Therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. Isaiah 50:7
It came to pass, when the time was come that He should be received up,
He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem. Luke 9:51
Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the Passover must be killed.
Luke 22:7
Himself He could not save; He on the cross must die,
Or mercy cannot come to ruined sinners nigh.
Yes, Christ, the Son of God, must bleed,
That sinners might from sin be freed.
Himself He could not save; for justice must be done;
Our sins full weight must fall upon the sinless One;
For nothing less can God accept
In payment of that fearful debt.
Himself He could not save, For He the surety stood
For all who now rely upon His precious blood;
He bore the penalty of guilt
When on the cross His blood was spilt.
Himself He could not save, Love’s stream too deeply flowed,
In love Himself He gave, to pay the debt we owed.
Obedience to His Father’s will,
And love to Him did all fulfil.
And now exalted high—a Prince and Saviour He,
That sinners might draw nigh and drink of mercy free,
Of mercy now so richly shed,
For Jesus liveth who was dead.
A. Midlane
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Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. 1 Corinthians 9:24
Ye were running well! Paul loves the picture of the race. In 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, he exhorts the Corinthian believers from the same picture: ”So run, that ye may obtain!” In Galatians 2:2 and Philippians 2:16, Paul speaks of himself in his own race, that he had not run in vain, or to no purpose. In Philippians 3:12-14, Paul sees himself still as the runner, but drawing nearer the end of the race.
The goal is in sight, and that is not the time to relax; on the contrary, now is the time to put forth all his strength, so “down to the goal I press!” As he parted from his dear Ephesian brethren he thinks of the time when, the race finished, the goal passed, the prize won, only the joy remains: “…neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy.” (Acts 20:24).
It is the Greek word for the race course that Paul uses here once again. And in 2 Timothy 4:7, using the same word, he sees the race is over: “I have finished my course (again, the word means “race course”)…henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness.” This was not the kingly crown of royalty, but it was the victor’s wreath that the winner of the race received at the Olympic Games. That wreath was made of leaves, a corruptible crown. ” But the crown that we receive is “an incorruptible” one (1 Corinthians 9:25). Meditations on Galatians - G. C. Willis
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I sat down under his shadow with great delight. Song of Solomon 2:3
Communion with God is the retiring place of the heart.
If living in communion with God we are not thinking of ourselves. Moses did not know his face shone when when every one else did. He had been looking up out of himself and turned towards the earth, bearing upon him the light of heaven.
None can be so intimately near us as God, for He is in us. Yet what an intimacy it is!
The cross and the crown go together; and, more than this, the cross and communion go together. The cross touches my natural will, and therefore it breaks down and takes away that which hinders communion.
If I am not in communion it is for the Holy Spirit to speak to my conscience, instead of using me.
May our work be a work of faith, drawing its strength, its existence even from our communion with God our Father.
In speaking of God’s truth, whenever we cannot “speak as the oracles of God” through communion, it is our business to be silent.
I may study the word again and again, but unless I get into communion with Him by it, it will profit me nothing—at least at that time.
What is the joy of a Redeemer but the joy and communion, the happiness of His redeemed? Pilgrim Portions for the Day of Rest - J. N. Darby
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Attend unto me, and hear me: I mourn in my complaint, and make a noise; because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked. Psalm 55:2,3
I have been driven many times to my knees by the over-whelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom, and that of all about me, seemed insufficient for the day. Abraham Lincoln
What e’er the care that breaks your rest,
What e’er the wish that swells your breast;
Spread before God that wish, that care,
And change anxiety to prayer.
N.J. Hiebert 9415
It came to pass . . . that the brook dried up. 1 Kings 17:7
The education of our faith is incomplete if we have not learned that there is a providence of loss, a ministry of failing and of fading things, a gift of emptiness. The material insecurities of life make for its spiritual establishment. The dwindling stream by which Elijah sat and mused is a true picture of the life of each of us. “It came to pass…that the brook dried up”—that is the history of our yesterday, and a prophecy of our morrows.
In some way or other we will have to learn the difference between trusting in the gift and trusting in the Giver. The gift may be good for a while, but the Giver is the Eternal Love.
Cherith was a difficult problem to Elijah until he got to Zarephath, and then it was all as clear as daylight. God’s hard words are never His last words. The woe and the waste and the tears of life belong to the interlude and not the finale.
Had Elijah been led straight to Zarephath he would have missed something that helped to make him a wiser prophet and a better man. He lived by faith at Cherith. And whensoever in your life and mine some spring of earthly and outward resource has dried up, it has been that we might learn that our hope and health are in God who made heaven and earth. F. B.Meyer
Perchance thou, too, hast camped by such sweet waters,
And quenched with joy thy weary, parched soul’s thirst;
To find, as time goes on, thy streamlet alters from what it was at first.
Hearts that have cheered, or soothed, or blest, or strengthened;
Loves that have lavished so unstintedly;
Joys, treasured joys—have passed, as time hath lengthened, into obscurity.
If thus, ah soul, the brook thy heart hath cherished
Doth fail thee now—no more thy thirst assuage—
If its once glad refreshing streams have perished, Let HIM thy heart engage.
He will not foil, nor mock, nor disappoint thee;
His consolations change not with the years;
With oil of joy He surely will anoint thee, and wipe away thy tears. J. Danson Smith
N.J. Hiebert 9416
When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the Lord thy God is with thee…let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them; for the Lord your God is He that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you…” (Deuteronomy 20:1-9)
These verses make it clear that there are some who are not ready for battle. They will only weaken others. The one who is thinking of something else, and wanting to do it—he cannot fight. He is not heart whole. The man who is afraid of being asked to do hard things—”let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren’s heart faint as well as his heart.” (v.8.)
These words have a power to search us all. I write that which I have proved. Are any of us today sorely tempted to wish we were doing something else? Are we afraid of something that may be asked of us? Does it seem impossible to do that joyfully? Do our hearts faint as we think of it? There is nothing for it but sheer honesty—the honesty of the Scriptures: “My flesh and my heart faileth.”
And yet we want to fight the battles of our Lord; we want to be able to pray, vitally, affectively; we want to be so clear of self, and the desire of self, so ready for anything, that our God will not fear lest our influence weaken others; then let us finish the sentence: “My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever.” (Psalm 73:26)
Oh, how can we ever thank Him enough for that “but God”? We need not go and return to our house, we will trust and not be afraid: “for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; He also is become my salvation.” (Isaiah 12:2).
Thou givest…They Gather Amy Carmichael
N.J. Hiebert 9417
And, behold two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus…and they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus Himself drew near, and went with them. Luke 24:13-15
Jesus drew near and went with them, and many handfuls did he spread out before them on that memorable journey. And if there is any soul exercised about the things which belong to God’s glory, they cannot help but talk to one another about it, for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
And as we speak or think of Him, we may feel assured that by His Spirit that Blessed One will be near us, to teach us of Himself, as we see how He suffered and bled and died for us, how He was raised up by the power of God, how He has entered into glory; His path of sorrow and suffering over, and we redeemed and brought nigh by His blood, and accepted in the Beloved, and we shall see Him and be like Him in that day when all the saved ones, all gathered by His Spirit and caught up to be with the Lord for ever.
If the contemplation of the coming rapture gives joy to our hearts, what will the blessed reality be but joy unspeakable and full of glory? Oh, then till that moment comes may our hearts be taken up with Thee…like the two privileged disciples on the way to Emmaus constrain Thee to abide with us. “The Father Himself loveth you because ye have loved Me, and have believed that I came out from God.” (John 16:27). C. McKendrick
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My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? Why art Thou so far from helping Me, and from the words of My roaring? Psalm 22:1
The gospels display the One in whom was no selfishness. They tell out the heart that was ready for everybody. No matter how deep His own sorrow, He always cared for others. He could warn Peter in Gethsemane, and comfort the dying thief on the cross. His heart was above circumstances, never acting under them, but ever according to God in them.
We see that He was always sensible to them, and we often get in the Psalms expressions of what His heart felt in them: “I am poured out like water, and all My bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax.“ (Psalm 22:14).
What we find all through the life of Christ as shown out in the Gospels, is the total absence of selfishness, never acting for self in any way whatever. He could rejoice with those who had joy, and grieve with those in sorrow. He could cheer, warn, or rebuke, as need arose. Whatever love dictated, that He did.
In Psalm 22 we see Christ alone, suffering under God, enduring the wrath due to sin, but continuing the righteous Man, crying unto God, and justifying Him, even when forsaken by Him. J. N. Darby
On the cross alone—forsaken—where no pitying eye was found;
Now to God’s right exalted, with Thy praise the heavens resound.Miss C. Thompson
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My voice shalt Thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto Thee, and will look up. Psalm 5:3
George David Stewart counselled that “time spent on the knees in prayer will do more to remedy heart strain and nerve worry than anything else.” We would do well, in these tense and trying days, to let prayer be the key of the morning and the bolt of the evening.”
There is an hour of calm relief
From every throbbing care;
‘Tis when before the throne of grace
I kneel in secret prayer. Fanny Crosby
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The Lord Himself… 1 Thessalonians 4:16
Now that we have become true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, truly trusting in His Life, His Work, His Word, we can trace everything to His love; past, present and future. The ultimate blessing will be when the promise unfolds before our eyes:
“For the Lord HIMSELF shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).
Prophecies - There are many other reassuring verses that demonstrate how closely involved the Lord Jesus always has been, is today, and always will be, involved with His people here on earth.
The prophet Isaiah 7:14: declared: “Therefore the Lord HIMSELF shall give you a sign; Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel (God with us). And in Isaiah 61:10: “My soul shall be joyful in my God; for, He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh HIMSELF with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth HERSELF with her jewels”. reflecting the glory of the Groom, thus sharing in His joy at the time of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Lorne Perry
(To be continued)
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(CONTINUED FROM 9421)
But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of man. Philippians 2:7
At the present time - As to our new life in Christ, begun the day we were Saved, there are many stirring mentions of the close relationship we enjoy with our Saviour; always initiated by Him, but evoking a warm response from our hearts. Philippians 2:7 starts recounting the downward path of the Lord Jesus: “But made HIMSELF of no reputation.
Hebrews 9:14 describes the low point of His journey and its results. How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit, offered HIMSELF without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
The familiar verse, “Galatians 2:20: The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave HIMSELF for me; brings before us our individual personal intimacy with our Lord.
And this brings forth praise for the fact that He has become the chief corner stone of our personal faith, and of His Church: Ephesians 2:19-20: Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of faith, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ HIMSELF being the chief corner stone.” Lorne Perry
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Thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God in all that thou puttest thine hands unto. Deuteronomy 12:18
Be ye thankful Colossians 3:15
Thou that hast given so much to me,
Give one thing more, a grateful heart.
Not thankful when it pleaseth me,
As if Thy blessings had spare days;
But such a heart, whose pulse may be Thy praise.
G. Herbert
If any one would tell you the shortest, surest way to all happiness and all perfection, he must tell you to make it a rule to yourself to thank and praise God for everything that happens to you.
For it is certain that whatever seeming calamity happens to you, if you thank and praise God for it, you turn it into a blessing. Could you, therefore, work miracles, you could not do more for yourself than by this thankful spirit; for it heals with a word speaking, and turns all that it touches into happiness.
William Law
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