The Knoxville independent. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1894-current, 1918-06-22

|
for dinner. The
mamma was round and white like waf-
les and had the taste of honey Eek.
:13, 31).
This story illumines like search
light the duty of daily Bible reading,
for while the mamma answered their
objections, and assured them of Gods
protection and care, it was also to be
test of their obedience.
!. 1t must be gathered freshly each
day. 1t would not keep until morning,
much less could one gather a weeks
supply on a single day. Neither will
half dozen chapters read on Sunday
suffice for our spiritual needs all the
week.
II. Each person must gather the
mama for himself. No foraging
squad could gather for the whole tribe
any more than the pastors of city
can gather the spiritual food needed
by their congregations. There is a
blessing in the gathering which the In
dividual cannot afford to miss.
III. The mamma was suited to the
needs of all. The strong and the
weak, the aged and the young, found
1t alike suited to their tastes and
needs. And this mamma diet was fur
nished by God during all the forty
years of their wandering in the will
derness. No wonder they called it
ssbread from heaven" and "ange's
food'-for so it was.
w. One popularity of their superna.
| tural food was tn s., that when they
came to measure what they Ind gath
cred, the most ca aud industrious
had nothing over, and the feeble had
I no lack.
This was certaIuiy miraculous. But
no more so than the way III which God
illumines the Word anu applies II TO
our daily needs.
A minister once told me that he
returned from vacation with heavy
heart. He was nearly sixty, and not
strong physically. He seemed to have
no message for his people, and he felt
that he ought to resign.
One morning at devotions he read,
"The Lord shall increase you more
and more" He caught glimpse of
the boundless resources Of grace and
glory which God had in store for him.
He cried out: sob! wife, I haven't
got to 20, after ALL" When she asked
what the verse meant, he said :
''Don't you see? 1t means that an old
minister with new experience is bet
ter for church than new minister
with an old experience" 1t was easy
then to take up the work, and the last
+ knew he was serving God success
fully in the same church.
For devotional uses the Psalms are
perhaps the best, because they cover
SO wide a range of experience. In the
morning read Ps. 10, and at evening
Ps. 8. If you are going on jour
ney, Ps. 121 is appropriate.
The Gospels also are excellent for
devotional reading, because there we
come in contact with the words and
works of Jesus. We see how he lived
in the home and by the wayside, In the
carpenters shop, and by the open
grave. We see him in public life and
and in private ministry, always the
same, never hurried, never worried, al.
ways thinking Of others and never OF
himself. We see him playing with the
children, watching the hens in the
dooryard, and the birds on the trees
the growing grain and fading flowers
In everything he saw Gods love.
If it be asked how much one should
read at time for devotional purposes
I answer: Read until your heart
burns. You may read chapter or q
book or a single verse, but read, II
you can, until you are consciously In
touch with God, and then with the Fa.
theirs morning kiss upon your lips
you are ready to meet the outside
world.
Some people feel that they cannot
spare time for the morning watch, but
question whether any child of God
Nui UhOlu W w NllllOut II. OuT SUuts
need to be fed daily as well as our
bodies, and the Bible is the souls prop
er food.
tits good plan when one has read
a chapter to ask oneself:
I 1. What is the subject of this chap
ter?
/ 2. Is there any example in 1t for me
to follow?
! 3. Any error for me to avoid?
/ 4. Any duty for me to perform?
! 5. Any promise for me to claim?
/ 8. Any prayer for me to offer?
| And remember that one verse OF
Scripture committed to memory, and
really believed or obcyed, is worth
more than a whole book read hastily
and without thought,