Evening star., 1917-11-10
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON.

which permeates his whole utteranee,
revealing the spiritual longinss OF his
soul for the glory of God and the Sc
curity of his countrymen.
Every patriot ought now to plead
with God for the protection OF the
men of the land that have gone forth
| to fight with all their might for the
advancement of His kingdom through
their work. The worlds great neeo Is
for a praying nation that is Wiling 10
be used of God. Amid desolation and
darkness. brought into the world by
the war. some people who have pro-
fessed to be followers of Christ nave
beaten retreat under the crltlelsHi
that Christianity has failed. The re-
ligion of Jesus has not failed, but men
have failed to obey His teachings The
testing time of Christianity will come
in the days OF reconstruction that
must follow the war. This calls for the
followers of the Lord to have faitn'
like Nehemiah. and plead with JehoFah
for the outpouring Of His love upon
men The men. who have failed the
Master in the past have all been men
whose lives have been crowded with
the cares of the world so that they
had no time to pray Failures m
Christian life can be traced TO the
neglect of prayer. The man wro praFs
wins.
1t will pay one to note how. in his
alteration, Nehemiah recognized Jeho-
yah as the God OF heaven, who controls
the destiny of men. In this he ioiioWeo
have given to the world the mode!
forms Of prayer because they possessed
a deep sense of Gods goodness ana
greatness Confession followed aao!a
tion because Nehemiah had the vision
to see that God was not to blame, ou1
that his countrymen and himself were
to blame because of their sins. He rec
ognized that their peril was due 10
10 1Ny a.
oppressed one another. desecrated the
Sabbath and intermarried with tne
heather contrary to Gods word he
based his plea for pardon upon Goa
Moses Nehemiah urged that his nation.
th-or~h their suffering. had come into
a position where they were prepared to
do Gods word. The world. through It's
present suffering. will be brought back
to God. Trouble drives men to recog-
uize their dependence upon God.
AS the truth of his requests dawned
upon Nehemiah the court official recog-
nized that he was fitted to answer his
petitions and personally carry relief TO
his stricken countrymen in Palestine.
He then pleaded with God to fit him for
the service. He recognized that his
success depended not so much upon the
favorable attitude OF the king as 1t did
upon Gods favor md providentia1 bless
ing. He was .eeking for the favorable
opportunity to present the needs OF MS
people to the KING, whose CuppedIeT ne
was, who had issued the prohibition
that caused a cessation of the work. 1t
took moral courage to stand before the
king to plead for a neglected and de-
spised people. a word, gesture might
mean life and favor. or it might mean
death. He closed his petition by
prayer of personal conservation to
Gods service.
Every patriot who wishes to serve his
country church and Christ needs to
dedicate himself to the Masters service
by petition requesting the Lord to fit
him either for service or sacrifice. The
man who in this hour puts profits and
personal advancement before his duty
to the nation and the cause Of freedom
is apt to become traitor to the flag.
No one in this hour has right to place
any selfish consideration before his per-
sonal duty. The man who prays will
,, recognize his duty. to God and the ma
tion, to his family and flag. to his
neighbor and the forces who are bat
|, tling for freedom. He will. through his
communion with God, come to desire to
be made At to do his bit and dedicate
his life upon his country's altar for lib
erty, justice and law. May God help US
all to follow the example OF Nehemiah.