Covenanter Witness Vol. 55 - Rparchives.org

soul."cubit?"sitting"us"me."a golden trespass offering back to theland of Israel. It was to be carried in anew cart and drawn by two cows whoseyoung calves had been taken away fromthem. When the cows were turned loose,they did not turn back to their calves,but took the direct road to Beth-shemesh.No human hand guided them.This shows that a divine presence accompanied the ark.When it arrived at Beth-shemesh thepeople rejoiced to see it. The lords of thePhilistines who had followed it returnedto Ekron. The plague had ceased. Theywere convinced that their calamities hadbeen a punishment from the God ofIsrael.Word quickly spread throughout Israel that the ark had been returned.People flocked to see it. They did notprepare a suitable place for it. They allowed it to remain in an open harvestfield. These people had no true sense ofthe sacredness of God's ark. They did notfaithfully obey His law, nor did they repent of their sins. Finally, they wereovercome with curiosity. They removedthe coverings and opened the ark.All Israel had been taught to regardthe ark of the Lord with awe and reverence. The high priest had been allowedto see it only once a year. Even theheathen Philistines had not dared to remove the coverings. Manywere smittenwith instant death because of their sin.Read I Samuel 6:19 to learn how manydied.The people of Beth-shemesh wereeager to be free from the presence of theark. They sent a message to the inhabitants of Kirjath-jea-rim and asked themto take it away. I Samuel 7:1 tells us,"The men of Kirjath-jea-rim came andfetched up the ark of the Lord, andbrought it into the house of Abinadab inthe hill, and sanctified his son Eleazerto keep the ark of the Lord."Notebook Work:I. List the number of times in thesetwo chapters that people were punishedfor their sins.II. What happened each time?in. Turn to the Concordance in yourBible.A. Copy a verse which is a warningfrom God to each of us.B. Copyfrom God if we obey His Word.a verse which is a promiseThere is such a thing as putting ourselves in the way of God's overflowinglove, and letting it break upon us till theresponse of love to Him comes, not bystruggle, not even by deliberation, but bynecessity, as the echo comes when thesound strikes the rock.410Phillip Brooks.SABBATH SCHOOL LESSONfor January 8, 1956JESUS TEACHES CONFIDENCEIN GODLuke 12:4-53Printed text Luke 12:22-34.(Lessons baaed on International Sunday SchoolLessons ; the International Bible Lessons foxChristian Teaching, copyrighted by InternationalCouncil of Religious Education.)Comments by John K. Gault,La Mirada, Cal.Confidence in God is essential in livinga well-balanced Christian life. It is surprisinghow few people there are whoshow any confidence in God; yet thislack has caused more misery for mankind, both individually and nationally,than anything else.One fact which stands out predominantly in our study of this lesson is thatconfidence in self alone is always misplaced. It is certainly like putting ourvaluables in a "bag with holes." Evidently people did not have pockets intheir clothing as they do today. A personwho had money or other valuables carried such articles in a bag. Judas heldthe bag at the supper. A bagin timewould have holes in it. Then a personwould lose his money.Now apart from God nothing in theworld is trustworthy, not even ourselves. This rich "fool" whom Jesusspeaks about seems to have had muchconfidence in self. He repeats the capitalI so much in this soliloquy, "I have noroom, This will I do, I will pull down,I will build greater, I will say to myHe was very self-confident,he placed his possessions in "bags withholes."soHis barns could not contain hissoul, for God said to him, "This nightthee."thy soul shall be required ofJesus says in this lesson, "Which ofyou with taking thought can add to hisThere are definitestature onelimits to all human effort; and anyonewho decides to direct the course of hislife without God is laboring under a delusion.Second, We should have confidence inGod because He is our Father. Jesussays, "Your Father knoweth that yehave need of these things." God is afather to those who have confidence inHim. The mere fact that God made usdoes not implythat He is a father tous. God is our father in that He redeemsus through Christ, and only in that waydo we become His children.Grandmother did "babytheother night with our youngest grandchild, while his parents went out for theevening. After they had slipped out hemissed them and wanted down on thefloor. He then crawled rapidly allaround in the house but not finding hisand refused toparents he began to crybe comforted for some time. Grandfathertried to comfort him but he "settled"for Grandmother. I suppose he concludedthat she was the lesser of the two evils.When his parents returned his facelighted up with a bigsmile of perfectconfidence. Our confidence in God isalways important for He fills a place inour lives which can be filled by no otherperson. Being our father God has a perfect knowledge of our situation and ourneeds. This thought the psalmist expresses beautifullyin Ps. 139 "Thouknowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thoughtafar off. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attainunto it. If I take the wings of themorning, and dwell in the uttermostparts of the sea, even there shall thyhand lead me, and thy right hand shallholdAgain, in this lesson about Confidencein God, Jesus impresses upon us the follyand sinfulness of being over-anxiousabout the things of this world. Now, undoubtedly, one reason that people become over-anxious about worldly thingsis that they are unable or unwilling todistinguish between what they need andwhat they want. Jesus says in this connection, "Your Father knoweth that yehave need of these things," and not,"that ye want these things." We want agreat many things in the world. But theimportant question is, Do we really needthem?We may feel that we need health butGod may think otherwise. We think weneed to live, or that others need to live,but God does not consider is so needful.As Jesus hung on the cross between thetwo malefactors He did not save thepenitent thief from intense physical suffering. He did not save Himself, "andas the impenitent thief suggested.But He did give to the one who askedfor it something he really needed whenHe said, "Today thou shalt be with mein Paradise."Jesus advises us to learn from naturewhich God has also made. The ravenshave"neither storehouse nor barns."They are the solitary scavengers of thewilderness finding their food wheneverand wherever they can. Now the pointis that these birds, the ravens and thesparrows lay nothing up. What they cannot eat at the moment they go away andleave. We are inclined to think so muchabout worldly things that what we cannot use at the moment we lay up andhoard, and if we have nothing laid upfor the future we worry about it. Someof the children of Israel thought somuch about the manna which God sentto them that they sought to hoard it.When they did so it stank and bredCOVENANTER WITNESS