February 20
LIGHTHOUSES BUILT ON SOLID ROCK
Ye are the light of the world...let your light so shine before men. Matthew 5:14-15
A few years ago, our family took a vacation up the New England coast and over to the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. As we traveled, we found the lighthouses to be the most impressive sights along the shore. By day they were imposing-enough structures standing tall on cliffs or at the inlets of the ocean. But by night they were outstanding beacons, bright lights to guide ships away from harm's way and into safe harbour.
One lighthouse we visited looked like it grew right out of the solid rock upon which it was built. The water had worn away the rock below, but not the lighthouse which was situated high above the water. For over 100 years it not only kept ships from the dangerous rocks lurking just beneath the water's surface, but also guided their way into the safety of the nearby harbour.
Shouldn't Christians be situated like these lighthouses as well? Doesn't the Word of God call us to be built upon solid rock (Matthew 7:24), where we can both stand firm and be useful guides in the darkness and danger that is all around today? Shouldn't we be useful both to guide souls away from danger and into a safe and secure relationship with Jesus Christ?
When the Ethiopian eunuch told Philip he could not understand Scripture "except some man should guide me," (Acts 8:31,35). Philip responded immediately and announced the glad tidings of Jesus to him. Shouldn't we be ever ready to do likewise? L.J. Ondrejack
Brightly beams our Father's mercy from His lighthouse evermore,
But to us He gives the keeping of the lights along the shore.
Let the lower lights be burning! send a gleam across the wave!
Some poor fainting, struggling seaman you may rescue, you may save. P. P. Bliss
N.J.Hiebert - 9129
Ye are the light of the world...let your light so shine before men. Matthew 5:14-15
A few years ago, our family took a vacation up the New England coast and over to the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. As we traveled, we found the lighthouses to be the most impressive sights along the shore. By day they were imposing-enough structures standing tall on cliffs or at the inlets of the ocean. But by night they were outstanding beacons, bright lights to guide ships away from harm's way and into safe harbour.
One lighthouse we visited looked like it grew right out of the solid rock upon which it was built. The water had worn away the rock below, but not the lighthouse which was situated high above the water. For over 100 years it not only kept ships from the dangerous rocks lurking just beneath the water's surface, but also guided their way into the safety of the nearby harbour.
Shouldn't Christians be situated like these lighthouses as well? Doesn't the Word of God call us to be built upon solid rock (Matthew 7:24), where we can both stand firm and be useful guides in the darkness and danger that is all around today? Shouldn't we be useful both to guide souls away from danger and into a safe and secure relationship with Jesus Christ?
When the Ethiopian eunuch told Philip he could not understand Scripture "except some man should guide me," (Acts 8:31,35). Philip responded immediately and announced the glad tidings of Jesus to him. Shouldn't we be ever ready to do likewise? L.J. Ondrejack
Brightly beams our Father's mercy from His lighthouse evermore,
But to us He gives the keeping of the lights along the shore.
Let the lower lights be burning! send a gleam across the wave!
Some poor fainting, struggling seaman you may rescue, you may save. P. P. Bliss
N.J.Hiebert - 9129
February 21
Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? 1 Corinthians 9:7
If we run unsent, we shall not only be left to learn our folly, but to exhibit it. It is a teacher's business to set forth God's Word, and it is a servant's business to set forth the Master's will; but while all this is fully understood and admitted, we must ever remember the deep need there is of counting the cost ere we undertake to build a tower or go forth to war. (Luke 14:28)
Abraham was called of God from Ur to Canaan, and hence God led him forth on the way. When Abraham tarried at Charran, God waited for him; When he went down into Egypt, He restored him; when he needed guidance, He guided him; when there was a strife and a separation, He took care of him; so that Abraham had only to say, "Oh, how great is Thy goodness, which Thou hast laid up for them that fear Thee: which Thou hast wrought for them that trust in Thee before the sons of men!" (Psalm 31:19)
He lost nothing by the strife. He had his tent and his altar before, and he had his tent and his altar afterwards. "Then Abraham removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the Lord." (Genesis 13:18)
Lot might choose Sodom; but as for Abraham, he sought and found his all in God. There was no altar in Sodom. Alas! all who travel in that direction are in quest of something quite different from that. It is never the worship of God, but the love of the world, that leads them thither. And even though they should attain their object, what is it?--how does it end? Just thus:
"He gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul." (Psalm 106:15) Genesis - C. H. Mackintosh
N.J.Hiebert - 9130
If we run unsent, we shall not only be left to learn our folly, but to exhibit it. It is a teacher's business to set forth God's Word, and it is a servant's business to set forth the Master's will; but while all this is fully understood and admitted, we must ever remember the deep need there is of counting the cost ere we undertake to build a tower or go forth to war. (Luke 14:28)
Abraham was called of God from Ur to Canaan, and hence God led him forth on the way. When Abraham tarried at Charran, God waited for him; When he went down into Egypt, He restored him; when he needed guidance, He guided him; when there was a strife and a separation, He took care of him; so that Abraham had only to say, "Oh, how great is Thy goodness, which Thou hast laid up for them that fear Thee: which Thou hast wrought for them that trust in Thee before the sons of men!" (Psalm 31:19)
He lost nothing by the strife. He had his tent and his altar before, and he had his tent and his altar afterwards. "Then Abraham removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the Lord." (Genesis 13:18)
Lot might choose Sodom; but as for Abraham, he sought and found his all in God. There was no altar in Sodom. Alas! all who travel in that direction are in quest of something quite different from that. It is never the worship of God, but the love of the world, that leads them thither. And even though they should attain their object, what is it?--how does it end? Just thus:
"He gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul." (Psalm 106:15) Genesis - C. H. Mackintosh
N.J.Hiebert - 9130
February 22
Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you. 1 Peter 4:12
All that grieves is but for a moment;
All that pleases is but for a moment;
Only the eternal is important.
Most of you know these words; I want to remind you of them. The eternal in anything is the unseen, the spiritual. A trial comes. It will pass. In a few days, or months, or years, we shall have forgotten it. The way we meet that trial--our inner attitude towards it--belongs to the things that are eternal.
It will matter ten thousand years hence whether we conquered or were conquered by that temptation to impatience or faithlessness or worry which came when the trial rushed upon us. It does not seem so now. We feel, "If only I could have that--that joy on which my heart is set--then I should be happy."
But these words remind us of something we know is true, and yet often forget. The pleasure will pass. There is nothing abiding in pleasure, but there is something abiding in our attitude towards that pleasure.
If we say, "I must have it; I shall not be happy if I cannot have it," Then even if we did have it, there would be no lasting gain, only a dreadful loss, eternal loss.
There is a verse about this in the Bible: "And He gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul." Psalm 106:15. Amy Carmichael
N.J.Hiebert - 9131
All that grieves is but for a moment;
All that pleases is but for a moment;
Only the eternal is important.
Most of you know these words; I want to remind you of them. The eternal in anything is the unseen, the spiritual. A trial comes. It will pass. In a few days, or months, or years, we shall have forgotten it. The way we meet that trial--our inner attitude towards it--belongs to the things that are eternal.
It will matter ten thousand years hence whether we conquered or were conquered by that temptation to impatience or faithlessness or worry which came when the trial rushed upon us. It does not seem so now. We feel, "If only I could have that--that joy on which my heart is set--then I should be happy."
But these words remind us of something we know is true, and yet often forget. The pleasure will pass. There is nothing abiding in pleasure, but there is something abiding in our attitude towards that pleasure.
If we say, "I must have it; I shall not be happy if I cannot have it," Then even if we did have it, there would be no lasting gain, only a dreadful loss, eternal loss.
There is a verse about this in the Bible: "And He gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul." Psalm 106:15. Amy Carmichael
N.J.Hiebert - 9131
February 23
THE SOURCE OF PRAISE
Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. Revelation 1:5-6
What? This One Who knows the secrets of the Father's heart, do I know that He loves me? Did He die for me? I had nothing but my sins when He looked upon me. Was His blood competent to take out all their crimson dye? And is God satisfied? Will God find fault with that work as inadequate? Oh no! He looked upon me, the chief of sinners, and I am to be a specimen of the cleansing power of that blood.
Oh, what love that is of His! How aggressive, how mighty in its power against all that is contrary to it, as it flows into the heart of a saint! How it enables one to look up and say, I know Thee, Lord Jesus up there, as the One who loved me in all my misery, who interposed Himself between me and my sins, and has given me a title to be a kingly priest to God and His Father, and has made me know it now.
How is it that there is so little praise? Because their so little appreciation of Christ and of the work of Christ, of how that blood has cleansed us and given us a place in glory. Why is there not willingness in saints to strip themselves for Christ, as Jonathan did for David (1 Samuel 18:4)? Why is there not that impulsive power of love flowing out in praise, as it did in John, when His heart welled forth, "To Him that loved us" (Revelation 1:5)? G. V. Wigram
Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were an offering far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all. Isaac Watts
N.J.Hiebert - 9132
Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. Revelation 1:5-6
What? This One Who knows the secrets of the Father's heart, do I know that He loves me? Did He die for me? I had nothing but my sins when He looked upon me. Was His blood competent to take out all their crimson dye? And is God satisfied? Will God find fault with that work as inadequate? Oh no! He looked upon me, the chief of sinners, and I am to be a specimen of the cleansing power of that blood.
Oh, what love that is of His! How aggressive, how mighty in its power against all that is contrary to it, as it flows into the heart of a saint! How it enables one to look up and say, I know Thee, Lord Jesus up there, as the One who loved me in all my misery, who interposed Himself between me and my sins, and has given me a title to be a kingly priest to God and His Father, and has made me know it now.
How is it that there is so little praise? Because their so little appreciation of Christ and of the work of Christ, of how that blood has cleansed us and given us a place in glory. Why is there not willingness in saints to strip themselves for Christ, as Jonathan did for David (1 Samuel 18:4)? Why is there not that impulsive power of love flowing out in praise, as it did in John, when His heart welled forth, "To Him that loved us" (Revelation 1:5)? G. V. Wigram
Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were an offering far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all. Isaac Watts
N.J.Hiebert - 9132
February 24
And that ye study yo be quiet. 1 Thessalonians 4:11
What struck me about this verse, written to a young man by an elderly apostle, was that we should need to, "take a course" on how to be quiet. The only other New Testament reference to studying is "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and vain babblings. (2 Timothy 2:15-16)
We all started babbling as babies, trying our best to copy the sounds made by our parents. But some of us are so voluble that we continue the practise into adulthood; using lots of words without much spiritual depth. Hence the admonition tp consider what it means to just be quiet much of the time. Only in quiet times can we learn. It was a "still, small voice" (1 Kings 19:12) that spoke to Elijah, but only after the tumult died down was God ready to speak quietly. No wonder school teachers and professors require a tranquil classroom to get their message across.
Even when we think we might have something important to say, it is often better to give someone else a chance to say it better. And if they do speak up, consider it done, and resist the temptation to say the same thing again. We certainly do have a tendency to enjoy hearing the sound of our own voice, and may be so eager we cut someone else off, or worse, miss the direction of the Holy Spirit.
In the love song written by Solomon (Song of Solomon 2:14) the lady pleads with her lover "let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice." This is good advice for us. We will only grow in grace when we are in close relationship with the Lord Jesus. That is hard to arrange when we are talking, talking most of our waking hours. The Lord speaks to us by the Word of God, as conveyed by the Holy Spirit. It follows that we need to keep it before us frequently, so we can get His counsel. And that calls for quiet meditation.
"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath." James 1:19 Lorne Perry
N.J.Hiebert - 9133
What struck me about this verse, written to a young man by an elderly apostle, was that we should need to, "take a course" on how to be quiet. The only other New Testament reference to studying is "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and vain babblings. (2 Timothy 2:15-16)
We all started babbling as babies, trying our best to copy the sounds made by our parents. But some of us are so voluble that we continue the practise into adulthood; using lots of words without much spiritual depth. Hence the admonition tp consider what it means to just be quiet much of the time. Only in quiet times can we learn. It was a "still, small voice" (1 Kings 19:12) that spoke to Elijah, but only after the tumult died down was God ready to speak quietly. No wonder school teachers and professors require a tranquil classroom to get their message across.
Even when we think we might have something important to say, it is often better to give someone else a chance to say it better. And if they do speak up, consider it done, and resist the temptation to say the same thing again. We certainly do have a tendency to enjoy hearing the sound of our own voice, and may be so eager we cut someone else off, or worse, miss the direction of the Holy Spirit.
In the love song written by Solomon (Song of Solomon 2:14) the lady pleads with her lover "let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice." This is good advice for us. We will only grow in grace when we are in close relationship with the Lord Jesus. That is hard to arrange when we are talking, talking most of our waking hours. The Lord speaks to us by the Word of God, as conveyed by the Holy Spirit. It follows that we need to keep it before us frequently, so we can get His counsel. And that calls for quiet meditation.
"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath." James 1:19 Lorne Perry
N.J.Hiebert - 9133
February 25
"Perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed (shunned) evil. (Job 1:1)
Such was Job's character, given by God--no mean one, especially as it was earned in what we believe were pre-Abrahamic days, with no general light of revelation. He was blessed, too, as godliness was in those days, with abundance of this world's goods. "And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters. His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east. (vv2,3).
God asks Satan, "Hast thou considered My servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth?" (v.8) Satan, in reply, says in effect, "Strip him, and he will curse Thee to Thy face." (v11) Satan sought his fall, God sought his blessing; Satan wished him to curse God, God desired that he should abhor himself.
Satan gets leave from God to strip Job. With malignant energy he sets to work, and in one day he brings the greatest man in all the east into abject poverty and visits him with sore bereavement.
Blow after blow falls upon Job of such crushing nature and in such rapidity that one marvels at the comment of the Holy Ghost on his conduct in it all: "In all this Job sinned not." (v.22) What self-restraint! What a triumph for God so far! What a defeat for Satan, who predicted the deep and bitter curse if God touched his possessions! The tongue is an unruly member. Says James, "If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body." And Job, up to this point, behaved perfectly." (James 4) Comforted of God - A. J. Pollock
N.J.Hiebert - 9134
Such was Job's character, given by God--no mean one, especially as it was earned in what we believe were pre-Abrahamic days, with no general light of revelation. He was blessed, too, as godliness was in those days, with abundance of this world's goods. "And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters. His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east. (vv2,3).
God asks Satan, "Hast thou considered My servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth?" (v.8) Satan, in reply, says in effect, "Strip him, and he will curse Thee to Thy face." (v11) Satan sought his fall, God sought his blessing; Satan wished him to curse God, God desired that he should abhor himself.
Satan gets leave from God to strip Job. With malignant energy he sets to work, and in one day he brings the greatest man in all the east into abject poverty and visits him with sore bereavement.
Blow after blow falls upon Job of such crushing nature and in such rapidity that one marvels at the comment of the Holy Ghost on his conduct in it all: "In all this Job sinned not." (v.22) What self-restraint! What a triumph for God so far! What a defeat for Satan, who predicted the deep and bitter curse if God touched his possessions! The tongue is an unruly member. Says James, "If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body." And Job, up to this point, behaved perfectly." (James 4) Comforted of God - A. J. Pollock
N.J.Hiebert - 9134
February 26
-Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Job 38:1,2
-Then Job answered the Lord, and said, I know that Thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from Thee.
-Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.
-Hear, I beseech Thee, and I will speak: I will demand of Thee, and declare Thou unto me.
-I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth Thee.
-Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes. Job 42:1-6
Personal dealing with God makes him a little man in his own eyes, even to the abhorrence of himself. This is the only road to true greatness, for when Job had arrived at this point God gave him a double portion, so that his later end was more blessed than his beginning. Thus it ever is.
Whether we are stripped of human righteousness as sinners, or stripped of self-complacency as saints, the end is always for blessing, and the truly great before God are the truly small in their own eyes.
It is all beautifully summed up by James when he says, "Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is pitiful, and of tender mercy." (v 5:11)
Those who are enduring the striping process, let them be encouraged by this prospect of pure blessing--"the end of the Lord." "He is very pitiful, and of tender mercy." If exercised, Satan will not gain the advantage; God will gain the glory and we shall gain the blessing. Comforted of God - A. J. Pollock
N.J.Hiebert - 9135
-Then Job answered the Lord, and said, I know that Thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from Thee.
-Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.
-Hear, I beseech Thee, and I will speak: I will demand of Thee, and declare Thou unto me.
-I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth Thee.
-Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes. Job 42:1-6
Personal dealing with God makes him a little man in his own eyes, even to the abhorrence of himself. This is the only road to true greatness, for when Job had arrived at this point God gave him a double portion, so that his later end was more blessed than his beginning. Thus it ever is.
Whether we are stripped of human righteousness as sinners, or stripped of self-complacency as saints, the end is always for blessing, and the truly great before God are the truly small in their own eyes.
It is all beautifully summed up by James when he says, "Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is pitiful, and of tender mercy." (v 5:11)
Those who are enduring the striping process, let them be encouraged by this prospect of pure blessing--"the end of the Lord." "He is very pitiful, and of tender mercy." If exercised, Satan will not gain the advantage; God will gain the glory and we shall gain the blessing. Comforted of God - A. J. Pollock
N.J.Hiebert - 9135
February 27
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Romans 12:1
Suppose you give over a piece of ground to another person. You give it up, then and there, entirely to the other; it is no longer in your own possession; you no longer dig and sow, plant and reap, at your discretion or for your own profit. His occupation of it is total; no other has any right to an inch of it; it is his affair what crops to arrange for and how to make the most of it.
But his practical occupation of it may not appear all at once. There may be waste land which he will take into full cultivation only by degrees, space wasted for want of draining and odd corners lost for want of inclosing; fields yielding smaller returns than they might, because of hedges too wide and shady, and trees too many, and strips of good soil trampled into uselessness for want of defined pathways.
Just so is it with our lives. The transaction of giving them over to God is definite and complete. But then begins the practical development of consecration. And here He leads on softly, according as the children be able to endure. (Genesis 33:14). I do not suppose anyone sees anything like all that it involves at the outset.
We have not a notion what an amount of waste of power there has been in our lives; we never measured out the odd corners and the undrained bits, and it never occurred to us what good fruit might be grown in our straggling hedges, nor how the shade of our trees has been keeping the sun from the crops.
And so, season by season, we shall be sometimes not a little startled, yet always very glad, as we find that bit by bit the Master shows how much more may be made of our ground, how much more He is able to make of it than we did; and we shall be willing to work under Him and do exactly what He points out, even if it comes to cutting down a shady tree or clearing out a ditch full of pretty weeds and wild flowers. Kept for the Master's Use - F. R. Havergal
N.J.Hiebert - 9136
Suppose you give over a piece of ground to another person. You give it up, then and there, entirely to the other; it is no longer in your own possession; you no longer dig and sow, plant and reap, at your discretion or for your own profit. His occupation of it is total; no other has any right to an inch of it; it is his affair what crops to arrange for and how to make the most of it.
But his practical occupation of it may not appear all at once. There may be waste land which he will take into full cultivation only by degrees, space wasted for want of draining and odd corners lost for want of inclosing; fields yielding smaller returns than they might, because of hedges too wide and shady, and trees too many, and strips of good soil trampled into uselessness for want of defined pathways.
Just so is it with our lives. The transaction of giving them over to God is definite and complete. But then begins the practical development of consecration. And here He leads on softly, according as the children be able to endure. (Genesis 33:14). I do not suppose anyone sees anything like all that it involves at the outset.
We have not a notion what an amount of waste of power there has been in our lives; we never measured out the odd corners and the undrained bits, and it never occurred to us what good fruit might be grown in our straggling hedges, nor how the shade of our trees has been keeping the sun from the crops.
And so, season by season, we shall be sometimes not a little startled, yet always very glad, as we find that bit by bit the Master shows how much more may be made of our ground, how much more He is able to make of it than we did; and we shall be willing to work under Him and do exactly what He points out, even if it comes to cutting down a shady tree or clearing out a ditch full of pretty weeds and wild flowers. Kept for the Master's Use - F. R. Havergal
N.J.Hiebert - 9136
February 28
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2
UNTO JESUS and not to our brethren, not even to the best among them and the best beloved. In following a man we run the risk of losing our way; in following Jesus we are sure of never losing our way.
Besides, in putting a man between Jesus and ourselves, it will come to pass that insensibly the man will increase and Jesus will decrease; soon we no longer know how to find Jesus when we cannot find the man, and if he fails us, all fails.
On the contrary, if Jesus is kept between us and our closest friend, our attachment to the person will be at the same time less enthralling and more deep; less passionate and more tender; less necessary, and more useful; an instrument of rich blessing in the hands of God.
He is pleased to make use of him; and whose absence will be a further blessing, when it may please God to dispense with him, to draw us even nearer to the only Friend who can not be separated from us by "neither death nor life" Romans 8:38,39. Theodore Monod
N.J.Hiebert - 9137
UNTO JESUS and not to our brethren, not even to the best among them and the best beloved. In following a man we run the risk of losing our way; in following Jesus we are sure of never losing our way.
Besides, in putting a man between Jesus and ourselves, it will come to pass that insensibly the man will increase and Jesus will decrease; soon we no longer know how to find Jesus when we cannot find the man, and if he fails us, all fails.
On the contrary, if Jesus is kept between us and our closest friend, our attachment to the person will be at the same time less enthralling and more deep; less passionate and more tender; less necessary, and more useful; an instrument of rich blessing in the hands of God.
He is pleased to make use of him; and whose absence will be a further blessing, when it may please God to dispense with him, to draw us even nearer to the only Friend who can not be separated from us by "neither death nor life" Romans 8:38,39. Theodore Monod
N.J.Hiebert - 9137
March 1
The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness. Proverbs 16:31
What though of gilded baubles He bereaves us,
Dear to the heart of youth, to manhood's prime,
Think of the calm He brings, the peace He leaves us,
The hoarded spoils, the legacies of time."
"Nor does the falling into decay of the earthly house of this tabernacle affect the grandeur of old age. "They say I am growing old because my hair is silvered, and there are crow's feet on my forehead, and my step is not as firm and elastic as before. But they are mistaken; that is not me."
The knees are weak, but the knees are not me. The brow is wrinkled, but the brow is not me. This is the house I live in: but I am young--younger than I was ever before."
The conclusion at which we arrive so far, then, is that while youth is beautiful--wondrously beautiful--age has a beauty and a majesty all its own; and that, although those who are at the beginning of life may acquire much knowledge, those who are nearing its close may possess that wisdom which is knowledge applied.
But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. (Proverbs 4:18)
"Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. Isaiah 60:1 The Best Is Yet To Be - H. Durbanville
N.J. Hiebert - 9138
What though of gilded baubles He bereaves us,
Dear to the heart of youth, to manhood's prime,
Think of the calm He brings, the peace He leaves us,
The hoarded spoils, the legacies of time."
"Nor does the falling into decay of the earthly house of this tabernacle affect the grandeur of old age. "They say I am growing old because my hair is silvered, and there are crow's feet on my forehead, and my step is not as firm and elastic as before. But they are mistaken; that is not me."
The knees are weak, but the knees are not me. The brow is wrinkled, but the brow is not me. This is the house I live in: but I am young--younger than I was ever before."
The conclusion at which we arrive so far, then, is that while youth is beautiful--wondrously beautiful--age has a beauty and a majesty all its own; and that, although those who are at the beginning of life may acquire much knowledge, those who are nearing its close may possess that wisdom which is knowledge applied.
But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. (Proverbs 4:18)
"Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. Isaiah 60:1 The Best Is Yet To Be - H. Durbanville
N.J. Hiebert - 9138
March 2
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. Hebrews 10:25
It is quite certain that those who are whole hearted for Christ desire to be in His company. They instinctively wend their way to the spot where He is known to be. Is there such a spot on earth? Yes, "For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of the them." Matthew 18:20.
No one who is truly conscious of the greatness and excellency of His Person, and of the blessedness of communion with Him, would willingly be absent from that favoured place.
We read that of old, "They continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers." (Acts 2:42). Alas that there should be such a lack of continuing steadfastly now! "In the midst of the church will I sing praise unto Thee." (Hebrews 2:12) and can we suppose that He fails to notice whether we are there or not to join in the song He leads?
"This do in remembrance of Me"? (1 Corinthians 11:24)
The Lord is Near - 2007
We go to meet the Saviour, His glorious face to see;
What manner of behaviour doth with this hope agree?
May God's illumination guide heart and walk aright;
That so our preparation be pleasing in His sight. Paul Gerhardt
N.J.Hiebert - 9139
It is quite certain that those who are whole hearted for Christ desire to be in His company. They instinctively wend their way to the spot where He is known to be. Is there such a spot on earth? Yes, "For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of the them." Matthew 18:20.
No one who is truly conscious of the greatness and excellency of His Person, and of the blessedness of communion with Him, would willingly be absent from that favoured place.
We read that of old, "They continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers." (Acts 2:42). Alas that there should be such a lack of continuing steadfastly now! "In the midst of the church will I sing praise unto Thee." (Hebrews 2:12) and can we suppose that He fails to notice whether we are there or not to join in the song He leads?
"This do in remembrance of Me"? (1 Corinthians 11:24)
The Lord is Near - 2007
We go to meet the Saviour, His glorious face to see;
What manner of behaviour doth with this hope agree?
May God's illumination guide heart and walk aright;
That so our preparation be pleasing in His sight. Paul Gerhardt
N.J.Hiebert - 9139
March 3
And the Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as He had spoken." Genesis 21:1
Here we have accomplished promise--the blessed fruit of patient waiting upon God. None ever waited in vain. The soul that takes hold of God's promise by faith, has gotten a stable reality which will never fail him. Thus was it with Abraham; thus was it with all the faithful from age to age; and thus will it be with all those who are enabled, in any measure, to trust in the living God.
Oh! it is a wonderful blessing to have God Himself as our portion and resting-place, amid the unsatisfying shadows of this scene through which we are passing,--to have our anchor cast within the vail,--to have the word and oath of God--the two immutable things--to lean upon, for the comfort and tranquility of our souls.
When God's promise stood before the soul of Abraham as an accomplished fact, he might well have learned the futility of his own effort to reach that accomplishment. Ishmael was of no use whatever, so far as God's promise was concerned. He might, and did, afford something for nature's affections to entwine themselves around, thus furnishing a more difficult task for Abraham to perform afterwards; but he was in no wise conducive to the development of the purpose of God, or to the establishment of Abraham's faith, quite the reverse.
Nature can never do aught for God. The Lord must "visit," and the Lord must "do," and faith must wait, and nature must be still, yea, must be entirely set aside as a dead, worthless thing, and then the divine glory can shine out, and faith find in that outshining all its rich and sweet reward.
Sarah conceived and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. (v.2) Genesis - C. H. Mackintosh
N.J.Hiebert - 9140
Here we have accomplished promise--the blessed fruit of patient waiting upon God. None ever waited in vain. The soul that takes hold of God's promise by faith, has gotten a stable reality which will never fail him. Thus was it with Abraham; thus was it with all the faithful from age to age; and thus will it be with all those who are enabled, in any measure, to trust in the living God.
Oh! it is a wonderful blessing to have God Himself as our portion and resting-place, amid the unsatisfying shadows of this scene through which we are passing,--to have our anchor cast within the vail,--to have the word and oath of God--the two immutable things--to lean upon, for the comfort and tranquility of our souls.
When God's promise stood before the soul of Abraham as an accomplished fact, he might well have learned the futility of his own effort to reach that accomplishment. Ishmael was of no use whatever, so far as God's promise was concerned. He might, and did, afford something for nature's affections to entwine themselves around, thus furnishing a more difficult task for Abraham to perform afterwards; but he was in no wise conducive to the development of the purpose of God, or to the establishment of Abraham's faith, quite the reverse.
Nature can never do aught for God. The Lord must "visit," and the Lord must "do," and faith must wait, and nature must be still, yea, must be entirely set aside as a dead, worthless thing, and then the divine glory can shine out, and faith find in that outshining all its rich and sweet reward.
Sarah conceived and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. (v.2) Genesis - C. H. Mackintosh
N.J.Hiebert - 9140
March 4
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