Article February 12, 1927 Issue

The Smile of God

MIRIAM I. KIMBALL

It pleased one little three-year-old boy, as he watched the gentle rain fall upon the green earth, to exclaim, "God is smiling!" And who can say that the metaphor was not a happy one?

Certain definitions of a smile indicate that it may express pleasure, love, tender affection, kindness, good will, favor, approbation. In more than one instance the Bible tells of God's approbation expressed by rain. In Deuteronomy we read, "And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, that I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil." The smile of approbation, then, expressed in the refreshing rain, was to come to the children of Israel as a result of their love for God and their obedience to Him. Is it not equally true that the present-day children of Israel are conscious of God's loving favor in proportion to their love for God, good, and their faithful obedience to the royal law, that law which is based on the divine Principle, Love?

In the second chapter of Acts, Jesus of Nazareth is spoken of as "a man approved of God," because of the "miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him." Christ Jesus is the way; and it is only by walking in his footsteps and doing the works which he did that men merit God's favor and are conscious of the approval of their Father-Mother, Love. To reflect this tender, loving Parent, to love Him supremely, and to be continually about the Father's business, has its sure reward—the joy and peace and satisfaction in the Father's "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."

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