Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-11-20

" ana maps i'oi c
wv of our days would turn out
10 ne days of Thanksgiving if
they began with mourning for our own
unworthiness.
The law had been read to these people
and had shown them what God was ana
what He required Of them. and the con-
trast with their own sleek self-righteous-
ness was too great. Their pride was
humbled 10 the dust. They saw ill them
selves but poor failures before the God
whom they would serve. They did not
rebel. and say the law was too severe. but
they despaired of ever being able to come
I'D tothe requirements. "AlI the people
wept when they heard the words of the
law Religion seemed all somber duty.
hard labor, and an assurance of failure in
the end and the people wept. Not yet
had they perceived what lay behind that
law, something deeper which should
make obedience to the law a JOY and
beauty. They were only just perceiving
God and what He wanted of them. A
sense of sin was growing in them. Not
vet had the beauty of the Lord and His
entire willingness to companion with them
come to their understanding.
"Their example teaches us that We must
penetrate beyond the letter to the spirit
of revelation II We would discover its
hidden thoughts of love" says one writer
OH this chapter.
This day had been set apart sacred to
the Lord. and His will had been read. but
the people had drawn near with only feel
ings of fear and awe. and not at all with
joy and reverence. and that was not what
God wanted II is like the Thanksgiving
mornings often when VIC go TO service out
of duty. with no feeling of real joy in it,
and hurry home to shut God out of our
rejoicing and real anksgiving.
Nehemiah, alarmed and disappointed
that after all the care he rad taken to
of the law. they yet understood only with
the head and not with the heart. goes a
little deeper into his explanation and says:
Neither be We sorry. for the joy of the
Lord is Your strength.
a sudden light burst above the gloom
and severity of the law, the light that
Jesus Christ. the Son OF God, brings to
the heart whose only perception OF God
hitherto has been through the law. The
Joy of the Lord. What is that? Strength
i'm il. Strength to perform all the law.
Il can do all things through Christ.
which strengtheneth me- One does not
have to do II alone. One may walk the
long hard way with company, and with
JOY How different it all seems now.
They may go to their homes and make
merry. They may rejoice over the
strength of the Lord that has been given
to them. Their SORROW has become
wrong. 1t is right to be glad and thank
full.
One longs Ia read more Of this story.
and searches vainly between the lines to
know whether those people all under
stood even then, and whether there were
still some who made merry because II
WAS commanded, hut who had not yet
opened the understanding of their hearts
to take i'm the great thought of the COM
panionship and communion With and
help of God.
DR.. Adenev says: BY the expression
the JOY of the Lord il seems clear that
Nehemiah and his associates meant a
joy which may be experienced by men
through their fellowship with God. The
phrase could be used for the gladness OF
God Himself: as We speak of the right
eousness OF God or the love of God so
We might speak of His JOY i'm reference
ness But i'm the case before US the
drift of the passage directs our thoughts
to the moods and feelings OF men. The
ioy of the Lord, then, Is tho 10y that
springs up i'm our hearts by means of
our relation to God. Ii is a God-given
eIadness. and il is found in communion
WITH God. Nevertheless, the other joy
of the Lord is not to ID" left out of ac-
count when We come To think of the
gladness which comes to Us from God
for the highest Joy is possible To us Just
because IL Is first experienced by God
There could he no joy i'm communion
with a morose divinity. The service of