Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-04-27
SABBATH SCHOOL LESSON
For April 3O-Isa. 6.
BY DIR. MARI ON NIGH. HULL

! lips, and said, Lo, this hath touched
thy lips, and thine iniquity is taken
| away and thy sin purged."
And how quick was God to serve
His servant after His servant had
confessed his sin and need! And
appropriate was His application of
the remedy-it was applied to the
very spot that was confessedly vile.
How it must have burned-but it
was not in anger, it was in love that
God put thatared-hot coal on those
lips. 1t hurtR but it was done to
heal.
Gods preparation of him was thor
ough; the crookedness Gniquity) of
his way was made straight and
where he had missed the mark"
(sin) was covered over. Both were
needed, and both were done. Then
and not until then he was consecrat-
ed-set apart-by God to the work.
The Call and Response
Then came the call to service.
-"And 1 heard the voice of Jehovah,
saying, when shall I send? And
who will go for us?" While God
had prepared him and consecrated
him, He would not send him unless
he volunteered for the service. God
wants willing hearts and hands, and
will not usually take conscripts.
Sometimes He is forced to do this,
as in the case of Jonah; but the
exception proves the rule.
Isaiah's response, however, was
immediate. God did not have to
wait or to plead with him. You can
almost see him jump at the oppor-
tunity-"Here am, send me-" How
different from many of us. Our re-
Spouse if at all is usually belated
and then it is, there is John, send
him.
The Divine Commission
"And He said Co" What a
strange commissioning tell a people
to hear but not understand, to see
but not perceive, to make their heart
fat, their ears heavy, their eyes
shut, lest they see and hear and I'M
derstand and turn and be healed. 1t
was discouraSing. No wonder the
earnest young mystic and idealist
asked, Lord, how long?"
| How mystified he must have been
when that question was answered.
until the cities be wasted without
inhabitant, and the houses without
man, and the land be utterly desc
late; and the Lord have removed men
| far away, and there be a great for
saking in the midst of the land"
1t was no encouraging outlook; to
be called to ministry which would
| result in apparently utter failure.
The Divine Promise
It would have welI-nigh cut the
! nerve of his energy and paralyzed
his effort had it not been for the
, divine promise of a remnant that
should be saved. 1t would be an
apparent failure, but only apparent;
| for yet in it shall be a tenth, ~
and even if this is apparently de-
stroyed, yet there will be life as in
the stump Of tree that is cut down
to the ground, and in due time-in
| Gods time-it shall show that the
life is still there. This nerved him
to great and persistent effort; and
though he saw the nation Of Judah
fall away under Manasseh, yet he
never ceased to warn and to point to
| the king whom he had seen in the
year that King Uzziah died, who had
called, and to whom he had willing
| ly responded. And because he be.
lieved His word, he pointed them to
| the glory that should come to the
remnant who should be true to God
and be spared.
| 1t was a call to Encouragement,
to hard tasks, to meet Indifference,
to face open opposition, to preach
to people who would refuse to hear,
and who would persist in their own
/ way; but Isaiah met it and stuck to
it because he had seen the king
and believed His promise of saliva
ton through a remnant, and had Of
fered himself willing when He called
| for worker.
You, too, desire to serve your
Lord. These things are necessary
to fit you. First you must have a
vision of God; you must learn to
know Him as all-ho1y and all-power-
full, above all circumstances. Then
you must have a vision of yourself
and appreciate your nothingness and
slnfulness. God will then touch
with live coal the sore spot in
your life and fit you for His work
IL probably will hurt, but it also will
heal it. Then when He calls you
must gladly respond, and no matter
how discouraging the work may be
and how meager the apparent re.
suits, you will persist, holding on
to His promise until you possess ac-
tually the fruit of your labor which
will be sure, since He is sure.
There are three steps, indicated
by three words-Woe, Lo, Go! The
one is the result of your vision; you
realize that you are unworthy to do
this work. The second is Gods
word, indicating His fitting of you.
! The third is His command. Woe, do
you say? LOCO, He says. Will
you?
RnoH AIIo,AJod - Ioa,