November 1931
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
524 ling angel. I do not know that Joshua ever saw the angel of God, till he was by Jericho; and then Joshua saw the an gelic warrior. I do not know that Abra ham ever saw the Lord, till he had be come a stranger and a wanderer in the plains of Mamre; and then the Lord ap peared unto him as a wayfaring man. It is in our most desperate sorrows that we have our happiest experiences. You must go to Patmos to see the Revelation. It is only on the barren, storm-girt rock, shut out from all the world’s light, that we can find a fitting darkness, in which we can view the light of heaven undistracted by the shadows of earth.—C. H. S pu r g eo n . NOVEMBER 23 “That I may know him, and the power o f his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings ” (Phil. 3:10). Grant me, even me, my dearest Lord, to know Thee, and love Thee, and rejoice in Thee. And, if I cannot do these perfectly in this life, let me at least advance to higher degrees every day, till I can come to do them in perfection. Let the knowl edge of Thee increase in me here, that it may be full hereafter. Let the love of Thee grow every day more and more here, that it may be perfect hereafter; that my joy may be great in itself, and full in Thee. I know, O God, that Thou art a God of truth; oh, make good Thy gra cious promises to me, that my joy may be full. Amen.—S t . A u g u s t in e . NOVEMBER 24 “Set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done" (Ezek. 9:4). Do we know anything of this mark? Note the character of these marked ones. They “sighed and cried” because of all the abominations that were done. Activity, which is out of fellowship with Jesus Christ, will fail to stand the test of that day when “the fire will try every man’s work of what sort it is” (1 Cor. 3 :13). Multitudes of busy workers are consecrat ed to their work rather than to their Master. The marked ones are those who, having trusted Jesus Christ for complete deliv erance from the dominion of sin, have a heart to sympathize with Him in His sor row over a world redeemed by His pre cious blood, yet “lying in the lap of the evil one.” Many Christians spend their time sighing and crying over their own sins and inconsistencies, and have no pow er to exercise their priestly function of intercession for others. To all such Jesus would say, “Come unto me with that which wearies you, and I will give you rest; then take my yoke upon you and learn of me.” In other words, “Bring your burdens to me; I alone have power to remove them; and having freed you from your burdens, I will transfer my burden to you, and give you to know something of the fellowship of my sufferings.” —J. G regory M a n t l e . NOVEMBER 25 "And Joshua had commanded the peo ple, saying, Ye shall not shout, nor make any noise with your voice, neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I bid you shout; then shall ye shout” (Josh. 6:10). Noise always attracts more attention than stillness, but the importance of a
NOVEMBER 27 "The words of wise men are heard in quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools" (Eccl. 9:17). . . Oh, blessed ministry of truer Christian speech 1 May God forgive us for the abuse or misuse of the glorious gift. If word of ours has ever hurt a tender spirit, or tarnished a white soul, or turned away, any from the right path—O Christ, forgive us, and help us to undo the wrong! Give us grace and wisdom that we may use the gift of speech to honor Thee, and bless the world 1 — G a t h e r e d G e m s . Beloved, the years that have vanished Can never again come back, And the treasures we miss as we journey The heart forever must lack. Let us do the errands of kindness today “For never again shall we travel this way.” Let us bring to the living the roses, And the lilies we bind for the dead, And crown them with blessings and praises Before the brave spirit has fled; As springs in the desert, as shades from the heat, To the soul of the toiler the word will be sweet. — S elected . NOVEMBER 28 “I t is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord” (Lam. 3 :26). Patience and struggle, an earnest use of what we have now and all the time, an earnest discontent until we come to what we ought to be—are not these what we need, what in their rich union we could not get, except in just such a life as this with its delayed completions? Jesus does not blame Peter when he impetuously begs that he may follow Him now. He bids him wait, and he shall follow Him some day. But we can see that the value of his waiting lies in the certainty that he shall follow; and the value of his fol lowing, when it comes, will lie in the fact that he has waited. So, if we take all Christ’s culture, we are sure that our life on earth may get already the inspiration of the heaven for which we are training, and our life in heaven may keep forever the blessing of the earth in which we were trained.— P h il l ip s B roo ks . NOVEMBER 29 “For I called him alone, and blessed him" (Isa. 51:2). There must be definite transactions with God Himself. It has ever been so. Jacob is going to receive the prince nature; he is to be Israel; but it is only after a night of wrestling at the book Jabbok, a wrestling which causes him a halting thigh for the rest of his life. Joshua is to lead the children of Israel into the promised land, as their great captain and commander-in-chief; and Joshua must be alone with the angel, the captain of the Lord’s hosts, as he is1 reconnoitering around Jericho. Isaiah is to be the great evangelical prophet, and so it must needs be that one Sabbath morning in the tem ple of God he got a vision, first of all, of the holiness of God, and of the unclean ness of his own lips, and eventually of God’s power to purge and to purify, in order to prepare him for his life’s min-
thing is not in proportion to its tumult, nor is its greatness to be measured by spectacular circumstances. The landing on our shores of Caesar’s legions with war equipment was not so significant as the arrival of Augustine bearing a silver cross in his hand. The_ battleships of Drake were not so influential as the peace ful Mayflower of the Pilgrim Fathers. Solomon built his temple without sound of hammer or axe. It is a parable of the way God often chooses to work. His kingdom cometh not with observation. Its victories are not heralded by. blast of trumpets. Silently and unobstrusively, great things are done, and God is on the field when He is most invisible. All things may not be made plain in this life. Much remains unrevealed, much knowledge is denied, but it is enough to be assured that the silence of eternity is the silence of a wise and discerning love. When we are sure of that, an answering silence takes possession of our breast—it is the submissive temper which, in the heart of man, grows roses in November. — J o h n M a c B e a t h . NOVEMBER 26 “Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving; who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains" (Psa. 147:7, 8). As flowers carry dewdrops, trembling on the edges of the petals, and ready to fall at the first waft of wind or brush of bird, so the heart should carry its beaded words of thanksgiving; and at the first breath of heavenly favor, let down the shower, perfumed with the heart’s gratitude.— H e n r y W ard B e e c h e r . Oh, while beneath the snow-drift buds The flower we love the best, And on the wind-tossed bough the bird Still builds its happy nest, Praise God for all the good we know, And trust Him for the rest! — S elected . A copy of your magazine, T he K in g ’ s B u s in e s s , was given me by a friend shortly after I was saved. I found in it food for my soul. — K a n s a s C it y , Mo. I cannot tell you what a blessing T h e K in g ’ s B u s in e s s has been to me and what it has meant during my long siege of disability. It has truly been “sweet to the soul, and health to the bones” to read the messages from those concerned about “shew ing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God.” — E a s t O r a n g e , N. J. We are glad not only to be par takers with you of the good things contained in the magazine, but also to be counted with the family of those who stand for the whole Word of God, especially in these trying times when “men’s hearts are failing them for fear of those things which are coming on the earth.” — R o c h este r , N. Y. A Line from a Letter or Two
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