A Fine Epitaph

David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep” (Acts 13:36).

We often read the epitaphs on the tombstones of the forgotten dead in the quiet churchyard, or those of the famous and noble in the grand cathedral, but they are frequently exaggerated and unreal. Men hasten to forget the evil of their fellows, and to invest them with virtues after death which they never possessed in life.

Far otherwise is it with the Holy Scriptures. There things are as they are. God reads the heart, and our lack of grace and discernment is oft rebuked as we find God praising such a man as Lot, calling him righteous Lot—praise deserved, or else God would not give it, for He is perfectly just.

The infidel has often sneered at the failures of “The man after God’s own heart.” But he is so graceless as to be quite unable to trace the steep and rocky road of repentance which David trod with bleeding heart and tearful eye. To judge the sin is to be morally free from it, and that means a good deal.

But in Acts 13:36 we have a full, unqualified commendation of David’s life. No “but” comes in to mar the picture. The New Translation gives a delightful rendering of the verse quoted at the head of this article, “David, indeed, having in his own generation ministered to the will of God, fell asleep.”

It is an epitaph any saint might envy, as Enoch’s is a biography we might well wish could be written of us, a biography the more significant because of its brevity, “Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.” Four words suffice to tell us of the greater part of his life covering three hundred years. Eight words tell of his translation, which occupied a moment at the end of three centuries.

But to return to our epitaph. We notice David “served his own generation by the will of God,” or “in his own generation ministered to the will of God.” He could not minister truly to his own generation unless he ministered to the will of God.

Let me press this upon the notice of the feeblest, weakest believer. We expect the Lord to come and the saints to be translated like Enoch; but if He tarry, what then? Our generation is passing away. Thirty years is allowed for a generation. In a few brief years the millions of our generation will have passed away. We cannot minister to generations that have gone, to a Luther or Melanchthon, a Wesley or Whitfield, or the unknown, yet well-known, saints of bygone years. Our opportunity lies in the present—the golden now; we cannot count upon tomorrow.

More than that, if your work is left undone, no one else can do it, for each has his own particular sphere and work.

Does a brother read this who says, “I am not gifted, nor have I powers of speech. I am isolated, and in a forgotten corner of the earth”?

Dear brother, you have a blessed, wondrous opportunity. We hear of preachers “holding forth” at the street corner. But “holding forth the word of life” is living, not mere talking. It is translating the living word of life into deeds, and deportment, and ways.

Did you ever hear of the young man who, when asked, “By whose preaching were you converted?” promptly replied, “I was converted by my mother’s practising”? Oh! blessed practising! Most powerful of all sermons! A translation of the Scriptures beyond the carping of the captious, or the criticism of the learned!

But you have a circle of interest that no other person has. You have circumstances that will never be repeated. May you serve God in our generation—day by day, mouth by mouth, year by year, till translation comes or you fall asleep.

This article is being written among the Darliston Mountains of Jamaica. Can the Christian young man, in a busy London office, serve the simple country folks in an obscure corner of this far-off island of the sea? Can the Christian young man, born and bred in these lovely mountains, serve the three and a half millions of London that are said never to go to church or preaching-room?

Serve God in your home, in your place of business, in your town or district, as it may be the will of God. Do not preach a mile from your home unless you practise at home. Begin at the centre of the circle, and work out to the circumference: God’s will shall determine the extent of it.

And to serve your generation, what a field it opens out! To serve sinners by the preaching of the gospel, or, if that be not your line, by speaking to individuals, by scattering the simple gospel tract, by helping on the work by your prayers and pocket, and above all by living Christ. Or it may be yours rather to serve the saints. Not to serve a sect or a shibboleth, but the saints. You may not be able to publicly minister to them, but you can speak to them individually of Christ, help them by caring for the weak ones, visiting the aged, washing the floor for a sick sister, or sweeping out the meeting-room. It is little things, done as if they were great ones, that bespeak the devoted heart, and tell that the little thing is done for Him who is infinitely great and worthy. And the greatest thing we can do is little, as we think of Him for whom it is done; yet a cup of cold water will not lose its reward.

What a Master! May love lead us to the practice of these things for Christ’s sake.