The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1902-08-01
EVERYDAY RELIGION
It Was the Kind David Had, and It
Is the Kind You Need.
Sermon by the "Highway and Byway''
Preacher, In Which He Shows That
God Wants to Enter Into Every
Detail of Our Lives.

~
Chicago, 1902
TEXT: Ny soul shall make her boast In
the Lord; the humble shall hear thereof
and be glad. Psalm. 34:2.
Dayid's Song-While threatened by
foes from within and without, while
fleeing for his life from the Jealous
wrath of King Saul and meeting new
perils in the heather nations about
so that a cave in the mountain side
must needs become his refuge, Da-
vid's heart gave birth to the wonder
full song of which our text is but a
fragment. In the twenty-frst chap
ter of 1. Samuel we find recorded the
thrilling incidents which inspired the
heart of the shepherd-poet to sing
this paen of triumphant praise. Every
word swells and throbs with life and
real experience. 1t is not the ecstatlc
sentiment of the emotional religious
enthusiast who thrills his hearers in
the meeting house, and then goes out
and forgets to live his religion in
his life, but it's every note and word
echoes with the experiences of the
hurried fight from the presence of
Saul to the court of the king of Gath
and back again to the cave of Adullam.
Amidst all the perils that beset him,
DaviHs heart beats in quiet confidence
in his God. He has no time to tell of
wrongs suffered. He leaves that with
the Lord, and begins and ends his
song with bursts of praise and con-
fidence. Between the 81 will bless
the Lord at all times" of the first
verse, and "the Lord redeemeth the
soul of His servants" of the last
verse, are crowded some of the most
trying and terrible experiences of his
life, but which were made bright by
the presence and help of the Lord.
David's Religion.-Thus we see that
David's religion was not something he
put on and off as the occasion seemed
to require, but was of such a prac-
teal character, so very real, as to en-
ter into every detail of his life. AS a
boy, out on the mountain side with
his sheep, he had learned the music of
the birds, had felt the inspira ton of
Gods nature all about him, had learned
a lesson from each star as it kept its
silent, faithful sentinel above him,
and yet when he dropped his harp to
grapple with the lion and the bear
which had attacked the sheep, he did
not let his religion go, too, but in
the strength of the Lord he slew the
lion and the bear. His religion was
not something he enjoyed only on
feast days, when, away from his sheep,
he went to pay his vows unto the Lord,
but was a real something which kept
him faithful to the smallest detail
of his work and held him at his post
of duty when the rest of the family
were shying off to town to see the
prophet Samuel, who had come on
mysterious mission. 81
All the other boys of the family
were on hand at dinner, each an eager
candidate for the prophets favor and
blessing, while David's religion kept
him out in the sheep cote finishing up
the chores, all unconscious that his
Lord was about to say: Thou hast
been faithful over few things, will
make thee ruler over many things"
David's religion gave him true humil-
ity, which kept him in his place until
the prophets call brought him, all
aglow in his boyish beauty, to the
place where he received the amounting
of the Lord as the king of Israel. AL
though only a STRIPPING, he did not
lose his head in the hour of so great
honor and start off post haste for the
palace of King Saul to tell him that
the Lord had given him his job, and
he must get out, but he steadied him
self with new grip on the Lord, and
went back to his sheep, knowing that
the Lord who had called him was able
to bring it to pass in His own good
time. No doubt his brothers had many
a quiet laugh over the matter, and
when they went off to war against the
Philistines believed that the aged
prophet had made a mistake after all.
and that, after they had led the arm.
les of Israel to victory, one of them
would be in line for the kingly honors.
But the quality of their religion,
like that of many, many Christ ians to-
day, while very good worshiping oc-
casions, for the Sa bbath day and feast
days, something to be called by, and
something to talk about, yet when it
came to the practical problems of life
it evaporated at their finger ends and
their knees ratified together with
those of the rest of the Israelites when
Goliath came out and defied the God
they pretended to worship, and whom
they claimed to be the only God, the
powerful God. Yes, they had just as
much religion as they were willing to
put up in test against the false gods
of the blasphemous Philistine giant,
and that was a precious little, now
you got? just enough to keep you
from going over to the camp of the
and making abject sur
render to them and their false gods,
and not enough to enable you to go
out and fight the Goliath who is de-
flying you and your God. Shame on
you! You know not the power and
might of the God whom you pretend
to serve.
But David had enough religion to
keep him in faithful service to the
sheep out on the hillside, and then,
obedient to the command of his ia
Their, he started off with his religion
for the camp of the Israelites to serve
his brothers. And the Lord, whom
David so took into everyday partner
ship as to dignity the most mental
service into an opportunity of serv-
ing God, now goes with the simple
hearted youth and nerves his arm
and steadies his aim as he sends the
stone crashing into the skull of the
terrible giant and lays the blatant
champion low upon the ground. David
had enough religion to grapple with
any problem which conf onted him,
whether it was picking a green pas
.ure for the h1ngry, helpless sheep,