| The Every Day of Life |
Chapter 3 |
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It is this quality in the Bible that makes it so dear to the heart of humanity. If it were a book only for the strong, the successful, the victorious, the un-fallen, those who have no sorrow, who never fail, – the whole, the happy, – it would not find such a welcome wherever it goes in the world. So long as there are tears and sorrows, and broken hearts, and crushed hopes, and human failures, and lives burdened and bowed down, and spirits sad and despairing, so long will the Bible be a good book believed in as God – an inspired book, and full of inspiration, light, help, and strength for earth’s weary ones.
The God of the Bible is the God of those who have not succeeded. Wherever there is a weak, stumbling one, unable to walk alone, to him the divine heart goes out in tender thought and sympathy, and the divine hand is extended to support them, and keep them from falling. Whenever one has fallen, and lies in defeat or failure, over them bends the heavenly Father in kindly pity, to raise them up and to help them to begin again.
Some people think that the old Mosaic Law is cold, loveless; but as we look through it, we find many a word that tells of the gentle heart of God. Every seventh year the people were to let their farms rest so that the poor might eat the fruits that grew upon them. They were taught to be mindful of the needy in every harvest-time. They were not to reap too closely the corners of their fields, nor glean their vineyards too carefully, picking off every grape. They were to leave something for the poor and the stranger. Thus the needy were God’s special and particular cares.
In Eastern lands the widow and the orphan are peculiarly desolate and defenseless. But God declares himself their particular helper and defender. In the midst of dreary chapters of laws, we come upon this gleam of divine gentleness. “Ye shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child. If thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all to me, I will surely hear their cry; and my wrath shall wax hot.” Sheaves were to be left in the field, olives on the tree, grapes on the vine, for the fatherless and the widow. The God of the Bible has a partiality of kindness for those who have lost the human guardians of their feebleness.
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