The Palatka news and advertiser., 1915-04-16
ri Saturday
: Sertfietette

i. "Where be all the miracles that !
i our fathers told us off," Judges :
|vi:13. y
1. That is, why are or own times j.
+ so empty of God? This speech has :
!. flavor that is familiar. "Where +
+ are the miracles ?" Why do we not +
T. have the same sort of revela 4
+ tions that they had "in Bible !
1. times?" We hear that nowadays, +
+ We hear it from good people, :
+ Just as it came from the lips of =
1. good man on to this page of the =
+ Book of Judges. Might one re- =
+ mind such questioners of the ex- :
+ perience of Gideon, realized so +
+ soon after his question? He +
+ wanted miracles. His question +
+ has a shade of doubt in it as to =
+ the existence of such signs. And, =
+ already, verse II, God had given +
+ him assurance of His Presence. +
j. And further miracles bean to ac- +
+ cumulate about him as center. +
+ And, then, brave Gideon began to +
+ be timid. 1t is not always easy +
I. to bear the answers to our own +
+ prayers. So Gideon, who was in +
+ fair way to get miracles, wanted +
+ to beg off. "Wherewith shall I T.
+ save Israel? Behold! NY family +
+ is poor in Manasseh, and I am the i
I. least in my fathers house." Just +
+ like Job and Moses, when God +
+ got near to him, Gideon began to I.
+ shrink up in his own estimation. +
+ Well, now, we want signs, mira =
+ cles "as they had in Bible times, +
+ you know" "Bible times! That is +
= bit indefinite. And "Bible times" +
+ were not just as thickly strewn +
! with miracles as, maybe, we i'm i
1. agine. We read of such signs in +
+ the close succession of Scripture +
+ pages, perhaps. but there may be +
+ scores or hundreds of years be- +
+ tween them. And, maybe, we shut I.
+ our eyes to miracles that we do +
+ have. That was a weakness of +
+ Gideon. He was looking back to i
+ Egypt for miracles such as the +
+ fathers had recalled. He didn't see +
+ the miracles of his own day, and +
+ right at his own door. Right near +
+ to him were the miracles of his I.
+ heroic and immediate patriotic +
+ predecessors, Othniel and Ehud +
+ and Deborah and Barak, when the +
+ very stars in their courses fought +
+ against Sisera" He didn't see +
+ them. He didn't recall Shamgar +
+ and his terrific OK goad. He was +
+ blind to all this. "Where are the I.
+ miracles ?" That was the cry. And +
+ that is the way we behave-some +
+ of us. We have miracles. The BIZ +
+ BILE is crammed full of them. But Z.
1--WE don't believe them-some Of +
+ US. We do not even read them-+
+ some of US. They are in the +
+ events of the day. BIT we do not +
= make them out-some of us. They +
= are "in the times" as fully, per- +
+ haps, as they were ain Bible +
= times" But we do not discern +
: "the signs of the times"-some of +
= us. They are in the wonderful de- +
= velopments of science; in Harold +
+ Begbie's "Twice Born Mem; in +
: the transformation of a profess Z
: sional ball player into one of the +
7 mightiest soul winners of modern +
= days. Yet we do not see these =
= wonders-Some of us. We are 4
: like astronomers who can see the =
= wonders in the boundless fields of =
= space, but cannot see their own =
= gardens. Nav be the want with .
= US. as with Gideon, is not so mich =
miracles as sight. J. M. B. .
= . . q . q o q q q q q q q q