1 Kings 14:13 And all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him: for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave… I. GOD CAN SEE THE REAL THING IN THE OBSCURE THING The "good thing" recorded in the text — that is, if any single special act is intended at all — is unknown. We are assured of the indwardness of his piety. The good thing was "in him." He had a true heart, a right spirit, a righteous disposition and design. "The root of the matter" was in him. The root never shot up into a grand stem, never cast abroad strong branches, never held up a harvest of rich, ripe fruit; but whatever was above ground of beauty and promise, there was a living root below. Remember the inwardness of true goodness. Our goodness must not be merely a matter of social etiquette, of conventional propriety, of ecclesiastical prescription; it must unfold from the heart; it must be full of gratitude, love, trust, and hope. The living God loves living things, and most of all He loves living virtue. Neither was the goodness of Abijah lacking in outwardness. "It was found" in him. The original means the very opposite of what we might easily take it to mean. It was found in him without seeking; in other words, it was manifest and indisputable. And it is the same with genuine goodness; really in us, it will reveal itself. Some people are not naturally good organs for the expression of sublime thought, principle, feeling — they have defects of constitution, uncouthness of manner, educational limitations; but if they have the reality and enthusiasm of goodness it will be found in them without seeking, and their very frailty and failure of style will often prove a foil to set forth with greater impressiveness the Divine thing it cannot obscure. Do not believe in the goodness that ever fails to display itself. There may be grand character in a man when circumstances do not serve to bring that character out in its full majesty and beauty. But God knows all. The botanist will detect a rare flower where we should see only weeds and grasses; the geologist will discern a gem when we see only gravel; the astronomer's eye will seize a star in what seems to us empty darkness; the mariner will descry a sail where we should see only mist and wave. .Now, God delights in goodness, and in darkest corners and lowliest forms He recognises and blesses it. He knoweth the thought afar off, the latent quality, and reads the living epistle in invisible ink. II. GOD CAN SEE MANY THINGS IN ONE THING. "Some good thing"; one good thing standing for many good things, for all good things. Our life does not afford occasion to illustrate many virtues, not to play many parts, not to achieve many works, and we are in danger of making ourselves unhappy over these limitations. God accepts your "only," seeing He gave you no more than that. The assayer does not need to test the whole golden talent; a few ounces in the smelting-pot is enough: the draper does not need to unroll the whole web; a few yards will reveal the beauty and value of the fabric: the merchant does not need to examine the bulk throughout; a handful is enough to show the quality of wheat or wool. Life may afford few gifts, few opportunities, but the few are enough to show what we are made of, and what it is that we mean. God knows the quality of a man from the accomplishment of one simple calling. One act was quite enough to demonstrate the character of Grace Darling, and to cover her with glory. One act at Harper's Ferry was quite enough to display the spirit of John Brown, and to give him rank with the immortals. And one calling worked out faithfully day by day is sufficient to reveal in any of us the hero, the saint, the martyr. "Faithful in a few things." It is but "few things" that we have here; still we have enough. The painter has only a few colours out of which to paint his pictures, but what a wealth of glory he brings out from the meagre palette: the musician has but a few notes, and yet what a world of ravishing sound he brings out of the few chords! We have all but few things, some of us very few — few talents, few opportunities, few days — and yet if we are faithful and diligent we shall work out an exceeding and an eternal weight of glory. Faithful in a few things, He shall make us rulers over many. III. GOD CAN SEE THE GREATEST THING IN THE LEAST THING. Just as we complain about the dulness of life and the narrowness of life, so we complain about the poverty of life — we cannot do magnificent things or give princely gifts. But we forget that God can see the great in the small, the greatest thing in the least. If the least thing has a great principle in it, it is great; if the least thing has a true love in it, it is great; if the least thing has a high aim in it, it is great; and although men may see only the least thing, God regards the essential thought and quality and aspiration, and blesses accordingly. See the Gospel story of the widow casting her two mites into the treasury. IV. GOD CAN SEE THE FULNESS OF THINGS IN THE FIRST THING. Just as we complain about the dulness of life, the narrowness of life, the poverty of life, so do we complain about its brevity. But God can see the end in the beginning. In Abijah's first act God saw the fulness of the longest life. In the acorn He sees the oak. Tradition tells us that Titian happened one day to see the sketches of a lad who had entered his school — or, as another account relates, the painter accidentally noticed a lad drawing roughly on the public wall — and the great artist divined at once that another painter of power had been horn into the world; and so it proved, for that boy was Tintoretto, who was destined to divide with Titian himself the artistic glory of Venice. That lad's drawing was, be sure, rather a poor affair to a common eye, but the eye of a master saw in it galleries of masterpieces. This is but a faint image of God's insight and foresight. In first rude sketches of character and action He distinguishes the artists, the cartoons, of eternity. Life may be short with us, but that is no matter; let us see to it that it be true. "And it was in the heart of David my father to build an house for the name of the Lord God of Israel. And the Lord said unto David my father, Whereas it was in thine heart to build an house unto My name, thou didst well that it was in thine heart" (1 Kings 8:17). We do not want great things to make us great, or to prove that we are great. The daisy — modest, wee crimson-tipped flower — was theme enough for Robert Burns to prove himself a prince of poets; a single string, stretched across a wooden shoe, was enough for Paganini to prove himself a prince of musicians; a bit of canvas, a few inches square, was enough for Raphael to prove himself a prince of painters; and in a dim corner, with a lowly task, with a short life, with no spectators but God and the holy angels, we may attain and reveal the veriest greatness of soul. "By patient continuance in well-doing" let us "seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life." (W. L. Watkinson.) Parallel Verses KJV: And all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him: for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward the LORD God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam. |
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