Covenanter Witness Vol. 54 - Rparchives.org

vation."
earth."
perfect"
righteousness."
lowing
and that it led to captivity. They
should have profited from what they had
seen in Samaria. Those who will not
learn from the experience of others,
may learn in the school of fools, namely
their own experience. It is an expensive
school. Can we imagine more striking
examples than what we have seen in
ages past and present Our own experi
ence has been very costly; Civil War, by
oppression;
strikes and lockouts on ac
count of greedy unwillingness to recog
nize common interests. Corruption,
bribery, cheating, in the effort to provide
a competent
"security."
In all these
things, we are being chastened. We talk
much about God as our nation's ruler.
Talk is not sufficient.
When the prophet had taken his ques
tions and complaints to God, and had
taken his place on the watch tower to
see what God was doing, he received
an answer. God was pleading
with His
people. There was encouragement for
obedience,
and doom for disobedience.
The prophet, judging his people by his
own faith, exclaimed, "We shall not die."
He was speaking for all the faithful in
the land.
Century after century, the
faithful have been preserved. In the
darkest times, God has always had a
faithful witness, so that the World has
ever been without excuse.
Some General Lessons
When God seemed to be inactive in
the deliverance of His people, the proph
et exclaimed, "How long" God was not
inactive.
The prophet was shown in
iquity and grievance at home. God's own
people are the great obstacle in the way
of progress. Complaint of wrong does not
suggest doubt when it is carried to God
in sincere search for the answer. When
we take our questions to God in sincere
desire for His answer, and are willing to
accept His answer, we may expect an
answer of peace. When Habakkuk cried,
"How long, O Lord, shall I cry and
thou shalt not hear" he found that the
answer was in the very people for whom
he was praying.
"Unanswered yet The prayer your lips
have pleaded
In agony of heart these many years,
Say not the Father hath not heard your
prayers,
Perhaps your part is not yet fully
done."
There are many lands today where
those who know the truth are afraid to
speak or act for fear of their own per
sonal safety, or the safety
of their
friends. It is not often with us that one
needs fear to speak the truth for physi
cal danger. Many are afraid to speak
the truth for lack of moral courage. It
took spiritual courage to stand before
the king and the people of Judah, and
June 22, 1955
deliver the message that God gave
Habakkuk. Hudson Taylor was on an old
sailing vessel caught in a typhoon that
for fourteen days threatened every hour
to break the vessel in pieces. He found
his song in Habakkuk 3:18 and sang it
continually. "Yet will I rejoice in the
Lord. I will glory in the God of my sal
PRAYER MEETING TOPIC
July 13, 1955
PRAYER FOR OBEDIENCE
I Sam 15:10-16, 22, 23
Rev. Paul D. McCracken, D.D.
Psalms:
18:19-22, page 32
25:7-12, page 59
26:1-4, 8, page 61
89:14-17, page 217
81:6-8, page 200
References: Deut. 11:27; Josh. 24:24
I Sam. 12:4; I Sam. 15:19; Jer. 7:23
Jer. 38:20; Dan. 9:10; Zech. 6:15
Eph. 6:1; Col. 3:22.
COMMENTS
The first sin of mankind was disobe
dience, Gen. 3 :3, 11. The virus of that
sinful act has poisoned the whole
stream of humanity ever since (Rom.
3:23; Rom. 3:10). And because of his
sinful nature, the tendency
of unre
generate man has been to rebel against
God's way, to refuse to do His will, and
to substitute something
of his own in
place of what God has prescribed. Even
the child of God has to struggle con
tinually against this "tendency
old
of the
man"
which persists, and multitudes
are sinning today along this very line.
That's what is wrong with the world.
It won't obey. It will offer sacrifice to
gods known and unknown, to the one
that is true, and to many that are false
but it won't obey. Recall the Bible illus
trations of Cain and Saul and Jeroboam
and many others, and bring it up to
date with what is in evidence all around
us of disobedience to God's way and
will.
When God says "don't," as so often
He does for our good and His glory, we
too often listen to and follow after the
devil who says "do," and of course pun
ishment follows either
immediately or
ultimately.
When God in infinite wisdom says
"do this or that," like Moses we find
excuses, or like Jonah we try to run
away, or like David we follow heathen
example and build a new cart, or like
Israel we sit down and murmur, and
decide God has made a mistake. When
God wills,
been "We
continues to be
the prevalent attitude has
won't."
Such has been, and
the attitude toward
Christ as God's appointed king:
"We
won't have this man to reign over us."
Oh, the mess that this old world is in
because of disobedience!
Men, of course, have to know God's
will before they can do it. But God has
revealed His will clearly in the written
Word which we call the Bible, and in
the Incarnate Word, who is Jesus
Christ, and multitudes across the world
have been given these revelations.
Other revelations in the realm of nature
concerning God's eternal power and
Godhead have left the remainder of
humanity without excuse. Men know
far better than they are ready to do.
Over and over again these revelations
indicate "To obey is better." God's way
is best, and He has said "This is the
way, walk ye in it." Commit to memory,
and then follow the instruction God
gave to Joshua in Josh. 1:8.
Christ, in the Lord's Prayer, teaches
us to pray "Thy will be done, in earth
as it is in heaven" (Matt. 6:10). This is
really a prayer for obedience. When
that prayer is answered this world will
be a different place, "a new earth
wherein dwelleth
When Richard Hooker, a great saint
of God and a mighty
minister in the
church, was on his deathbed, a friend
came to visit him and found him in
deep meditation. The friend asked
Hooker what his thoughts were and re
ceived this answer: "I was meditating
on the nature and number of angels,
and above all on their blessed obedience
to God without which there can be no
peace in heaven." Then Hooker added
so significantly: "Oh! that it might be
so on
That longing should fill every heart,
and lead to action commensurate with
the desire. Obedience to God's will and
way is the secret of peace and joy in
heaven, and likewise is the way to peace
and goodwill among
men on earth.
Obedience took Abraham out, although
not knowing whither he went, to be
come the father of many nations and
the progenitor of the One who is to be
a blessing to the whole world. Obedience
sent Christ to the cross, praying that
submissive and obedient prayer "Not
my will but thine be done," to pay
man's debt, and to make sufficient and
effective atonement for man's sin.
Obedience meant for Paul the preaching
of the Gospel to the Gentiles, and the
obedience of faith among all nations.
Such obedience is ideal for every child
of God.
Since God is omniscient it is logical
to believe that He knows best, and that
His revelation is the only infallible rule
of faith and conduct. "The law of the
Lord is
(Ps. 19:7). He knows
and has revealed what is best for man
in all of his activities and relationships,
and when that way is followed it brings
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