Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time
that their corn and their wine increased.
Psalms 4:7
How can we reach the place where we can say “More than”?
Have you noticed that, from the place where you stand,
there is always a shining way on the water, in the sunrise or sunset,
or in moonlight, or when a bright planet like Venus is rising or setting?
There may be a hundred people on the shore, and yet each one sees that path beginning just where he or she stands. I shall never forget my astonishment when I saw this for the first time.
It is like that with the Bible.
Wherever you are reading you will find a path that leads you
from that place straight to the heart of God, and the desires of God.
Edges of His Ways - Amy Carmichael
N.J. Hiebert - 7581
September 21
And the Lord said unto Moses, "Yet will I bring one plague more upon Pharaoh, and
upon Egypt; afterwards he will let you go hence; when he shall let you go,
he shall surely thrust you out hence altogether".
Exodus 11:1
One more heavy blow must fall upon this hard hearted monarch and his land ere he
will be compelled to let go the favoured objects of Jehovah’s sovereign grace.
How utterly vain it is for man to harden and exalt himself against God;
for, truly, He can grind to powder the hardest heart, and bring down to the
dust the haughtiest spirit. Those that walk in pride He is able to abase. Daniel 4:37.
Man may fancy himself to be something; he may lift up his head, in pomp and vainglory,
as though he were his own master. Vain man! How little he knows of his real
condition and character! He is but the tool of Satan, taken up and used
by him, in his malignant efforts to counteract the purposes of God.
The most splendid intellect, the most commanding genius,
the most indomitable energy, if not under the direct control of the Spirit of
God, are but so many instruments in Satan’s hand to carry forward his dark designs.
No man is his own master; he is either governed by Christ or governed by Satan.
The king of Egypt might fancy himself to be a free agent, yet he
was but a tool in the hands of another.
Satan was behind the throne; and, as the result of Pharaoh’s having set himself
to resist the purposes of God, he was judicially handed over to the
blinding and hardening influence of his self-chosen master.
C. H. Mackintosh
N.J. Hiebert - 7582
September 22
Noah walked with God. Genesis 6:9
The only other man of whom this was said, was Enoch—Noah’s great-grandfather.
Now Noah, as a lad, would have known and conversed with his grandfather, Methuselah,
who would, in turn have known much of his own father,
the saintly Enoch.
As parents and grandparents we have a duty to leave a legacy to those following —
to be an example that younger generations want to follow.
Brian Russell
As surely as He overcame, and triumphed once for you,
So surely you that love His name, shall in Him triumph too.
John Newton
N.J. Hiebert - 7583
September 23
Neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God. Acts 20:24
These words were written by a faithful servant and reveal to us the secret of successful service for the Lord.
The Cost. He counted the cost that he was willing to pay—his life—and he found it a very small price. If his life was not dear to him, how much less would be such things as earthly possessions. His focus was The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world
Galatians 6:14.
The Course. He was aware of a course to be finished. He did not move aimlessly. Before his death he wrote to Timothy, I have finished my course. It was not optional whether he should preach the glad tidings or not. Christ was to be magnified in his body whether by life or by death.
The Source. The ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus. He was a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, Romans 1:1. When he first met the Lord, the message was this: Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. He was not disobedient to this heavenly vision, even later amid much suffering for the name of the Lord.
The Cost—The Course—The Source. See these three things in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Cost: He obeyed unto death, even the death of the cross. The Course: I have glorified Thee on the earth; I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do John 17:4. The Source: As the Father gave Me commandment, even so I do John 14:31.
May we too count the Cost, know the Course, and glorify the Source. Only fear the LORD, and serve Him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things He hath done for you 1 Samuel 12:24.
A. M. Benham - The Lord is Near.
N.J. Hiebert - 7584
September 24
ALL THINGS NOW READY
It is finished. John 19:30
Even if you did not heed nor believe any other words of Jesus, could you—can you—doubt HIs dying words Surely they are worthy of all acceptation! What are they? “It is finished!” What is finished? “I have finished the work that Thou gavest me to do.” And what is that work? Simply the work of our salvation.
That is the reason why all things are now ready, because Jesus has finished that all-inclusive work. When a thing is finished, how much is there left to do? The question sounds too absurd with respect to ordinary things. We hardly take the trouble to answer, "why nothing, of course!”
When Jesus has finished the work, how much is left for you to do? Do you not see? Nothing, of course! You have only to accept that work as really finished, and accept His dying declaration that it is so. What further assurance would you have? Is not this enough?
Does your heart say Yes, or No?
Oh believe the Lord hath done it! Wherefore linger? Wherefore doubt?
All the clouds of dark transgression He Himself hath blotted out.
He hath done it! Come and bless Him, swell the grand thanksgiving shout
Evermore and evermore.
Opened Treasures - F. R. Havergal
N.J. Hiebert - 7585
September 25
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, for
Thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Romans 8:35-36.
Who shall separate us?—a love that went through every obstacle to lay hold on
us—His own personal love.
There is the glory and dignity of His person,—but here it’s His own Love.
The Spirit reasons thus: Can you find a single thing,—no matter what it is,
that can come up to what He Himself endured?
It’s the love of Christ.
In Romans 8:36, the Spirit recounts certain things to which
we are exposed, because He was rejected on earth.
The peculiar character is, that it is "for His sake.”
“More than conquerors.” So complete has His victory been,
that there is nothing left for us to do.
Romans 8:37
The conqueror is the one who goes through the struggle and conflict.
But we commence in Christ’s victory.
Hunt’s Sayings
N.J. Hiebert - 7586
September 26
HELPLESSNESS
My strength is made perfect in weakness. 2 Corinthians 12:9
We need God’s power to be little.
He refreshes the spirit, raises above weakness and pain. . . .
Think much on Jesus (I do not mean as if you could think much in
your weak state, but looking to Him), and lean on Him as a sick child lies
in its mother’s arms, because it has no strength—not because it can do much.
How hard it is to receive that the work of God and of His Christ is always in weakness!
The rulers of the people saw in Peter and John unlearned and ignorant men. . . .
The thorn in the flesh made Paul despised, and he conceived
it would be better if that were gone. . . .
It is God’s rule of action, if we may so say, to choose weak things. Everything must rest on
God’s power; otherwise God’s work cannot be done according to His mind. . . .
For the work of God we must be weak, that, the strength may be of God;
and that work will last when all the earth shall be moved away.
If I can help in that work it is a favour which He confers on me, but I think that often,
when we wish to guide and govern too much, faith is wanting.
(Footprints for Pilgrims - J. N. Darby)
N.J. Hiebert - 7587
September 27
The whirlwind passeth. Proverbs 10:25
Thou remainest. Hebrews 1:11
The Lord hath His way in the whirlwind and in the storm,
and the clouds are the dust of His feet.
Nahum1:3
Meditations - John Kaiser
N.J. Hiebert 7588
September 28
A bruised reed will He not break . . . Matthew 12:20
After he found himself no longer able to render active Christian service,
Austin Phelps wrote, “One thought has assumed a new reality
in my mind of late, as an offshoot of my useless life.
When a man can do nothing else, he can add his little rill (brook) to the
great river of intercessory prayer which is always
rolling up to the throne of God.
The river is made up of such rills as the ocean is of drops.
A praying man can never be a useless man.”
Make use of me, my God! let me not be forgot;
A broken vessel cast aside, one whom Thou needest not.
All things do serve Thee here, all creatures, great and small;
Make use of me, my God—the meanest of them all.
Dr. Horatius Bonar
N.J. Hiebert - 7589
September 29
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Philippians 4:13
A wonderful Saviour is Jesus my Lord, a wonderful Saviour to me,
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock, where rivers of pleasure I see.
A wonderful Saviour is Jesus my Lord, He taketh my burden away,
He holdeth me up, and I shall not be moved, He giveth me strength as my day.
With numberless blessings each moment He crowns, and filled with His fullness divine,
I sing in my rapture, oh, glory to God for such a Redeemer as mine!
When clothed in His brightness, transported I rise to meet Him in clouds of the sky,
His perfect salvation, His wonderful love, I’ll shout with the millions on high.
CHORUS: He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land;
He hideth my life in the depths of His love, and covers me there with His hand,
And covers me there with His hand.
Fanny J. Crosby
N.J. Hiebert - 7590
September 30
Neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself;
and let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread.
And He shall be for a sanctuary.
Isaiah 8:12-14
I will not be afraid, for I know that He keepeth me safe from harm,
And He shall defend His own with a strong and a stretched-out arm;
Though I grope in perilous paths in darkness and danger and doubt,
I know as He brought me in, so He surely will bring me out.
N.J. Hiebert - 7591
October 1
WHERE ELSE CAN WE GO?
Lord, to whom shall we go?
John 6:68
Peter gives three reasons for being a Christian.
He begins with the poorest, but it will do to start.
It is a matter of alternatives.
If we do not take Jesus’ way, what
else can we do? What are the other options?
Look up any other road and what do you see?
It comes to this: it is Jesus Christ or else. There is only
one Book that has the Answer and Jesus Christ is that Answer.
I do not understand everything in the Book, but I stand on everything in it.
I look every other direction and I see only
depravity, despair, and death.
Where could I go but to my Lord?
Vance Havner
N.J. Hiebert - 7592
October 2
Jonathan and His Times
And Jonathan said to David, go in peace, forasmuch as we have sworn both of us in the name of the LORD, saying, the LORD be between me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed for ever. And he arose and departed: and Jonathan went into the city. 1 Samuel 20:42
And Barnabas determined to take with them John whose surname was Mark. But Paul thought not good to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work. And the contention was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one from the other.
Acts 15:37-39.
There is a remarkable similarity between Jonathan in the Old Testament and Barnabas in the New. Both were gracious and affectionate; both were signally used of God in their day; but both manifested deplorable weakness in a moment of crisis.
Barnabas broke with Paul, special vessel of the Spirit in his time; and Jonathan parted with David, Jehovah’s choice for the throne of Israel. In both cases, natural affection was the snare; Barnabas could not give up John Mark, and Jonathan could not give up Saul.
The break-down of these truly excellent saints is recorded for our instruction. Perhaps there is nothing that so hinders full loyalty to Christ as natural affection. We find it so difficult to give Him the place of absolute supremacy in our hearts and lives.
In Luke 14:26 the Lord Jesus points out a similar path for all who would be His disciples. The natural must be subservient to the spiritual if we would follow Him. The rejected One—our God in "the likeness of sinful flesh” laid it down emphatically, “He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me” Matthew 10:37
What a test for our hearts!
(W.W. Feredy)
N.J. Hiebert - 7593
October 3
