"O love that wilt not let me go."

CHOOSING A KING

What would you do if you were asked to select a young man who should some day be president of the United States?  What tests would you apply?  Would you look upon the clothes that he wore?  Would you consider the color of his hair?  Would you insist that he should be of a certain height?  Once upon a time there was a good and wise man who was asked to choose a king for his people.  He started on his journey in search of the most promising youth he could find.  By and by he came to a home where there were many boys.  One of these boys stood before him.  He was tall.  He was well formed.  He had a good bearing.  Surely, thought the king-chooser, here is just the man.  But something inside him, “the still small voice” I think it was, said to him, “No, do not choose him, he is not the one.”  The father then called a second son.  Like the first he was goodly to look upon.  The great man commissioned to choose a king was about to select this one when the same voice inside warned him to wait.  A third son was summoned.  A third time the voice said, “No, he is not the one.”

How chagrined the father must have been to have all seven of his splendid sons rejected!  All?  No, not all.  For the king-chooser said, “Have you no more sons?” “Yes, I have one other, but he is young and the keeper of the sheep.  I am sure you would not think of him as a king.”  “Nevertheless,” said the prophet, “send for him.”  And he came, the youngest, the most unlikely one of all, at least so the father and the brothers thought.  But the voice within said, “This is the one, choose him.”  You will want to read all of this wonderful story and you will find it in your Bible, First Samuel the sixteenth chapter.

MEMORY VERSE, I Samuel 16:  7

“And the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for the man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.”

MEMORY HYMN [354]

    "O for a heart to praise my God."

WORSHIP AND TOIL

One day about one hundred years ago a little boy named Jean stood by his father’s side watching the setting sun sink into the waves of the sea.  The glory of the scene stirred his boyish enthusiasm and he poured out his heart in an ecstasy of joy.  The father reverently took off his cap and said, “My son, it is God.”  The boy never forgot that word, “It is God.”