October 1943
3S9
The leader may ask the group to bow ior silent prayer, whjle the fol lowing is read: “O Lord, I pray ¡j That for this day I njay not swerve x By! foot or hand" From Thy command Not to be served, but to serve. “This too, I pray That from this ,day No love for ea'se Nor pride prevent My good intent Not to be .pleased, but to please. “And if I may I’d have this day Strength from above. To set nw heart, In heavenly art, Not to be loved, but to love.” —Author Unknown. NOVEMBER 21, 1943' SEEKERS FOR FREEDOM P salm 33:12-22 By Dudley L. Girod ■ Introduction 1 Our national and inter-Allied quest for freedom, is outlined by the eight points of the Atlantic Charter. Ac cordingly, we have united our forces against those powers Which threaten to take from us these priceless liber ties. We will do well to realize that there are spiritual forces which present a far greater menace to the society of “freedom-loving” , peoples than even the enemies of democracy—these are the enslaving and destructive powers of sin. We-may subdue our enemies and bring them to the point of “un conditional surrender,” but, unless we, collectively and individually, conquer the sins of their obsession—greed, hatred, dishonesty, brutality, lust, yice, and immorality—we shall eventually be conquered and dominated. Hence, our great concern should be not only the defeat of the Axis powers, but also that of freedom from the domina tion of sin in every form. For Those Who Have Topics I. FREEDOM FROM SIN’S DOMINION (vs. 12-15). “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obe dience unto righteousness?'’ (Rom. 6:16). “Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin” (John 8:34). It is evident that we here in America stand in as great a need of a spiritual deliverer as the subjugated people of the conquered ’countries do of a military and political emancipator. This is why Ainerica needs Christ,
for He is just such a Saviour. The Bible speaks of Him as (he One, “Who gave himself for our sins» that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father” (Gal. 1:4). There is salvation and liberation from the power of sin for all who, in faith, • call upon His name. “If the Son there fore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36). Only when we become militant in our attitude against sin, and earnestly desire to be delivered from it, may we expect the blessing of God upon us as a nation. Unless God is to us a Saviour from sin, we have no right • to claim Him as our God. II. FREEDOM FROM AGGRESSORS (vs. 16-22). As w e , lay hold of God’s super natural power in respect to our need of salvation from sin, we may also claim His power in the defense and ’ protection of our lives from the threat of aggressors. It is folly for. us to think that we shall completely elim inate every threat to our “American way of life” solely by military force and prowess. We may gain the su premacy of military might on land, in the air, and on the sea, but as a result-of our disregard for God, we may also suffer the confusion which Sennacherib’s army experienced when they were confronted by the super- ' natural power of God (2 Ki. 19). Thus, we do not read in Psalm 33:12, “Blessed is the nation whose army is the largest, or the mightiest, or the best equipped” ; for, “There is no king saved by the multitude of a host: a mighty man is not delivered by .much strepgth. A horse is a vain thing for safety: neither shall he deliver any by his great strength.” But we do read,- “Blessed is thé nation whose God is the Lord,” for, “Beholdr the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hbpé in his mercy; to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine . . . he is our help and our shield.” We, who are seeking freedom from the threat of aggressors, also will find freedom from sin’s dominion, if arid when we confess our sins, repent of them, by faith appropriate God’s sal vation from them, and wait on Him, as suggested to us here in verse 20 . For the Leader The account of Israel’s defeat at Ai as the consequence of one man’s sin, and of the heart searching, confession, and removal of that sin, followed by the 1 blessing of God upon Israel in their second attempt to conquer Ai, serves as a splendid illustration of the conditions and circumstances under which God both judges and blesses a nation (Josh. 7, 8 ).
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