Gems from August 2026

I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth Thee.  Job 42:5 

Job was a good man already.  He feared God and eschewed [shunned] evil, and God called him "My servant Job" and said of him, "There is none like him in the earth." (Job 1:8) 

Job had heard and had believed.  That is good enough to start with.  "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God" (Romans 10:17).  Moreover, Job had lived an exemplary life. But, like many who have come that far, he needed to see God, not in a vision or manifestation to the senses but in a personal, overwhelming, humbling, pride-shattering consciousness of the very presence of God Himself. 

Through the ages, such an experience, though wide and diverse in its patterns, has marked the men God has used most.  Too many have heard and believed and lived but have not seen.  God brings us to where we can say, "I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth Thee" (Job 42:5) 

Faith is a very simple thing, tho' little understood;
It frees the soul from death's dread sting, by resting on the blood.

It looks not on the things around, nor on the things within;
It takes its flight to scenes above, beyond the sphere of sin.

It sees upon the the throne of God  a victim that was slain;
It rests its all on His shed blood, and says, "I'm born again."

Faith is not what we see or feel; It is a simple trust 
In what the God of love has said of Jesus as the Just.  Asa Hull
Day by Day with Vance Havner  

N.J. Hiebert - 20387

August 1

BEING  USABLE

"If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the Master's use, and prepared unto every good work.  

2 Timothy 2:21
  
Have we any prayer like "Use me, O Lord," in the Bible?  We have it in hymns; I expect we have often prayed to be used.  But as I looked through my Bible for an answer to this strange question, I could not find any such prayer anywhere. 

The word in 2 Timothy 2:21 simply says that if the vessel be clean it will be ready for the Master to use; and in Isaiah 6, the "Send me" was in answer to the question,"Who will go?" 

It is at least  interesting and suggestive to find many other verbs occurring in prayer--Teach me, lead me, bless me, and so on--and not this verb which we would naturally expect.  Is it that there is no need for it? 

If the vessel be clean and ready to hand, the Master will use it.  It is not necessary that it should ask Him to do so.  The Captain will use the soldier if he be prepared for use; words of beseeching on the soldier's part are not required.  The one thing that matters is that we should be usable.

Each day brings us, like a new gift, a quite new opportunity.  Our precious handful of days may be partly or almost wholly spent, but God does not, as earthly masters often do, pay off a worker saying, "You are no use to me now"; He gives us each day a new chance. 
Thou Givest...They Gather - Amy Carmichael 

N.J. Hiebert - 20388

August 2

A brother beloved, specially to me, but how much more unto thee, both in the flesh, and in the Lord?  Philemon 16

Though we are to pray for all saints, yet some call for a more special remembrance at our hands: for instance, those that are near to us by bond of nature as well as of grace. (Philemon 16)  You are to pray particularly for those that are in distress: whoever you forget, remember these: this is a fit season for love. 

A friend for adversity is as proper as fire for for a winter's day: Job's friends chose the right time to visit him, but took not the right course of improving their visit: had they spent the time in praying for him which they did in hot disputes with him, they would have profited him, and pleased God more. 

Prayer and Thanksgiving.  Prayer is a means to dispose the heart to praise.  When David begins a psalm with prayer, he commonly ends it with praise.  That Spirit which leads a soul out of itself to God for supply, will direct to the same God with His praise.  We do not borrow money of one man and return it to another. 

If God has been your strength, surely you will make Him your song.  The thief comes not to thank a man for what he steals out of his yard.  Mercies ill got are commonly as ill spent, because they are not sanctified, and so become fuel to feed lusts.

As, a necessary ingredient in all our prayers: "...with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God." (Philippians 4:6).  This spice must be in all our offerings.  He that prays for a mercy he wants, and is not thankful for mercies received, may seem mindful of himself, but is forgetful of God, and so takes the wrong course.  God will not put His mercies into a torn purse; and such is an unthankful heart. Christian in Complete Armour - William Gurnall 1617-1679   
N.J. Hiebert - 20389

August 3

Jesus said unto him, verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with Me in paradise...When Jesus had cried with a loud voice, He said, "Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, He gave up the ghost. Luke 23:43,46 

Jesus, the sinless Son of Man, was hanging on the cross between two guilty criminals.  Those who passed by wagged their heads and said, "He saved others; Himself He cannot save" (Matthew 27:42)  This reminds us of the words of the prophet Jeremiah, "Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto My sorrow, which is done unto Me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted Me in the day of His fierce anger." Lamentations 1:12.

The two thieves had witnessed the silent suffering of Jesus, and they had heard Him pray, "Father, forgive them." (Luke 23:34)  One thief turned in faith to the Saviour, acknowledging his guilt and and claiming that forgiveness.  We are not told his name; indeed, he represents all who believe. One moment he feared eternal separation from God, and the next moment he received the promise to be with the Saviour "today."  This newborn man now becomes a gospel preacher to the other thief on the cross, and this story still preaches to you today.  Have you come to the Saviour?  Come right now, for you may not have a tomorrow!

Luke records these last words of Jesus, as He cried with a loud voice, "Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit."  The very first words of Jesus are also recorded in (Luke 2:49) after Jesus was found in the temple and said to His mother, "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business." 
 
Jesus was about His Father's business from first to last.  He went about doing good, healing the sick, and opening the eyes of the blind.  In every circumstance, even in the garden of Gethsemane, He submitted in perfect obedience to the Father's will.  With all our hearts, we agree with the centurion who saw what happened on that cross and glorified God, saying, "Certainly this was a righteous Man! 
(Luke 23:47)  Jacob Redekop

N.J. Hiebert - 29390

August 4

August 5