Gems from July 2026

SPIRITUAL  REFRESHMENT  FROM  THE  ROCK

And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.  1 Corinthians 10:4 

Water was in the rock, but until smitten, it did not give forth water--so it was with Christ.  And now He is revealed to us in heaven as the eternal Son of God, who was smitten for us.  We can turn to Him and say, "There is our spring of living water; He is ours.  We have got eternal life in Him as a well of water springing up."  All the way through the wilderness, the water flowed to slake their thirst, to refresh them; all the way, and it spoke blessedly of Christ. 

The freshness of heart in Christ was always the same.  You and I get so weary in our experience of the wilderness, but Christ's heart is never wearied.  It is as freshly set on the bride as when God chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. 

Whatever the mind is most fixed upon, and is ever turning to, gives its impression to the mind. If my feelings and thoughts are fixed on Christ, I get the imprint of Christ. If I am ever turning to Him in all His heavenly measure of love, I shall get the impression of it.

He does not forget us toiling through the wilderness and the sands of the desert.  He is with us all the way, and all freshness is in Him.  I may be a way-worn pilgrim, but there I shall find freshness--a spring of cold water to refresh me just when fainting in the wilderness.  Oh, that love in the heart of Christ that knows no weariness, no dragging steps, no hanging down of the hands.  Oh, the freshness of Christ's love and the brightness of that water forever flowing in incomparable purity and freshness!   G. V. Wigram

On to Canaan's rest still wending, e'en thy wants and woes shall bring
Suited grace from high descending, thou shalt taste of mercy's spring.   J.N.Darby

N.J. Hiebert - 20354

June 29

And He said unto them, with desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer.   Luke 22:15 

The storm was gathering outside, preparations for his arrest and condemnation and crucifixion were being rapidly completed, and Judas, who knew all about it, sat there at the table with Him, with the price of his treachery in his bag.  And Jesus knew all this.  Never before had the powers of darkness been so stirred; this was the supreme hour; men were but the puppets on the stage, guilty puppets, playing their part with willing hearts; but behind them were the forces of evil determined to crush that one lowly Man, and to finish forever at one blow their long fight with God--and Jesus knew this. 

But His disciples, and we, were His one thought.  They loved Him, but He loved them more; and it was His desire, not theirs, that had brought them together for that sacred occasion.  The Passover Feast commemorated the deliverance of Israel from Egypt; the lamb roasted with fire upon which they fed year by year turned the eye of faith forward to His coming.  And now He had come, and there He sat to share with them that meal which spoke so eloquently of what He would do. 

It was at the Passover Feast that He instituted the supper, which we know and love as the Lord's Supper (1 Corinthians 11); and this He did entirely in view of His absence from them.  He was to be no more with them, and they would miss His blessed company; and the measure in which they would miss Him would show the measure of their love to Him. 

And so it is now: the Lord is not here; He has no place in the world; its politics, social circles, pleasures, and schemes have no room for Him.  Are we conscious of His absence, and of this?  If we love Him we shall miss Him and shall long for the time when He shall come to take us to His Father's house, that where He is we may be also.  J. T, Mawson

N.J. Hiebert - 20355

June 30

And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night.  

Exodus 13:21 

What is of importance to notice here is that the people of Israel were divinely guided on their march.  He who selected their path guided them in it, went before them in the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, in all their wanderings.  These gracious symbols of His presence He never took from them as long as they were in the wilderness. 

This is only an illustration of the truth, that the Lord is ever the guide of His people.  He who leads them out of Egypt may ever be seen before them in the path on which they have entered.  He never says, "Go"; but His word is always, "Follow Me."  He Himself is the Way, as well as the Truth and the Life (John 14:6). 

It is quite true that we have not the visible guidance which the children of Israel enjoyed; but it is no less discernible  and certain to the spiritual eye.  The Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path (Psalm 119:105).  It is interesting to remark that there was no such guidance in Egypt or in the land. 

This brings out the important truth, that it is only in the wilderness that the indication of a way is needed.  And there it is in His tenderness and mercy that the Lord leads His own, showing them the way in which they should walk, where they should rest, and when they should march, leaving nothing to them, but Himself undertaking all for them, only requiring that their eyes should be kept fixed on their Guide.  Happy are the people who are thus led, and who are made willing to follow, who by grace are enabled to say, "Only Thou our Leader be, and we still will follow Thee."  Edward Dennett

N.J. Hiebert - 20356

July 1

My times are in Thy hands.  Psalm 31:15 - Rejoice, with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.  Be kindly  affectioned one to another...in honour preferring one another. Romans12: 10,15 - Look not ever man on his own things [interests] but every man also on the things [interests] of others. Philippians 2:4

Father, I know that all my life is portioned out for me,
And the changes that are sure to come I do not fear to see;
But I ask Thee for a patient mind, intent on pleasing Thee.

I ask Thee for a thoughtful love, through constant watching, wise, To meet the glad with joyful smiles, and wipe the weeping eyes;
A heart at leisure from itself, to soothe and sympathize.

I ask Thee for the daily strength to none that ask denied,
A mind to blend with outward life while keeping at Thy side; 
Content to fill a little space if Thou be glorified.

In service which Thy love appoints there are no bonds for me;
My inmost heart is taught the truth that makes Thy children free: A life of self renouncing love is one of liberty.

Wherever in the world I am, in whatsoever estate,
I have a fellowship with hearts to keep and cultivate;
And a work of lowly love to do for the Lord on whom I wait.

So I ask Thee for daily strength to none that ask denied,
And a mind to blend with outward life while keeping at Thy side; Content to fill a little space if Thou be glorified.

There are briars besetting every path that call for patient care;
There is a cross in every lot, and an earnest need for prayer;
But a lowly heart that leans on Thee is happy anywhere.  Anna Waring 1823-1910

N.J. Hiebert - 20357

July 2

And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thy heart.  Deuteronomy 8:2 

The wilderness life tends to bring out a great deal of the evil that is in our hearts.  We begin our Christian careers  with the joy of deliverance, but it is as we go on from stage to stage of our desert course that we become  acquainted with self.  But we are not to suppose that as we grow in self-knowledge our joy must decline.  Quite the opposite! For then our joy would depend on ignorance of self, whereas it really depends on our Knowledge of God.   

As the believer goes onward, he learns that sin is a reality; that divine grace is a reality; that salvation is a reality--a deep, personal reality; and that the advocacy of Christ is a reality. In a word, he learns the depth, the fullness, the power, the application of God's gracious resources.  As Moses said to Israel (vv.3-4), "He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger [not that you might be driven to despair, but that he might feed] thee with the manna...thy raiment waxed (grew) not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years." 

"Thou shalt remember!" What a touching and beautiful appeal!  Remember forty years of evidence of what was in the heart of God toward His redeemed people whom He clothed, fed, and cared for in a vast and howling wilderness. What a noble and soul-satisfying display of the fullness of divine resources!  

How is it possible that, with the history of Israel's desert wandering lying open before us, we could ever harbour a single doubt or fear!  Oh! that our hearts may be more completely emptied of self and more completely filled with Christ.  This alone brings true holiness and true happiness.  C. H. Mackintosh

N.J. Hiebert - 20358

July 3

And the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli...the Lord called Samuel (v.4)...the Lord called yet again, Samuel (v.6)...Samuel did not yet know the Lord, neither was the word of the Lord yet revealed unto him (v.7)...the Lord called Samuel again the third time (v.8)...Eli said unto Samuel, Go, lie down: and it shall be, if He call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth...(v.9). 

In chapter 1, Eli lacked discernment; in chapter 2, he lacked the moral courage to separate himself from evil; here, his eyes are dim and he cannot see, nevertheless the lamp of God had not yet gone out--a striking image of his moral condition. And what is more, this leader of the simple proves himself to be dull of understanding. It is not until the third call that "Eli perceived that Jehovah was calling the boy." Yes, "dull of hearing": that is exactly  what he had become. 

Samuel was simply ignorant, which is a thousand times better.  When there is godliness, God remedies ignorance.  If the new born babe desires "the pure milk of the word," he will not be refused.  Here on earth we know only in part and we will never know otherwise than only in part.  That we are not responsible for; but it is a question of growth: "that by it ye may grow" (1 Peter 2:2), and our responsibility is to seek, to this end, spiritual food. 

Here we find a feature of Eli's spiritual weakening: "For the iniquity which he hath known, because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not" (v13). Eli knew the evil, and he had authority to repress it in his sons, but he did not use it.  What profit was it to him that this authority had been entrusted to him by God? How often the spiritual weakening of the head of a family stems from his slackness when he should have maintained order and discipline in the sphere where his authority was meant to function?  This is a great cause of ruin, like Lot, Eli was "distressed with abandoned conversation [manner of life] of the godless." but like him, he displayed a sad forgetfulness of what was due to the Lord's holiness. 1 Samuel - H. L. Rossier

N.J. Hiebert - 20359

July 4

July 5