The One Great Reality | Page 8

come
into the kitchen. I said, 'What do you want me for?' She replied, 'I want
you to come out here and sing.' I thought this queer, so I went to see
what it all meant.
"In the middle of the kitchen was an empty flour barrel that she had just
dusted out. 'Now, my dear,' she said, 'I have often heard you say one
could put his head into an empty flour barrel and sing, "Praise God
from Whom all blessings flow," if he believed what God says. Now
here is your chance, practise what you preach.'
"There was the empty flour barrel staring at me with open mouth, and
my purse was empty too. I looked for my faith, but could not find it; I
looked for a way of escape, but could not find one, for my wife blocked
the doorway with the dust brush covered with flour.
"I said, 'I will put my head in and sing on one condition.'
"'What's that?' asked my wife.
"'On condition that you will put your head in and sing too. You know
you promised to share all my joys and sorrows.'
"She consented, so we put our heads in and sang the doxology, and we
told our heavenly Father 'all about our need.' Yes, we had a good time,
and when we got our heads out we were a good bit powdered up, which
we took as a token that there was more flour to follow!
"Sure enough, though no one knew of our need, the next day a barrel of
flour was sent. Where it came from or who sent it we never knew, but
our heavenly Father knew that we had 'need of these things.'"
Does not this simple testimony teach us all a lesson? I wonder how
many of us can say from our hearts--
Those who trust do not worry; Those who worry do not trust.
Which are you doing, dear friends? Trusting or worrying? Count on
God. He never fails, and He knows just what to do. The moment a
difficulty comes, look up and say "Father," and at once the burden will
roll off, He will undertake all for you.
I had an illustration of this one day when I was going across the
Common. It was very windy, and two little girls lost their hats; they

were quite at their wits' end, till they caught sight of their father in the
distance, and at once they called to him, "Father, father." That was
enough, in a minute he ran to help them.
I have often found great help in looking up again and again during the
day and just saying "Father." Try it. You, fathers, often say to your
children, "If you want me just call me." That is what our heavenly
Father tells us to do.
To know God means not only to trust Him, but also to treat Him as a
Father. If you will read the 6th chapter of St. Matthew carefully when
you are at home, you will see that it gives the experience of the child of
God with the Father for one whole day. It includes all that we need
during the day:--food, clothing, forgiveness, victory over temptation,
grace to do God's will, and grace in dealing with others.
This experience is so deep, so real, so entirely something between
Father and child, that in this chapter we find the words "_in secret_" no
less than six times. When the little child is looking up into a loving
father's face and talking to him, it never thinks of those around. "In
secret" means a sweet sense of His Presence in the soul and of close
communion with Him. "I write unto you, little children, because you
have known the Father." [Footnote: I St. John ii. 13.]
God is our Father, because He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ:
this is one of the greatest treasures of Redeeming Grace. All the
teaching about God as Father comes from the lips of Jesus, and it is in
this way He reveals the Father to us; so if we would know Him, we
must drink in His teaching and watch His life of communion with God.
By His life He reveals to us the reality of the experience into which He
calls us to enter. He also shows us the way. He not only says "Come to
Me," but also Come through Me. "I am the Way: no man cometh unto
the Father but by Me." [Footnote: St. John xiv. 6.] It was by dying for
us He opened the Way. "God sent forth His Son to redeem them that
were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." "And
because ye are sons, God