Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1898-09-28
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON !, FOURTH QUARTER, INTER-
NATIONAL SERIES, OCT. 2.

LESSON !, FOURTH QUARTER, INTER-
| NATIONAL SERIES, OCT. 2.
re.s OF the Lesson, III Chron. xiv, Ria.
| Memory Verses. 2-6 - Golden Text, III
Chron. xiv, lI-Commentary by tho Rev.
| d. NJ. Stearns.
2. "And Asa did that which was good
and right in the eyes of the Lord his God"
Last quarter was spent chiefly with the
prophets Elijah and Elisha, men Of God,
and now we are to have several lessons on
kings who were men Of God. Asa was the
third king of Judah after the kingdom
was divided at the death of Solomon, and
the first to do right In the sight Of the
Lord. This statement is made concerning
seven other kings Of Judah, but not onoe
concerning any of the kings Of the ten
| tribes. The throne was called the throne
| of the Lord, or the throne of the kingdom
of the Lord over Israel, and the king was
said to be king for the Lord his God Il
Chron. xxx, %; xviii, 8; II Chron.
TX, 81.
8. "He took away the affairs of the
strange gods" Although the law of God
said, "Thou shalt have no other gods be-
fore me" (Ex. Xxx, 81, yet Solomon In
troduced many strange gods to please his
| wives, and both Rehoboam and Abijah
continued the idol worship. 1t is difficult
to 60 against the customs of your father
and grandfather, but Asa feared God rath-
| or than man and was determined to do
right before Him.
4. Sand commanded Judah to seek the
Lord God of their fathers" In verses 8
and of the next chapter we read that
Israel had been for long season without
the true God, and without a teaching priest,
and without law, but when they turned
| to the Lord and sought Him He was found
| of them. In verses 10 and 10 we read that
they sought Him with all their heart and
| soul, even with their whole desire, and He
gave them rest round about. The Lord
takes heed to our hearts rather than our
words and will fulfill tho desire of them
that fear Him.
3. "The kingdom was quiet before
him." Verse says, "In his days the land
was quiet ten years" Quietness Is one of
the great gifts of God which shall yet be
fully enjoyed not only by all Israel but by
all the world, when 'sthe work Of right
eousness shall be peace, and the effect Tor
servioe) Of righteousness shall be quietness
and assurance forever lisa. xxxii, ~. In
J quietness and in confidence is strength,
and the ornament of q meek and quiet
spirit is In the sight Of God Of great price
Elsa. XXX, Is; / Pet Iii, a.
9. "The land had rest, because the Lord
had given him rest" In Joshua xiii, /, it
is written that the Lord had given rest
unto Israel from all their enemies. In /
Chron. xxi, 9, the Lord had told David
that his son Solomon (peaceable) would be
q man of rest and that Israel would enjoy
peace and quietness in his days. Lamech
said concerning his son, "This shall COM
fort us concerning our work, +" and SO he
called him NOAH. e., rest or comfort.
| The earliest rest is that Of Gen. II, 8,
which was broken by the devil doubling
Gods word and Gods love, and thus he
still seeks to break all rest
| 2. because we have sought the Lord
our God He hath given us rest on every
side" When Solomon was about to build
the temple, he said to Hiram, 1.-THE Lord
my God hath given me rest on every side,
SO that there is neither adversary nor evil
occurrent'' Il Kings v, Al. The rest of
the kingdom that Is coming will be glori-
GUS lisa. XII, 10), or, as In the margin,
glory. Even now He says, "Come unto
Me, and I win give you rest, and "When
He giveth quietness, who then can make
troubleY" (Math. xi, 30; Job xxxiv, 29.)
When, even In our ordinary daily affairs,
we allow the government to be upon His
shoulder and the peace of God to rule Elsa.
tx, q; Col. iii, 15), we will have glorious
foretaste of the rest of the kingdom. Some
say that they seek Him yet do not seem to
find Him as their rest, but 1t must DO that
| they do not seek Him with tho whole
heart (Jer. xxx, 13).
| $40. The adversary will not allow us to
| rest II he can help 1t, SO here we have over
q million of Philippians gathered against
Asa in BATTLE and he has but little over
half as many with which to meet them.
Wars will not wholly cease from the earth
until the devil Is cast into the lake Of fire
at the end of the thousand years (Rev. Xxx,
7-1O), for, while the millennium will be a
time of peace, 1t will end with great
war. Israel had no reason to fear her enc
mics, however numerous, for the promise
of God was that one should chase thou
sand and two put 10000 to flight. The
deliverance from Egypt and the conquest
! of the Canaanites, with the many deliver
ances and victories in the days of the
Judges and In the time of David, would
strengthen the hands of any one who
feared God. David could say, 81 will not
| be afraid Of ten thousands of people that
have set themselves against me round
about" Though host should encamp
against me, my heart shall not fear" FPS.
ill, 6; xvii, 8; XVI, /, 81.
| II. "And Asa cried unto the Lord his
God and said, Lord, 1t is nothing with
Thee to help, whether with many or with
them that have no power" Jonathan said
to his armor bearer, "It may be that the
Lord will work for us, for there is no re-
straint to the Lord to save by many or by
few" Il Sam. xiv, 81. The greatest him
drance to the Lord s work Is generally our
fancied strength or wisdom, and there is
no proverb much moro unscriptural than
| this, that God helps those who help them
selves In the matter of salvation 1t Is
only the lost and helpless and ungodly
for whom it is provided, and it has been
provided wholly by our Lord Jesus Christ
and is given freely to every penitent sim
ner. In the daily life for God 1t Is God
who works all our works In us and for us
lisa. XVI, 12). He delivers the needy, tho
poor also and him that hath no helper
FPS. Xxi, 12). When Gideon had only
$4,000 men against an innumerable host,
the Lord said to him, "The people that are
with thee are too many, lest Israel vaunt
themselves against me, saying, Mine own