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T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
July, 1935
NOTES on Christian Endeavor B y M a r y G. G o o d n e r
AUGUST 4, 1935 THINGS JESUS W A S SURE OF ..I atthew 6 :25-34; 10:29-31; J ohn 8 :29 Suggestions for the Meeting Hymn—“Take the Name o f Jesus with You.” Hymn—“What a Friend.” Prayer. Hymn—“ God Will Take Care of You.” Scripture—-Matthew 6:25-34; 10:29-31; John 8 :29. Quartet—“His Eye Is on the Sparrow.” Testimonies. Leader’s Message. Quiet Hour. Meditation on the Lesson The Lord Jesus Christ is omnipotent and omniscient and hence did not need to be made “sure” o f anything. Because He was God, He could speak with the posi tive assurance and the quiet conviction that these passages convey to our minds. Fowls, lilies, g r a s s ^inconsequential things all—and yet they are objects o f our heavenly Father’s care. In this contrast between individuals and other work of God’s creative hand, we are impressed with the greatness of God’s care for man, “cre ated . . . in his own image.” If He feeds birds and clothes lilies which have only a temporary existence, the natural question is : “ Shall he not much more clothe you, O ye o f little faith?” It has been said wisely, “Where anxiety begins, faith ends; where faith begins, anxiety ends.” How that alternative con victs many of us who claim to be trust ing and yet are filled with doubts, fears, and worries! Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, writes: “In nothing be anxious; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto .God” (Phil. 4:6, R .V.). There are two very good reasons why no Christian should worry. First, anxiety is dishonoring and disobedient to God, and, second, it is foolish and useless. God has instructed us again and again, in different ways, not to worry, but to trust: “ Cast thy burden upon the Lord.” “ Trust in the Lord with all thine heart.” “Commit thy way unto the Lord.” ' “Let not your heart be troubled.” “ Be not faithless, but believ ing.” Besides all this, He has filled the Scriptures with examples o f His providen tial care o f His children in times o f need and distress, as in the stories o f Joseph, Elijah, Daniel’s three friends, and numbers o f others. Worry is not only dishonoring to God, but it is useless as well. A recent writer likens worry to the leaking of a steam pipe: “ The leaking steam is useless, and not only so, but it destroys the plaster and the paper on the walls. So our worry de bilitates all our living. It makes the soul sick.” ______ ___ Leader’s Helps I. T he G round of T rust 1. Anxiety has no place-in the life o f one o f God’s children. Christ’s serenity was one of the most unmistakable signs o f His Hymn—“Following Jesus.” Benediction—Psalm 19:14.
filial trust. He was tired and hungry and thirsty and in pain; but we cannot imagine Him anxious or fretful. His mind was kept in perfect peace because it was stayed on God. The life lived by the faith of the Son o f God will find His word kept: “My peace I give unto you.” .. iWii—M altbie B abcock . 2 . Said a father one day: “ There is a little lad who is more than all the world to me, and now and then he looks up and plead ingly says, ‘Father, won’t you please look at me?” ’ It is just the child’s desire to be sure of companionship and thought. Blessed is the child of God who realizes that the Father’s face is always turned to ward him. “I will guide thee with mine eye.”— H allock . II. A D ay at a T ime 1. Oh, ask not thou, “How shall I bear The burden o f tomorrow?” Sufficient for the day its care, Its evil and its sorrow. Thy God imparteth, by the way, Strength that’s sufficient for the day. “ Take therefore no thought for the mor row” (Matt. 6:34). This last reason our Lord gives against anxiety for the future is that we have nothing to do with the future. God gives us life by days, little single days. . . . He always gives us strength for the day as needed, with all that He puts into it. But if we insist on dragging back to morrow’s cares, and piling them on top of today’s, the strength will not be enough for the load. God will not give strength just to humor our whims of anxiety and distrust. . . . No one was ever crushed by the bur dens of one day. W e can always get along with our heaviest load till the sun goes down; well, that is all we ever have to do. Tomorrow ? Oh, you may have no tomor row; you may be in heaven. If you are here, God will be here too, and you will receive new strength sufficient for the new day.— J. R. M iller . AUGUST 11, 1935 H O W THE LAW S OF GOD W O R K FOR OUR GOOD G enesis 1 :29-31; R omans 8 :28 Suggestions for the Meeting Hymn—“Day Is Dying in the West.” Hymn—“God' Is Love; His Mercy Brightens/’ Prayer. Hymn—“I Love to Tell the Story.” Scripture—Genesis 1 :29-31; R om a n s 8:28. Duet—“ Oh, How Wonderful.” Leader’s Message. Testimonies. Quiet Hour. Hymn—-“L e a n i n g on the Everlasting Arms.” Benediction—Jude 24, 25. Meditation on the Lesson “As for God, his way is perfect.” In the provision for the material welfare of the man whom He had created, God Him — L ady T eignmouth . 2 .
self was satisfied: “And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.” As we study the Scriptures, we see the completeness o f God’s provision for mankind, for He is revealed as work ing in power and love on behalf of a fallen human race which is helpless apart from His deliverance. In a particular sense, God cares for those who are His through faith. There are in the W ord o f God numerous examples o f this divine solicitude. But it remained for the Apostle Paul to condense the whole truth into one ringing declara tion o f faith in Romans 8:28: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” At first this assertion seems too sweep ing to bp true. " All things” ? Surely there must be some exceptions. No, nothing is excluded. Faith declares: “W e know.” This is the triumphant language o f the one who believes that God means what he says, and will perform that which He has prom ised. “All things,” both dark and bright, good and ill, “work together”—as do the cogs in intricate machinery, or as the in gredients in a physician’s formula. The pharmacist is given a prescription, and in filling it he takes from one phial something that is poisonous in itself, from another, something else o f a different na ture, and from a third container still an other ingredient. Any one o f these sub stances might be harmful if taken in un prescribed doses, but, mixed together, they make a medicine that cures the patient. It is sometimes by strange and drastic means that God’s purposes are worked out in His children’s lives. W e must remem ber that what God calls “good” is not al ways our conception. The world is looking for happiness, ease, enjoyment, and other advantages desired by the natural man. God has one high purpose for those who love Him—that they may be “ conformed to the image o f his Son.” When we enter into the realization o f God’s estimate o f “good,” we shall appreciate the wonders o f this verse, and we shall rest in the assurance that His love toward us will not permit anything to befall His children except that which “worketh for us a far more exceed ing and eternal weight of glory.” Our life is like the dial of a clock. The hands are God’s hands passing over and over again. The short hand is the hand of discipline; the long hand is the hand of mercy. Slowly and surely the hand of dis cipline must pass, and God speaks at each stroke. But over and over passes the hand of mercy, showering down sixtyfold of blessings for each stroke o f discipline or trial. And both hands are fastened to one secure pivot, the great unchanging heart o f a God o f love .—Sunday Circle. II. G od ’ s W onderful S ecrets When Jacob’s sons returned to Canaan and told him what had befallen them in Egypt, they seemed to infect him with their own fear. He refused to see any- Leader’s Helps I. W hen the C lock ’ s H ands M ove
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