Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1886-12-30

az IL . necessity OF Our Being to Thus
Claim Him-We Then Can Trust Him
and Love Him-In Distress He Is Near at
Hand-He Is a God Of Consolation.
The most precious word that can be
coupled with the possessive pronoun is
the word .'God." And the most mar
vicious evidence of Divine condescension
is in that He permits and encourages us
to do it The Bible brings God near.
science pushes Him off. by magnifying
His power and the sweep of His laws
But the sacred writer's always claim God
as belonging peculiarly to His people.
While everywhere they magnify His
greatness and glory, they declare that,
nevertheless, He is our God. Indeed,
He is our God because He is so great
His compositions are as infinite as His
knowledge; His love is as great as His
power. Therefore He can take US in
the arms of His grace and permit US,
like little children, to call Him our
Father in Heaven.
The God of the Bible is presented in
such way that the privilege of claiming
Him as our own becomes necessity of
our being. 1t is not every God we would
care to claim. The God of the ma
terialist, for example, the unknown and
unknowable God of Mr.. Spencer, would
be of no use to us For it is of the first
nature of faith that it must have some
knowledge of that upon which 1t would
rest A God who may be duly an al
mighty monster with the power and
pity of iron wheels; not such a God, of
whom we can affirm little more than
our ignorance oil Him. would we care
to claim; nor the God of the pantheist.
the impersonal and unconscious soul of
the universe, concerning Him we could
not use the possessive pronoun. If we
can not say Thou to God it is no COM
fort to call Him ours. Neither would we
care to claim the God of the positiveist,
the collective humanity: only the
average level of our own thoughts,
idealized by imagination into a poetic
and colossal personality. To not one of
these distractions would we think of
praying. And if there was any sense in
which such God could be said to be
ours we would get no help from the pos
session.
1t is characteristic of the Gcd of the
Bible that He can be defined, so as to be
trusted and loved. Something about
our God can be put into definition.
And those words reveal Him in such re-
lat on to us that it is comfort and help
to be permitted to claim Him as belong
inc to us. The figures i'm which He is pre-
sented in the Psalms and other books
represent Him as adapted 10 our needs.
He fits our condition. When David
says He is our Refuge, the word sounds
pleasantly to people who have Teen
driven like ships in storm. Most peo-
pie have seen times when only thu word
Refuge would fit their need. They had
quit battling and wanted harbor. God
comes then in just that revelation of
Himself. He IS just what the soul
needs.
And He is at hand. 1t would be no
help to call Him our God, if, when we
are in sore distress. He were far away.
The open gates of the cities of refuge
were not far from those who need ID
their protection. The God we want is
one who can come swiftly, suddenly.
In this world of sudden storms. God
who is only an educating truth. or an
im3ersonal influence, would come far
short OF our requirements We need
God who can outride trouble and death
in their race for our houses and souls.
Oar God is that kind, one who can
match the surprises of sorrow with the
swifter surprises of grace. A refuge
implies accessibility. A harbor on shore
is not help to vessel that is foundered
in mid-ocean. When our God SAYS He
is our refuge, He says thereby He is at
our instant call.
Specially as God of consolation, we
may claim Him as our own. When
heart and flesh fail, God graciously per-
mits us to draw on all there is in Him.
The very fulness of God then becomes
our own. When Paul would comfort
the Thessalonians, he says God is ours
and Christ is ours: ''Our Lord Jesus |
Christ Himself. and God even our
Father, who hath loved us and given US |
everlasting consolation, comfort your |
hearts" In world of changes, tears,
heath, a religion that comforts not with |
words, but with an unfailing. Divine
presence, is, indeed. priceless. This
presents the mother element in our re-
lig1on: LAS one whom his mother COM
fortcth."
The humblest child that enjoys n at
ure, can in figure says .,Itis mine"
The sea and stars and mountains are
ours in so far as We can enjoy them.
Our susceptibility to beauty or grandeur
constitutes our claim upon it. The
flowers and streams belong to the poet,
because he loves and appreciates them.
So God is ours according to the measure
of our faith and love and holiness. In
proportion as we have some thing in US
that answers to Him. in that proper
ton may we claim Him as belonging
to US. and SO Paul argues: '.All are
yours, for We are Christ's and Christ is
Gods" To be in Christ is to have a
right to all the fulness and blessedne SIS
of the Divine nature Then Gods wis
dom is ours. Through all laundering