257
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
April 1927
A pril 15. “Vessels of gold . . . of wood, and of enytH.” 2 Tim. 2:20. “SOME to honor and some to dishonor.” The golden ves sels to honor and the wooden and earthen vessels to dishonor, of course! So men judge; so does not God. The golden vessel and the wooden vessel are alike the workmanship of His hand. And in His great house He has a place and a use for each.' Let not the golden utensil despise the vessel of earth, nor the earthen vessel envy the utensil of gold. Nay, more,; let not the earthen and the wooden vessels despise themselves, nor imagine that they are despised of Him who made them. For the great essential is not material, but usefulness j not intrinsic value, but suitabil ity. The question of honor or dishonor is one of purity: “If a man purge himself . . . he shall be a vessel unto honor. We may not have the showy talents or the sparkling graces of some of our fellowmen; we may be humble and obscure in the esti mation of the world; our place may lie rather in the kitchen than in the banqueting hall—-we need be moved nor discouraged by none of these things: God has His purpose for us if we will but be clean, emptied of self and freed from the defilements of sin. Nay, the real usefulness' (and usefulness is the highest honor) of the wooden and earthen vessels may be greater and wider than that of the vessels of gold; it is often so. COULD any one suppose that the ways of the great I AM would be otherwise? Who could imagine that “by searching they could “find out God?” There may be gods; no doubt, about whom there is no mystery; they can be bought in the market place from sixpence halfpenny a piece upwards; but to no thoughtful and enlightened mind can they be objects of real rev erence. The fact is, mystery is indispensable to worship; we may admire, or love, or fear, but we can never worship that which we fully understand. How foolish, then, are they who com plain that they “cannot understand why” God does, or does not, this or that! How very differently they would act themselves if they were but in His place; how easily they could give Him good advice as to the government of the universe. They do not say these things, of course, but their querulous complaints as to the mystery of His doings imply them—they would act thus and thus, then why does not He? Let us strive to put away such folly from our minds: He doeth all things well, let faith rest itself on that. If we could understand the why and how of all His operations, He would be no longer God, but one like unto our selves. “What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter;” on the other side, it may be, we shall see the solution of the mysteries (and, seeing, cry: “Alack! what fools we were”) ; till then childlike faith can wait. A pril 17. “Well done, good and faithful servant.” — Matt. 25:23. NOT “good and successful servant;” that is the form of the world’s acclamation; this is the Divine welcome—two widely different things. The world asks for results, God demands fidelity. Men look at the balance sheet and appraise the work done by the dividend available; the Lord estimates service after a different rule of arithmetic; not the resultant pounds, but the honest toil expended, counts with Him. To rise in the world’s Pantheon you must “get on” ; succeed! at all costs and at all hazards succeed!—honestly, if it may be, legitimately if possible; A pril 16. “His ways past finding out.’’- — Rom. 11:33.
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B I O L A B O O K R O O M Bible Institute, Los Angeles, Cal.
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