DEVOTIONAL COLUMN

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIV, Issue 283, 27 October 1934, Page 11

DEVOTIONAL COLUMN

PRAYER. Our Father, w-e l-ealise that we are living in difficult times. In the midst of injustice and uncertainties on every hand, we realise that we need a foundation quite apart from the will of man. We rest in Thy keeping to-day, and wo thank Thee for the rock foundation upon which our faith rests. Help us to have our lives conform to that which we teach. May be not be willing to present Thy truth against a background of our own unwillingness to obey Thee. Help us to have our deeds and our words fit together, and in accordance with Thy holy will. We do not offer Thee our worship to-day in the hope that this will cover any wrongdoing of ours, but we do beseech Thee to accept bur praise and our thanksgiving through the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who gave Himself as our Substitute that we might live. We ask this in His dear name.— Amen. ON THE ROCkTiF AGES. A dying lady was visited by her minister. He said to her, “Sister, are you sinking?” This was her answer: — “Did you ever know a sinner to sink through a rock ? If I had been standing on the sand, I might sink ; but, thank God, I am on the Rock of Ages, and there is no sinking there.”

There is an old saying of Samuel Rutherford: “Believe God’s love and power more than you believe your own feelings and experiences. Your Rock is Christ, and it is not the rock which ebbs and’ flows, but your sea.” THE GREAT DELIVERER. If you lay imprisoned in some great fortress, and one who loved you went forth to try to rescue you, ana fell and died fighting, you would cherish the memory of your friend’s valiant effort on your behalf, but you would still remain in chains, undelivered. So would it have been with those whom Christ came to save if He had not risen; those for whom He gave His life would have been undelivered. A NEW BEGINNING. A little boy, on seeing the sun rise, dashed to his grandmother’s room, put his hand on her shoulder as she lay sleeping, and shrilled, “Wake up, Grandma, the world’s begun!” The disciples must have had something of the same experience when they learned that Jesus had risen from the tomb. Their hopes had dissolved, and their dream had been shattered; then they heard the glad news. For them the world had begun anew.

PREPARATION FOR WORSHIP. (Exodus 19:7-13.) Observe how Moses prepared for the presence of God, and the presence of God prepared Moses to bring forth the people to meet with God (v. 17). Approach God reverently. The room of the Throne of Grace must not be entered as thoughtlessly as Peter invaded the empty tomb. Humility, sincerity, and a hushed spirit are the best foxworship. “My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him.” Pi-ay against the draining as well as the driving assaults of Satan. SACRIFICING FOR THE NEEDY. (2 Corinthians 8: 1-9.) A contribution of money for poor saints in Judea was made by the exceedingly poor churches of Macedonia. They gave till it hurt; but they gave hilariously. Love of the Lord Jesus Christ and His people prompted the 6aci-ificial gifts. Thus they gave occasion for the enunciation of vital Christian principles in regard to giving. Reference to the Lord Jesus, our blessed Redeemer, becoming poor for us undeserving souls ought to strike in our hearts a responsive chord. How great is His love! How poor ours! DO WE “INQUIRE” THUS? “There is yet one man, Micaiah .... by whom we may enquire . . . But I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good.’ ’An old Scotch woman who tramped about selling goods was in the habit of tossing a stick into the air when she came to a crossroad and taking whichever direction the stick pointed. One day she was seen tossing it several times. On being questioned, she said the road to the right looked so drearlike that she tossed the stick till it pointed to the left, that looking a nicer way. We go to God for guidance, but if his way seems dull we choose a brighter one, forgetting that He sees the end as well as the beginning.