In His Image | Page 6

had taken
off its coat and gone to work; it had gathered from somewhere two
hundred thousand times its own weight, and forced that enormous
weight through a tiny stem and built a watermelon. On the outside it
had put a covering of green, within that a rind of white and within the
white a core of red, and then it had scattered through the red core little
seeds, each one capable of doing the same work over again. What
architect drew the plan? Where did that little watermelon seed get its
tremendous strength? Where did it find its flavouring extract and its
colouring matter? How did it build a watermelon? Until you can

explain a watermelon, do not be too sure that you can set limits to the
power of the Almighty, or tell just what He would do, or how He would
do it. The most learned man in the world cannot explain a watermelon,
but the most ignorant man can eat a watermelon, and enjoy it. God has
given us the things that we need, and He has given us the knowledge
necessary to use those things: the truth that He has revealed to us is
infinitely more important for our welfare than it would be to understand
the mysteries that He has seen fit to conceal from us. So it is with
religion. If you ask me whether I understand everything in the Bible, I
frankly answer, No. I understand some things to-day that I did not
understand ten years ago and, if I live ten years longer, I trust that some
things will be clear that are now obscure. But there is something more
important than understanding everything in the Bible; it is this: If we
will embody in our lives that which we do understand we will be kept
so busy doing good that we will not have time to worry about the things
that we do not understand.
In "The Grave Digger," written by Fred Emerson Brooks, there is one
stanza which is in point here:
"If chance could fashion but a little flower, With perfume for each tiny
thief, And furnish it with sunshine and with shower, Then chance
would be creator, with the power To build a world for unbelief."
But chance cannot fashion even a little flower; chance cannot create a
single thing that grows. Every living thing bears testimony to a living
God and, if there be a God, then every human life is a part of that God's
plan. And, if this be true, then the highest duty of man, as it should be
his greatest pleasure, is to try to find out God's will concerning himself
and to do it. When Job was asked, "Canst thou by searching find out
God?" a negative answer was implied, but we can see manifestations of
God's power everywhere; in the suns and planets that, revolving, whirl
through space, held in position by forces centripetal and centrifugal; we
see it in the mountains rent asunder and upturned by a force not only
superhuman but beyond the power of man to conceive. Captain
Crawford, the poet-scout, in describing the mountains of the West has
used a phrase which often comes into my mind: "Where the hand of
God is seen."
We see manifestation of God's power in the ebb and flow of the tides;
in the mighty "shoreless rivers of the ocean"; in the suspended water in

the clouds--billions of tons, seemingly defying the law of gravitation
while they await the command that sends them down in showers of
blessings. We behold it in the lightning's flash and the thunder's roar,
and in the invisible germ of life that contains within itself the power to
gather its nourishment from the earth and air, fulfill its mission and
propagate its kind.
We see all about us, also, conclusive proofs of the infinite intelligence
and fathomless love of the Heavenly Father. On lofty mountain
summits He builds His mighty reservoirs and piles high the winter
snows, which, melting, furnish the water for singing brooks, for the
hidden veins, and for the springs that pour out their refreshing flood
through the smitten rocks. At His touch the same element that furnishes
ice to cool the fevered brow furnishes also the steam to move man's
commerce on sea and land. He imprisons in roaring cataracts
exhaustless energy for the service of man: He stores away in the bowels
of the earth beds of coal and rivers of oil; He studs the canyon's
frowning walls with precious metals and priceless gems; He extends
His magic wand, and the soil becomes rich with fertility; the early and
the latter rains supply the needed moisture, and the sun, with its
marvellous alchemy, transmutes base clay into golden grain. He gives
us