astray. The memory of such guilt will bring keen torture in after days. A father who will put his children in the place of moral and spiritual danger in order to better his own financial and social condition will have much to answer for before God. A careful study of God’s Word will give parents wisdom to plan for the eternal as well as the temporal welfare of their children. 5. He was ignorant of the true nature of the tempta tion before him. He did not realize that every step toward Moab extended the distance between himself and God and lessened the chances of his return to Him because it les sened his desire to return. Every plunge into- worldliness reduces one’s ability to resist and increases the tempter’s power. Apart from the Word of God, the Christian can not know the true nature and peril of temptation. 6. He was weak in the face of tempation. Removed from the Word of God, he had nowhere to turn for strength. Like an army with its source of supplies cut off, he was defeated without a battle. If Satan can keep a man away from the Bible, he knows that he will soon lose the prayer habit, and will then be too weak to with-
er’s death, and he immediately hastened home. In due time the father’s will was read to the family. In it was an ac count-of the father’s disappointed hopes and the son’s dis regard of his parents’ wishes. As the son listened to the reading, he became angry, and, without waiting to hear the conclusion, he left the house to engage again in his evil practices. Later, with health broken through dissipation, he returned to his home and learned, to his surprise, that his father had not only forgiven him for all his ill treat ment, but had also remembered him with a generous be quest. Angered because of the exposure of his sinful deeds, the boy had not waited to hear of the forgiveness . that was promised. How much like him is the man with an unused Bible! In the Book of Ruth we have, in Klimelech, an example o f a man who suffered much because he did not know the Word and the will of God. His action in taking his fam ily to Moab proved his ignorance of the divine plan. The Word o f God, in those days, was limited to the five books of the law, known as the books of Moses. While it is true that copies of them, being hand made, were probably too costly for Elimelech to possess, nevertheless, he was given ample opportunity to acquaint himself with- their contents. His home town, Bethlehem, was not far from the site of the tabernacle at which all the Hebrew males were required to present themselves three times a year. There the priests were always on duty, prepared to in struct the ignorant. Elimelech could have known God’s
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