SUNDAY READING

Taranaki Daily News, 11 May 1935, Page 14 (Supplement)

SUNDAY READING

By the

Rev. J. D. McL. WILSON

AN ABIDING LESSON J , THE STAFF OF ELISHA. ; ' ITS FAILURE WITH GEHAZI. •' “Gehazi passed on before them, and laid the staff upon the face of the child; but there was neither voice nor hearing. Wherefore he went again to meet him, and told hjm, saying: ‘The child is not, awalfed.* —2 Kings, 4/31. "• ?>' “Jesus took him by the hand and lifted , him up, and he arose. And when he was come' into the house his djsciples asked • • him privately: ‘Why could not we cast , fXm put?’ ” There' is an abiding lesson in the quaint old Testament story indicated above, and in that baffling experience of the early disciples. ’ ■ zWe suppose that staff iof Elisha had been an instrument of divine blessing upon a score of similar occasions, but here the rod of God is. as useless as any other dry stick or withered bough. We know that the disciples’ technique had been' gloriously successful upon their ’ ’ missionary journeys, in bringing healing and comforting strength; but now, the chosen words are as meaningless sounds, impotent as the idle wind passing by. Why the ineffectiveness? Why the perplexing and humiliating failure? Because virtue had gone out; because they . wist not that the spirit of the Lord had 2 departed. " “It is a pathetic truth that the form of religion -may persist when its essential quality has passed away. That was the unwelcome truth, which the seven chutches of Asia would not receive at the mouth Of the aged apostle. “No,” they said, “the facts are* all against you.” Behold our noble edifices! consider our Surpassing wealth! Take thought of our enviable reputation for piety and phil- ■ anthrophy.” “But,” says the Apostle, “whatever you may think your judg- - riient : is not the judgment of God; he that hath the'keys of death and hell, ’’and opeheth and shutteth. He declares that you’ are - not '.good, nor great, nor noble,, nor generous; ■ but, -thou art ■wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked. Thou hast a name to live, but aite dead. I counsel thee-, buy of me, gold tried in’the fire that thou mayest he rich; and white raiment that thou ;. mayest be clothed and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear, and .anoint they head with eye-salve that ■ thou mayest see. Be zealous and repent.” . ' ’And this is. the . explanation of the ftict that when* Egypt, North Africa and the cdunfries of the Hear East, were once strongholds of?' Christianity, how they ate Strong towers/of Islam. This, is the explanation of the'fact that in'scores 'of . villages -once , hallowed by the presence of I JesilS in the days of His flesh, now the Mosque overshadows the Synagogue and the .Church, .. the. present rises above. the croisi the? Muezzin • calls’ the . people to wdtiihip Mahommed,,.the i son of Amina and :ribt Jesus the Sori. of Mary. • And this is the explanation of the. fact that in this’ WwW arid' place there are of Christians > who orice -write . earnest lri their love ; and loyalty to Christ and Hiri Church, but now are indifferent and apathetic." They have still th 4 hamej they have yet the appearance; \bu^^Wh e f®'; ol, ' ce ,j was “glowing.'fire now rate scarcely warm. ■' Tq. hold the-form, of religion, beautiful and hallowed of centuries though it 'might be;, to repeat even-the very words Of the apostles; to re-enact, the ordinances originated of enough. And yet how frequently we make this mistake, how often we perpetuate this foolish and "pitiful error. Orfe femrimbrirs as "a young'fellow deliberately 'buying the tennis racquet . used fey the champion of Otago, fondly thinking there must be something special

in liis particular instalment, and that it would do for others what it did for him. In the lesson before us you have not dissimilar stories—a wonder expected from a borrowed prophet’s staff, and old methods no longer apposite.

With Elisha’s stick it was merely that the bad man could not use the good man’s instrument; it was that God Himself, who had honoured Elisha for his faith and obedience, was not present to honour Gehazi.

With the disciples it was not a louder or more fervent utterance, a shrewder or more careful arrangement that was spirit of God Himself. So it is that the Church, bom of the Son of God, worship, the child, of holy impulse, the Bible written by the fingers of the Almighty, may all be as empty as a sepulchre, as arid and uninspiring as a desert wilderness when reality and divine life are absent from them. We sometimes wonder that the Scriptures are dull to us, and give forth no message, no thrill, no eternal grace; the fault is not in them,' but in us. We idolize what we do not revere. We lack an earnest, reVerent and obedient attitude to God in our approach to them, and our search of them is fruitless.

Again we wonder- that we do not find the public worship of God to be as the very gate of heaven, disclosing to us the glories of the Lamb and the angels singing about the throne. The fault is not always with him who leads the service of tlie sanctuary. True and effectual corporate worship needs not only an inspired and prepared priest but an inspired and prepared people. Again we' wonder that the Christian life is so savourless a thing; but the cause lies not in the nature of the Christian character of discipleship but in ourselves-r-the particular subjects of it, whose lives are at variance with its essential spirit and purpose. i Let not our life be as tire hollow shell of Christianity, a sacred vessel with God’s name upon it but empty of God’s vital spirit within, or we shall be as pitiful as the prophet’s staff in the hands of Gehazi, disappointing as the early disciples before the epileptic child. To keep our Christian life we need constantly to cultivate the habit of prayer, for prayer deepens within, us the consciousness of God. And that is a wonderfully comforting and sustaining thing, as Paul and innumerable others have found in life’s perils and difficulties. ‘ Just as with your wireless, you turn the pointers upon the dial to the stations from whence the programme is wont to come, and nothing happens. No silver voice speakes." No flood of harmony breaks .forth. But switch ori the power," and when the invisible, impalpable; electricity energies pass through, then the;'miracle happens. So when in prayerhumbly "and sincerely,' we 'are tuned in the'lnnite, .then there streams from Him His peace, His holiness, His power. ‘ We often marvel at the life of Paul, but his explanation was'.simple. “I no longer live, but Christ dwelleth in me.” We are astonished atfthe- character' and serviceableriess of Wesley, but read his diary and' he will tell you the secret. “I - resolved ; with God’s help to devote an hour morriing and . evening to private prayer, no pretence, no excuse whatsoever, and to converse -with God, h 6 lightness; no foolish talking.” ' Said J. D. Jones, one of the leading preachers /in- • the Homeland: “The Church’S deepest need is the infilling of Christian fife? How much of the essential and how much of form and appearance constitute: our public and private galling-' in • 'Christ? - “Not everyone - that calleth Me Lord,” says Jesus, “is my disciple; but he that doeth the will of My Father "which is in heaven.” ' Breathe on me, Breath of God;. Till 'I am wholly' Thine, Until this earthly part of me Glows with Thy fire diyine.”