Dealing Fairly with God
“And now if ye will deal kindly and truly with my Master, tell me; and if not, tell me; that I may turn to the right hand cr to the /^//.” — Genesis xxiv. 49.
MY messages in this Book are now completed. It has been my purpose throughout to hold up before you Jesus Christ and to present to you His claims for your time, your talents, and the best efforts of your life. You must face Him and decide what your future with Him is to be, and I can think of no better Scripture to present to you than this: “And now if ye will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me; and if not, tell me; that I may turn to the right hand or to the left.”
This is a part of one of the most beautiful stories of the Old Testament. It is the account of the choosing of the bride for Isaac, and it is a picture of the devotion of a father for his son. A wedding is always interesting, for all the world loves a lover, but there is something about an Oriental wedding which is indescribable. If I were an artist I should paint this picture, and if I were enough of an artist I could make my work surpass the famous representation of the Russian Wedding Feast.
The heart of the picture is an old man, his hair
whitened with grief, the lines of his face softened with
144 sorrow; he is alone, for Sara, his beloved, is gone. She had journeyed with him from Bethel to Egypt and back to Hebron, and now she is resting in the cave of Macpelah until the Resurrection morning comes, when these two faithful servants of God shall clasp hands and go forth together to live for an unending eternity. About him the arms of God, who said, “I will be with thee “; above him the angels of God who keep watch over him, and before him stands his old servant, who waits to receive his commission to go forth and seek the bride for his son.
“And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age; and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things.
“And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had. Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh;
“And I will make thee swear by the Lord, the God of Heaven and the God of earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of Canaanites, among whom I dwell;
“But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac.” (Genesis xxiv. 1-4.)
Before the old servant sets forth he thus speaks to his Master, “Peradventure the woman will not be willing to follow me unto this land; must I needs bring thy son again unto the land from whence thou camest?” (Genesis xxiv. 5.)
“And Abraham said” Beware that thou bring not my son hither again.’* (Genesis xxiv. 6.)
So when he has been thus assured by his master he sets forth upon his important errand. Dne of the most picturesque sights of the East is a camel train. The peculiar swing of the camel, the Oriental setting, the artistic dressing of the camel-drivers, all these must be seen in the Orient to be appreciated. I counted one hundred camels in a single train when visiting the Pyramids in Egypt. This old servant had but ten camels, but they belonged to a Prince and their trappings were most brilliant. When the old servant approaches Nahor it is at the sunset hour. The day is dying out of the sky and everything about him is entrancingly beautiful. I have seen three notable sunsets. One at the Golden Gate in California when the sun seemed to sink into the sea and leave a trail of light which was now golden and later like a path of silver across the sea. One on the plains of North Dakota. It was after a terrific storm, the clouds were banked up in dark and foreboding heaps, when suddenly the sun appeared. What was dark and uninteresting a moment ago appeared like a group of angels or a company of white-robed priests, and all nature and sky and earth was transfigured. But I also beheld the sunset as I stood near the Sphinx in Egypt, and the two former sunsets were not to be compared with the latter, so that this sunset at Nahor was indescribable.
Laden with precious gifts, Abraham’s servant reaches the well, when suddenly a woman comes forth and the servant prays,” O Lord God of my master Abraham, I pray thee send me good speed this day, and show kindness unto my master Abraham.
“Behold I stand here by the well of water; and js, the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw
jt, water.
ill” And let it come to pass that the damsel to whom
1 I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that
2, I may drink, and she shall say. Drink and I will give ij thy camels drink also; let the same be she that thou d hast appointed for thy servant Isaac; and thereby J shall I know that thou hast shown kindness to my master.” (Genesis xxiv. 12-14.)
t The prayer was instantly answered, for in the isth
verse we read, “And it came to pass before he had done speaking, that Behold, Rebekah came out, who
was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, and widow of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, with her pitcher upon her shoulder.” Elastic of step, modest in manner, pure in heart, and fair of face, the bride-to-be steps upon the scene. As to parentage, she is the daughter of Bethuel, in appearance she was fair to look upon. This is Rebekah.
“And the man wondering at her held his peace, to wit whether the Lord had made his journey prosperous or not.
“And it came to pass as the camels had done drinking, that the man took a golden earring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold.
“And said whose daughter art thou? tell me, I pray! thee; is there room in thy father’s house for us to
lodge in?
“And she said unto him, I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, which she bare unto Nahor,” She said moreover unto him, We have both straw and provender enough, and room to lodge in.
“And the man bowed down his head and worshipped God.
“And he said. Blessed be the Lord of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of fais mercy and his truth; I being in the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master’s brethren.” X Genesis xxiv. 21-27.)
There are certain expressions which fell from the lips of this servant of Abraham worthy of our attention, as, for example, when in the 34th verse, he exclaims, with pride, “I am Abraham’s servant,” and if he could say that concerning his master, with how much more pride may we be able to speak concerning our Master. Or again in the 33rd verse when he exclaims, “I will not eat imtil I have told mine errand.”
O, for this spirit tonday in our work, a spirit of concern, overmastering concern.
I was in a conference of ministers in a Western city when an old man arose and said, “Brethren, I do not mean to harshly criticise, but I know why many ministers are failing and many Christian workers too; they have lost the spirit of concern.” Said he, “My old father was both a minister and a farmer, and one day when special meetings were in progress we missed him from the house. The dinner bell rang and he did not respond to it and my mother sent me to find him. He was in the com crib literally on his face. I touched him on the shoulder and said, ‘Father, mother wants you, He came into the dinner table, said grace, and gave us all of the food that was there to eat, never taking a mouthful himself. With tears rolling down his cheeks he sat at the head of the table and said he, * My father led between fifty and sixty of his neighbours to Christ, It is this concern that we need.”
This old story is to me a beautiful illustration. Abraham is like God our Father, and Isaac is like Christ His Son and Rebekah is like a picture of the Church, fair and beautiful to look upon, while the old servant is a representation of the Holy Spirit who is in every way seeking men for Christ.
Now the picture is changed, and led by the Spirit I am making an appeal to you to yield to Christ, absolutely to yield to His will. “And now if ye will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me; and if not tell me; that I may turn to the right hand or to the left.” This is all that is required, just that you should be fair with Him. It is because we are not fair to Christ that we do not understand His Word and do not comprehend His will.
In answer to the question, How to find our God’s will. Professor Drummond read the following from the fly-leaf of his Testament:
“First, pray. Second, think. Third, talk to wise people, but don’t regard their judgment as final. Fourth, beware of the objection of your own will, but don’t be too much afraid of it. God never unnecessarily thwarts a man’s nature and likings — it is a mistake to think that His will is always in the line of the disagreeable; Fifth, meanwhile, do the next thing — for doing God’s will in small things is the best preparation for doing it in great things. Sixth, when decision and action are necessary, go ahead. Seventh, you will probably not find out till afterwards, perhaps long afterwards, that you have been led at alL’V
There are two reasons why you should be fair with Christ.
First: Because you need HimS
In a certain Austrian City they say there is a bridge which spans the river dividing the city, and on this bridge there are twelve statues of Christ; He is represented as a sower and all the peasants passing over stop to worship Him here. He is pictured as a carpenter, and the artisans passing by bend the knee in adoration. He is a physician, and all the sick draw near if only He might heal them. Again he is a sailor and all the seamen going forth to sea come to receive His blessing. This may or may not be true, but we know that there is ever)rthing in Christ we need, and we have but to claim it.
Second: He needs you to show forth His glory.
No one will really appreciate Christ until they see what He can do in a human life. He must show forth His patience, His gentleness. His forgiveness in your life and mine.
I went into the Sistine Chapel in Rome and with great difficulty studied the magnificent frescoing on the ceiling above me. When after an hour of this painful work I noticed a man by my side looking into a mirror which he held in his hand, the position of which he was constantly changing. I stepped near enough to see that the mirror reflected the picture on the ceiling and so the study of it was comparatively easy.
It is absolutely essential in these days that we should reflect the beauty of Christ and many a man will be blind to all that He is unless he can see Him in our every-day living.
There are certain paramount reasons why we should <^eal fairly with Christ.
BECAUSE OE WHAT HE IS
He is the chiefest among ten thousand. Someone has said that it is as if God had summoned ten thousand angels of light before Him and from the ten thousand chosen a thousand, and from the thousand a hundred, and from the hundred ten, and from the ten one, and that one is Jesus. He is the bright and morning star, and the morning star ever heralds the approaching of the new day. He is the revelation of God to man. When you think of God He is represented as holding the winds in His fist and the seas in His hand. He is pictured as infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient, but when you see Jesus you hear him say,” He that hath seen me hath seen my Father also.*’ And this is a better view.
A friend of mine went into a German art gallery and the artist said to him as he pushed forth a little piece of parchment, “What is that, do you think?” and my friend said, “It looks as if it might be a piece of parchment upon which an artist had cleaned his brushes,” and the artist said with a smile, “Hold this glass, and when I place the parchment correctly, then tell me what you see,” and suddenly, when the position was right and the light was perfect, I heard him say, “Now look,” and I saw within the parchment the shoulder of a mountain, the play of a little mountain stream, the sweep of the magnificent landscape. It was the glass that did it, and all men must see God in Christ, or they will fail to appreciate all that he is.
BECAUSE OF WHAT HE HAS DONE
We were lost and He found us; we were under sentence of condemnation, for the Scripture says, “The soul that sinneth it shall die,” and He delivered us. ‘.^ •.” -
The story of Captain Dreyfus is almost the saddest in history, and is well known to us all.
The degradation of Dreyfus was attended by for — malities humiliating to a proud man. The brilliant young officer was brought before the troops he had commanded, heralded as a traitor, stripped of his uniform, and openly reviled. He was treated as a wild bea§.t while caged on Devil’s Island, and was allowed almost no communication with the outside world. There were brave men who believed in Dreyfus, and who, on his behalf, dared to raise the voice of protest, when to do that was to invite calumny and even physical injury. It was Zola, the novelist, .who led in this crusade in favour of his friend, and on the very spot where he was degraded Dreyfus was pronounced innocent. What if the soldier had turned against Zola, his friend? We would have counted him heartless. This is a poor illustration of what Jesus Christ has done for us, but because it does in part tell the story of his work in our behalf, we ought to deal fairly with Him.
BECAUSE OF WHAT liE WILL DO
He is at God’s right hand to represent us, therefore we have a right to pray.
The son of a distinguished judge in the City of Detroit died upon the battlefield in the Civil War. When he was dying a companion in arms bent over to make him comfortable, and the dying soldier said, “Write this note to my father and I will sign it,” and the note read:
“Dear Father: Th!s Is my f rienH. He helped mt when I was dying. Help him.” And then taking the pen in his trembling hand he signed,” For Charlie’s sake.’*
The war was ovef, lm3 ffie soldier in rags sought out the judge, only to be denied admission to his presence. He waited until he came forth from his ojffice and presented him the envelope upon which the letter was written, soiled in its appearance, it was true, and the judge, thinking it the request of a beggar, pushed him aside, when the soldier held it up again and as the father saw the signature of his boy and read his name suddenly all was changed. He threw his arms about the soldier, drew him into his private office and said, “Everything I have is at your disposal.”
The name made the difference, and we have a right to use His name. He is our intercessor and as our mediator is at God’s right hand seated because his work is finished.
Adelaide Proctor, who writes in the language of the Romish Church, tells the story of a certain convent in France where the wars were terrific. When the battles were over the soldiers wounded and some of them dying were brought into the convent and given to the Sisters there to nurse and care for. One young soldier was given into the charge of a young girl whose duties in the convent compelled her to answer the portal and keep the altar clean. She nursed him back to strength and he then tempted her to leave the convent and go away with him to the City of Paris, where she lost all that was worth living for, and then, the wreck of her former self, she came back to die within the sound of the convent bell. She fell against the portal and suddenly it was opened, not by one such as she had been, a maiden young and fair, but such a one as she might have become, a woman, pure and strong and great. She took the poor girl in her arms, carried her into the convent, placed her in her old cell, nursed her back to a semblance of her old strength, and she slipped into her old position, and not a sister in the convent ever knew that she had sinned.
And this IS but a feeble illustration of what Jesus Christ has done for us and is doing and ever will do. He has saved us from the penalty of sin, and now answers before God for our failures, and one day when we see him we shall be presented without spot or blemish or any such thing, and not an angel in the sky will know the story of our sins. He is to-day our Comforter and our Helper, and one day He will confess us before the Father and His angels.
At the dedication of the monument at Gettysburg President Lincolil entered the building with Governor Todd upon his arm. An old man who had been following after the President attempted to follow him into the church. The ushers tried to keep him back, but President Lincoln turned and said, “No, no, this is my man. He fought one entire day at Gettysburg, and he almost more than any other in the ranks should be honoured, so let him come in, for I acknowledge him and his worth.”
It is to confess Him before men and to confess Him with no uncertain sound. It is to stand by Him in the midst of all criticisms of men.
I heard the Rev C. L. Goodell, D. D., of New York City, give an account of his going with a friend of his into a glass store in the city, when his friend requested the proprietor to allow him to pick out a few glasses which were pitched to the key of A. “The proprietor smiled and said, * We do not have glasses pitched to any key, and if we had I do not know that you could select them.* But my friend said, ‘If you will allow me I will find them.’ So he took a tuning fork pitched! to the key of A, and sounding it out every glass responded to the same key.” And these are days when there must be this harmonious testimonial, to Jesus.
There must be no uncertain sound in our declaration of Him. To deal fairly with Him is to place our all at His feet
A widow in the State of Georgia had a son. She made up her mind that he should have a college education. She took in washing and she lived in the plainest sort of way, and she finally got him through college. Her son was graduated at the top of his class. Furthermore, he took a gold medal for special excellence in his studies. When commencement day came he was valedictorian. On that day he went to his mother and said. “Mother, it is commencement day.” “I know that,” said his mother. “But, mother, I graduate to-day.” “Why, of course, I know that.” “Well, why aren’t you getting ready to go to the commencement exercises?” “Why, my son, I am not going.” “You arc certainly going,” he said. But the mother replied, “My son, I have nothing proper to wear, and you. will be ashamed of your old mother. I have nothing but an old plain, faded shawl and a dress that has been, worn for many years, and you would be ashamed of my appearance.” “What, mother, ashamed of you! I owe all I have in the world to you, and what is more, I won’t go unless you go with me.”
And the mother put on the plain, faded dress and the faded shawl and started down the main street to the church and went into the building, and her son found a place for her in a good position near the graduating class, and he took his place on the platform and delivered his valedictory address, received his diploma and his gold medal for special excellence in studies, and stepped down from the platform and went to where that lady was, where that mother was sitting in that faded shawl, and pinned the gold medal on that faded shawl and said, “Mother, that belongs to you. You have earned it.”
I am told that this man is now President of this Institution of learning, and so I close by saying as I said at the beginning, “And now if ye will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me; and if not tell me, that I may turn to the right hand or to the left.”