Everyman’s Hut

Camp News (Northern Command), Volume 1, Issue 19, 6 September 1940, Page 8

Everyman’s Hut

“Now the pruning, hard, unsparing, Scattered blossom, bleeding shoot, Afterward the plenteous bearing Of the Master’s precious fruit.” Trials and testings call for exercise of great faith. In the midst of winter with its cold wind and rain and sleet, the warm sunny days of summer seem very, very far away. Turning and tossing with bodily pain through the dark hours of the night, the weary sufferer wonders if the dawn will ever come. Present circumstances press heavily upon each one of us and yet all these things shall pass. The coldest, dreariest winter at length gives way to joyous spring and glorious summer. The longest night comes to an end. Trials are but designed for our strengthening, to improve our usefulness in the world in which we , live. The tree has to submit ( to the pruning knife'of the gardener, in order that it may bring forth fruit in ■ due season. In the 12th chapter of Hebrews we read that “No chasten- ; ing for the present seemeth joyous but grievous, nevertheless, afterward” , Afterward, what ? “Afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness to them that are exercised thereby.’ The object of it all is to , cause us to be exercised concerning our condition and position, not only in regard to the world about us, but to God himself. “Without faith it is j impossible to please God.” Without faith that spring is on the way, winter would be unbearable. Can we not j then apply that same faith in these , days of sorrow and trial ? Can we truly look for the dawn of peace if our lives and spirits remain the same as in the past years which have led up to this war ? The remedy, lies in our own hands and the command of the Lord Jesus Christ comes to us in simple unmistakeable language, yet bringing with it solemn, inescapable responsibility. “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.” Are we great enough, yet humble enough, have we the faith of a little child, that we may obey, then wait for the dawn of peace ? Speaking to the men as those to whom he might never have another I opportunity of addressing, Mr. Gor- J don Blair on Sunday evening appealed to them to consider their position before God. Taking as his text the words from the 2nd chapter of Hebrews: “How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?” he pointed out the cost at which God had provided a way of escape through the death of His Son at Calvary, and the absolute, urgent necessity for each individual to claim that way of escape for himself and not to depend upon his own life and works or any ideas or thoughts of his own which he might have concerning the matter. May the message find a response in their hearts.