96
February 1932
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
He is rich. . . . Ah, what an ill-favored train o f anxieties, apprehensions, alarms wait upon our footsteps, dogging us from opening manhood till we reach the shelter o f our graves 1 What need we have to con sider the lilies! How near God is after a ll! What little things He cares about! The lilies neither toil nor spin. Why should we ache, and fret, and fear? Why think and think, when thinking does no good? Why go careworn all day and lie awake all night? As if we alone in all creation had no God to heed us, nor any eye in all wide heaven looking down on u s! —J. O swald D y k e s . FEBRUARY 23 “ We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags” (Isa. 66:6). Sin is always disguised. Decked and glossed and perfumed and masked, it gains admittance into places from which it would otherwise be repelled. As silently as when it glided into Eden, and as plaus ibly as when it talked to Christ at the top of the temple, it now addresses man. Could people look upop sin as it always is—an exhalation from the pit, the putrefaction o f infinite capacities, the ghastly, loath some, God-smitten monster that uprooted Eden and killed Christ and would push the entire race into darkness and pain—the infernal charm would be broken. To men now, sin is laughter and introduction to luxurious gratification. Jesus Christ sug gests a fact which everybody ought to know, and that is, that sin, to hide its de formity and shame, is accustomed to wear ing a cloak, and the Saviour also set forth the truth that God can see straight through all such wrappings and thicknesses. — T . D e W itt T alm ag e . FEBRUARY 24 “ Ye shall therefore be holy” (Lev. 12: For Israel and for us the same con nection between salvation and purity must prevail. They were brought out, delivered, redeemed, brought near, bound in coven ant, made the tabernacle of God and His chosen dwelling place; and then, and only then, came this call to purity and holiness. So for us also, when separated from a ruined world and rebellious race through the redemption o f Christ, and in Him brought near to God, there comes the call to mark that separation by a life differing from others by these distinctions of purity and holiness. I f bought by, and belong ing to God, we have no right to decide for ourselves; His law is our light upon right and wrong, clean and unclean, true and false, blessing and curse. It is not there fore a position for the Christian to as sume: “ I may do this, for others do it.” W e are no more “strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household o f God.” Our.Father alone can decide, and by His decision we should be joyously and thankfully bound, as to what is comely and fitting, “pure, lovely, and o f good report” for the members of His family. Leave the doubtful, devious, despicable ways o f compromise and ques tionable conduct to those who claim not royal birth. But let the sons and daugh ters of the Lord God Almighty walk worthy o f their high calling, keep their garments pure and their ways cleansed; so that the world may take knowledge of
them, and own their parentage, and glo rify their Father which is in heaven. — H ubert B rooke . FEBRUARY 25 “I would have you without carefulness” (1 Cor. 7:32). Master! how shall I bless Thy name For Thy tender love to me, For the sweet enablings o f Thy grace, So sovereign, yet so free, That have taught me to obey Thy word, And cast my care on Thee! Oh, I have trod that weary path, With burdens not a few, With shadowy faith that Thou would’st lead And help me safely through, “ No anxious thought upon thy brow The watching world should see; No carefulness! O child o f God, For nothing careful be! But cast thou all thy care on Him Who always cares for thee.” It was Thy word, it was Thy will—- That was enough for me! Henceforth no care shall dim my trust, For all is cast on Thee; Henceforth my inmost heart shall praise The grace that set me free. . — F rances R idley H avergal . FEBRUARY 26 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walk- eth about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Pet. 5:8 ). It is always unwise to despise an enemy. W e never know how many guns he car ries until he has stolen a march on us and opened fire. King Edward’s garrison fell asleep in Edinburgh Castle because they fancied it impregnable, and despised the little band o f Scottish soldiers who were prowling about below the cliff. But when Randolph’s thirty men had scaled the pre cipice and leaped the walls, they were an overmatch for a whole garrison who were asleep. The simple reason why the Eng lishmen did not watch that night was that they did not regard a score or two of Highlanders worth the watching. You and I, dear reader, have sometim s caught our hardest blows from the foes whom we underrated. Our Lord Himself did not underrate the adversary on the mount o f temptation. — T heodore C uyler . FEBRUARY 27 “It is good for me that I halve been af flicted,” (Psa. 119:71). - With regard to all present burdens, a most important thing for us to remember is that they are transient, fleeting. W e have but to bear “the thing o f a day in its day.” Almost anything can be endured for a moment, and, as a matter of fact, we never have to suffer more than a moment at a time. The grief God sends us today is the latest expression o f His holy will for us, the latest token o f His trust in us. Let us bear it worthily, remembering that it is the latest, and that there is always the possibility of its being the last. What re gret if we missed our last opportunity o f pleasing H im ! It is our strength and joy to dwell upon “that exceeding weight of Trying to follow and obey, And bear my burdens, too.
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