SUNDAY READING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 1514, 9 November 1912, Page 4 (Supplement)

SUNDAY READING.

' • II MY TALKS WITH MY SOUL. '% BY REV. G. H. KNIGHT, M.A. || " Bless the Lord, 0 my soul, and all tHa<| is within me bless His holy name; blest; the Lord, 0 my soul, and forget not aj| His benefits. . . " Blesa the LQrd»| omy soul." And why? Because He i|| "the God of my life"— my lower earthl $ life, as well as of rny higher and eternal life; and, being bo, he not only "fori giveth all my iniquities," and ■ "healeifi; all my diseases," but "redeemeth my life from destruction, and crowneth me 'with j loving kindness and tender mercies," till He so " satisfieth my mouth with gocd things" that I feel as if "my youth'jmi renewed like the eagle's." ; S Tho Lord wants us to know HiraH thoroughly; to know Him as one wh« " executeth righteousness and judgment j' for all that are oppresseda Father whop "pitieth His children," and maketh hisf; "everlasting mercy" to surround ail th«m| that fear Him; a loving God, and also an almighty God, whose "throne is' in im] heavons," and " whose kingdom rulet|| over all," so that He is infinitely able t$ do all that He has promised to do ; art® that is, to make all things work together for good to them that love Him." '~ J Let any burdened" heart read ovel / Psalms ciii. and civ., carrying along witf . it the thought suggested there that thj| Lord in whom it trusts is not only a Git ' of infinite Love, but a God of infinM! Power as well, the God of Grace, but ife i God of Providence tooit will end tb| reading just where David ended: "I v3i sing unto the Lord as long as I live, I witj? 1 sing praise to my God while I have an}| being; my meditation of Him shall b| ' sweet, I will be glad in the Lord. Blesft ; the Lord, O my soul." _ -. I i Sometimes the burdened spirit feels, i if the way to God's presence of peace irag . absolutely blocked; there is 11 ; m . No Entrance Possible, Even by the 6» I o! Prayer. , ' ... ©. It echoes Job's complaint: "I cry mm Thee, and Thou dost not answer ml Thou art become cruel to me, with life strong hand Thou opposest Thyself-'niro| " me;" it says, like Jeremiah, 11 When Icm and call for, help, Ho shutteth out ®|§ L prayer." Well, try if you cannot: get it , by another gate, the gate of praise. You , cannot forget your troubles as long as Jroi| I are looking at these alone; but slltjjk time you are possibly forgetting Gw| [ wonderful blessings that come to jrou |l| 1 the midst of them every day. ForxiCi look to your troubles, give ten looks g; ' your mercies. Count them up._ Be®| l minute and particular in reckoning tnffij| r as you are minute in reckoning up fflp . sorrows and your wrongs and at*JJ||| I end of that enumeration put down asMtg own the confession of Jacob: "I worthy of the least of all the mercig*y|^ > of all the truth which Thou hast JWTOg ; unto Thy servant"—and see if a ljK # >®*J| t this Divine arithmetic will not brre , almost at once the peace you long/W-l>u||| cannot reach. , j%. -^§$1 The late Dr. Macdonald, of • commenting on Phil. iv. 6, ! advice there in a very suggest® 3»W«|r: ' reading it thus "Be c/j™ Tnif s nothing: Be prayerful for eve/thing: L thankful for anything:" and/ ri &«y'nt§ for what does God owe me/* a 8 ,"11 Nothing but His anger cy7 ■ Psalms vii., 11). What fa God givfe ' me, sinner though Ibe ? 7}° love of Hip > heart, the goodness of A l3 an ,' , a • thousand mercies that I / ve thank H . for. and do not even r/pgnise. 3& : , soul, "Forget not all H/ benefits! Jjg Now, the man that/ ® D S, 0 .1.1; mountain-tops as hc/o® 8 .in J 5 ,. -_jl psalms may seem very" l^^ . ®I *i,, down among the but <£" fA > fact is that we cam/I]™ H' [ mountain-top on thM<* o of hea ' ° ' v n l > bo, if we turn to Vfl™ B cxvi., w. , j : easily .a gladdened ma y : heartland low./" The sorrows of death i compassed me, f> pains ° hel , ... > on me, I found/™M e and sorrow. = And s how did lie J above them once more, J "' 4 v h °so ra wFtfife » and righteo/ yea, our God is merciful. . ' And as nn^B ow already • proved tlJruth of that,/' I was brought ) low and helped me, he says to his ' Srt^l/heart, " Return unto^hy rest, - Omy s/. for the Lord ha dealt boun * » tifullv /th thee." TT "l/ been swinging uneasily from one • side t/another—" fightings without and • fears/within" —and yet all the time -h# i mi g y have had perfect rest, > ]i He Had Only Thought of His ! Unchanging Friend. i fr/had been "wandering from mountain , Skill, forgetting his resting-place. He Md b'en l ; iL? Noah's dove that could find 1 r ,,t on the waters, and at last he said ;; L bmself: "This will never do: 0 my , /"„j there is no comfort or safety for the* : n where but in the Ark; return thou f/tl're at once ;" and, doing so, he found | ' :itant oeace. , . 0 f -And there, in his quiet resting-place, he , ' hade a great discovery. He saw (whaV;| he had never seen clearly before) that the, [Lord had been "dealing bountifully with him" all along. He used to think the ;i :« Lord was dealing coldly, _ cni('lly, or, a? - least, mysteriously, with bini; but now b&,/ saw that all the sorrow and the very keen* ness of his pain had been meant to bring s him homo to a perfect rest in the'everla3tf|| ing Love, and to a more perfect " walfc|| before Him in the land of the living." - Ipg was a great lesson well learnt. Can disp& couraged hearts to-day not learn it too " The people that do know their God shalMf bo strong.'-