IT IS NOTED FOR THE SWEETNESS OF ITS FRUIT
All palms are not of the same variety, but the date palm is the one
specially noted for its sweet fruit. When the orientals dry their dates
and press them and ship them into our country, we then learn how nearly
akin to sugar they are.
The righteous shall flourish in sweetness. Full salvation surely
sweetens one's life and disposition. A sour holiness is a sham holiness.
Some professors of religion look and act as if they were pickled instead
of preserved.
When God described the beauties and benefits of Beulah Land, He told the
people it was a land of honey. Honey was one of the leading commodities
of Canaan. One of the prime factors of the palm tree blessing is
spiritual honey. It is certainly a sweet experience, both in its inward
enjoyment and outward manifestation. In the various tests of life one
will find the inward proclivities making way to the surface, and out of
the abundance of the heart the mouth will speak. Sister, do you find
yourself saying, "Praise the Lord," when the clothes line breaks, or the
bread burns? What comes to the surface when your children tug at your
apron by the hour in their fretfulness? How is it when your neighbor's
chickens clean up your radish and turnip patch? or husband scolds, or
the older children are disobedient and saucy? It is true one may be
tried in these disappointing ordeals, and have the smile of heaven at
the same time, but is there an overcoming sweetness in it all that
convinces others that you have the palm tree blessing?
Perhaps husband is smiling, as wife reads these lines; but how do you
feel when the horse balks, or the cow kicks the milk all over you? What
do you say when hammering, and you hit the wrong nail? How is your
equilibrium at the midnight hour in zero weather when wife hunches you
under the fifth rib and notifies you that baby has the colic and
requests you to get up and make a fire? Do you smile and say,
"Certainly, dear," or do you growl and let her do it? Think of the palm
tree blessing next time.
A minister once asked his colored servant why he didn't get along
better, while she always seemed so happy. She replied that it was
because he read his Bible wrong. He could not understand that, for he
certainly knew how to read the Bible. She finally told him, where the
Bible said "Glory in tribulation," he read it, "Growl in tribulation."
The grace of gentleness and sweetness under trying circumstances is so
scarce in this world, that it is indeed refreshing when we come in
contact with it. It is said of the mother of John and Charles Wesley,
that one of the children once asked some privilege and was denied with a
"no." The child was persistent and asked again, and the answer was
again, "no." For some reason the interrogation was requested time and
again, and the patient mother responded "no" twenty times, and the last
time in the same tone of voice as the first. We might question the
propriety of allowing a child to be so persistent, but we could not
question the propriety of suffering long, with kindness on the farther
end of it. We have been struck before now at the agitation and seeming
impatience of some leading holiness preachers when some disturbance was
made in the meeting; when a child cried, some one went out, or some
unusual noise or commotion occurred. Almost anybody can keep sweet when
everything goes their way, but the time to prove that a part of one's
stock in trade is honey, is when the trying ordeals of life press in,
and people are looking on to see if he has what he has been shouting
over in the meeting.
There is a clause in the Bible that reads thus: "The God of all grace."
I do not know how much our God has, but it says in another place, "He
giveth more grace." We believe that in every exigency of life, the grace
of our God is sufficient. If a policeman on the street of some large
city met with some opposition as he was endeavoring to do his duty, he
would have the privilege, if unable to cope with the opposition alone,
to call upon another officer. If these two were unable to overcome, they
could have the whole police force of the city at their disposal. If this
power was not sufficient they could have the state militia, and
perchance this should fail, the whole government is back of him, and
would call out the regular army. That police officer has the whole
government ready to back him up in doing his duty. So it is with the
faithful child of God. When he is suffered to pass through some trying
ordeal, and the present stock of grace is not sufficient, "He giveth
more grace," and the "God of all grace" is at his disposal, and "God is
able to make all grace abound toward" him, and He would call out the
whole stock of grace of heaven before He would allow the faithful soul
to fail who relied upon Him.
These testing trials are what make solid Christian character. What would
the giant oak on the mountain side amount to, if it were not for the
storms that surge against it? These storms cause the roots to take
stronger hold, and thus they grapple with earth and rock and become
practically immovable. When the storms of trial and persecution sweep up
against the pure in heart, they cause them to cleave the more to their
Protector and send the roots of faith and love deeper into the Rock
beneath.
What does the Word mean when it says, "That the trial of your faith,
being much more precious than of gold that perisheth?" Does it not mean
that these testings of faith are worth much more than gold nuggets which
one might find in the street? Then why do we not act that way? Imagine
one walking along the road and stumbling against a big chunk of fine
gold, and then looking down at the mouth and complaining at his
misfortune. No, if such a one had been discouraged just before, we think
this sudden find would dispel all his sorrow. How would it do for us to
act as if we had found a nugget of gold, the next time some great trial
crosses our path? Would it be inconsistent to shout "Glory to God! I
have something that is worth more to me than gold tried in the fire?"
"Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations," for "Blessed is
the man that endureth temptation." Suppose one should come into a
meeting and testify that he had more trials than anybody in the world.
We have heard testimonies that tend in that direction. Usually the
witness looks as if it were about true. But what does God's Word say
about it? "My grace is sufficient for thee." We believe that all true
pilgrims, as they journey through life, have at times all they can stand
of trials and testings. And yet, "there hath no temptation taken you but
such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you
to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also
make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it" (1 Cor. 10:13).
Now, in the light of these Scriptures, we see, that in proportion to
one's trials, temptations, and testings, God puts alongside the
sufficient grace to bear them. If one has more trial than another, and
holds true to God, it only shows that he has more grace than another.
Now, why doesn't the brother in the meeting who testifies that he has
more trials than anybody else, look up and shout himself hoarse at the
abundance of grace the Lord has for him? Let us not be infidels, but
actually believe the Word of God, and _act_ as if we believed it. Amen!
If the Devil can get us to grunt and growl when he kicks us, it
encourages him to kick the more. Notice those pestiferous boys at
school. See them poking fun at that crying lad who declares he is going
to tell his mother. The more he cries the more encouraged they feel to
impose upon him. Now watch them as they ply their game on some
independent chap. He just laughs at them and says, "I don't care." Their
fun is spoiled and one of them says, "Come on, boys, we can't have any
fun out of him." Why not try this method on the Devil? Instead of crying
and complaining, and pitying yourself, just shout, "Glory to God!" when
he kicks you. He may try it again, but shout "Hallelujah!" right in his
face. Methinks he will say, "I don't understand that Christian; the more
I kick him, the more he praises the Lord and shouts."
The explanation of Psa. 40:11 by that sunny, happy-hearted Christian
known as Aunt Sophia may not be far out of the way. "Let thy loving
kindness and thy truth continually preserve me." Aunt Sophia said, "Dat
just like de deah Lawd. He puts His trusting children right in de big
saucepan of His lub, and He sweetens dem wif de sweetness of His grace,
so dey nebber get sour. And when you see one who is cross and fretful
and gloomy, bress you, honies, dey is not preserved; dey's only
pickled!"
There is nothing in the Scriptures that would indicate that any part of
the Christian life was made up of sour material. "Vinegar never catches
flies," and a sour, long-faced professor of religion is certainly a poor
sample of Christ's handiwork. When the sweetness of the palm tree
blessing enters the soul, the long face in the direction of north and
south, shortens up, and lengthens out east and west. A preacher once
entered a grocery store, and casting his eyes about, he discovered some
packages on a shelf, with the following label on them: "Warranted to
keep sweet in all climates." The company sending out the goods,
evidently had much faith in their enduring qualities. They surely knew
that the contents might be subjected to heat and cold, wet and dry, high
and low altitudes, at home and abroad. Yet they were ready to put on the
goods, "Warranted to keep sweet in all climates." Surely, when our
Preserver has put the finishing touches on His goods, He has included an
element of grace which warrants them to keep sweet in all climates. It
does not seem hard for some to keep sweet when all goes their way; when
nothing crosses their path; when all is fair sailing; but let the
nagging, disappointing, galling trials incident to this life press in
upon the soul, and the look, tone and talk are changed. The preserves
have been changed to pickles. Such a one could not well influence
another by his life and example to become a follower of the meek and
lowly Jesus.
We may not always be aware of it, but surely others are watching us. Can
we say with Paul, "Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them
which walk, so as ye have us for an example?" (Phil. 3:17). Again,
"Those things which ye have both learned, and received, and heard and
seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you" (Phil. 4:9).