421
T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
November, 1939
Gates of God By DANIEL LAMONT* Edinburgh, Scotland
thing precious and of untold value to pass on to the other nations of the earth. It was their task to send out to the other peoples of the world, through their nation, the message that the Lord is King. There were powerful nations around them that were worshiping gods and goddesses many. But here was this one little nation that, knew the truth. They' had a great task to do in the world. They had kept their hearts opeB to the Word of God, and their ears open to His voice. Any nation that feels it has a great testimony to give is a na tion whose heart must be filled with thanksgiving. Have we not also a testimony to give ? Have we not something worth passing on to the other nations of the earth? All the glories of our heritage find their glowing center and heart in Jesus Christ our Lord. We are to put Him in the first place, remembering that God has .set Him there already; and if we are going to do the will of God as individuals and as a nation, we must carry out His behests, Ours is a holy commission, fo make His praise glorious. family name thus dragged in the dust, what must it mean to Him when the honor and name of Himself and His Son are trampled under foot by His children who run away from Him? I learned also that when we pray “at any cost,” we had better mean what we say, for God sometimes takes us at our very word, and at the cost of ter rible humiliation and sorrow. Best of all, I learned that even in the furnace of great sorrow and trouble, the Form of the Fourth actually is able to reveal Himself. Hallelujah! “When through fiery trials thy path way shall lie, My grace all sufficient shall be thy supply!”—A. S., Forestville, N. Y. Thoughts on Praise Hem your blessings with praise, lest they unravel. The devil fears a Christian who is constantly praising the Lord. When you find it hard to pray, begin to praise. Thankfulness is the soil in which joy thrives. Praise is the blossom of prayer. —Selected. TRY THANKSGIVING [Continued from page 420]
present moment” described as a mathe matical point somewhere between the past and the present. There is no moment in your life that is so impor tant as the present moment. It is God’s gate for you and me; it is the moment of God’s opportunity with us and our opportunity with God. New Beginnings There are two outstandingly great things in life. One is the assurance of God’s forgiveness through His Son Jesus Christ; and the other is that He is al ways willing to give us a fresh start. Life is like a book; we are always turn ing over the pages, but always in one direction. The pages that are past are blotted and'.blurred enough. But the attitude of the Christian soul to his Saviour is represented by those simple lines, which probably are familiar to some of you: "I showed Him my page, all blurred and blotted; He gave me a new one, all unspotted. Anti He looked into my sad eyes, and smiled, And said, 'Do better now, My child.’ ” God gives us a new beginning; let us enter into that gate with thanksgiving. Scriptural Thanksgiving As you go through the sacred page, you constantly find the command, the entreaty to offer to God thanksgiving. But there is never anything that is for mal, or artificial, pr forced about it; it is always something that is supposed to well up in the heart freely and spon taneously. Both in the Old and the New Testa ments, it is represented as something that is overflowing. “My cup runneth over,” said the Psalmist. It is an ex pression of what the heart feels when that heart is overflowing with real, spontaneous, free and happy thanks giving. Those Israelites who went up long ago to the temple at Jerusalem sang as they entered in at the gates. What had they to be grateful for? This, that they were Israelites. At the time this Psalm was written, Israel was the onljr people in the world that knew* the living and true God. Israel possessed few of those material resources that commonly are supposed to make a nation, great. Yet Israel was the one nation that possessed a great treasure, and the best of those Israelites knew that they had some?
“Enter into his gates with thanksgiving” (Psa. 100:4). B HE words of our text speak of the “gates of God',” and of the thanksgiving which befits o u r entering into them. The “gates of God” are many; in point of fact, as many as our moments. No doubt the first refer-i ence was to the gates of the temple at Jerusalem, to which the pilgrims went up joyfully from all parts of the land of Israel, and from far beyond, to bear their witness to Him in whom they be lieved, the living and true God, and to give thanks to His name. They went up rejoicing, and with thanksgiving not only on their lips but in their hearts as well. But we have the highest possible au thority for extending the reference be yond the temple at Jerusalem, for we have the word of our Lord Himself that “where two or three are gathered to gether in my name, there am I in the midst.” In the early church, certain w o r d s of our Lord were peculiarly cherished by His own folk; and this fvord wafe one of them. The early Chris tians felt, as we also should feel, that when Christ is in the midst, all gooa and great things are possible. There may be no literal walls, or roofs, or gates at all. The Present Moment of Opportunity We have the same higher authority for extending the reference still fur ther, extending it, indeed, to every mo ment of our lives. Every moment is a gate of God, had we but faith to see it. There is no study I know anything about that is so profound, so impres sive, so interesting; as that of the pres ent moment. Recently I heard “the *Professor of Practical Theology, N ew College, Edinburgh, Scotland.
Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker