405
October, 1941
T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
Junior King's Business By MARTHA S. HOOK0R Member o f Faculty, Bible Institute of Los Angeleg
and he felt very much, alone. Instead of going to sleep, Danny became quite wide awake. Gut in the living room, Grandfather and Grandmother sat by the big table reading. The room was quiet and still, and neither of them looked up as the door to the hall opened a crack; then the crack widened and a little figure in white pajamas stood in the lamp light. For a few moments he stood there hardly knowing what to do, for he had been put to bed once, and would these grown-up people understand why he didn’t stay there? Then Grandmother glanced up as she turned a page, and saw him. “What’s the matter, Danny?” she asked sympathetically, and Danny came into the room. “The dark is so big,” he tried to explain. “Mother always leaves a light, and . . . and I can’t 'g o .to sleep.” Do you suppose Grandmother could remember any experience of her own w i t h “big darkness” ? I wonder—for sfie laid down her book and took Danny on her knee. “Danny, do you reitiember the story I told you when you went to bed? Do you remember that Moses’ 1mother left her baby out in the river in a basket and she went back home because she knew that God takes care of little boys when nobody else is there ? God is with you in the dark, Danny, and if the room seems big, remember He is. big ger than the darkness. Listen to what I was just reading,” and she took up her Bible: . “ ‘I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slum ber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy cOming in from this time forth, and even for evermore’ ’’ (Psa. 121). Danny didn’t understand all of it, but he discovered that for some strange reason his little body relaxed and he yawned. Grandmother took him by the hand and led him back to bed. Once more tucked in, he was soon fast asleep. In the days that I followed, Grand mother and Danny read, the wonderful old psalm over many, many times, until Danny learned it'.by heart. And when Mother was well and Danny went home, he never again' wanted the light left on when lie went to sleep, for, he explained, "God is real in the dark.*
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BIG DARKNESS By B ertha H . P entney *
E v e r SINCE he could remem ber — and probably before, too— Danny had gone to bed at night had always been a story, usually a Bible story, for he liked them the best. When he was very little, Mother had said a little prayer by his bedside Be fore she left him, and when he got old enough, Danny - had learned to pray, too. Then Mother would tyirn out the light in the room and go away, but she always left the hall light on and the door open until he went to sleep. So Danny was’ used to having the light there . 1 It was just a habit, but he had never gope to sleep in the dark in’ his whole life. The summer that Danny was six years old, Mother became very ill, and the doctor said she should go to the hospital. So Father sent a telegram to Grandmother and asked her whether she would like to have a little boy visit her for a while, and that i » the way Danny happened to go to the Big Farm in Uncle Fred’s car, with a little suitcase to carry his clothes because he might stay quite a long time. Danny loved his Grandmother and she loved Danny very much. There were lots of things on the Big Farm for a little boy to see and explore, and it was fun the first day to see and to do new things until the sun slid down be hind the hills and it began to get dark. Then, in the big living room of the farmhouse, Danny had a surprise. In stead of going over to the wall and pushing a button or even pressing a little red button on the side of the lamp, Grandfather lifted the shade and a glass chimney off the lamp and touch ed a lighted match to the part inside. Then whfen he put the chimney and the shade back on the lamp, the room was lighted by the bright flame. By the light of the lamp, Grand father and Danny drew animal pictures for a half hour or so, and then Grand mother said, “Time for bed, Danny Boy,” and the animals were all -put in a safe place for the night. Grandmother lighted another of those funny lamps, this time a smaller ope which did not give such a bright light,
and carried it into the bedroom where Danny was to sleep. When he was all ready for bed, Grandmqfher told him thé story of Moses, the baby boy who was put in a basket and floated in the river, committed to the care of God. Danny knew the story already, but he liked to hear it again, and listened eagerly for the part where the Princess said, “I shall .keep the baby for my own, and he will grow up in the palace and be my son.” T h e n Grandmother t o o k Danny’s hand in hers, and together they prayed: for Mother in the hospital, for Daddy at home, for Danny’s teacher and his friends, and for .themselves, and espe cially they thanked God for all the blessings He had sent to them. Grand mother said, “Good night, Danny,” pick ed up the lamp, and went out, but she shut the door behind her, and the room was dark! Danny 'wasn’t exactly afraid of the dark, but the light had always been ' there and he was used to it. Now, in a strange room and a strange bed, with Mother not there and with no light to turn on, he noticed that sud denly the darkness seemed very big,
in pretty much the same way. There
The Lamp That Surprised Danny
* Member of the faculty of the Bible lnetttute o f Loe Angeles.
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