Gems from July 2019

July 1

THE  MIDNIGHT  TALK

There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: the same came to Jesus by night . . . Jesus . . . said unto him, verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

(John 3:1-3)

The midnight talk with the Son of God as recorded in John 3, evidently left its impress upon his soul, for we find him later pleading His cause before the Council in John 7:50, and bringing down upon his own head the contempt of his fellows.

But he was not yet prepared to throw in his lot with the Nazarene, and to share the reproach and shame that came upon Him from day to day. Thank God, Nicodemus shone out brightly at the finish.

When all others had fled, boastful Peter doing worse still, Nicodemus proffered his assistance to Joseph of Arimathia for the burial of his Lord.  His righteous soul was stung to the quick by the unrighteousness that he had witnessed.

Delay was no longer possible; timidity was thrown to the winds; and he allowed it to be seen by all that he loved and honoured the outcast Son of God. Truly, “the last shall be first, and the first last” (Matthew 20:16).

(W. W. Fereday)

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July 2

“. . . the praise of His glory . . . the riches of the glory . . . 

the praise of the glory of His grace . . . the exceeding riches of His grace.” (Ephesians 6-14)

How did the work of the old creation proceed?

One thing after another was created in its beauty, and man came at the last.  He was put in the garden; and what was his condition there?  He was at home there; but when the cattle were brought up to be named by him, he was not only at home in his own proper place, but he gets the lordship of every thing before him.  He was in his dominions.  Was that all? 

There remained a thing behind, and that thing was the chiefest.  He had everything before he got the woman. It was the last thing revealed, and the tip-top of his happiness. 

It opened his lips, “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (Luke 6:45).  

Adam was happy before, but he was not abounding.  When the woman was given to him, it was the height of his joy. So we ought to be prepared for the church waiting for the ministry of Paul.  I should be prepared for the last ministry bringing out the richest thing in the counsels of God.

(J. G. Bellett)

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July 3

“And the L0RD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou?  Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, from going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it."

(Job1:7)  

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour."

(1 Peter 5:8)

The devil is a master at half truth.

When asked by the Lord where he had been, his reply was only partially true. The unspoken part was that he had been promoting his nefarious schemes, which he always attempts to keep hidden.

His aim is to devour and we are urged to be sober and vigilant,

to immerse ourselves in the study of God’s Word

so that we are not duped by his devices.

(Mark Kolchin)

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,

We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us.

(Martin Luther)

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July 4

“And whither I [Jesus] go ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto Him, Lord, we know not whither Thou goest; and how can we know the way?

(John 14:4-5)

Thomas was honest and he was never afraid just to blurt out all the truth.  He said, “We do not know what You are talking about.  We have to confess we are ignorant, and we don’t know where You are going, and how can we know the way. ”Jesus saith unto him, I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.  No man cometh unto the Father but by Me.” 

Oh, do not talk about many ways.  There is only one—Jesus is the only way.  There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved, but the name of Jesus. Have you come to Him? Are you trusting Him? If you are, you are on the way to the Father’s house, and now you can wait with equal glad expectation for the hour of His return, for He said, “If I go, I will come again and receive you unto Myself.” 

When will He come?

We cannot tell that, but we are waiting for Him day by day.

I know not when the Lord will come or at what hour He may appear,

Whether at midnight or at morn, or at what season or the year.

I only know that He is near, and that His voice I soon shall hear.

(H. A. Ironside)

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July 5

“Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden,

and I will give you rest.”

(Matthew 11:28)   

In all our weariness we know Him, who knew weariness and thirst—A Man, verily, “God over all, blessed for ever,” (Romans 9:5) yet truly Man, now glorified, the Succourer of His people, their great High Priest, “Touched with the feeling of our infirmities.”

Surely we can find rest in Him as under “the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.” (Isaiah 32:2). Ay, and He gives the invitation: "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest”— an invitation most blessedly falling from the lips of the Gospel preacher; and no weary sinner who comes to Him, but will find rest, yet not confined to that, but an invitation to you that labour and are heavy laden to rest.

Blessed Jesus!  The One whom our souls love is He who can give rest to His flock at noon. "Rest at Noon”! (Song of Solomon1:7).  

Do you know anything of it? 

(A. J. Pollock)

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July 6

“Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.

Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be 

able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”

(Ephesians 6:10-11)

The Christian life is a constant warfare.

We have three subtle and cruel enemies ever arrayed again us—the world, the flesh, and the Devil—and against all these we are called to make a resolute stand.

We do not fight in our own strength but as we are empowered by 

Him whose soldiers we are. 

(H. A. Ironside)

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July 7

“To Him give all the prophets witness, that through His name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins.”

(Acts 10:43)

Long before man is to be judged for his sins God unfolds two things; first, that forgiveness is offered to every soul that believes in His Son, and secondly, that He sends the Holy Ghost to dwell in the believer.  

Is not that wide enough, broad enough, to take you and me in?

Is not forgiveness of sins the very thing you need and desire?

That is the very thing God proclaims to you. 

(W.T. P. Wolston)

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July 8

“Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you.”

(1 Peter 5:7)

A dear brother in Christ recently told of a question asked by the teacher

of his six year old grandson, Noah.

During a classroom discussion she asked the children,

“What is worry?”

Raising his hand, Noah replied;

"It’s when we think God can’t handle it.”

Oh!, for the sweet, simple faith of a child!

Could the wisest of adults give a better answer?

(C.T.S Doug Nicolet - March, 2010)

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July 9

"And Zaccheus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.” 
(Luke 19:8)

It is plainly the language of a benevolent and conscientious heart without the knowledge of salvation, which the Lord brought that day to Zaccheus’ house.  The tone of Zaccheus is as different as possible from that of the self righteous Pharisee who "stood and prayed with himself” (18:11,12).

Here was the case of a man who was truly in earnest.

Neither his diminutive stature nor the crowd around the Lord hindered him. Would that we might see many as truly in earnest as the blind beggar and Zaccheus!

The Lord Jesus, the good Shepherd, called His own sheep by name; He said, “Zaccheus, make haste and come down; for to-day I must abide at thy house.”  

Zaccheus tells the Lord what had been the habitual practice of an honest and good heart, which had yearned after better things; but still, however blessed it is to see human righteousness where it exists,
there was no recognition of this when it was the question of bringing salvation to him—

“This day is salvation come to this house. . . . For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

(Luke 19:9-10)

(F. G. Patterson)

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July 10

WHILE  WE  ARE  WAITING

“Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord . . . Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.”

(James 5:7,8)

Give us joy of the thought of Thy coming ‘mid all the griefs that encompass us here, ‘Mid awful anguish and dread desolation, voices of wailing, of madness and fear;

Fulness of joy shall we have in Thy presence, when the long tale of earth’s sorrow shall close; Give us the earnest of that blessed gladness; joy of the world, be our strength in these woes.

Give us the peace of the thought of Thy coming ‘mid raging war and the rumours of war, Safe in the clefts of the rock do Thou hide us, shelter us far from the tempests’ wild roar;

Under Thy wings shall no evil betide us; in Thy strong arm shall our confidence be;  Who can make trouble when Thou givest quiet? Peace of the world, we are trusting in Thee.

Give us the light of the thought of Thy coming; Dark is the night, and its shadows are nigh, Dim, flaring lamps of man’s genius and learning—all, all have failed us; they flicker and die.

Dark is the night, but above and beyond it soon shall the day break and shadows all flee; Soon shall we see Thine ineffable glory; light of the world, we are following Thee.

(Flint’s Best-Loved Poems)

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July 11

“That Christ should suffer, and that He should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should show light unto the people, and to the Gentiles.

King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets?  I know that thou believest. Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.

And Paul said, I would to God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether such as I am.”

(Acts 26:23,27-29)

“Almost persuaded": come, come today!

“Almost persuaded”: turn not away!

Jesus invites you here;

List to His voice so clear

Now falling on your ear:

Come, wanderer, come!

(P. P. Bliss)

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July 12

“But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and 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, and be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. (Philippians 3:7-9)

Few believers ever learn to truly love the cross of Christ.  For though it offers  great deliverance, it also demands great sacrifice.  Isaac Watts drives this truth home through the words and music of this powerful hymn.

He composed more than six hundred hymns, all designed to call the congregation to a deeper knowledge and worship of God.  This hymn was written in 1707.  Its rich, grave tones call those who sing it to realize the seriousness of Christ’s sacrificial  death.

What shall we offer to God in grateful return for His gracious gift? All that we are and have is but a small offering in return for such great love. 

~~~~~~~~~~~

When we survey the wondrous cross on which the Lord of Glory died, Our richest gain we count but loss, and pour contempt on all our pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that we should boast, save in the death of Christ, our God; All the vain things that charm us most, We'd sacrifice them to His blood.

There from His head, His hands, His feet, sorrow and love flowed mingled down; Did e’er such love and sorrow meet, or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature ours, that were an offering far too small; Love that transcends our highest powers, demands our soul, our life, our all. 

Isaac Watts (1674-1748)

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July 13

“The just shall live by faith.”

(Hebrews 10:38)

Believe God’s word and power more than you
believe your own feelings and experiences.

Your rock is Christ, and it is not the Rock
which ebbs and flows, but your sea.

(Samuel Rutherford)

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July 14

“When He prepared the heavens, I was there . . . I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him.”

(Proverbs 8:27,30)

“And they bring Him unto the place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, the place of a skull" (Mark 15:22).

“. . . there they crucified Him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left" (Luke 23:33). 

The Delight of God—crucified.  He who was as the Jewel set in the heart of that pure glory, when the God of heaven and earth prepared the sunrise for this earth; He to be hanged in shame between two thieves, that our eyes might see His salvation, which He had prepared before the face of all people; a Light to lighten the Gentiles, and the Glory of His people Israel: that we, who sat in darkness, might see a great light; that to us who sat in the region and shadow of death, light might spring up—words fail, thoughts fail, before such love.

“O come, let us worship and fall down: and kneel before the LORD our maker.” 

(Psalm 95:6)

(Thou Givest  They Gather - Amy Carmichael)

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July 15

“And of Benjamin he said, the beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by him; and the Lord shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between his shoulders.”

(Deuteronomy 33:12)

Born into a large and remarkable family, he was the baby brother to eleven fractious and strong willed men. His father undoubtedly loved him but his birth would always be associated with the loss of his adored Rachael. 

His only natural brother was soon betrayed and gone.  Perhaps worst of all, never once did he experience his mother’s kiss or caress.  But he was beloved of God.

God loves the lacking. 

He will keep them by Him, protect them and 

bear them on His shoulders through all of life’s distresses and trials. 

(S. McEachern)

So dear, so very dear to God, more dear I cannot be;

The love wherewith He loves the Son:

such is His love to me!

(Horatius Bonar)

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July 16

REASONABLE  INFERENCE

“And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.”

(Genesis 41:44)

As exalted and vested with glory, all are called to “bow the knee” to Joseph, and no man is to act independently of him.

“Without thee,” says Pharaoh, “shall no man lift up his hand in all the land of Egypt.” If Joseph is supreme all are called to submit.

And so today, if God has exalted the Lord Jesus and given Him a Name which is above every name, it is “that at the Name of Jesus every knee shall bow” (Philippians 2:10).

The Christian delights to bow during the plenteous years of grace; the world  will be compelled to bow 

in the years of famine.   

(Hamilton Smith)

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July 17

“And Elijah . . . said unto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.”

(1 Kings 17:1)

“Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation.”

(Matthew 26:41)

If we do not bow before the LORD at the morning we will bow before the world by nightfall.

Jesus was praying to the Father while Peter was sleeping, then Jesus was witnessing a good confession before the world, as Peter was denying Him before the fires of the world.

Elijah could stand before Ahab because he had first stood in the presence of the LORD.

(With thanks - Dan Hopkins)

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July 18

“Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and He shall hear my voice." 

(Psalm 55:17)

"Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and He shall sustain Thee: He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.”  

(Psalm 55:22)

Ere you left your room this morning did you think to pray? In the name of Christ, our Saviour, did you ask for loving favour, as a shield today?

When you met with great temptation did you think to pray? By His dying love and merit did you claim the Holy Spirit as your guide and stay?

When your heart was filled with anger did you think to pray? Did you plead for grace, my brother, that you might forgive another who had crossed your way?

When sore trials came upon you did you think to pray? When your soul was bowed in sorrow, Balm of Gilead did you borrow at the gates today?

REFRAIN:

O how praying rests the weary!

Prayer will change the night to day;

So, when life seems dark and dreary, don’t forget to pray. 

(Mary Ann Kidder)

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July 19

“How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.”

(Proverbs 6:9-11)

Sleeping in time of labour is out of place in a scene where man has been commanded to eat his bread by the sweat of his face.

No one has a right to count on God to undertake for him in temporal matters, who is not himself characterized by energy and wakefulness.

Poverty and want follow slothfulness; as in a spiritual sense, endless woe must follow the one who sleeps on in

this the day of grace, refusing to be awakened.

“A little more sleep, a little more slumber, and thou shalt wake in hell to sleep no more forever!”  

(Proverbs - H. A. Ironside)

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July 20

“I called upon the LORD in distress: the Lord answered me, and set me in a large place. The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?”

(Psalm 118:5-6)

“Thou hast set my feet in a large room. Have mercy upon me, O LORD, for I am in trouble." (Psalm 31:8-9) 

“If God be for us, who can be against us?”

(Romans 8:31)

I know not what the future holds,

No, not one single hour;

But I know One who knoweth well,

And has it in His power;

Because I trusted in the blood

Poured out on Calvary,

In Him my future is secure

For all eternity.

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July 21

Daily Refreshing

“Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine.” 

(Isaiah 43:1)

"For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed, and My blessing upon thine offspring: and they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses.” 

(Isaiah 44:3,4)  

The wind and ocean air which I inhaled yesterday will not do for today.  The breezes which refreshed me last week will not so refresh me this morning. The surge of oxygen that cleansed and energized my body metabolism about a month ago will not suffice for my work this afternoon.

I must be refreshed, rejuvenated, yes refilled each day. There is no other way. The supply and source is inexhaustible.  The movement and flow is eternal.  The dynamic energy never diminishes.

All that is required is that I expose and open myself before Him to be totally available to His personal impact upon me today.  To so live—sensitive to His presence, aware of His wishes, obedient and open to His will—is to be filled and stimulated by His Spirit . . . now and on into eternity.

(W. Philip Keller - Songs of My Soul)

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July 22

“After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward."

(Genesis 15:1)   

In rescuing Lot, Abraham learned that God was his shield in battle and his reward in victory. The Christian life is a battle but in Christ we can turn aside the piercing arrows of worry, opposition and failure.

We can repel the fiery darts of fear, loneliness and despair. In victory we learn that Christ is our reward.

Through Him we have a personal relationship with God—now and forever. Let’s foster that relationship today.

(George Ferrier)

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing, Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing:

Dost ask who that may be?  Christ Jesus, it is He; Lord Sabaoth, His Name, From age to age the same, and He must win the battle.

(Martin Luther)

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July 23

“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

(Isaiah 40:31)

Mounting up with wings suggests that the higher we rise, the wider the prospect. As you have climbed some high hill, have you not noticed how the prospect widens?  

Almost every few steps in the ascent opens to your view some feature of the landscape you had not noticed before—the distant and the near lie extended as a map at your feet. 

That which had never been seen before becomes distinct and clear.

So God would have His children mount up with wings as eagles, in order that they may survey the prospect, and the vast extent of their blessings that lie open to view.  As eagles!  No bird flies higher.

It sores aloft with unfaltering flight and with unflinching eye, gazing, it is said, upon the glorious orb of day itself.

Have we risen yet on eagle’s wings?  Have we taken in the full prospect of our blessing? Have we comprehended the divine purpose?  God said of His people of old:   

“I have borne you on eagles’ wings and brought you to MYSELF.”

(Angels in White - Russell Elliot)

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July 24

“Because this woman troubleth me, I will avenge her.”

(Luke 18:5)

We should be careful about what we ask from God; but when once we begin to pray for a thing we should never give up praying for it until we receive it, or until God makes it very clear and definite that it is not His will to grant it.

(R. A. Torrey)

It is said of John Bradford that he had a peculiar art in prayer.  When asked his secret, he said: “When I know what I want, I always stop on that prayer until I feel that I have pleaded it with God, and until God and I have had dealings with each other upon it.  I never go on to another petition until I have gone through the first.” 

To the same point Mr. Spurgeon said: “Do not try to put two arrows on the string at once—they will both miss. He that would load his gun with two charges cannot expect to be successful.  Plead once with God and prevail, and then plead again.

Get the first answer and then go after the second.  Do not be satisfied with running the colours of your prayers into one another until there is no picture to look at, but just a huge daub—  a smear of colours badly laid on.”

Far better would it be to know what our real needs are, and then concentrate our earnest supplications upon those definite objects, taking them thoughtfully one at a time.

(Springs in the Valley)

“Ask what I shall give thee.” (2 Chronicles 1:7)

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July 25

“He is the head of the body, the church; who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the preeminence.”

(Colossians 1:18)

O Lord! Thou now art risen; 

Thy travail all is o’er;

For sin Thou once hast suffered—

Thou livest to die no more;

Sin, death and hell are vanquished

By Thee, the church’s Head;

And lo! we share Thy triumphs, 

Thou Firstborn from the dead.

(J. G. Deck)

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July 26

OUR  INTELLECTS  KEPT FOR  JESUS

“And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9) 

He who made every power can use every power—memory, judgment, imagination, quickness of apprehension or insight; specialties of musical, poetical, oratorical, or artistic faculty; special tastes for reasoning, philosophy, history, natural science, or natural history—all these may be dedicated to Him, sanctified by Him, and used by Him. 

Whatever He has given, He will use if we will let Him.  Often in the most unexpected ways and at the most unexpected turns something read or acquired long ago suddenly comes into use.

We cannot foresee what will thus “come in useful”; but He knew, when He guided us to learn it what it would be wanted for in His service.  So may we not ask Him to bring His perfect foreknowledge to bear on all our mental training and storing? to guide us to read or study exactly what He knows there will be use for in the work to which He has called or will call us?

(Kept for the Master’s Use - Francis Ridley Havergal)

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July 27

“TODAY”

“So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”

(Psalm 90:12)

Today is not a day to be endured just in order to get over yonder to something better. The grass looks greener in the next pasture, but it is hard to tell which is our most important day.

One day has one kind of opportunity, another has another.  Let us buy up all the opportunities, for the days are evil.  We are apt to put a red circle around the wrong day. God’s calendar does not look like ours.

The big day on ours may be without special significance on His.  And the ordinary day,  when “nothing much happened,” may, if redeemed to His glory, be a great day in His sight.

Do not try to evaluate any day, just make the most of it.  What seems a dry and tedious interval, a desert stretch between here and yonder, while you burn with a fever to be into the middle of next week, may afford greater opportunity to know God and glorify Him than the glamorous day you are burning to reach.

Besides, this is the only day you can be sure of.  “Boast not thyself of tomorrow.” And today is the only day of its kind.  God never makes two alike. There will never be another day like it.  You may call it “just another day,” but it isn’t.  Make it count for God!

(Day by Day with Vance Havner) 

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July 28

"In the world ye shall have tribulation:

but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

(John 16:33)

The Lord does not hold out to us the prospect of exemption from 

trial and tribulation; quite the opposite.

He tells us we shall have to meet both the one and the other;

but He promises to be with us in them, and this is infinitely better.

(Food for the Desert)

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July 29

“Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.”

(2 Corinthians 9:7) 

When the English government sought to reward General Charles George Gordon for his brilliant services in China, General Gordon declined all money or titles, but finally accepted a gold medal inscribed with 

the record of his thirty-three engagements.

It was his most prized possession.

But after his death the medal could not be found.

Eventually it was learned that he had sent it to Manchester during a severe famine, directing that it should be melted down and used to buy bread for the poor.

Under the date of its sending, these words were found written in his diary: "The last and only thing I had in this world that I valued I have given over to the Lord Jesus Christ.”

It is not what you have that matters,

It is what you do do with what you have.

—Sir Wilfred Grenfell

(Mountain Trailways for Youth)

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July 30

THE  LITTLE  DOORS

“Strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life.”

(Matthew 7:14)

Oh, strait and narrow is the door, the little door of loss,

By which we enter in to Christ, the low door of the cross;

But when we put away our pride, and in contrition come,

We find it is the only way that leads to God and home.

Oh, strait and lowly are the doors by which Christ comes to us;

We bar the entrance gates of joy, and when He finds them thus,

By strange, small doors of woe and want, of trial and of pain,

He enters in to share our lives to our eternal gain.

The narrow doors He brings us to, the little doors and low,—

What large rooms they will open on, if we will only go;

The strange, small doors of work and want, strait doors of grief and pain,

What riches they will lead us to, what everlasting gain!

(The Life of Annie Johnson Flint - Poems)

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July 31

"And He will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering [shroud] cast over all people . . .” (Isaiah 25:7)

A brutal car wreck devastated Mary Ann Franco.  Though she survived, the injuries left her completely blind. “All I coud see was blackness,” Franco explained.  Twenty-one years later, she injured her back in a fall. After waking from surgery (which had nothing to do with her eyes), miraculously, her sight had returned!  

For the first time in more than two decades, Franco saw her daughter’s face. The neurosurgeon insisted there was no scientific explanation for her restored vision.  The darkness that seemed so final gave way to beauty and light.

The Scriptures, as well as our experience, tell us that a shroud of ignorance and evil covers the world, blinding all of us to God’s love (Isaiah 25:7).  Selfishness and greed, our self-sufficiency, our lust for power or image—all these compulsions obscure our vision, making us unable to clearly see the God who “. . . Thou hast done wonderful things.” (v.1)  

Left to ourselves, we experience only darkness, confusion, and despair.  We often feel trapped—groping and stumbling, unable to see our way forward.  Thankfully, Isaiah promises that God will ultimately "destroy in this mountain the face of the covering [shroud] cast over all people” (v.7).    

God will not leave us hopeless.  His radiant love removes whatever blinds us, surprising us with a beautiful vision of a good life and abundant grace.

(Winn Collier) 

“The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” 
(1 John 1:7)

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"Our Daily Bread” RBC Ministries, Copyright (2019), Grand Rapids, MI.  Reprinted permission.

August 1

THE  BLIND  MAN

“And He took the blind man by the hand, 

and led him out of the town."

(Mark 8:23)

Lead me, my Saviour; take me by the hand,

For Thou can’st see those steps unseen by me.

I cannot walk by sight; ’tis well that Thou hast planned

How I may walk secure by faith in Thee.

Lead me, my Master; let me feel Thy hand,

E’en while Thy face as yet I cannot see.

What though “without the city” I must take my stand,

No-one is lonely while in touch with Thee.

Lead me, Lord Jesus, till at last Thy hand

From my dark blindness sets me gladly free.

The way Thou leadest now I then shall understand,

And, best and brightest, then I’ll gaze on Thee.

(Bells and Pomegranates - James M. S. Tait)

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August 2

“He shall dwell on high: His place of defence shall be the [fortresses] of rocks: . . . Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty:  they shall behold the land that is very far off.”

(Isaiah  33:16-17)

Up yonder on the rocky cliff in a rough nest of sticks lies an egg.  The eagle’s breast-feathers warm it; the sky bends down and invites it; the abysses of the air beckon it saying: 

“All our heights and depths are for you; come and occupy them.”

And all the peaks and the roomy places up under the rafters of the sky, where the twinkling stars sit sheltered like twittering sparrows, call down to the pent-up little life, “Come up hither!” and the live germ inside hears through the thin walls of its prison, and is coaxed out of its shell, and out of the nest, and off the cliff, and then up and away into the wide ranges of sunlit air, and down into the deep gulfs that gash mountains apart.

(A Pilgrim of the Infinite) 

I stand upon the mount of God with sunlight in my soul; I hear the storms in vales beneath, I hear the thunders roll.

But I am calm with Thee, my God, beneath these glorious skies; And to the height on which I stand, no storms, nor clouds, can rise.

O, THIS is life! O, this is joy!  My God, to find Thee so; Thy face to see, Thy voice to hear, and all Thy love to know.”

(Horatius Bonar)

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August 3