Isaiah 49

Polished Arrows

He hath made me a polished shaft. Isaiah 49:2.

If you had lived five hundred years ago and had wanted a toy weapon you would have asked your father not for a gun, but for a bow and arrow. For in those days the bow and arrow, along with the pike, were the great weapons of warfare. If you read your history of England you will see what an important part the English archers played in the battles of Crecy and Agincourt, and in many another brave fight. They were considered the most famous archers in Europe.

Just about five hundred years ago, in the year 1418, the English used hand guns for the first time in a battle against the French; and from that day forward the bow and arrow were doomed. They lingered on for two hundred years or so, but firearms gradually took their place, and now archery is practiced as a pastime only.

One of the most important things about an arrow is that it should be kept well polished. An arrow, you know, is composed of three main parts. First there is the shaft which is made of some hard wood, then there is the point which is formed of some harder substance such as flint or steel, and lastly there are the feathers which are fastened to the end of the shaft and make it fly straight to the mark. Now your shaft may be straight, and your point hard, and your feathers just the right length; but unless your shaft is well polished, and your point smooth and free from rust, your arrow won't do its work well. When it reaches the target it will glance aside and fail to penetrate.

God has given each of us a sheaf of arrows, and He wants us to polish them so that they may be useful and do the work He meant them to do. What do you think those arrows are? Well, we call them gifts, and I think it is a very good name, because they are the gifts of God. One girl has a gift for music, another a gift for drawing, another a gift for sewing or cooking. One boy has a gift for wood-carving and engineering, another a gift for mathematics. And some of us have just got plain everyday sort of gifts which are none the less useful a gift for plodding work, a gift for helping others, a gift for cheering people, a gift for running errands.

The main thing about these gifts is that we should use them. If we don't keep polishing them and trying to make the best of them, they won't do nearly such good work, and later they will become dim and altogether unfit for use.

Now I want to say this to you. Make the very lest of the gifts you have. Don't envy other people theirs and complain that because you are not so clever as So-and-so there's no use trying. God will never ask you what that boy or girl has done with his or her gift, but He will ask you what you have done with yours.

Did you ever hear the story of how the goose-grass came to be able to stick to things? The goose-grass, you know, is that plant which grows in the hedgerows and is beloved of all small boys, and all small girls too. The hairs on its stem and on its seed-pods are like small hooks, and these hooks cling to the wool of beasts and the clothes of men.

Now, once upon a time, the goose-grass was a very feeble plant. It had long trailing stems, but what was the use of these stems when they were able only to trail along the ground? They could get very little air or sunlight there, so the plant was sickly and feeble. Its seeds, too, fell into dark stuffy corners where they got little encouragement to grow, and the goose-grass altogether felt very badly used. It envied the bramble and the ivy who could cling to things and get up into the sunlight. It envied their nice juicy berries which the birds picked and carried away to more open ground. It envied the gorse which was strong and sturdy and had a patent way of shooting its seeds out into the field. In short, the goose-grass was inclined to be very sorry for itself, and it sat down and sulked.

Presently along came Lady Flora distributing favors to the flowers. The goose-grass took heart again. It would lay its grievance before her and ask her to help it. But what do you think Lady Flora said? She told the plant that it must make use of what it had.

At first the goose-grass was sadly disappointed.

How could it make use of what it had when it really had nothing at all to make use of? But later it began to think, and it remembered that its stems were covered with fine hairs. Why not turn these into hooks to help it to climb. So it curved the hairs till they were bent like fish-hooks. By the aid of these it clung to the stronger plants in the hedgerow, and so it was able to climb up into the air and the sunlight. It also turned the hairs on its seed-pods into hooks, and now when sheep come to browse in the hedgerows they carry a few of these seeds away in their wool. And when boys pass along they stick them on each other's backs for fun. So the seeds get carried away to new ground where they have air and room to grow.

Boys and girls, make up your mind that you will do the very best with the gifts God gave you. Polish your arrows. Make up your mind that you will be the very best boy or girl of your kind. I think the motto of the goose-grass might be “I stick in.” Take that for your motto too, and you will never regret it.

There is a big reason why we should polish our arrows. It is that the King has need of them.

Archery has gone out of fashion except as a sport, but there is still one company of archers who do useful service. This is the Royal Company of Archers who form the king's bodyguard when he comes to Scotland.

I want you all to be archers in the bodyguard of a greater King than King George. I want you to use your polished arrows in His service. Because, you know, there are two things you can do. You may polish your arrows and use them for your own ends. Or you may use them to fight the King's battles and protect His honor and His cause. Which do you think is the nobler and the better way?