God’s goodness

Children’s Story — Miraculous Deliverance of a Ship’s Crew

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On August 9, 1815, the “Brig Commerce” was wrecked on the coast of Africa. Captain Riley tells how he and his crew were saved after the shipwreck.

“We managed to get the small boat’s sails, consisting of a gib and mainsail, into the small boat, with a spar that would do for a mast, and the ‘Brig’s’ foremost staysail. We had a keg of water, a few pieces of food, a live pig that weighed abut twenty pounds, about four pounds of figs that had been soaking in the salt water ever since the wreck. (We fished the figs out of the cabin.) This was the total of our provisions.

“The pig had escaped to the shore at the time of the shipwreck. But when the waves pulled us back from the shore, the pig swam back to us and we took it into the small boat. When everything was ready, I tried to encourage the crew as well as I could. I told them that it was better for us to be swallowed up by the sea than to be massacred by the ferocious savages.

“I reminded the crew that God was able to save us, even when the last ray of hope was vanishing and we should never despair, but do our best in our attempt to get to safety, and still hope for His merciful protection. As we looked at the dangers that surrounded us—wave after wave breaking with a dreadful crash constantly just beyond us, our hearts failed us. There seemed to be no possibility of getting safely beyond the breakers unless God intervened.

“I had doubted that God would particularly intervene in any case, yet if there is a general providence, there must be a particular providence! Everyone trembled with fear and dread. We thought that as soon as we went past the wrecked ship, we would be drowned.

“Then I said, ‘Let us pull off our hats, my companions and shipmates in distress.’ Quickly every man pulled his hat off. I lifted my eyes and soul toward heaven and prayed, ‘Great Creator and Preserver of the universe, Who now seest our distresses, we pray Thee to spare our lives and permit us to pass through this overwhelming surf to the open sea. But if we are doomed to perish, Thy will be done. We commit our souls to Thee, our God, Who gave them, and O, universal Father, protect and preserve our widows and children.’

“The winds, as if by divine command, at this very moment ceased to blow. We hauled the boat out. The dreadful surges that were nearly bursting upon us suddenly quit, making a path for our boat, through which we rowed out as smoothly as if we had been on a river in a calm. But on each side of us and just a few yards away, the surf continued to break twenty feet high with unabated fury!

“We had to row nearly a mile in this manner. All of us were fully convinced that we were saved by God’s special intervention just when we needed His help. All joined in returning thanks to God for His mercy. As soon as we reached the open sea and had gone some distance from the wreck, we saw the surf rolling behind us with the same force as it had on each side of the boat!” Riley’s Narrative, 33, 34.

The following interesting remarks are from the author’s preface:

“With respect to the extraordinary circumstance told in the story of the sudden subsiding of the surf when we were about committing ourselves to the open sea in our shattered boat, I know that there will be much comment and probably some ridicule.

“I was advised to not tell that part of the story in case some unbelievers would not believe the rest of my ‘narrative.’ This probably would have been good advice for me as a mere author. Previously, I might have been suspicious that such a story was not true. But I feel that I cannot withhold an incident that so clearly seemed to my companions and me at the time as the immediate and merciful act of God just when death was pressing close upon us.

“The waters of the sea had well nigh covered us; the proud waves had well nigh gone over our soul. Then cried we unto Thee, O Lord, and thou didst deliver us out of our distresses; the windy storm ceased and turned into a calm.”

From Miraculous Powers, by M. E. Cornell. Modernized by Ken and Lois McGaughey.

 

Children’s Story – The Runaway Horses

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Mr. and Mrs. Wallner moved to the state of Montana, where the government was offering property free to anyone who would settle on it and improve the land. They were required to fence the property, build on it, and put part of it into cultivation. So Mr. Wallner signed up for two sections of land—a total of 1280 acres. He was only allowed to homestead one section, but he had to pay for the other one, which he did.  He had no tractor or other locomotive equipment, for in those days farming was done with horses. He had several good teams, but one was especially strong and high spirited. They were a beautiful team of dapple gray horses. They loved to work and to run. Their names were Pete and Vick.

The Wallners lived quite a distance from any city, but there was a little store and post office about 15 miles away. The store keeper and the post master were the same person, and both businesses were in his home.

One day Mrs. Wallner hitched up Pete and Vick to the spring wagon. She bundled up her one year old boy and together they set off for the little store. After she had done her business she started back home. On her way she stopped in to see the neighbors who lived about two miles from her home.

The neighbor, Mr. Huff, warned, “Watch out, those horses are acting very nervous.” Mrs. Wallner said, “Oh, I can handle them.”

But when she got over the hill and in the site of home she found out the horses were indeed too much to handle. When Pete and Vick saw the barn, they left the road and started in a beeline across the sage brush for the barn at full speed. The wagon bobbed up and down, up and down, over rocks, sage brush, and dirt mounds.

Mrs. Wallner realizing that the wagon might turn over at any moment, and that it might cost the life of her baby as well as her own, she decided to pick up the baby and jump out of the wagon.
But just as she was in the process of picking him up, the wagon hit a huge rock and bounced into the air; she was thrown out and the baby was left in the wagon. Sitting there in the sage brush she offered an earnest prayer to her Heavenly Father and said, “Oh! Lord save my baby.” In an instant, the wagon became detached from the horses and it came to a stop. Of course, the horses kept running to the barn.

She thanked her Savior, and quickly went to see what happened. First of all she found her baby safe in the wagon. She also found that the bolt that connected the double tree to the wagon tongue, had been pulled out. She knew this was virtually impossible for the bolt was ten inches long, an inch in diameter, and had a large nut on it; but there it lay on the ground.

Although she never saw the angel, she was sure that the baby’s guardian angel had saved his life.

The End

Children’s Story – Rowena and the Pills

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Mr. and Mrs. Woods were a very fine young couple. One day Jesus gave them a lovely baby girl to make their home even happier than it was. Of course, they had to think of a name for this sweet little member of their family. Thus her name became Rowena.

Rowena was a sweet cuddly little baby, and she grew very fast. Time slipped by very rapidly for Rowena’s mother and father, as they were very busy people. Almost before they could realized it, their little child was three years old.

Well, one day the Woods family had to move. This was a big job for mommy and daddy, but Rowena just thought it was great fun. Things were scattered around and she could get into everything. She loved seeing what was in this box and that box. Moving turned out to be a great adventure for little her.

Especially was it fun when they got to their new home. For it had a stair way and upstairs rooms to investigate. Rowena had fun running up and down the stairs. But there was one room upstairs that Daddy had hooked shut, thinking that it was safe to lock out a little three year old girl, who was having fun getting settled in her new home.

The locked room was the room Daddy and Mommy were using for storage of the things that they were not needing at the present time. As mommy was cleaning up her kitchen she had a box of medications that were more in the way than they were useful, so she set them up on top of the refrigerator for a while. Then she decided that was not a good place, and since she was not using any of them, she decided to put them in the store room upstairs. That would be plenty safe, as the door was locked with a hook.

Little did Mommy know how clever their little three year old daughter was. One day when mother was very busy she paused for a moment and thought, “I wonder where Rowena is. She is so quiet and I haven’t seen her for a little while.” She called Rowena, but no answer. Mother began looking, never thinking that Rowena could get the locked door open. But mother went up the stairs, and there was Rowena in the store room.

Not only was she in the store room, but she had found the box of medications, and had consumed a whole bottle of carters little liver pills and a bottle of ionized yeast. Well, Rowena was already a very sick little girl lying on the floor.

Poor Mother, what was she to do? She had no car, as daddy had taken the car to work. She called a neighbor, who, as soon as possible, got in touch with Rowena’s daddy. He came home very quickly and rushed Rowena to the hospital. By the time she arrived there, she was unconscious.

The doctor and nurses began working on her immediately. They took a long rubber tube and put it down her nose, into her stomach and pumped out everything that was in there. They found the remains of the pills that Rowena had swallowed. The doctor shook his head and said that they did not think it would be possible to save Rowena’s life.

Mother called the minister of the local Seventh-day Adventist church, who came over to the hospital. When he saw little Rowena he too, realized that only God could save her life, so he anointed her with a little oil. He and the doctor with her parents knelt beside her bed and prayed that Jesus would heal little Rowena.

Jesus did heal her, but it took her a long time to get strong again. She had to learn to walk and talk all over again.

Is not Jesus wonderful? He loves the little children, and even when they make mistakes He wants to help them. But, it would have been better if she had not eaten those pills!

The End

The Case of Miss Clancy

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Do You have faith in God? That was a question Jesus used to ask. It is one thing to say, “Yes, I have faith in God,” when everything is going well; you have money in your checkbook, your physical exam showed you were healthy, you are current on your house payment, none of your children are sick, and you are not having a major crisis at your work. It is another thing to say, “Yes, I trust in God,” when things are not going so well; you have been diagnosed with a very serious disease, or maybe your job is not as certain as you thought it was and you might get laid off, there is not enough money to pay bills, somebody is sick, and one wrong thing piles up on another. Do you trust in God? Do you really trust Him now—or is your trust in something else?

The Bible says a rich man’s wealth is his strong city. His confidence and trust are in his wealth. That is very common. In Matthew 19:23, 24, Jesus, speaking about rich men, says, ” ‘Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.’ ” Do we realize that in comparison to people in many other countries, most people in the United States are rich? Solomon said when a person is rich, he trusts his riches. If you have your trust in riches or anything other than Jesus Christ, you cannot be saved. It is impossible.

The Lord had to teach some lessons of trust to the children of Israel. For this purpose, He put them through a rigorous forty-year training course during which time they had no way to get food. Have you ever been without food? It is bad to be without food when there is a grocery store nearby, but it is worse to be without food in the desert. For a while they did not know where the food was going to come from. So Moses told them, “Now the Lord is going to provide for you.” The Lord let them go in the desert a few days until they ran out of food, before He started providing manna. Have you ever been in a situation where you were looking for a job and you said, ” Lord, are you going to let me spend my last dollar before I find a job?”

When the Lord sent the manna, He did not send enough for a week—He only sent enough for one day. They were never more than one day away from being out of food. The next day the Lord sent a little more. If they kept it for more than a day, it spoiled. The only exception was on Friday, then the Lord sent a two days supply so that on Sabbath they did not have to gather food. The Lord taught them to put their trust in Him. We are also going to have to learn to trust in God alone. God has given us principles of living to help us learn to trust in Him.

To the tent meetings

Miss Clancy was an elderly Irish Protestant lady. She will be surprised when she gets to heaven because people have heard about her in many places. They will come to her from all over and say, “I learned to have faith in God from you.”

Her story began in 1919, when a Seventh-day Adventist minister by the name of Carlisle B. Haynes was having evangelistic meetings in a canvas tent in New York City on 95th Street and Broadway. Miss Clancy came to these tent-meetings, sat down, and started listening.
Whenever Carlisle B. Haynes would preach something from the Bible she would look it up, take notes, and check to see if that was really what the Bible said. If that was what the Bible said, she believed it and would do it. She soon started getting ready for baptism. She accepted everything the Bible taught until, Elder Haynes preached on tithing. He noticed after that, Miss Clancy was not so happy anymore. She became sad, gloomy and upset and he wondered what had happened.

Miss Clancy finally requested a personal interview with Elder Haynes. When she came to see him, she had her notes. Together, they reviewed the notes of his sermon. There are seven points she had enumerated. Here they are:

Notes on Tithing

1. The tithing plan explained. Leviticus 27:30-32. The word tithe means a tenth or ten percent. It says, “And all the tithe of the land whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s.” It belongs to the Lord. “It is holy to the Lord. If a man wants at all to redeem any of his tithes, he shall add one-fifth to it. And concerning the tithe of the herd or the flock, of whatever passes under the rod, the tenth one shall be holy to the Lord.” The tithe or the tenth is holy. It does not belong to us, it belongs to the Lord.

2. Tithe anciently was used for the support of those who ministered about holy things. Numbers 18:20-24 says, “Then the Lord said to Aaron: `You shall have no inheritance in their land, nor shall you have any portion among them; I am your portion and your inheritance among the children of Israel. Behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tithes in Israel as an inheritance in return for the work which they perform, the work of the tabernacle of meeting. Hereafter the children of Israel shall not come near the tabernacle of meeting, lest they bear sin and die. But the Levites shall perform the work of the tabernacle of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity; it shall be a statute forever, throughout your generations, that among the children of Israel they [that is the Levites] shall have no inheritance.’ ” Anciently, the tithe was used for those who worked in holy service.

3. The New Testament teaches that this tithing plan has been ordained for the support of the gospel ministry. In 1 Corinthians 9:13, 14, Paul refers to the passage in Numbers 18 and says, “Do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat of the things of the temple, and those who serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar? Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel.” The New Testament says that the tithing plan has been ordained for the support of the gospel ministry.

4. Jesus endorsed the tithing plan. In Matthew 23:23, Jesus said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the other undone.”

5. God promises to bless the faithful payment of tithe. Malachi 3:10-12 says, ” ‘Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and prove Me now in this.’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,’ says the Lord of hosts; ‘And all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land,’ says the Lord of hosts.” (Wealthy men like John D. Rockefeller and Colgate paid tithe.)

6. Those who do not do as God commands will not prosper. Haggai 1:5-11. “Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Consider your ways! You have sown much, and bring in little; you eat, but do not have enough; you drink, but you are not filled with drink; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes.’ Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Consider your ways! Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified.’ says the Lord. ‘You looked for much, but indeed it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house.’”

7. God’s curse is upon men, money and property when God is not honored and obeyed. Malachi 3:8, 9 says, “Will a man rob God? Yes you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me, even this whole nation.”

As Elder Haynes listened to her, he thought to himself, “Well now, what is she going to say? What is she going to object to?” Miss Clancy said, “Now, do I have to do this?” Elder Haynes replied, “Why would there be an exception for you? I’m not the one who told you this, this is what God’s Word says.”

Six Dollars

To this reply, Miss Clancy stated, “Well, you don’t understand my circumstances. Now, I don’t enjoy telling you this, but I must tell you because you need to understand why I don’t see how I can do this. First of all,” she said, “I am not employed. I don’t have a job. I really don’t have any means of support. But,” she explained, “I have a son-in-law and he sends me $6.00 a week.”

Elder Haynes was listening—$6.00 a week, even in 1919, was not much money. Miss Clancy continued, “I’m renting a little kitchenette apartment. I’ve been there ten years and the rents have gone up with the other apartments all around, but, the Lord has been good to me. My landlord has not increased my rent.”

“How much is your rent?” inquired Elder Haynes.

“My rent is $4.50 a week.”

Miss Clancy receives $6.00 a week from her son-in-law to live on. Her rent is $4.50 a week, leaving $1.50 for all other expenses including food. Elder Haynes was aghast. “That’s impossible! You can’t live on that!”

“I know. I know you can’t live on that, but the Lord’s been good to me and has helped me to live on that. I have been living on that for many years. But now you’re telling me that I need to pay a tithe which is 60¢ on $6.00 and then my rent is still going to be the same. So you are telling me that instead of living on $1.50 a week, now I’m to live on 90¢ a week.”

What would you do if you were the preacher? Would you say, “Well sister, I recognize that you’re in a very difficult situation and God doesn’t expect you to pay tithe.” Elder Haynes felt so bad. Now he knew why she was going through a trial. When all you have to live on is $1.50 a week and now you are only going to have 90¢ a week, what are you going to eat? Does God make an exception for the poor? There are no exceptions in the Bible. And he had to say to her, “I’m not the one who made the rules. God said that He would open the windows of heaven and that He will bless you. If you will do what He says to do, He will take care of you. I don’t know how He’s going to do it. All I know is that God will not fail you.” She thought it over and said, “Well, God’s taken care of me before and I’ll do it.”

Six Dimes

The next week she came to church and she handed Elder Haynes 60¢ tithe. In writing about it later, he said that was the hardest 60¢ he ever had anybody put in his hand to accept. He did not want to take it, but God had commanded it and he took it. And every Sabbath from then on she would come to church, go up to him and hand him 60¢. And in his mind, he would just have a sinking feeling, “What is happening to this lady? Is she going hungry?” Once he bent down and whispered in her ear, “Miss Clancy, how are you getting along? Are you all right?”

“Praise the Lord! I am,” was all she replied. The preacher wondered what was happening.

Finally, the third time, he again inquired, “Miss Clancy, are you sure, everything is all right?”

“Pastor, something strange has been happening,” She beamed, “I never knew before that the neighbors could be so kind and thoughtful. I’ve never had this happen before. They never did the things before that they’re doing for me now.”

“Well what things are they doing?”

“They bring me little presents—a loaf of bread, a pound of butter. A neighbor will come over and give me some flour and another will give me some cereal and another will give me a quart of milk and another will give me some fruit. They even come over and give me cake.” She continued, “I’m living better now on 90¢ a week than I used to live on $1.50.”

“Do you think somebody has been putting them up to this?”

“Yes I do. I think somebody has put the neighbors up to this.”

“Who do you think it is?”

“Do you need to ask me that, Pastor? If you had not counseled me to pay tithe like you did, I would have been robbed of God’s blessing.”

“Miss Clancy, I have reached the conclusion that you are the ablest financier in New York City and I have long wanted to ask you how you could possibly make 90¢ a week cover your weekly needs.”

“Ah Pastor, I’ve told you the neighbors help it to stretch, but aside from that my needs are simple. I have learned to live on porridge and oatmeal and these are cheap. To me, now, it seems that I’m getting along better than I was before.”

Every week she came and put in 60¢. This went on for three or four months, but one day there was a knock on the door of his study. Elder Haynes opened the door and there stood Miss Clancy with a playful smile on her face.

“Pastor, now you are going to have to give me some respect. Because now I am a woman of means.”

“Well, what has happened?”

Ten dimes plus offering

“My son-in-law wrote a letter the other day and told me that he had been feeling for some time that he really should send me more money. It was just too difficult to live on just $6.00 a week. He said that from now on he was going to send me $10.00 a week. Pastor, do you know what that means? My tithe on $10.00 will be $1.00, my rent will be $4.50 a week, so that will give me $4.50 left. My income has just gone up from 90¢ a week to $4.50 a week. My disposable income has gone up five times. I don’t know what I’m going to do with all that money. I guess I’m going to have large offerings to help the gospel go to the mission field.”

Someday if you are faithful, you will get to meet Miss Clancy. Maybe you will have a story to tell her about how God helped you, how God opened the windows of heaven for you. Do you know, friends, God is somebody that you can trust. Do you believe that? Miss Clancy found out that when you do what God says, He opens up the windows of heaven. Nobody knew how God was going to open up the windows of heaven, but as soon as she started paying tithe, something changed and she started getting along better than she had before. The same thing will happen to you. When you are faithful to return to God His own, God opens the windows of heaven and takes charge of your life.

Look what Jesus said about this in Matthew 6:30-33, “Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and these things shall be added to you.”

When you make God first in your life and choose to follow Him, God takes responsibility for you. God is going to see to it that you have food and clothing and will take care of you. Would you like to see God open the windows of heaven in your life? Would you like to be blessed? The Lord says, “Return the tithes and offerings into the storehouse and try Me out. And I will open the windows of heaven to you and all people will call you blessed.”

There is nothing in this world that is as good or as wonderful as being blessed by God.

The End

Children’s Story – Gilpin’s Broken Ankle

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During the early days of the Reformation in England, toward the close of Queen Mary’s reign, Bernard Gilpin, a Reformed pastor, lived in northern England. Brother Gilpin was deeply loved by the poor villagers to whom he ministered; and from them, he had received the title, “Apostle of the North.”

One of Bernard’s favorite Bible texts, and one he used to inspire everyone he knew with hope and courage, was Romans 8:28, which says, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His promise.” Whatever came, whether good or bad, his word was always the same, “Ah, well, God’s will be done; all is for the best.”

Queen Mary was a bitter enemy of Protestantism; and during her reign, many people lost their lives for accepting the Reformed faith. One day, as Mr. Gilpin was deep into his study of the Bible, there was a knock on his door. A detachment of soldiers had been sent by the queen to arrest him for heresy. He was to be taken to London, there to be charged with treason and given the typical mock trial that all received who were suspected of heresy. While Gilpin was preparing to go with the soldiers, the word of his arrest spread rapidly. Soon a large group of villagers had gathered to mourn the loss of their pastor and to bid him farewell. As he was preparing to leave them, nothing doubting that he would soon die at the martyr’s stake, Brother Gilpin tried to encourage them with the words, “God’s will be done; all is for the best.”

Near sunset on the second day of horseback riding, the soldiers and Gilpin arrived at a small village. The captain inquired about an inn in which to spend the night. As they dismounted, Gilpin fell. This so excited his horse that it bolted down the cobblestone street, dragging Gilpin behind.

When one of the soldiers finally stopped the horse and Gilpin tried to stand on his feet, a sharp pain raced up his leg. Closer examination revealed a bloody and broken ankle, as well as some other severe cuts and scrapes. Badly injured, He had to be carried into the inn by three other men.

The captain was furious. He knew that this meant a delay in their traveling. The next morning he sent all of the men ahead to report the unfortunate accident to his commander, while he remained with the prisoner. Turning to Gilpin, the captain angrily said, “I suppose that you are going to tell me that this is all for the best?”

“Sir, I make no question that it is,” Gilpin meekly replied. The rough captain laughed as he looked at the man who was soon going to lose his life for preaching against the established religion of England.

“I suppose you believe,” the captain continued, “that everything worked out well for your friends Latimer and Ridley when her royal highness burned them at the stake.” Before Gilpin could reply, the unfriendly captain continued, “and what about the Archbishop of Canterbury? You cannot tell me that he felt that when she ordered him to give his life that he was happy about it.”

A little more than two weeks passed in the little inn as the captain kept up his unrelenting attack on Gilpin’s confidence that God was going to work out things for his best good. The captain did not do all of the talking, however, and there can be little doubt that in listening to the patient answers of the quiet man of God, the rough captain’s heart was touched.

Just prior to the day that it had been determined that Gilpin’s condition had improved sufficiently so that he could make the trip to London to face trial and certain death, the town crier came past the inn announcing that Mary had died and that Elizabeth now reigned in her place. Elizabeth was a Protestant; and the captain, realizing that it would be futile to take Gilpin any farther, released him on the spot.

The Protestant Reformer returned to his flock, and the captain to his duty in London. Even though their backgrounds and beliefs were as different as night and day, there was one thing that they both knew to be true; and that is that, “All things work together for good to them that love God,” even to the breaking of an ankle.

Children’s Story – Rescue At Sea

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In the days of sailing vessels, a Moravian missionary who had been serving in Jamaica, along with his wife and their small daughter, set sail for Mississippi. As it was a trip of only a few days, the ship carried very few provisions. They had not gone far, however, when a storm arose and drove them far from their course. The storm was followed by a dead calm that settled down, making it impossible to sail.

As the days lengthened into weeks, their food and water was almost gone. Each day everyone was given a small biscuit to eat and half a pint of water to drink. Under the hot tropical sun, this was not nearly enough water, and the suffering from thirst became almost more than words can describe. The passengers’ tongues became so swollen from thirst that they could hardly close their mouths.Though they had offered many prayers for help, the day came when the supply of food was nearly gone. The missionary’s wife decided to spend the entire night in prayer, asking God to send someone to help them. Early the next morning, she finally fell asleep. Not long after she fell asleep, she was awakened by her husband’s voice.

“My dear,” he said, “we think we see a sail. I would not disappoint you, but if it is God’s will for us, it will come to our relief.”

As quickly as possible, they made their way up on to the deck. The distant ship was still too far away to be seen by the naked eye, but the passengers took turns looking through the ship’s spyglass. It certainly looked as if it were a ship. Yes; now they were sure it was a ship, but would it come their way. They had seen ships far in the distance before, but each time the ship had passed out of sight without having seen them.

But this ship was coming nearer and nearer. Soon they could see it with the naked eye. Still it kept coming closer until it came close enough that a small boat was let down and four men, one of them evidently the captain, stepped into it and came across to where the stricken vessel sat floating in the water.The captain was the first to come aboard. When he saw their desperate condition, he lifted his hat and solemnly said:

“Now I believe that there is a God in heaven!”

The ship that had rescued them proved to be one of the small steamers that towed sailing vessels into the harbor. By the rules that then bound them, they were only allowed to go a certain distance out of port to look for vessels needing their assistance. Following is the strange story that the captain told.One day after he had gone the full limit, he felt unaccountably impelled to go still farther, although there was not a vessel in sight. His mate remonstrated with him, reminding him of the fine to which he was subject if he continued on beyond the range that was permitted.

“I cannot help it! I have to go on!” was his only reply.

By and by the captain became desperately seasick, something that he had not experienced in twenty years. He became so sick that he was forced to take to his berth, yet he refused to turn back. The crew finally mutinied, for they were now growing short on provision. Thinking their captain had lost his senses, they determined to take things into their own hands and return home with the ship. At this point, the captain became so distressed that he begged them to go on, promising them that if they saw nothing to justify his action by sunrise the next morning, he would give up and promptly return home. The men reluctantly agreed to continue on through the night. When the day dawned, the man at the masthead reported a black, motionless object far out to sea.”Make for it!” exclaimed the captain, emphatically. “That is what we have come after.”

At that instant, the seasickness left him; and he took the post of command. On reaching the ship with the missionaries and seeing their terrible condition, although he had been an infidel for many years, the conviction came to him with overwhelming power that he had been supernaturally guided and that there was a God in heaven. Later, when he learned of how the feeble missionary mother had spent the entire night in prayer, he became fully convinced that He was also a prayer-hearing and prayer-answering God.

This is a modern illustration of the fact that God “delivereth and rescueth, and He worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth.” Daniel 6:27

The End

Getting Out of a Bad Marriage, part 3

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There is peace in the thought that God works out all things after the counsel of His own will and that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. Then it does not matter what comes against us; for in that it comes against us, it comes against the purpose of God; and that is as sure and firm as the existence of the Almighty can make it. Now who is against us? Satan is against us. That does not make any difference if he is. Satan has tried his power with Christ, and it has proved itself to be nothing. “All power in heaven and earth is given to Me” (see Matthew 28:18), says Christ. Then if all power has been given to Christ in heaven and in earth, and it has been given, where is there any left for Satan? There is none. In a contest with Christ, Satan has no power; so if we have Christ for us, nothing can be against us.

Bible Truth in Song

Some of us have been talking about the power of Satan in the past, but he has none; there is none left for him. Technically speaking, Satan is against us. Who is he? “The prince of the power of the air.” Ephesians 2:2. He brings pestilence; he brings disease; he puts things in our way and arrays them against us. But the very things which he arrays against us to work our ruin, God takes and makes them for us. They are all good. We often sing:Let good or ill befall, It must be good for me,Secure of having Thee in all, Of having all in Thee.

But we very often sing things that we do not believe at all. Now I would not have anyone sing these things any less, but I would have you believe them more. It is often the case that if you took the words from the music and put them into plain prose, there would not be anyone in a whole congregation who would believe or dare to say them. Let us believe them, not because they are in the hymn, but because they are Bible truth.

We are like the people who are represented by the prophet Ezekiel: “Also, thou son of man, the children of thy people still are talking against [about] thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, everyone to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from the Lord.” That is to say, Come, let us go to meeting and hear the sermon. “And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as My people and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness. And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not.” Ezekiel 33:30–32

I say that a great many of these truths are just a song to many people. They hear them and are interested in them and then pass on, but they do not believe or do them. But the Lord has given them for us to both believe and to do, and they will be our strength. So everything works for good to them that love God. We cannot always see how or tell how; but God has said it, and we know it is so. There are many things that we cannot tell why we believe and to our very senses they do not appear to be so; but the very fact that God has promised that if we do believe them they will be so, makes them so, when we take hold and believe them. We can never know this till we do believe; but when we do believe, then we will know. So if God be for us, who can be against us?

Think of that lone prophet of God, Elisha. He was down in Samaria; the mountains were all around him. A whole host of armed men had come to take him. He stood alone with his servant, and that servant was afraid. He did not think in that moment, nor did he say, that the King of Israel ought to send a troop of horses or some infantry to defend him. The young man came to him and said, “Alas, my master! how shall we do?” Elisha prayed, “Lord, I pray Thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.” 2 Kings 6:15, 16

The whole mountain and plain was filled with chariots and horses, and any one of them was stronger than the whole host of the enemy. It is as true in our case as in that of Elisha, that “they that be for us are more than they that be against us (see verse 16);” and the only thing for us to do is to get our eyes open so that we may see that this is so. What opens our eyes? The Word, it is a lamp unto our feet and a light to our path; and if we believe it, we will know that they that are for us are more than they that are against us.

All Things A Blessing to Us

He who is with us is the living God of Israel, Who has power to turn darkness into light and weakness into strength; and every evil thing that comes against us, He turns into a blessing to help us on our way.

“He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” Romans 8:32. Why will He with Christ also give us all things? Because all things are in Him. “Which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all.” Ephesians 1:23

He that hath put on Christ is “strengthened with all might!” (See Ephesians 3:16.) Why? Because God has placed Christ “far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come; and hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all.” Ephesians 1:21–23. Therefore, everything is in Christ. In Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. He has all power given Him in heaven and in earth. Do you not see that this being the case, it is a foregone conclusion that when God gave Christ for us and freely delivered Him up for us all, that in Him He does give us all things?

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” Ephesians 1:3Christ has all power, and He hath given unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness. Notice that the past tense is used. This has been done for us. Then why do we not have them? For just one reason—because we do not take them. We have been mourning for so long and saying that we want these things. Well, we can have them; they have been given to us, and there is no reason why we should not appropriate them to ourselves.

Suppose that I come to you and say that I am very hungry and I would like something to eat. “All right,” you say, “Just sit down here at the table and we will get something for you.” Soon you place the best of what you have on the table and tell me that there it is and now, eat. But I say, “O, I am so hungry and I do want food so much.” All right, take it and eat. “But I am so hungry and I do want something to eat. I have not had anything for days.” Well, take it. “Yes, but I do want food so badly.” You would say that I was out of my mind if I acted that way and did not eat of the food that was so freely placed before me.

Someone says, “If that is the way that the Lord does with these blessings that pertain to life and godliness, we are certainly foolish that we do not take them; but I do not think that the illustration is a fair one because we cannot see these things that the Lord has to offer, and we can see the food.” Neither do I think that it is a fair illustration, because it does not half fill the bill.

Unseen Realities

Did not you often think that you saw something that you did not see? Does not your sight often deceive you? Sometimes you think you saw a thing that you did not see and then again you saw things that when you came to look at them closely were not as they really appeared to be. But the Word of God never deceives. Therefore, I am more sure of the things promised in the Word of God than if I could see them. “Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all.” Romans 4:16

We think that anything that we can see is all right and sure. Therefore we get hold of a house or a piece of land or some other property and think that we have something because there is in our possession something that we can see. But the truth of the matter is that the only things that we can depend on are the things that we cannot see. (See 2 Corinthians 4:18.) We can see the earth, and we can see the heavens; but they are going to pass away. “But the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.” 1 Peter 1:25

With the psalmist we can say, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.” Psalm 46:1, 2. The time is coming when the earth will reel to and fro like a drunken man and be removed like a cottage, and the mountains will skip away and pass over into the ocean. This is going to happen; and there will be some people at that time who will feel perfectly calm and trustful, but they will not be composed of men and women who have never learned to say that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to His purpose. The man who doubts God now will doubt Him then. “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” Psalm 91:1

All Good Things Belong to Us

Yes, we have everything; we are children of the King, of the Most High. What difference does it make if people do not own us? God owns us, and He knows us; and therefore if men heap on us reproach and persecution, the only thing that we can do is to pity them and labor for them; for they do not know the riches of the inheritance.

“Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.” Romans 8:33. Well, there is one that will do it surely. We have his name, Satan. Here is a testimony concerning him. “And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ; for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.” Revelation 12:10. Yes, Satan is the accuser of the brethren. He has done it day and night, and he is doing it still—laying everything he can to the charge of God’s elect. But he is cast down, and now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of God, and the power of His Christ. Christ has all power; how good that is.

But one says, “I believe all that, and I have confessed my sins, and I believe that God is faithful and just to forgive them and to cleanse me from all unrighteousness; but these sins keep coming up before me all the time!” Are you sure that it is Satan that brings them up? That is an important point; for if you are sure of that, and they do come up, you ought to be one of the happiest creatures alive.

Why does Satan bring these things up? Because he is the accuser of the brethren, and he is a false accuser; he is a liar and the father of it. Therefore, if Satan brings these sins up and accuses you, then you know that they are forgiven, because he would never have brought them up if they had not been forgiven. He could not tell the truth if he tried; and unless they had been forgiven, he never would bring them up, never in the world, because he would be afraid that you would confess them and they would be forgiven.

There is a time when God brings sins up before us, but it is when they have not been confessed. That is the only time. But it is the Comforter Who convicts of sin, so He comforts us in every place and in the very act of calling to our remembrance the wrongs that we have done. Then when God brings sins to my notice that I have not confessed, I will thank Him for the comfort. When Satan brings them up again, I will praise God again; for if they were not forgiven, Satan would never bring them up; but if they have been confessed, they have been forgiven.In Christ are mercy and truth met together. The same hand that holds the law, holds the pardon also. Remember that when the law was spoken from Sinai in thunder tones, it was in the hand of a Mediator, even our Lord Jesus Christ. Then the same hand which holds the justice and that which convicts of sin holds also the pardon. Thanks be unto God which always causeth us to triumph in Christ.

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For Thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.” Romans 8:35–37

“We have enemies to contend with,” says one. Do not talk about them or your trials and temptations, but talk of the power of Christ. All power has been given to Him. So when we wrestle, we will remember that it is not an even-handed battle; but we fight a fight of faith, and the power is given unto us whereby we can be more than conquerors through Him that loved us and gave Himself for us. Where sin abounded, there did grace much more abound.

Who are conquerors? They are those who have gained the victory. “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Ephesians 6:12. It is not flesh and blood that we are fighting against, therefore flesh and blood are of no account in the defense. Then how do we meet the foe? “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life.” 1 Timothy 6:12

There comes in that life question again. “Lay hold on eternal life.” The only power that can resist evil is the power of an endless life, and He that hath the Son hath that life. We are to fight the good fight of faith. What is faith? Trusting in another. If I fight a fight with my fists, I do the fighting. If I fight the fight of faith, someone else is fighting for me; and I am getting the benefit. We are more than conquerors through Him Who loved us. Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Our Victory A Certainty

Well how is this? Christ has fought hand to hand with Satan here on earth. He conquered Satan and all of his host, and He has put down all might and dominion; for He has been placed above all “principality and power and might.” Ephesians 1:21. How great was the victory of Christ over them? Christ met these very enemies that we have to wrestle with, and He triumphed over them and spoiled them. (See Colossians 2:15.) He has gained the victory over them. What is the result? What always must be the result when a battle has been fought and one side has conquered the other completely?—Peace. Satan would not give in, so the Saviour conquered a peace.

“He is our peace.” “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27. As He has given us His peace and peace follows victory, so the victory has been gained already. And if we have Christ, that victory is ours already. We simply lay hold of the eternal life of Christ; and that is done by laying hold of His Word, which is spirit and life. Thus we bring Christ into our hearts, and so we have Christ and the victory that He has won for us.

Our Cause of Weakness

The great trouble with us is that sometimes we are afraid that Christ will gain the victory. Why? We have some darling sin that we do not want to give up; we are willing, we think, that all the rest should go but that, and so we are afraid that Christ will gain the victory and that that sin will have to be given up. We call Christ in to help defeat our enemy; and when He comes, He finds us on the side of the enemy. But if we will give up all of these things, Christ will give us something that is infinitely better. When we make up our minds from the Word of God that all that God has to give us is in Christ, that He is the fullness of Him that filleth all in all, we will realize that the meager things of this earth are not worth having compared to what is going to be given us.

In 1 John 4:2–4, we have reference to the wicked spirits with which we have to fight, and this assurance is given to the children of God: “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.” So with Elisha we know that they that are for us are more than they that are against us.

Do we believe that Christ has conquered everything; that when we have Him, we have everything; and that there is no power of darkness that can do us any hurt?When our faith fully grasps this truth, we are crucified with Him. Our own lives have been given up to Christ, but we still live. Then it must be some other life that we live, and that life is the life of Christ. That is the life in which we glory. Christ is our life. He has the victory, therefore we have it. “Put on the whole armour of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” Ephesians 6:11What is it to put on the whole armour? to stand in Christ complete? He is the truth, the Lord our righteousness. Shod with peace, He is our peace. It is Christ all through. Then take the sword in your hand; it is the Word of God, and Christ is the eternal Word.

“And ye are complete in Him.” Colossians 2:10. Having put on the whole armour, which is Christ, we are complete in Him. “Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ!” Romans 13:14. He is the armour, and the armour is He. Thus it is that in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us and gave His life for us. There is nothing that can take the armour away from us. “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38, 39
The End

Getting Out of a Bad Marriage, part 2

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“For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who hath subjected the same in hope. Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” Romans 8:19–23.

Now we have received the firstfruits of the Spirit. That does not mean that we are now to receive only a little of the Spirit but that we get the Spirit as the firstfruits or the advance money—the earnest—of our inheritance. Paul proves this in Ephesians 1:13, 14: “In Whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in Whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of His glory.” Then, having the Spirit of God and being the sons of God is entering upon the riches of our inheritance now. We begin to share the riches of that inheritance now; and if we continue to be the sons of God, we continue in our inheritance right along through eternity, the only difference being that when the Son of God comes, we shall have the full inheritance and glory of it.

By looking at these promises this way, we can see how it is that heaven begins right here on earth. If we really take hold of these things by faith, we can carry the Spirit of God with us; and we shall know the peace and joy of heaven.

“For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit maketh intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered.” Romans 8:24–26.

I have been at our meetings and have heard one after another arise and bear testimony and close with the words, “Pray for me.” Christ Himself prayed for us; and the Holy Spirit Itself is making intercession for us, with groanings that cannot be uttered. Brethren, while we can ask for others to pray for us, cannot we take hold by faith and appropriate the prayers that are being continually offered for us in heaven above? Even if the brethren do not pray for us, we have the joy and comfort of knowing that Christ and the Spirit are praying for us.

For myself, I can understand these things and draw encouragement out of them just this way: I go to God and lay my soul open before Him and ask Him to give me—what shall I ask for? Sometimes the words are gone, and I can think of nothing, only an inexpressible desire for something more than I have; but the Holy Spirit knows what I need and knows the mind of God. It knows just what God has to give me; and so it makes intercession for me, and God gives exceeding abundantly above all that I can ask or think. The Spirit of God takes those thoughts that we cannot put into words and can scarcely think and transmutes them into words and petitions before the throne of God. He that searcheth the hearts of men knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit.

I am persuaded that a great many of us make a great mistake in this matter of searching the heart. We hear brethren saying that they “are going to search their hearts and put away all of the evil things that they can find to be in them.” Says Jeremiah, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.” Jeremiah 17:9, 10. We are here on earth and in a sinful condition. We admit that we are not in that spiritual condition that we ought to be so we will search our hearts and put away all of the wickedness that we can find in them. We cannot do it, for the heart will deceive us every time. Yet God can search the heart, and He does; and if we will take the result of His searching, great will be our joy. For it is the Comforter Who brings these sins to our hearts that the Lord hath searched out, and this very act of bringing our sins before our eyes is a part of the comfort of God. Yes, by the very work of making known our sins to us, God gives us comfort.

Now we come to the most blessed and the most glorious part of this most glorious chapter.

Nothing Bad Happens to the Christian

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also called: and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified.” Romans 8:28–30.

The twenty-eighth verse is quoted wrong very often and applied wrong, very much more often, just by the changing of tense. People read it, “We know that all things will work together for good to them that love God.” But that is not what Paul says. He says that all things work together for good, at the present time, for those who love God. “But,” says one, “I do not know that they do.” Well, just take hold of this Scripture and believe it; and then you will know it. The only way that we can know is by believing the Word of God. We shall then find that all things do work together for good to them that love God. This is the joy of the Christian—that there cannot anything bad happen to him.

Some say, “There is a special class to whom this is so.” Yes, that is true; there is a special class, and that special class is composed of those who love God. We know whether we love God or not, therefore we know whether we can appropriate this promise or not. Is there not reason enough to love God? Some say, “I want to love God more. I know that I do not love Him enough.” How absurd this is, just as if the love of God was a duty that we could drive ourselves to perform. Love cannot be forced; the very act of forcing a person to love another would show that there was not any love at all. How do we love any object for which we do have affection? Simply because it is lovable in our eyes; and the more we know of that thing we love, the more we love it. Then the more we know of God, the more we shall love Him. As we come to His Word, from which we must get our knowledge of Him, we see the wideness of the mercy of God; and we cannot help loving Him. Why cannot we help loving Him? Because He first loved us. Then, if we would love God more, study His love more as it is revealed in His Word.

Now how about this class—”To them who are the called according to His purpose”? Here we have the matter of “calling,” and that causes some to be discouraged sometimes. A brother will say, “Perhaps I am not called, I am not at all sure that I am; and therefore it does not work good for me.” That matter of “calling” can be settled very easily. Who has God called? “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” Revelation 22:17. The call is to every man and woman and child on earth.

Now we are “called” and “elected.” Sometimes we get wonderfully afraid of that word elected. Is there any need to be afraid of that term? No. For every individual can be a candidate, and every candidate can be elected. In II Timothy 1:9 we read, “Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.” Mark you, His own purpose is a purpose of grace; and the free gift by grace comes upon all unto justification of life. Now note what the election is:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved.” Ephesians 1:3–6.

Therefore, just the moment that you give up self and take Christ instead, you have everything that Christ has to give. So since we have given to us by God Himself all of the blessings that can be given to deliver us from sin and to turn us from our iniquities (see Acts 3:26), we can have joy and peace in Him. Peter says, “According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue.” 2 Peter 1:3. Everything that is necessary for life and godliness is given unto us in Christ.

“For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate. Being predestinated according to the purpose of Him Who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.” Sometimes the position is taken that God did not know what man was coming to when He made him; and if He did know, then He ought not to have made him at all or He ought to have stopped him from going in the way that he has gone. God does know; He foreknows, and He knows the end from the beginning. “Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world.” Acts 15:18. God has not changed a hair’s breadth from the plan which He knew before the world began. And there is no power in all of the universe that could make Him change.

God ’s Foreknowledge

Did God know that Adam was going to sin, and does He know whether we will be saved or not? Yes, He knows all about it—who will be saved and who will be lost. Then how can it be that we are free? I do not know, and it does not make any difference. I know from His Word that I am perfectly free to have salvation and to have it when I want it. I know at the same time that God knows whether I will take it or not. I cannot understand how these two things can be; but God knows, and He is not unjust, so it is all right. There is not an angel in heaven who knows how it can be, but they know that it is so.

Some say that if He did know, He would be responsible for our being saved or lost, so He does not exercise His power to know and therefore releases Himself from that responsibility. That is bringing a fearful charge against God. It really throws all of the responsibility of man’s ruin upon God and charges Him with trying to shirk it. If He chooses not to know certain things, how is it possible for Him to know what He wants to know and what He does not want to know? The very statement that He wills not to know certain things proves that He must know them in order to know that He does not want to know them, and this is an utter absurdity. God does not have to count and calculate and figure to arrive at conclusions. He is God, and knowledge is in Him and begins and ends in Him. Past, present, and future are all present with God. He lives in an eternal now. We cannot understand how that can be, but that does not matter. He says it is so, and we believe Him.

That He is the eternal God constitutes the strength of the fact that He is our refuge. It is the eternal God who has had charge of our ways in the past, and we have confidence in His leading. If He had not known the past and the future, how could I have known whether He was leading me right or not? Job says, “He knoweth the way that I take.” Job 23:10.

He leads us in the way that we should go. He looked over the ages and saw just who would have the inheritance, and He is preparing it for him. What would you think of a man, to put the thing on a very low plane, who got a lot of stones together and commenced to build a house? You ask him what kind of house he is going to build. “Why,” he says, “I do not know. I am going to put these stones and timbers together and then see what kind of house will come of it.” Such talk as that would be foolishness. Before a man starts in to build a house, he knows just how it is coming out; he knows exactly how it will look when it is finished. When God laid His plans in ages past, do you not think that He knew what kind of earth He was gong to have? He knew what kind of earth it was going to be, and He had a purpose in making it. He created it to be inhabited.

Not only did He know what kind of place it was going to be, but He knew what kind of men were going to dwell in it; and He had every one of them named. Those men whom God saw that He would have to inhabit the earth, when He laid His plans for it in ages past, were to be good and holy men; and that same earth, when this little experiment of sin is worked out, will be inhabited by just exactly the persons whom God saw would inhabit it; and they will have the names that He gave them in ages past.

In Revelation 2:17 we read, “And will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.” Now it is not to be supposed that over in the kingdom of God we will not know each other’s names, to be able to pronounce them. In the Bible, every name signified something. Jacob was the “supplanter;” Israel, the “prince of God;” Abraham, the “father of many nations;” Sarai, a “contentious woman;” and Sarah, a “princess.” The name signified the character of the individual.

Now while all of the redeemed are to have the perfect character of God, yet that character is so perfect and so broad that there is room for each to have a distinct character. Why is it that no one will be able to understand the name of anyone else? Because no two persons will have had the same experience in developing character. No two persons have been led in the same way and have had the same experience or trials.

Our God Given Freedom of Choice

Man fell, but every man who lived directly after the Fall could have accepted the proffered salvation if he had wished and could have been one of those persons whom God saw when He laid the plans for the earth. If that had been so, the earth would have been filled and the work closed up long ago. Would that have been unjust to us? For in that case we would have been unborn and therefore left out. No, it would have been no more unjust than it will be unjust to close the work in a few years from now and leave out possible nations yet unborn.

Now God foreknew us in Christ; and in Him, in the beginning, we were predestinated to just such a place in the earth in its state of purity as God wants us to have. I am so thankful that we may have Christ, if we will; and if we will believe Him and trust in Him, we know that we are predestinated to a place in His kingdom. God hath “predestinated us according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.” Cannot you see that all things work together for good to them that love God?

How do I know that I am a child of God? He loved me, and He bought me; and I gave myself to Him, therefore I am His. Now I am in Christ, and it matters not what happens to me. There is not a bad thing that can come upon me; for everything that does come, God will work it for my good; and not only will He do it, but He does do it. He does it that He may develop my character and fit me for what He is preparing for me.

Satan may concoct some wicked scheme against me—influence some man or government to do something that is calculated to destroy me,—but God takes those wicked schemes and out of them He brings good for me, and by them carries me along to the desired haven. Therefore, the Christian has no business to be complaining.

No Cause for Complaint – Praising God for all Things

There is no one who would think of complaining when he was having a good time. But the Christian is having a good time all of the time, for all things work together for good to him. When we look at things in this way, we can praise God no matter what happens.

Joseph’s brethren sent him down to Egypt with no other intention than to destroy him, and yet we are told by the psalmist that, “God sent a man to Egypt.” Psalm 105:17. Those brethren of his were working out the evil of their hearts; and at the same time, God sent him down according to His will. We cannot understand how this can be, but we know that it was so.

Caiaphas asked if It were not better that one man die than that the whole nation perish, expressing the sentiment of the worldly-wise, scheming politician. Yet at the same time, in those very words, God was speaking in prophecy. There is not a wicked person, not even the devil himself, but God makes him and his wickedness work out His own eternal purpose. There is a world of comfort in the thought that this is the kind of God that we serve.

“What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?” Romans 8:31.