DEVOTIONAL COLUMN

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIV, Issue 210, 4 August 1934, Page 12

DEVOTIONAL COLUMN

PRAYER. Our Father, we thank Thee for the forecast of a peace that is yet to be in the hearts of men. In the midst of a warring world our hearts are often heavy with uncertainties, but Thy Word does not leave us in any uncertainty concerning that which Thou hast seen fit to reveal to men. We thank Thee that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace, and that His future Kingdom will be filled with the glory and the joy and the blessing which is His. While we know that wars will occur in this day of ours, we do pray that the hearts of men may he moved wherever they can hear Thy voice, to restrain and avert destructive conflicts among nations, so far as that may be possiWe. May we so live with others that we shall not create issues that will cause hatred to arise. In the name of our Lord Jesus we pray. Amen.

“THE OUTSIDE IS SO FAIR.” A heathen girl who had been instructed by the missionaries was once looking out on the starlit night, when she exclaimed, almost in ecstasy, “How beautiful will heaven look when we get there if the outside is so fair!” When Sir William Ilerschel examined the nearest fixed star, Sirius, with Ins great telescope, the whole heavens about it were lit up with the splendour of our sky at sunrise. And, when the star fairly entered the field of view, the brightness was so overpowering, the astronomer was forced to protect his eye by a coloured glass. It was calculated that this star equalled fourteen suns like ours; and recent discoveries have proved that even this is underrated. If God has given such splendour to a created object, what must be the glory of that uncreated Presence before which angels veil their faces! “Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face.” What must it be to be for ever shut out from that abode of bliss, and consigned to blackness for ever. The Old Book hears internal, external and eternal evidence that it has come out from God.

EPHESIANS 2:11-22

THE BOND OF PEACE. The duty of believers, as one in Christ Jesus the Lord, to each other as such, and as standing in that relation one to another, needs to be stressed especially at this present time. The tendency to “fall out” with one another is on the increase as we approach the consummation of the age (see Matt. 24:12). “Have wo not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother. . . .P” (Mai. 2:10.) “This is My commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you” (John 15:12). “I have somewhat against thee, because thou thou hast left thy first love” (Rev. 2:4). “Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:3).

WHEN WE SUFFER. Many are asking to-day, “Why am I called upon to suffer so much?” We may never bo able to understand in this life—but we may be satisfied without understanding. Dr W. Y. Fullerton is quoted in the Keswick Calendar: “Job was never satisfied until he saw God, and when he saw God he had content. Not that he got the answer to his question as to why ho suffered; he got something better than that. He lost the question, and, seeing that it was God’s intent, he was willing to suffer. If we suffer, do not think that some strange thing has happened to us. We shall be content to suffer if it be God’s choice for us, if it is going to prepare us to be His vdtnesses.” That inspired book on the mystery of suffering and the joy of seeing the Lord because of suffering tells us that God “heareth the cry of the afflicted,” and then adds comforting words: “When He giveth quietness, who then can make trouble?” (Job 34:28, 29.).

“LET EVERYTHING THAT HATH BREATH PRAISE THE LORD. PRAISE YE THE LORD.” Psalm 150: 6. What a climax this is for the longest and most poetic book of the Bible. It is not only an “Amen,” it is a “Hallelujah,” a “Glory to God,” a “Selah,” and a rousing “Blessed be the name of the Lord” all rolled into one. Oh, that we would learn the secret of praise. When I come to write my farewell word, and my work here is ended, I want to leave behind me just such an impression as I feel in these closing words of the Psalms: a breathless wonder, an eternal joy, a glorious anthem, an inspiring battle song, and a triumphant shout: “Praise ye the Lord.”—Anon.

“THANKS BE UNTO GOD FOR HIS UNSPEAKABLE GIFT.” II Corinthians 9 : 15. Long have we been feasting at the tables of eternal goodness without saying grace. The gifts of God have been showered upon us daily, and we —ungrateful. It is a tragedy that we have not made every day Thanksgiving Day. But the greatest tragedy is that we have not even been grateful for the gift of His son Christ Jesus. It is an unspeakable }-ift. Unspeakable love gave it. Who can describe the beauty of this gift. The orators are at a loss for words, ths artists are at a loss for colours, the musicians are at a loss for instruments of sufficient sweetness and the sculptors are at a loss for skill to describe Jesus. Bow liefore God in thanks all ye ends of the earth, for the Gift of His Son is to all.