Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1897-01-13
GODS CHOICE OF DAVID.


lessons We May Draw from This Old
Testament Incident.
1t is often said that the reasons Of
Gods choice are inscrutable; that it Is
not in man to search out and appraise
the Divine counsels. But. true as this
statement is, as we follow the develop
opment of Gods plans we see that the
ground Of His choice is not arbitrary
and capricious; it justifies itself by it's
results, and occasionally there is hint
given us in the Scriptures of it's prin-
ciples, as when it is said, for example,
that the Lord seeth not as man seeth;
for man looketh on the outward appear.
ance, but the Lord looketh on the
heart" That implies that God saw
something in David which determined
His choice of him. We do not affirm
that all the reasons of Gods choice re
side in man, but we are certainly war
ranted in believing that Gods election
is not wholly independent of man. He
chooses men, in part or sometimes, be-
cause He sees in them the capacities for
excellence. This doctrine brings God
near to men. 1t forbids us to believe
that Gods will overrides the human
personality; it constrains us to believe
that the Divine action is in part con-
ditioned upon human character; and
that the working out of the sovereign
purpose of God does not involve the
overwhelming of the human will, but
it's assimilation to the Divine will. III
the selection of David. the shepherd lad
to be king of Israel, God chose the one
man in all Israel; indeed, the one mau
in many generations, who had the cuai
tiles of heart and intellect and charac
ter for those high duties. We are not
to hold the truth of the Divine SOW
ereignty in a way that makes the noble
qualities of human life of no account.
There is another side of this truth,
and that is that the choice of God in
itself fits men to be worthy of the Sc
| lection. We trace the human factors
| that entered into David's fitness for the
kingship-his heredity, his capacity for
| leadership, his sincere devotion to spir-
itual things, his intellectual and moral
| insight. But when we have enumerated
| all of these we have not touched the
| secret of his greatness. Did it not also
lie in the fact that when, after the
amounting by Samuel, he went back to
his sheep, he went back conscious Off,
Divine call, of splendid vocation, OF
the kingship? The sheep were the
same, the trivial round of ordinary
tasks was the same, but the soul of the
lad had begun to move in royal orbit
1t strikes us that this is one of the finest
pictures of the Christian life to be found
| in any writer. The Christian who has
| heard the call to Divine sonshir
knows that exultation and that en-
largement of life that David knew
when he went back to his sheep. The
Christian experience does not change
our world, but it changes our relation
to it; it expands our horizon and i'm
parts new temper into common life.
And the nobility of David's spirit wa:
broadened in the high consciousness o
his destiny. The call made him in par
worthy of the call. That brings us tt
a central truth of the Gospel, that on,
of the mightiest forces for the redemp
ton and reconstruction of human char
acter is Gods call and gift. The Scrip
ture does not say Work out your ow'
salvation in order that God may WORT
in you, but because He is working !,
you. He does not say, Aspire to gail
the gift, but seek to be worthy of a gift
already conferred. The prize that tn
Christian is to gain is worthiness Of tn
Divine call.-Boston Waterman.