I THE KING’S BUSINESS
84 ally impossible, he told him to stand upright on his feet. This was something he had never done in all his life, something he had no strength to dq, but all things are possible to him that believeth ('Mark 9:23), and this man had faith and proved The people were now ready, not only to listen to Paul, but also to worship him. The human heart always seeks a man to worship. Men are always ready to render unto the instrument God uses the adoration and gratitude that belong only to God Him self. Underneath the heathen idea here set forth, that the gods visited the earth “in the likeness of men,” there was a great and glorious truth, viz., the truth of the incarna tion (cf. John 1:14; Phil. 2:6, 7). But their way of expressing the truth was very crude and very far from the actual truth. The actions of these Lystrans seem very foolish to us, but do not many Christians today bow down and lay their offerings and garlands at the feet of men God greatly uses, as if the man himself were something, instead of giving their adoration to God Himself to Whom alone it belongs? There is something very like to worship in the way many congregations treat their minis ters and many cities treat the evangelists that come to them and are greatly used of God. Sunday, January 21 . Acts 14 : 14 , 15 . Paul and Barnabas quickly showed the stuff of which they were made. As soon as they saw what the people were up to they refused their proffered homage with min gled horror and sorrow. Their action was instant and very energetic. They sprang right into the midst of the crowd and pro tested against their folly and sin. Would that more of us today had the spirit of Paul and Barnabas! Alas! so many of us are so ready to receive the homage and wor ship and adoration that belong only to God. Paul and Barnabas would permit no mis taken notions about themselves, even though his faith by obedience. Saturday, January 20 . Acts 14 : 11 - 13 .
it might promise to gain a larger hearing for the Word which they had to proclaim; they would have it clearly understood that they were of the same stuff as other men. Not a few today would rather like it if men would think of them as belonging in a class by themselves, not quite of the same make-up as ordinary mortals. “Why do ye these things ?” they shouted. These Lycaonians had probably never stopped to ask that question. They just did these things without asking. It is a great thing to get people to asking themselves why they do the things they do. If some of us would stop to ask ourselves why we are doing some things that we are now doing, we would soon quit doing them. It is a great thing to get people to thinking. It is the first step toward repentance (Ps. 119:59; Luke 15:17, 18). It is a very significant change in the Revised Version when the word “preach” is rendered with a stricter regard to the Greek by “bring you good tidings.” It is indeed “good tidings” to proclaim unto a man that he can turn from idols unto a God who lives, a God who does things today, a God who has mighty power, and who is ready to hear and help those who trust and serve Him. The idols of the Lycaonians were "vain things” because they could not hear nor answer, nor help, nor save (cf. Isa. 45:20 ; 46:7; Jer. 10:5; 14:22). The idols of the world today are different in form from the idols of these Lycaonians, but they are essen tially the same in character. They, too, are “vain things,” in which there is no help and no power to help, but the God of the Bible is “the living God,” not the god of the rationalists and deist, a god who once lived and worked, but the >God who lives and works today, a God who hears and answers prayers, the God who actually and experimentally saves today,'the God who puts forth His hand and heals, the 'God who takes a part in our every day affairs and brings things to pass, the God who “made the heaven, the earth and the sfea, and all that in them is,” and therefore “there is nothing too hard for” Him (Jer.
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