Devotional Column

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 55, 6 March 1937, Page 11 (Supplement)

Devotional Column

PRAYER. In prayer you exercise the highest prerogative of your being; you are entering a Presence before which the armies of heaven veil their faces. There is an eye upon you which reads the language of all hearts, whether expressed only by the silent movements of the lip or disguised by the outpourings of an eloquent but feigned devoutness. Watch against all solemn trifling, and what you cannot cure, repent of and bewail. We cannot deepen too much the impression of our many offendings. The closet should not be a place for making excuses. If there be any room for ex tenuation, it is better that we leave a merciful God to find it out; ow duty is to be humble. divine ZEAL Nothing in man creates such enthu siasm on God’s part as the instituting and enhancing of character. Your soul is that in you in which God is most interested, and He is interested in everything about you. My nonbelieving friend, God is enthusiastic for your character. He lovingly longs to create you in Christ Jesu* unto good works. None have au evangelistic zeal comparable to that which burns in the heart of God. He is enthusiastic in incomparable degree for your salvation . . . Will you satisfy His zealous desire! Surely you cannot and will not draw away from a God who is so enthusiastic to save you that He gave His only Son for your redemption. —Dinsdale T. Young, D.D. GUIDANCE AND PROTECTION. O God of Bethel by whose hand Thy people still are fed. Who through this weary pilgrimage Hast all our fathers led. Our vows, our prayers we now present Before Thy throne of grace; God of our fathers be the God Of their succeeding race. Through each perplexing path of life, Our wandering footsteps guide; Give us each day our daily bread, And raiment fit provide. O spread Thy covering wings around. Till all our wanderings cease, And at our Father’s loved abode Our souls arrive in peace. Such blessings from Thy gracious hand Our humble prayers implore; And Thou shalt bo our chosen God, And portion evermore. ENVY. Envy is hate ou account of prosperity of another. It grieves at another’* good, whereby we grudge him promotion, success, fame, wealth. Like beacons alpng the coast, Scripture has set many warnings of this deadly sin. The first murder was instigated by envy when Cain killed Abel, who was grieved that his brother offered a better sacrifice to God than he could do. Joseph was sold into

slavery because his brothers were “moved with envy.” Worst of all, envy fulfilled its most diabolical possibility in the death of our Lord, for “Pilate knew that for envy the Jews had delivered Him.” St. Paul offers love as the cure of envy, in his perfect hymn of praise “love envieth not.” TWO SPRINGS. “Be ye kind one to another, ten-der-hearted, forgiving one another.” In Iceland there is a spring, near which nothing will grow. Many visitor* go to see it and peer cautiously into deep crater. Then, to rouse the spring to action, they drop a stone. Soon a gurgling sound is heard, and up shoots a column of water, carrying with it sticks, mud and stones. I know another spring. It lies like a mirror framed in grasses and heather among the moorland hills, lifting its face to hci-ven, and reflecting God’s beautiful sun and clouds. Drop a stone, and there is no angry response. Only for a moment is the reflection broken-; then the stone is taken into its bosom and peace is restored. Many people resemble one or the other bf these two springs. Provoke some, throw 3n unkind or even a teasing word, and in a moment they boil over with passion and resentment. Others, like tho quiet mountain spring, just tremble a little, then hide the hurt within their heart, keeping their own spirit uweet and calm. It is the “soft answer” tha’ turncth. away vcajdL. THE WEIGHT OF A NAME. An instrument for weighing gold in the assay office is balanced so delicately that when two pieces of paper of exactly the same weight are placed on the balances, it still retains the same poise. But if a name be written on one of the papers it will turn the scale. The name of Jesus on the heart turns t.be scale to the peace and presence of God. It is the possession of llis name thus written that spells “saved.” It is the lack of it that spells ‘lost.” “Wherefore God alsj hath highly exalted him, and given him a Name which if above every name.” (Phil. 2, 10).