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THE K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
November, 1941
Imprison me within Thine arms, And strong shall be my hand. “My will is not my own Till Thou hast made it Thine; If it would reach the monarch’s throne It must its crown resign: It only stands unbent Amid thé clashing strife, When on Thy bosom it has leant, And found in Thee its life.” Looking back over the year, do we find that there was any hour when we vowed a vow? Have we lived what We professed then? Let us make a note of any grand moment of the soul in the past, and let us see that we are not guilty of the sin of forgetting to pay our vows which ive solemnly vowed to God* He has counted on us; have we failed Him 7 “ I Will Offer . . . the Sacrifice of Thanksgiving” The life that knows deliverance from sin overflows in thanksgiving. The mel ody and harmony of life find expres sion in the lilt of song. Faith banishes fear; confidence casts out anxious care, and dolorous lament is exchanged for the music of those who begin to make merry in the Father’s house. Have you a song during these days of uncertainty and chaos? You say, “How shall we • sing the Lord’s song in a strange land [or in circumstances of world catastrophe]?” Take down the harp and begin again to think of the blessings of God, past, present, and future; and “lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh,” that in faith you may enjoy glad thanksgiving. Thus in daily life there would be less despondency and weakening regrets over vanished blessings, if we were more careful to take and enjoy thankfully all that God gives now. Anew, let us con fess our allegiance and fealty to the Saviour who loved us and gave Himself up for us. Moved by His mercies, may we present our bodies a living sacrifice to know and enjoy the will of God. We may suffer and struggle for the most part alone. Grief is a ’.lermit, but Joÿ is sociable; and Thankfulness desires listeners to its praise. A£ WE are thankful, it may be that some prisoners shall hear us and find good hope to de liver them also out of then distresses. Everything is an, occasion of thanks giving. A blessing or giace for bread? Why not one for water, and coal, an: I sleep, and reading? Handling bread, thanks for the Bread of Life; drinking water, thanks for the Water of Life; re ceiving heat and light from coal, thanks for the Light of the World; enjoying sleep tonight, thanks for the Watcher who never slumbers nor sleeps; having health, thanks for Him who is our Holi ness; reading The Book, thanks for the Word of God! Banish then any threnody or lament in life; lift up your heart in glad thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving-No Threnody [ Continued from Page 413]
make a nation truly great! Here, then, is one benefit which becomes an occa sion of thanksgiving to God! Consider our CHURCH BLESSINGS. Perhaps a few would complain that they could not find any! I suggest that ihese are Haring in an unreal world, for within the fellowship of Christ’s own people, God’s blessing is always to be found. Surely even if you narrow the idea of the church to that little group in your community, even there you will find ground for praise and thanksgiving. Has there been any one converted to our Saviour during the past year? any life dedicated to Him for the doing of His will ? any growth in grace and knowledge noted in your life ? Have you seen the mellowing of a life in the crucible of suffering? And ¿h you have gone to worship on Sunday, did you even once miss the presence of the Lord ? Was He in the midst of His own, and as you sang His praises in one of the great hymns of the ages, were you not conscious that heaven was open and glory came down to crown the mercy seat? Surely we can find innumerable blessings through our con gregational as weir as our national as sociations, in answered prayer and in the advance of the Lord’s work. Reflect upon our I N D I V I D U A L BLESSINGS. The Psalmist could sing that good ness and mercy would follow him all the days of ids life, and could say, “ Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.” But some one raises the question of our circumstances, and there is a dilemma. ‘ Still, do we recognize God in the midst of life.— whatever the circumstances—believing that He is interested in us since He has visited us with His salvation? Suppose we seek the mind of Christ in this, and think of the gifts God has given to us rather than of those He seems to have withheld. We count our blessings. We learn to fret not because of evildoers or because others seem to have more. We are wise enough to ob serve God’s ways, and so come to ap preciate His loving-kindness. We are, in Wordsworth’s phrase, “men of cheer ful yesterdays and of confident tomor rows,” and there is no room for dis content. So as we think of even living itself, come health or ill health, penury or plenty, profit or loss—cannot we join Bishop Ken and sing his Doxology Christian Greeting Cards for re-saie or personal use. Christmas cards. Also cards for all occasions. Birthday, Congratulations, Good Cheer. Get Well, and Sympathy folders. True Christian sentiments. Each exquisite card has some distinctive touch which gives it instant appeal. There should be a BIG demand in your community for these cards. Rock-bottom prices insure our agents large all-year-round profits. Write for oar Big Free Sample Offer! SCRIPTURE GREETING CARD COMPANY Dept. I Box 522 Philadelphia* Pa.
of “Praise God from whom all blessings flow” ? A Rendering of Thanks The “what shall I render?” is related to “how?” Yet that is no difficulty as we look around this world and into our own lives. We have cited the possibili ties of national, congregational, and per sonal benefits. The spirit is there, you say? Then, be thankful! Charles Had- don Spurgeon said: “Does not our conversation want more flavoring with the praise of God? We put into it too much vinegar of complaint and forget the sugar of gratitude,” At least we might begin by stirring the sugar in our cup! Why not cleanse our speech from all vulgarities of slang, un couthness, and all complaint? Why not inculcate more reverence in our worship by the selection and constant singing of those hymns which lead us to the throne on high? Certainly, there is one crucial way of rendering thanks. It is in the Psalmist’s answer to his own question. The answer to that q u e s t i o n is summed up in the oft-repeated “I will . . . ” Let us arise in the power of our inner life motivated by the Spirit of God, and action follows. Th,ese words harmonize in the spirit of thanksgiving as we ponder their meaning. “ I Will Take the Cup . . .” Was the Psalmist thinking of the drink offering or oblation which ac companied festival celebrations (Num. 29:19) ? Or, had he in mind the prac tice of partaking of the Passover Cup of Thanksgiving? This Psalm was part of the Hallel and was sung with others in the praises of that ordinance. One of the four cups at that feast was the Cup of Salvation. It celebrated the fact of redemption by sacrifice and blood by a substitute. Is not this the supreme way of thanks giving, after all—to accept the prof fered cup in faith and confess the Name which is above every name? A richer draught was provided by Christ our Lord (Matt. 26:27) at that cross of Calvary, and confession that He is the Saviour brings the flood tide of thanks giving by the sinner. “ I Will Pay My Vowg . . .” The word seems harsh until it is viewed as holy. Seen as the compulsion of love and the binding of infinite grace, the slavery is realized as blessed free dom. George Matheson sings rightly, “Make me a captive, Lord, And then I shall be free; Force me to render up my sword, And I shall conqueror be. I sink in iife’s alarms When by myself I stand;
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