The Sabbath Hour

Northern Advocate, 15 July 1939, Page 4 (Supplement)

The Sabbath Hour

(Sermon preached by Rev. J. D. McFarlane, Presbyterian Minister at Waipu).

“For the thing: which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that whicli I was afraid has come unto me.” — job 3.25.

We live In a time when a cloud of fear hangs over us, fear of war and the suffering and loss and bitterness that it entails.

Fear is often a personal burden. Sometimes it is a cloud that overhangs a family life. It may be the fear that comes from the dread that some shameful page of the past will be read'. Such knowledge has ever been the stock in trade of the blackmailer.

Has’ your fear to do with the present circumstances, or yourself, or some dearly loved one? Or is it something the future may hide. Fear of failure, infirmity or that hereditary tendencies may hold a threat over your life ?

The Apostle Paul had his fear —fear that he who had preached the Gospel might become a castaway, a blunted instrument, or a tool that has lost its temper, and is cast upon the scrap heap. We vision the Psalmist’s dread in the prayer: “Forsake me not in the day of my old age.”

An outstanding feature in the ministry of Jesus was the purpose to lift the burden of fear from human hearts.

We see the ancient Patriarch Job sitting in dust and ashes suffering from his painful bodily afflictions, the loss of riches, at the hands of the Sabeans and the Chaldeans, and by the fire that swept the pasture lands** destroying sheep and shepherds, and then the tornado that crashed the house upon his family, killing them all. It may be difficult to know exactly which one of these distressing visitations was Job’s “fear.” His wife leaves us with the idea that she traced their sorrows to the ill-will of the Almighty. How often have I heard the cry of some stricken and rebellious mortal: “What have I done that God should so deal with me?”. “Curse God and die” she counsels. Job, too, felt that his calamities were in some way connected with the purpose of God, but he did not lose

Lifting The Burden Of Fear

faith in the goodness of God, for we hear’ him rebuke his wife for her foolish counsel as he replies: “What? shall we receive good at the hand of the Lord, and shall we not receive evil?” “The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away.” “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” Despite loss and suffering. God has first place in the patriarch’s life.'

In the days of trouble, some may find relief in duty. They give to the utmost of their time and strength to their work. A soldier friend told me how that in the first stage of a charge in the Great War he saw his brother fall. He stooped momentarily over the dear dead form he would see on earth no more, then forward to face the foe. Years afterwards the anguish of that moment had not been effaced from his memory.

The Prophet Ezekiel heard the word of the Lord: “Son of man I take away the desire of thine eyes with a stroke

. . . ” -He was bidden not to mourn. A course of conduct was outlined. “At even my wife died.” “I did in the morning as I was commanded.” Later Jesus said “Let the dead bury their dead; go thou and preach the Kingdom of God.”

Prayer has proved a way of relief to many a troubled heart. Men tried to comfort Job, but erred in their method, in their spirit, but most of all in their judgment of him. We read that the wrath of the Almighty was kindled against them. “My servant Job shall pray for you, said the Lord, “for him will I accept.” “And the Lord turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends.” The troubles of Job led to a precious personal knowledge of God. “The Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning.”

“God shapes tne world by prayer. Prayers .are deathless. The lips that uttered them may be closed in death, and the heart that felt them may have ceased to beat; but the prayers live before God.”

In the event of the thing which we fear having to do with sin or failure or unrighteousness, that can only be comforted by forgiveness. This, thank God, has been provided for in the Cross of Calvary. The Psalmist de-

dares; “Before I was afflicted I went astray.” “It is good for me that I have been afflicted.” “Not until each loom is silent. And the shuttles cease to fly. Will God unroll the pattern And explain the reason why. The dark threads are as needful In the Weaver’s skilful hand As the threads of gold and silver Per- the pattern which He planned.”

“He that is mastered by Christ is the master of every circumstance. Dees the circumstance press hard against you? Do not push it away. It is the Potter’s hand'. Your mastery will come, net by arresting its progress, but by enduring its discipline. For it is not only shaping you into a vessel of beauty and honour, but it is making your resources available.”