The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1906-05-04

! monster smiling over the battlements
OF heaven at the misery of men. He
\ knew that his Vindicator lived and
} that he Job would come clear of guilt
But God was better to Job than he had
anticipated, for he did not have RI
wait until he had put on the burden of
the flesh, but indicated him in this
present life. And when God smoke
out OF the whirlwild and Job saw him
and understood and knew Him, his
conscience smote him into the dust of
humility, and in reverend awe he ex-
claimed: Il have heard of thee bv
the nearing of the ear, but now mine
eye seeth thee, wherefore l abhor nv.
ST and repent in dust and ashes" And
we notice that from the moment lob
saw God, he ceased to ask Why, but
reverently placed his hand upon his
mouth. The explanation is evident
What Job wanted and what we all
want is revelation and not explana.
ton; it is personal knowledge of
God, a personal relationship with him.
and not necessarily an explanation Of
the phenomena of life: we want spirit
ual illumination, and not finite inter-
probation of every thing we can not
understand and when we have such
Fellowship with the father, as the faith
er, we too like Job will cease to ask
Why. When Job saw God His males
ty, His excellence, His splendor. His
goodness and His fatherliness were all
so transcendently glorious that his
why dwindled into insignificence and
he forgot all about it, and only sought
to glorify God and serve Him forever.
He recognized, too, perhaps, that If
God condescended to answer a thous-
and why's" of men, His answers would
merely involve tens of thousandsmore
and there would be absolutely no ter.
of explanations. And so 1t
is with all the calamities of life. we
that is the one thing needful, that If
we only knew we would be comforted.
But not necessarily so. We want to
know the unknowable, to fathom the
and to attain the unat-
tainable, we ask an explanation, when
we need revelation, we seek an in
depreciation of the calamities of life,
and what we need is spiritual illumi-
nation sufficient to live this life. The
Why of life, is after all, not only that
We can never know, but it is the sec
ondary thing Of life, for that which Is
essential for us to know and believe
5: THAT God rules in heaven-all's
we'll with the world" That while God
s all powerful and can do all things,yet
He is good, and stands as a father to
IS, and that when we see Him, we like
lob, will then cease to ask why"
md will fall down and worship Him,
Ind will rejoice before Him as men
ejoice in the time of harvest"
Calamity, while not an evidence Of
Divine wrath and the victims sinful
less or unworthiness is yet always
lsed by God as an opportunity for
moral and spiritual growth-for mans
is Gods opportunity. 1t
vas so with Job. 1t brought him thro
he darkness and night of superstition
o the full glory of a personal knowl-
dye of God God does not visit earth
uakes, volcanoes, storms and tempest
pom people because of their wicked
ess, for these are the result of the
peration of natures laws. With earth
uake and volcano, cooling, contract
lg globe makes them inevitable But
Iod over-rules them for good; it was
o with Charleston, Galveston, Bos-
On and Chicago, and it will be true of
an Francisco, for the magic city OF
he Pacific coast will soon spring
from her ashes and her
lins, decked with splendor armed
18th power, the paragon of nations,
ne wonder Of the world