Gems from December 2002

December 10

 

"Much food is in the tillage of the poor."  (Proverbs 13:23)

 

"A little knowledge, with personal exercise of spirit over it, is better than much knowledge without it.  As the proverb says, 'There is much food in the tillage of the poor.'  For the poor make the most of their little.  They use the spade, the hoe and the mattock; they weed, and they dress, and turn up their little garden of herbs.  And their diligence gets much food out of it.  And we are to be these 'poor' ones, ever to use divine Scripture as they carry on their tillage, and make the most of our little.  It may be but milk we feed on; but if we use our diligence to lay aside malice, and hypocrisies, and envies, and the like, we shall be really feeding and growing (1 Peter 2).  And because of this, we often find much more savor of Christ in those who have less knowledge, for theirs is this 'tillage of the poor.' "  (J.G. Bellett)

 

N.J. Hiebert # 1375

December 20

 

Learning to Sing the Song

 

In the 1700’s Popora, a great Italian master of music had a talented student, of whom he was very fond.   He approached him one day and asked the student if he would undertake a certain series of studies in music, that, no matter how long or how difficult or how monotonous they were, he would stick to them.  This young student said he would.

        The master took one sheet of paper on which he wrote all the basic elements of music.  He and the student were occupied with this one sheet of paper for a whole year.  Just the elements - just the primer of music.  The second year came and he went through the same sheet of paper -  the same list of things to be practiced.   The third year came – still the same sheet of paper, still the same lesson.

            At the end of the third year the student became a little discouraged.  He began to murmur.  The master reminded him of his promise.  So they went back into the fourth year. 

The fifth year saw them on that same eternal page. 

The sixth year came around and they were still on that one page.  Toward the end of the sixth year, the master added something about pronunciation, enunciation and declamation, and so on. 

At the end of the sixth year, to the students surprise, the master said, “Go, my son, you have nothing more to learn, you are the greatest singer in Italy and the whole world!”

It was true!  He was none other than the celebrated soprano named Carinelli.  He had a marvelous voice.  It is said that, you could not conceive what furor he created when he came to sing in London in 1743.  For ten years he was kept in the court of the King of Spain where he sang four different arias every night for ten years.

What is the lesson in all this?  It is that, God has set before you and me a simple lesson to learn.  It’s often a humbling lesson and it becomes monotonous.  We fail, but we find that He keeps us to it, as His children, to learn - our own unworthiness but the grace of God that goes on with us. 

If we have learned to sing this song down here – thank God.  One day He is going to take us home to glory.  There we are going to find that we are all perfect musicians.  We are going to sing the praises of our blessed Saviour as the world has never heard before.  We are going to find that God has assigned to us the nearest and dearest place in heaven beside and with His Son the Lord Jesus Christ.  We are going to sing through out eternity.

“Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever.”  (Revelation 1:5,6)

(As told by Lois’ father, Tom Dear, to Young People at London, Ontario in 1976) 

December 29

"Till we come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ."  (Ephesians 4:13)

 

"Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other?  They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow.  So one hundred worshippers meeting together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be were they to become 'unity' conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship."   (A.W. Tozer - The Pursuit of God)

 

N.J. Hiebert # 1396

December 30

"Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall."  (Proverbs 16:18)

 

"Pride loves to climb up, not as Zaccheus, to see Christ, but to be seen himself."  (W.G.)

 

N.J. Hiebert # 1397

December 31

"Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."  (Romans 10:17)

 

"There is nothing mysterious or perplexing about faith; for it is simply the response in the heart of man to a revelation from God.  'I suppose that if all the times I have prayed for faith were put together,' says Mr. Moody, 'it would amount to months.'  I used to say: 'What we want is faith; if we only have faith, we can turn Chicago upside down, or  rather right side up.  I thought that some day faith would come down and strike me like lightning.  But faith did not seem to come.  One day I read Romans 10:17.  I had closed my Bible and prayed for faith.  I now opened my Bible, and began to study, and faith has been growing ever since."  (George Henderson)

 

N.J. Hiebert # 1398