T HE K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S climb the steep ascent to Heaven through peril, toil and pain. MONDAY, April 19. Ruth 1:1-10. Looking Toward Canaan. The essential thing about home is in persons rather than places. When the loved ones are gone, the fairest sur roundings will not fill the void. It was natural that the heart of Naomi, after the death of her husband and her sons, should turn toward Bethlehem. In her forlorn and desolate widowhood, she longed for something that Moab could not give. A famine at Bethlehem drove her down to Moab. Now a famine in her heart draws her back. Those who leave the land of promise under any pretext never find contentment or satis faction beyond its boundary. The best that Moab or Egypt has to offer palls upon their taste. Blessed are the mem ories and even the pangs of homesick ness that lead the exiles to turn their faces toward the Father’s house! TUESDAY, April 20. Ruth 1:14-22. Ruth’s Wise Choice. When the widowed Naomi decided to return to Bethlehem her two daughters- in-law desired to take the journey with her. She gently dissuaded them, saying that the Levirate law would not provide for them and that they would be bet ter off in Moab. Orpah yielded and stayed behind. Ruth persisted and pre vailed. Her choice involved the abjur ing not only her native land but the re ligion in which she had been brought up. Her love for and. confidence in Naomi made her willing to venture her self with Naomi’s God. It showed a real faith like that of a child in the Saviour whom his mother loves and of whom she speaks. The unconscious in fluence and silent testimony of Naomi’s life must have been responsible for this choice of Ruth, by which she immortal ized her name and became the ances tress of the Messiah.
416 chooses “ the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty.” 1 Cor. 1:27-29. SATURDAY, April 17. 1 Sam. 16:1-13. David’s Call. The call of David illustrates the truth that man looketh on the outward ap pearance hut God looketh on the heart. The seven sons of Jesse were stalwart and comely. Any one appeared a like ly candidate for royalty. David the shepherd boy was either ignored or for gotten. He was God’s candidate and Samuel anointed him in the midst of his brethren. The oil poured on prophet, priest and king was a symbol of the Holy Spirit who prepared them for the service of God. Every believer in the present age needs the anointing of the Spirit. Each has his own work to do, and no one can do it unless the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon him. May we uncover our heads for this heavenly oil and open our hearts for this Divine Person! SUNDAY, April 18. Heb. 11:23-30. The Power of Faith. The power of faith is seen in the choice of Moses in which he repudiated the riches of Egypt for the reproach of Christ. He manifested no fear of Pharoah and went forth at the head of God’s people when all the power of the king was exerted to destroy them. He persevered amid all the difficulties and dangers that surrounded him because his eye was fixed and his heart was staged upon the invisible God. Through forty years of burden-bearing at a time when most men are bowed by infirmity, his eye was not dim nor his natural force abated. When we read that cata logue of calamity that befell Paul in his missionary labors, 2 Cor. 11:23-28, we.wonder that the breath remained in his body. He was sustained by faith. Gal. 2:20. The noble army of the mar tyrs give a similar testimony, as they
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