Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1915-01-13
SUNDAY SCHOOL.
Lesson llI.-First Quarter, For
Jan. II, 1915.
THE INTERNATIONAL SERIES.

4o-Memory Verses, IA rs = Golden
Text, Ps. XIV, 4-commentary Pre-
pared by Rev. D. N. stsarns.
l often read what copied from one
Of DR.. Andrew Murray-s Bibles in his
study in Wellington, South Africa. in
August. 1898: THE central thought of
this book is God. Its one object is to
reveal God-His glory, His will. His
love. In reading it our chief desire
ought to be to know God. / am re-
minded of this as read carefully our
lesson chapter and note in these forty
verses some name of the Deity forty
four times GORD or GOD. 81: God, Z:
Lord, 2; Spirit, l. Angel, q. Thus the
sin of Israel draws forth the love and
grace of God and this time in connec-
ton with great deliverance through
seemingly very weak man called
Gideon.
The chapter opens with the oft re-
peated saying. The children of Israel
did evil in the sight of the Lord"
This led to great oppression by the
Midianites for seven years. Then they
cried unto the Lord in their trouble,
and He saved them out OF their dis
tresses tverses 1. 6; Ps. evil, 6, Is, 10,
2S). In our lesson verses, ITO, He re-
minded them by prophet of how He
had brought them out of Egypt and
planted them in this good land. warm
ing them against any fellowship with
the people of the land. but they dis
obeyed His voice chapter ii. l, p. He
calls us still to separation from this
evil age unto Himself, but the god of
this age, the devil, who also ruled the
inhabitants of the land He gave to
Israel, is still binding and deceivins
the people of God and running the so
called church for his own ends, and
those who are willing to see Jesus
only and follow Him fully are COM
paratively few.
Since Adam sinned God has been pa
tently and persistently seeking man,
and mankind has been as persistently,
under the power of the devil, turning
away from God. God has myriads OF
angels who delight to do His Will, but
He never had but one man wholly
and utterly at His disposal and under
His control Many redeemed men and
women have been in greater or less
degree yielded to Him, but none alb
solutely except the Son of Mary, the
Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.
We have already read in this book of
Judges of His selection of Othniel
=, D.x +
and now His choice falls upon Gideon
of the tribe of Manasseh, whom He
visits in person and talks with him as
a man with his friend.
These appearances of God in human
form before He came as the Son Of
Mary are some of the most fascinating
as well as the most profitable of Bible
studies. In each instance 1t is the Son
of God whom we see, whose goings
forth have been from OF old, from the
days Of eternity (dic v, 2, margin),
for mo man hath seen God at any
time: the only besotten Son hath
declared Him" John l, 49,. The glory
Of God can be seen only in Christ Oh
Cor. iv, g.. We are more likely to
NTf1
when about our ordinary work. rather
than when We 90 aside 70 saaL srch
Gideon was thrashing wheat verse
ID; Moses was keeping sheep. as were
also the Bethlehem shepherds; Elisha
was in the field blowing; Zacharias
was ministering as usual, and Mary
~ Nazaratb was nrohablv aho,,t har
household duties How haaptifpl and
wopdarfp, tba words fro,r tba 7 ~, y,
Gideon. ..The Lord Is with thee 20
in this thv might have NOT 7 sent tbaa
Surely 7 vii, he With thoa.
Gideon's seeming nnwill,ngnass ard
probablv his conscious unworth;nass
verse TX, remind ms ~ Moses ma
Jeremiah Ex iii. ~ H. Tar 4,
and show ms the I,ord,s d;f3cnItv -
..A ~, /,