In His Name

Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full (John -  16:24)

During the Civil War, a man had an only son who enlisted in the armies of the Union. The father was a banker and, although he consented to his son’s going, it seemed as if it would break his heart to let him go.

He became deeply interested in the soldier boys, and whenever he saw a uniform, his heart went out as he thought of his own dear boy. He spent his time, neglected his business, gave his money to caring for the soldiers who came home invalid. His friends remonstrated with him, saying he had no right to neglect his business and spend so much thought upon the soldiers, so he fully decided to give it all up.

After he had come to this decision, there stepped into his bank one day a private soldier in a faded, worn uniform, who showed in his face and hands the marks of the hospital.

The poor fellow was fumbling in his pocket to get something or other, when the banker saw him and, perceiving his purpose, said to him:

“My dear fellow, I cannot do anything for you today. I am extremely busy. You will have to go to your headquarters; the officers there will look after you.”

Still the poor convalescent stood, not seeming to fully understand what was said to him. Still he fumbled in his pockets and, by and by, drew out a scrap of dirty paper, on which there were a few lines written with a pencil, and laid this soiled sheet before the banker. On it he found these words:

“Dear Father: “This is one of my comrades who was wounded in the last fight, and has been in the hospital. Please receive him as myself. —Charlie.”

In a moment all the resolutions of indifference which this man made, flew away. He took the boy to his palatial home, put him in Charlie’s room, gave him Charlie’s seat at the table, kept him until food and rest and love had brought him back to health, and then sent him back again to imperil his life for the flag.

_A Bar of Steel_

I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument (Isa -  41:15)

A bar of steel worth five dollars, when wrought into horseshoes, is worth ten dollars. If made into needles, it is worth three hundred and fifty dollars; if into penknife blades, it is worth thirty-two thousand dollars; if into springs for watches it is worth two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. What a drilling the poor bar must undergo to be worth this! But the more it is manipulated, the more it is hammered and passed through the fire, and beaten and pounded and polished, the greater the value.

May this parable help us to be silent, still, and longsuffering. Those who suffer most are capable of yielding most; and it is through pain that God is getting the most out of us, for His glory and the blessing of others. —Selected

“Oh, give Thy servant patience to be still,  

And bear Thy will;  

Courage to venture wholly on the arm  

That will not harm;  

The wisdom that will never let me stray  

Out of my way;  

The love that, now afflicting, knoweth best  

When I should rest.”  

Life is very mysterious. Indeed it would be inexplicable unless we believed that God was preparing us for scenes and ministries that lie beyond the veil of sense in the eternal world, where highly-tempered spirits will be required for special service.

“The turning-lathe that has the sharpest knives produces the finest work.”

_*When God Says No*_

*There hath not failed one word of all his good promise* (1 Kgs -  8:56)

Some day we shall understand that God has a reason in every NO which He speaks through the slow movement of life. “Somehow God makes up to us.” How often, when His people are worrying and perplexing themselves about their prayers not being answered, is God answering them in a far richer way! Glimpses of this we see occasionally, but the full revelation of it remains for the future.

“If God says ’Yes’ to our prayer, dear heart,  

And the sunlight is golden, the sky is blue,  

While the smooth road beckons to me and you,  

And the song-birds warble as on we go,  

Pausing to gather the buds at our feet,  

Stopping to drink of the streamlets we meet,  

Happy, more happy, our journey will grow,  

If God says ’Yes’ to our prayer, dear heart.  

“If God says ’No’ to our prayer, dear heart,  

And the clouds hang heavy and dull and gray;  

If the rough rocks hinder and block the way,  

While the sharp winds pierce us and sting with cold;  

Ah, dear, there is home at the journey’s end,  

And these are the trials the Father doth send  

To draw us as sheep to His Heavenly fold,  

If God says ’No’ to our prayer, dear heart.”  

Oh for the faith that does not make haste, but waits patiently for the Lord, waits for the explanation that shall come in the end, at the revelation of Jesus Christ! When did God take anything from a man, without giving him manifold more in return? Suppose that the return had not been made immediately manifest, what then? Is today the limit of God’s working time? Has He no provinces beyond this little world? Does the door of the grave open upon nothing but infinite darkness and eternal silence ?

Yet, even confining the judgment within the hour of this life, it is true that God never touches the heart with a trial without intending to bring upon it some grander gift, some tenderer benediction. He has attained to an eminent degree of Christian grace who knows how to wait. —Selected

When the frosts are in the valley,  

And the mountain tops are grey,  

And the choicest buds are blighted,  

And the blossoms die away,  

A loving Father whispers,  

“This cometh from my hand”;  

Blessed are ye if ye trust  

Where ye cannot understand.  

If, after years of toiling,  

Your wealth should fly away  

And leave your hands all empty,  

And your locks are turning grey,  

Remember then your Father  

Owns all the sea and land;  

Blessed are ye if ye trust  

Where ye cannot understand.  

—Selected