Thoughtful Moments

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 5, Issue 34, 27 March 1942, Page 2

Thoughtful Moments

OUR SUNDAY MESSAGE (Supplied by ibe Whakatnna Mir.isl ers' Association).

NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS

llow many made, and how many broken! How often have we forgotten our vows in the year gfyie \by! But the blood of Calvary has lost none of its efficacy. We need no;t be handicapped in the new year by the entail of the old. We are encouraged to forget the failures — and the successes —of the past. We are encouraged to joyously anticipate the victories of the future. We ;;re to take our stand mid-wav between '"Ebcnezcr" and "JehcvahJireh." Concerning the future, this much at least is certain. We arc faced, with world conditions absolutely unparalleled, and we can meet them only by the exercise of an unparalleled trust in the God who is faithful. Let this be our New Year resolution-—and all w 7 ill be well. THE VULTURE OF THE EAST Japan has taken the fatal plunge, and in doing so has almost out-Hit-lered Hitler. She is running true to form, and lias easily Avon the first round. It will take Uncle Sam some time to get into his stride, but wican expect to see, and have a right to pray for the falling of the divine judgment on a nation which has for years been breaking every law, human and divine. The mill-wheels of God are already revolving.

LORD CHIEF JUSTICE

Viscount Caldecote, Lard Chief Justice of England, is a devout believer. Speaking recently in the Westminster Hall, London, he said: "In .spite of all that is indicative of neglect or forgetfulness of God, make no mistake about it, there 'is rt solid phalanx of power which springs frem I.he reality of Christian faith in this land of ou;>1. It (s a fact which explains a great deal that people have called miraculous. Dunkirk was a miracle: and it came ofter great prayer, and as, I believe, In answer to prayer. And this exercise. of the privilege of prayer is a bond which makes immeasurably stronger the 1 bundle of which Ave are part, far surpassing in its: effectiveness all the propaganda that any Ministry of Information can put out. It sustains those for whom 3 pray. It fits us to be partakers of the benefits which, victory will achieve. It w 7 ill make us instruments in the hands of God, and to such nothing is denied that is according to His will. We become like the Puritans of old, men and women who fear net men because we fear God so much. And is there not a duty on us to pray?'' FIRST LORD OF ADMIRALTY Mr A. V. Alexander, First Lord of the Admiralty, is a lay-preacher, fn a recent letter to the Secretary of the World Evangelical Alliance, he wrote: "My visits to the Fleet

(lave brought homo to mc that a true sense e.f religion does animate officers and men of the Navy, and you yourself will recollect that theiv icliance upon the Divine power of which yon speak has been the hallmark of the private lives of many of our greatest Admirals."

MINISTER OF HEALTH

The Rt. Hon. Ernest Brown, Minister of Health, is a true follower of Christ, and is perfectly at home' in the Bible. Listen to him: "The second reason is that this world is not the devil's world. Tt is not Hitler's world. It is not even our world, tt is God/s world. And all the time in these events His finger is writing. What a magnificent phrase that is! You find it five times mentioned in the Bible—the finger of God. Once with reference to creation. "When I consider the heavens, the work of Thy fingers, Avhat is man that Thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that Thou eonsidcrest him?" You find the phrase once in the realm of history, when Moses and Aaron overcame the astrologers and magicians by the Spirit of the Lord, and we read in Exodus, "Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of God." You find the phrase twice in the realm of conscience, when the tables of stone were written by the finger o-f God. And once also the phrase was used by our Lord Himself in that supreme revelation when He said to His people for all time, find, that means to uiSj "If I by the finger of God cast out devils, surely the Kingdom of God is come amongst you." So: lift up your hearts, my brothers and sisters. Whether we recognise it or not, God's finger is writing. He will write the first "word and He will: write the last word.

THE PRIME MINISTER

In his broadcast after returning from America, the Prime Minister said (concerning the service on board H. M.S. "Prince of Wales"), "We sang' the hymn founded on the Psalm which John Hampden's soldiers sang when they bore his body to the grave, in which the brief precarious span of human life is contrasted with the immutability of Him to Whom a thousand ages are but as yesterday, when it is past, and as a watch in the night ('O God. our help in ages past'); Ave sang the soldiers' hymn for those, and there are very many, in peril on the sea; we sang 'Onward Christian soldiers,' and, indeed, I felt this was no vain presumption, but that we had, the right tci feel that we were serving a cause for the sake of 'which a trumpet has sounded from on high." With men like these at the helm of our national affairs—and they nre only four out of man}- —we can cherish a calm assurance that through them "God is working His purpose out as year succeeds year."'