Gems from July 2011

July 1

". . . thou shalt know that I am the Lord: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for Me."
(Isaiah 49:23)

I believe in the sun when it does not shine.
I believe in God when He is silent.
I know the sun is up there even on the darkest day.
And when darkness veils Jesus' lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace.

"Teach me the patience of unanswered prayer."

There are mountain top experiences in our journey through this world, those rare and lucid moments when God is consciously near and speaks to us as a man speaks to a friend. There are those ordinary days when we may not be thrillingly aware of His presence but neither do we doubt it. But there are also those strange times when things do not add up or make sense, when we seem to be forgotten, when the heavens are brass, when instead of happy answers to our petitions, an ironic spirit laughs at us and makes mockery of our feeble faith. We sit with Job and wait for an answer that seems never to come.

We had better learn the faith that believes anyway when God is silent. Our Lord drank the bitter dregs of despair when He cried, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" (Mark 15:34). But He was forsaken only for a moment and then came Resurrection day. Our highest faith is when we leave it to God to keep to Himself why these utterly unexplainable things happen to us never to be understood this side of heaven. "Farther along we'll know all about it" and "we'll understand it better by and by" may seem scant solace now, but it is the best we can do until we get home.

. . . God mays seem slow but is never late. Sometimes He says yes. Sometimes He says no. Sometimes he just does not say and we can only wait. I believe in the sun when it doesn't shine for I know that shine it will, eventually. I believe in God when He does not speak. . . . The sun has outlasted all the clouds of all the centuries. God is not forever silent. When the answer comes, here or hereafter, it will repay all the torment of unanswered prayer. The wait will not be as long as it seems. "The strife will soon be o'er" says the old hymn, and in the joy of His answer we shall forget the agony of the delay. (Though I Walk Through the Valley - Vance Havner)

N.J. Hiebert - 4481

July 2

"That He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing: but that it should be holy and without blemish."
(Ephesians 5:27)

God did not stop when He had taken the bone our of Adam, but "made" a woman; and so He not only calls and washes poor prodigals, but builds out of poor prodigals a bride for His Son: making them the members, the flesh and bones, of His Son. It will be a part of His glory to have a bride formed out of poor prodigals.

The bride may have all sorts of precious things - but she herself is for the Lord. (G.V. Wigram)

N.J. Hiebert - 4482

July 3

"This God is our God."
(Psalm 48:14)

"God is great in great things, but very great in little things."

A party stood on the Matterhorn admiring the sublimity of the scene, when a gentleman produced a pocket microscope, and having caught a fly placed it under the glass. He reminded us that the legs of the household fly in England are naked, then called attention to the legs of this little fly which were thickly covered with hair; thus showing that the same God who made the lofty Swiss mountain attended to the comfort of His tiniest creatures, even providing socks and mittens for the little fly whose home these mountains were.

This God is OUR God!

A doubting soul beheld a robin's nest in a gigantic elm and heard a still small voice saying, "If God spent a hundred years in creating a tree like that for a bird, He will surely take care of you." God is so interested, that He takes us one by one and arranges for every detail of our life.

To Him, there are no little things.

"The God of the infinite is the God of the infinitesimal."
(Springs in the Valley)

N.J. Hiebert - 4483

July 4

"They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them."
(Luke 16:29)

"And beginning at Moses and all the prophets He expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself."
(Luke 24:27)

A child can understand the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make us wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. There is not one beneath the canopy of God's Heaven, who possesses a copy of the Holy Scriptures, who is not solemnly responsible before God for the use he makes of them.

If professing Christians were split up into ten thousand times as many sects as they are; if they were ten thousand times as inconsistent as they are; if schools and doctors of divinity were ten thousand times more conflicting than they are - still the word to each possessor of the Bible is, "You have Moses and the prophets, and the New Testament; hear them."

Oh! that we could persuade the unconverted, the unawakened, the unbelieving to think of these things, to think of them now, to ponder them in the very hidden depths of his moral being, to give them his heart's undivided attention, ere it be too late. We contemplate, with ever-deepening horror, the condition of a lost soul in hell - of one opening his eyes, in that place of endless torment, to the tremendous fact that God is against him and against him for ever; that all hope is gone; that nothing can ever bridge the chasm that separates the region of the lost from the Heaven of the redeemed; that "there is a great gulf fixed." (C.H. Mackintosh - The All Sufficiency of Christ)

N.J. Hiebert - 4484

July 5

"Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest ant any time we should let them slip." (lest we drift away from them).
(Hebrews 2:1)

Which will it be - earnest heed, or letting slip? The Spirit through the Word teaches us divine and changeless truth. We need to earnestly pay attention to it; to guard it, keep it, obey it. For it is all too easy to let it slip. We see many such today; seemingly bored with truth, indifferent about holding onto it, failing to value it. Truth does not drift away from them; they are drifters away from truth. Give earnest heed to do that which is right, or drifting will be your experience. (Doug Kazen)

N.J. Hiebert - 4485

July 6

“The LORD…saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee” (Jeremiah 31:3).

"The hand of God never deals but in concert with His heart of infinite love towards us." –John Darby

"… to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God" Ephesians 3:19
(Submitted by a reader - S.L.)

N.J. Hiebert - 4486

July 7

"Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me . . . And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself."
(John 14:1-3)

The hearts of the disciples were troubled. How often we experience events in our lives that upset us? The Saviour offered to His disciples and to us the divine antidote for troubled hearts. "Believe also in Me." In the troubles and upsets of life, He longs for us to trust Him. He has promised us a glorious future, "I will come again, and receive you unto Myself." Very soon the shout will come and the troubles of this weary life will all be over. Trust in Him. He will carry through. (James Comte)

"Midst the darkness, storm and sorrow, one bright gleam I see;
Well I know the blessed morrow Christ will come for me."

N.J. Hiebert - 4487

July 8

"A man's heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps."
(Proverbs 16:9)

"In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths."
(Proverbs 3:6)

"All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose."
(Romans 8:28)

Providence is often alleged as a reason for not walking by faith. Never was there a more remarkable Providence than that which placed Moses in the court of Pharaoh, and it gained its object. It would not have done so if Moses had not later abandoned the position into which that Providence had brought him. But it was faith and not Providence as a rule and motive, which produced the effect for which Providence had preserved and prepared him. Providence (Thanks be to God!) governs circumstances; faith governs the heart and the conduct. (Christian Truth - Volume 21 - November 1968)

N.J. Hiebert - 4488

July 9

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
(1 John 1:9)

He came to my desk with quivering lip;
The lesson was done.
"Have you a new leaf for me, dear teacher?
I have spoiled this one!"
I took his leaf, all soiled and blotted,
And gave him a new one, all unspotted,
Then into his tired heart I smiled:
"Do better now, my child."

I went to the throne with trembling heart;
The year was done.
"Have you a new year for me, dear Master?"
I have spoiled this one!"
He took my year, all soiled and blotted,
And gave me a new one, all unspotted,
Then into my tired heart He smiled:
"Do better now, My child!"
(Unknown)

N.J. Hiebert - 4489

July 10

"Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."
(Hebrews 4:16)

We need the help and sympathy of our great High Priest, firstly because of our infirmities, and secondly because of temptations we have to meet. Infirmities are the weaknesses that belong to us as being in the body. Infirmity is not sin, though it may lead to sin. The believer has to meet (1) trials without and the (2) temptations from sin within.

It is this first form of trial that comes before us in the passage in Hebrews - the temptation to turn - from the path of obedience to the Word of God - the path that leads to the rest of God. Further, the devil would seek to use the infirmities of the body to turn us aside by his temptations, even as he sought to use hunger to tempt the Lord from the path of obedience to God. In this form of temptation we have the Lord's sympathy, as He Himself has been "in all points tempted like as we are." Of the second form of temptation He knew nothing, for, while it is said that He was "in all points tempted like as we," it is added, "sin apart."

In the presence of these infirmities and temptations we have a resource. There is grace available to enable us to meet the trial. The throne of grace is open to us. We are exhorted therefore to draw near to the throne of grace. We can do so boldly because the High Priest represents us at the the throne of grace. Drawing near we obtain mercy in order that in the trial we may not fail. Here the time of need is not the time of failure, but the time when we are faced with trials and temptations which may lead to failure. (Hamilton Smith)

N.J. Hiebert - 4490

July 11

"Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord."
(John 21:7)

The disciples assumed it was the Lord when He performed the miracle of showing them where they could net a multitude of fishes. Later when He took bread and gave it to them (12,13), they knew it was the Lord. Before His death the Lord instituted the Lord's supper by breaking bread and giving it to His disciples. He then said, "This is My body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of Me" (Luke 22:19). On this Lord's Day, as we take the bread and drink of the cup, let us know that it is the Lord seated amidst us. (K.C. Ung)

'Tis the Lord! O wondrous story!
'Tis the Lord, the King of Glory!
At His feet we humbly fall.
Crown Him! Crown Him, Lord of all!
(B. Handby)

N.J. Hiebert - 4491

July 12

"Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven."
(Matthew 18:4)

Cherish in your thoughts and incarnate in your life this wonderful admonition of Hudson Taylor:

"Be God's man;
In God's place;
Doing God's work;
In God's way."

In Caius College, Cambridge, there are three gateways in succession:

The first is called Humilitatis;
The second is Virtutis;
The third (which opens toward the Senate House), Honoris.

Not in vain did our forefathers make these emblems of an undergraduate's progress;
And happy would it be if every Christian youth entered by the gate of humility,
To pass through the gate of Christian Virtue,
That he might come forth in the highest sense to that of Honour.
(R.F. Walker - Mountain Trailways for Youth)

N.J. Hiebert - 4192

July 13

"And Benaiah . . . went down also and slew a lion in the midst of a pit in time of snow."
(2 Samuel 23:20)

A lion fell into a pit. A man plunged in after him and slew him. And it was in time of snow. I have always felt sorry for that lion. Lions detest snow, and that lion did not have a sporting chance. But his troubles are over now, and the man has something to teach us.

Benaiah must have been one who had trained himself by many small and private disciplines to be ready for anything, even a lion in a pit in time of snow. The snow, of course, made it harder for him too, but he did not hesitate. He went down and slew the lion.

Quite suddenly in the midst of our ordinary occupations any of us may be face to face with a lion in a pit. It may be in time of snow - in circumstances which make it harder than usual to withstand. But we can. The moment we are conscious of the lion (Peter speaks of the the devil as a roaring lion in 1 Peter 5:8), the Spirit of God will put a sword into our hands. Some strong word of Scripture will be flashed across our minds. If we grasp that word, and thrust with all our might, there can only be one end to the fight. More that conquerors through Him that loved us will tell the end of that lion fight - even in time of snow. (Whispers of His Power - Amy Carmichael)

N.J. Hiebert - 4493

July 14

"Thou hast delivered my soul from death: wilt not Thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living."
(Psalm 56:13)

It is one thing to be the advocate of Christianity, and another to be the disciple of it. And though it may sound strange at first, far easier is it to teach its lessons than to learn them.

We need not so much to covet information about Him as power to use divinely what we know.
(J.G. Bellett)

N.J. Hiebert - 4494

July 15

"I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung,
that I may win Christ."
(Philippians 3:8)

Shining is always costly. Light comes only at the cost of that which produces it. An unlit candle does no shining. Burning must come before shining. We cannot be of great use to others without cost to ourselves. Burning suggests suffering. We shrink from pain.

We are apt to feel that we are doing the greatest good in the world when we are strong, and able for active duty, and when the heart and hands are full of kindly service.

When we are called aside and can only suffer; when we are sick; when we are consumed with pain; when all our activities have been dropped, we feel that we are no longer of use, that we are not doing anything.

But, if we are patient and submissive, it is almost certain that we are a greater blessing to the world in our time of suffering and pain than we were in the days when we thought we were doing the most of our work. We are burning now, and shining because we are burning. (Evening Thoughts)

"The glory of tomorrow is rooted in the drudgery of today."

Many want the glory without the cross,
the shining without the burning,
but crucifixion comes before coronation.
(Streams in the Desert)

N.J. Hiebert - 4495

July 16

"Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God."
(Ephesians 5:21)

There is nothing so contrary and utterly repugnant to man's sinful nature as obedience. Love is not by far so adverse to his nature, i.e., natural love, because God implanted natural affections in his heart. But obedience, even in a human way, i.e., submission to his fellow-men, is a principle against which man's natural heart rebels more than against anything else. This, I think, is the reason, why the spirit of God heads the following exhortations with these words: "Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of (Christ)." (Light in our Dwellings - J.A. von Poseck)

N.J. Hiebert - 4496

July 17

"These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full."
(John 15:11)

If I allow my work to get between my heart and the Master, it will be little worth.
We can only effectually serve Christ as we are enjoying Him, nor is there any one who can minister Christ with unction, freshness, and power to others, if he be not feeding upon Christ in the secret of his own soul.
(Food for the Desert)

N.J. Hiebert - 4497

July 18

“The battle is not yours, but God’s.”
(2 Chronicles 20:15)

“The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.”
(Exodus 14:14)

What this means is that we don’t have to defend ourselves or fight back. The Lord will vindicate us at the proper time.“…when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously” (1 Peter 2:23) The battle is the Lord’s. He will fight for us. We should hold our peace.

What a relief to know that when the world turns against us, which is always the case, we need not nor should we attempt to retaliate. It is the Lord’s battle, and He is more than capable to take the battle upon His shoulders. We need only to Stand Firm.

The attempts upon Christians have intensified many times over in recent years and I see no sign that they will lighten up. We need to adopt an attitude that I have recently come to be my so-called battle cry each and every time I leave my home and that is, “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth . . .” (Romans 1:16). (With thanks, From a reader of the "Gems" - R.L)

N.J. Hiebert - 4498

July 19

"Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's."
(Psalm 103:5)

The poets have attributed to the eagle, miraculous powers of becoming young again; but the reference in Psalm, 103 is in all probability to the molting time which characterizes all birds. During that time the king of the air basks quietly in the sun; his plumage slowly returns; and thus renewed he rises once again to the place where he is most at home. It is a parable of those renewings of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5) which, from time to time, come to us all.

Redemption, equipment, power, renewal: with these spiritual resources at our disposal let us take fresh heart as we face the days that lie ahead for us all. Slowly, alas, do we learn these great lessons; but the God who has taken such pains with us will not rest until He perfects that which concerneth us. "He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6). (In Pastures Green)

Though thy way be long and dreary,
Eagle strength He'll still renew,
Garments fresh and foot unweary,
Tell how God hath brought thee through.

N.J. Hiebert - 4499

July 20

"Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever."
(1 Peter 1:23)

God does not cause to germinate some little seed already folded up in man, but he implants an altogether new principle of life. God cannot see in man what we can see in examining a seed through the microscope - the exact form of the future plant all folded up, which when the seed is put into the ground begins to spread forth.

When God's eye examines a sinner, what does He see? What did He see in such an one as Saul, the persecutor? Did He see the divine life, afterwards manifested in him, all nicely folded and shut up within his soul? No; but the enmity which made Saul persecute to the death the followers of Jesus. He saw moral death, but no life in him. And how was all this changed? By the communication of a new life, an incorruptible seed. (G.V. Wigram)

N.J. Hiebert - 4500

July 21

"As for God, His way is perfect . . ."
(2 Samuel 22:31)

I find waiting one of the hardest things to do. What does it mean to “wait on the Lord?”

Waiting on the Lord is an activity resulting from a command! In other words when we are commanded to wait we are taking action to submit and obey a directive from the Captain of our souls.

Waiting on the Lord in Scripture does not mean idly standing by twiddling ones thumbs. It is not a matter of resignation, but of consciously waiting with expectation, because you know, that you know, that God will act and or direct you so that in due time you can move forward in accordance with His will.

“When led of the Spirit, the child of God must be as ready to wait as to go, as prepared to be silent as to speak.” - Lewis Sperry Chafer

“Waiting for God is not laziness. Waiting for God is not going to sleep. Waiting for God is not the abandonment of effort. Waiting for God means, first, activity under command; second, readiness for any new command that may come; third, the ability to do nothing until the command is given.” - G. Campbell Morgan

The person who truly waits on the Lord does so with a restful, happy confidence.

“Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself . . .” Psalm 37:7

“Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.” Psalm 27:14
(S.L. 15-Jul-11)

N.J. Hiebert - 4501

July 22

"When His disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?"
(Matthew 19:25)

"God hath called you to Christ's side," wrote saintly Rutherford, "and the wind is now in Christ's face in this land; and seeing ye are with Him, ye cannot expect the lea-side or the sunny side of the brae (hillside)."

Nowhere in the teachings of Christ do we find anything visionary or overoptimistic. He told His hearers the whole truth and let them make up their minds. He might grieve over the retreating form of an inquirer who could not face up to the truth, but He never ran after him to try to win him with rosy promises.

All this is but to say that Christ is honest. We can trust Him. He knows that He will never be popular among the sons of Adam and He knows that His followers need not expect to be. The wind that blows in His face will be felt by all who travel with Him, and we are not intellectually honest when we try to hide that fact from them.

By offering our hearers a sweetness-and-light-gospel and promising every taker a place on the sunny side of the brae, we not only cruelly deceive them, we guarantee also a high casualty rate among the converts on such terms.

We tell them that if they will accept Christ he will give them peace of mind, solve their problems, protect their families and keep them happy all day long. They believe us and come, and the first cold wind sends them shivering to some counselor to find out what has gone wrong; and that is the last we hear of many of them! (Renewed Day by Day - A.W. Tozer)

N.J. Hiebert - 4502

July 23

"Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."
(1 John 1:29)

Oh, who is this Jesus who doth so much,
Who healeth the blight of the world with a touch?
He taketh; men's efforts have all been in vain,
To hide or to cover or wash out the stain;
They strive to ignore it, they boldly deny
Their needs of the cross, or a Saviour to die.
But sin is still with them and evils remain,
Till He came to our succor, the Lamb who was slain -
Who taketh away the sin of the world.
(Annie Johnson Flint)

N.J. Hiebert - 4503

July 24

"And not only so . . ." (Romans 5:11)
"Much more then . . ." (Romans 5:9)
"Moreover. . . " (Romans 5:20)

In this exposition on justification, Paul elucidates the many blessings we enjoy because God has justified us. As he relates them to us, Paul's enthusiasm bubbles over onto the page. He is like a young child opening a new gift. "We have a peace with God! We have access by faith into this grace! And not only so! There is much more!" And on he goes. Are we as thrilled with our blessings? Let us take a lesson from the apostle and joyfully praise our Father, ". . . who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings . . ." (Ephesians 1:3). (J. Jacob)

N.J. Hiebert - 4504

July 25

"Then Jesus said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory?"
(Luke 24:25,26)

At Emmaus desire had been again quickened, but under different conditions. It was not the desire of a freshly-drawn soul (as in the case of the conversion of Zaccheus), but of restored saints. These two disciples had been unbelieving. They were returning home under a sorrow that Jesus had disappointed them. The Lord rebukes them shortly after he joined them on the road, but so orders His words as to kindle their hearts. When their walk together ends at the gate of their dwelling, the Lord makes as though He would go further. He would not invite Himself as He had done at Jericho. They were not in the moral state which suggested this, as Zaccheus had been; but, when invited, He goes in - goes in just to kindle further the desire which had here invited Him - to gratify it to the full. And so He does; and they are constrained by their joy to return to the city that night, late as it was, to communicate it to their fellows. (J.G. Bellett)

N.J. Hiebert - 4505

July 26

Anathema or Maranatha?

"If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha."
(1 Corinthians 16:22)

The great apostle in a day when unbelieving Jews were calling Jesus accursed throws back that anathema with power. Then he takes an Aramaic term, which the scholars have argued over as to whether it means the Lord has come or "May he come!"

These two words, spelled with almost the same letters, set forth two viewpoints poles apart. There are millions today whose mark might well be anathema. They blaspheme the Lord and they are accursed. False preachers of "another gospel" are anathema. The bitter hostility of long ago boiled over in that word.

Over against that is the love that said instead, "Jesus is Lord," and looking for His return, cried, "Maranatha." Looking for the Lord was a distinguishing mark of first century Christianity. Strange and sad it is that so many who claim to love Him today do not thrill to "The Lord cometh."

Are you Anathema or Maranatha? Which is the cry of your soul? (Day By Day with Vance Havner)

N.J. Hiebert - 4506

July 27

"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path."
(Psalm 119:105)

I've always thought that I could get through just about anything if the Lord would tell me what the outcome would be. I believe that ". . . all things work together for good . . ." (Romans 8:28), but I'd do a lot better in dark times if I knew exactly what the "good" would look like.

But God usually doesn't show us where He is taking us. He just asks us to trust Him. It's like driving a car at night. Our headlights never shine all the way to our destination; they illuminate only about 160 feet ahead. Bu that doesn't deter us from moving forward. We trust our headlights. All we need is enough light to keep moving forward.

God's Word is like headlights in dark times. It is full of promises we need to keep us from driving our lives into the ditch of bitterness and despair. His Word promises that He will never leave us not forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). His Word assures us that He knows the plans He has for us, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give us a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11). And He tells us that our trials are there to make us better, not bitter (James 1:2-4).

So the next time you feel as if you're driving in the dark, remember to trust your headlights - God's Word will light your way. (Joe Stowell)

The Word of God provides the light
We need to see the way;
It shows us what we need to know
So we won't go astray.

You won't stumble in the dark if you walk in the light of God's Word.
_________________________________________________________________________

Our Daily Bread, RBC Ministries. Copyright 2010, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Reprinted permission.

N.J. Hiebert - 4507

July 28

"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness."
(2 Timothy 3:16)

Careful examination reveals that there is nothing in inspiration that conflicts with the unfettered play of the individuality of the writers of the Book of God. When God made a prophet, He did not unmake the man. The personality, mental traits, and even the forms of literary expression of the divine penmen, were left perfectly free.

- The burning sarcasm of Isaiah.
- The tender, melancholy pathos of Jeremiah.
- The homeliness of the herdsman's son and the gatherer of figs.
- The deep philosophy of John.
- The clear and sharp logic of Paul.

All these were truly and really their own. As every pipe of the organ is so fashioned that it might give one note and not another - and yet all are filled by the same breath - so , these souls, fashioned by the conditions of humanity and the circumstances of their lives, were made each to give out his own note, yet all were filled by the breath of the Divine Spirit, that has made these human and yet divine utterances ring with a melody unquenched and unquenchable. (The Wonderful Word - George Henderson)

N.J. Hiebert - 4508

July 29

"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world . . ."
(1 John 2:15)

This universe is but the expression of the Father's wisdom and goodness.

Heaven above is softer blue,
Earth beneath is sweeter green!
Something lives in ev'ry hue
Christless eyes have never seen:
Birds with gladder songs o'erflow,
Flow'rs with deeper beauties shine,
Since I know, as now I know,
I am His, and He is mine!"

The Lord loved the lilies of the field. He drew attention to the beauties of nature, they stirred His own soul, and He would have His people see in them the evidences of the wisdom and goodness of the Father. But what, then, is the world? It is that system that man has built up in this scene, in which he is trying to make himself happy without God. You get it away back in Genesis, where Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and built a city, and there what we call the world really began. It was a wonderful world; they were exercised in all kinds of arts, sciences, business, and pleasure, anything and everything to make them happy without God; but it ended in corruption and violence, and God had to sweep the whole thing away with a flood.

The principles of the world that caused the corruption and violence before the flood were carried into the ark in the hearts of some of Noah's children. They brought the world into the ark, and when the new world was started after the judgment of the flood, they brought the world out of the ark with them, and again set it up. (H.A. Ironside)

N.J. Hiebert - 4509

July 30

"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. . . ."
(Acts 16:31)

The famous French tightrope walker Charles Blondin's greatest fame came in June of 1859 when he attempted to become the first person to cross a tightrope stretched over a quarter of a mile across the mighty Niagara Falls.

It was a sunny day. Large crowds had gathered on both sides of the great Niagra Falls. The mighty waters crashed on the rocks below. Above the Falls, a long tightrope stretched from one bank to the other. In a few minutes the world's greatest tightrope walker would cross it.

Carefully he balanced his long pole and stepped onto the rope. The crowd watched silently. He started across. One dangerous step, and then another, and then... Finally, he stepped upon the bank on the other side. The crowd cheered.

He followed that by standing on a chair precariously balanced over the most turbulent part of the falls. Next he pushed a wheelbarrow full of sandbags across – acting the whole time as if he was in the middle of a wide country road.

Finally, he turned to the crowd and asked, “Do you believe that I can push this wheelbarrow across the rope with a man in it and arrive safely on the other side?” The crowd roared, “Yes, we believe!” “Okay,” Bondin replied, “then who will be the volunteer?” The roar of the crowd turned to utter silence.

"What about you?" Blondin asked a man standing nearby. "Will you trust me?" "No way, not me." The man answered! Not one person volunteered. (During a repeat performance in August 1859, his manager, Harry Colcord, did ride on Blondin's back across the Falls.)

Believing about someone - and trusting in someone, are two different things. It’s the difference between heaven and hell!

“…Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,” Ephesians 1:12-13

If you have never trusted in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior then trust in Him now!

“…if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation… For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Romans 10:9,10,13

(From the writings of S.L.)

N.J. Hiebert - 4510

July 31

"Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ."
(Philippians 1:2)

The Epistle to Philippians begins with , "Grace to you," and ends with, "The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ (be) with your spirit." And in verse 7, Chapter 1, Paul writes that they were all his "Joint-partners" in this grace. In this grace we all have a share. Well may every one of us sing:

GRACE IS THE SWEETEST SOUND
That ever reached our ears,
When conscience charged, and justice frowned,
'Twas Grace removed our fears.

As we grow older, and learn to know ourselves more and more, perhaps we learn to value more highly that Grace that picked us up, gave us the privilege of hearing the Gospel, and believing it; and, perhaps most wonderful of all, to know the Grace that has borne with us all along the way, through all these years, and has never cast us off, or given us up, but will perform that work, that "good work," begun in us; right on to the Day of Jesus Christ. (Verse 6). It has all been Grace; All must be Grace; right from start to finish. Grace means "Free, undeserved favour." (G. Christopher Wills - Sacrifices of Joy - Being Meditations on Philippians)

N.J. Hiebert - 4511