October, 1941
TH E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
875
I T IS W E lt to be prepared for the "If nets.” For some the ninety-first Psalm Is to be claimed literally, but for others there is martyrdom. Through faith some have subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of aliens, women re ceived their dead raised to life again. But that does not exhaust the list. Not every one who lives by faith readily overcomes every circumstance and achieves outward vic tory. So the Spirit adds, “ AND OTHERS . . ." (Heb. 11:35, 36). They were those who had to face the “ IF NOT . • The man who mistakes faith for a short cut to health, wealth, and prosperity may be in for a sobering correction. God does not follow one uniform procedure with all 6f us. Peter walks out of prison by divine interven tion, but James dies by the sword. These Hebrew children knew that God was able to deliver them, but IF NOT they would be true anyway! Their faithfulness was not condi tioned by favorable circumstance. Although, of course, you would like to be delivered from whatever fiery furnace you are In, have you made up your mind about the "if not” ? No matter to which category In the eleventh of Hebrews you belong, will you be faithful anyway?* YANCE HAVNER *Reprinted from Consider Him, p. 6i (1937), by special peritiission o f Fleming 11. Revell Co., N. y.
When God
Would Do
Some Bigger Thing
By ERNEST DOWSETT* Eastbourne, England
life as the raw material for further progress, the faith which sees that God has larger meanings in life than we are now able to read, that He has larger answers to our prayers than we are now able to appreciate, and that He has a thousand ways of' fulfilling the promises of His faithfulness—such are the spirit and faith of these three who were appointed to the fire. A ccepting G od ’ s Alternative It is quite likely that few of the experiences of our lives will be realized in just the way we are expecting 'them to be realized. It may be that the bright future of which we are dreaming may come to us through bitter failure; that the longed-for deliverance from some> bondage may come by way of a heavy cross. It may be that the spiritual
"Our God whom we serve Is able to de liver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up” (Dan. 3:17, 18). H ERE ARE THREE young men bow down to lie popular idol; they were' to Join the fickle multitude in acclaim ing an earthly king to the denial of the King of their hearts, and with a burn ing, fiery furnace in front of them if they should refuse. And from these men came this answer to the king: “Our God . . . is able to deliver us . , . and he wiR deliver us . . . But if not . .* That is, if that cir cumstance remains unfinished, if our ex perience does not come up to our expec tation, if we are baffled by it, our reso lution yet remains unshaken, our faith in God will remain firm; we will still reckon on God who is greater than all our expectations. “But if hot,” we are still ready to praise Him, who, for His own inscrutable purposes appoints us to the fire. In that spirit and in that faith these three young men were east into the furnace. That is the spirit, and that is the faith that should fill us with courage and confidence when we are tempted to complain, when circuihstances for us remain unfinished, when our experience does not come up to our expectation. In line with this very theme, one writer has said, “Ups and downs there must be in life, and we are quite wise to learn how to deal with them. Only san guine youth sees life as an un broken ascent; experience soon cor rects that Only by diligent seek ing and by a renewed will can we resume the ascent; and then the most we can ask. is that the general ascent shall be upward still.” - But the spirit which looks «.t the dif ficulties and the disappointments of * Retired Congregational paetor with a travel ing preaching miniitrg ,
who had been challenged by the secular powers not to wor ship God. They had been commanded to
blessings we are seeking may lead us to Satanic opposition. And it may be that we are go ing forth soon to tread a path way clouded with the mystery of God’s dealings. Unless our faith has an alternative, we shall grow disheartened, and be overcome by the things we meet. Observe those whose faith had an alternative: “Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace. . . . But if not” —it He, does not do what we think He should—we are xfeady to trust Him still. Again and again in God’s Word this amazing alternative stands. One of the prophets was facing a failure of the crops in Palestine. Perhaps the spring rains had been exces sive, or the summer drought had been severe. Perhaps some storm or some pestilence>had beep raging. At any rate, the harvest had not come up to ex pectation. The pinch of famine was in the land. The spirit of praise was being silenced. It was the time when God would do some bigger thing. Habak- kuk could see no figs In the groves, no olives in the or- [Continued an Page 379J_
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker