“And Joseph nourished his father, and his brethren,
and all his father’s household, with bread, according to their families.”
and all his father’s household, with bread, according to their families.”
(Genesis 47:12)
“And they said, Thou hast saved our lives: let us find grace in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.”
(Genesis 47:25)
But not only were people saved by Joseph, but they prospered under Joseph. This we see set forth in the history of Israel and his sons.
The Lord Jesus does a great deal more for His people than save them from the world’s famine.
He brings us into a good land, a heavenly country, and blesses us with spiritual blessings, and as we enter into those spiritual blessings we shall grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(Hamilton Smith)
Trembling, we had hoped for mercy—some lone place within His door;
But the crown, the throne, the mansion, all were ready long before.
And in past and distant ages, in those courts so bright and fair,
Ere we were, was He rejoicing, all He won with us to share.
(Mrs. Bevan)
N.J. Hiebert - 6805
August 11
“Teach me Thy way, O Lord; I will walk in Thy truth: unite my heart to fear Thy name.”
(Psalm 86:11)
If we are honest, the little book of Jonah hits most of us very hard indeed, but what comfort it may bring to our wounded souls to remember that Jonah’s God is our God.
We have to confess that the same patience, grace and mercy that followed Jonah from start to finish has also followed us from the start, and we doubt not that it will continue with us to the end.
May He deliver us from our disobedience and self-will, from our sulks and from our tempers! May He form and fashion us like unto Himself, and give us a true estimate of the real value of gourds and souls of men; and make us vessels, sanctified, and meet for the Master’s use!
(G. Christopher Willis)
O teach us more of Thy blest ways, Thou holy Lamb of God!
And fix and root us in Thy grace, as those redeemed by blood.
O tell us often of Thy love, of all Thy grief and pain;
And let our hearts with joy confess that thence comes all our gain.
For this, O may we freely count what’er we have but loss;
The dearest object of our love, compared with thee, but dross.
Engrave this deeply on our hearts with an eternal pen,
That we may, in some small degree, return Thy love again.
(Hutton)
N.J. Hiebert - 6806
August 12
“Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not
to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."
(2 Timothy 2:15)
“Turn Thou us unto Thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned;
renew our days as of old."
(Lamentation 5:21)
At the foot of a cliff under the windows of the Castle at Miramar, at a depth of eighty feet below the surface of the clear waters of the Adriatic, is a a cage fashioned by divers in the face of the rock.
In that cage are some of the most magnificent pearls in existence.
They belong to the Archduchess Rainer. The gems had become “sick” and had been losing their colour; and experts were unanimous in declaring that the only way to restore their original brilliancy was to submit them to a prolonged immersion in the depths of the sea.
They lay there for a number of years; and, when I last read of them, they were gradually regaining their former unrivalled oriency. Which things are a parable.
Although the children of God are not of the world, they are in the world; and the constant tendency of the influences, by which they are surrounded there, is to make them loose touch with the Unseen and Eternal.
The consequence is that the fine gold is apt to become dimmed; and the Christian life, to be robbed of its fragrance and bloom. To counteract this tendency is one of the supreme purposes of the devotional reading of the Bible. That sacred exercise is as necessary to the well-being of the soul, as is the daily supply of water and nutriment to the plant or the flower.
(The Wonderful Word - George Henderson)
N.J. Hiebert - 6807
August 13
The Greatest Blessing
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again
unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” (1 Peter1:3)
Day after day He showers us with blessings, night after night His bounty overflows.
Joy unto joy His boundless love is adding, Gift unto gift His faithfulness bestows.
Behind us all the past with good is studded, star-points of light in memory’s darkening skies, And faring onward to the unknown future, before us still new constellations rise.
But when the sun springs forth in radiant splendour and floods the world with glory and with light, How swift the shadows flee! How melts the darkness! How pale the stars that seemed so fair and bright!
So when we let Him in—the Life Abundant—fling wide the doors and drop the hindering bars, He comes, the Giver, all His gifts transcending, as doth the sun the rushlights of the stars.
(Annie Johnson Flint)
N.J. Hiebert - 6808
August 14
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins,
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
(1 John 1:9)
Too often, alas! we have to be occupied with our failures and infirmities.
If ever the workings of indwelling sin be suffered to rise to the
surface, we must deal with God about them,
for He cannot go on with sin.
He can forgive it, and cleanse us from it—
He can restore our souls by the gracious ministry of our great
High Priest—but He cannot go on in company with a single sinful thought.
A light or foolish thought, as well as an unclean or covetous one, is
amply sufficient to mar a Christian’s communion, and interrupt his worship.
(Food for the Desert)
N.J. Hiebert - 6809
August 15
“Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able
to stand against the wiles of the devil.”
(Ephesians 6:11)
The devil is transformed into an angel of light, and he seeks to deceive us.
Here we read of the wiles of the devil. The word, “wile,” is the very one from which we get the English word “method,” but it implies a subtle method or craftiness.
He is an old campaigner; he has been at the business of deceiving men and women for at least six millenniums, and he knows exactly how to approach every individual soul as he comes with his crafty method.
We are to stand against the wiles of the devil, recognizing this, that we wrestle not against flesh and blood. We have no quarrel with men, no fight with our fellow-beings, we are not wrestling with flesh and blood but against principalities, and powers. These are the principalities of fallen
angels who are marshalled under the skull and cross-bones banner of the devil himself.
“Against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
It might be translated, “Against the world-rulers of this darkness.” Who are the world rulers of this darkness? They are the great evil powers, evil angels, who are seeking to control the hearts of those in authoritative positions in the world, to hinder men and women from subjecting themselves to the truth of God.
(H. A. Ironside)
N.J. Hiebert - 6810
August 16
“Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth
take heed lest he fall.”
(1 Corinthians 10:12)
We have been saved as far as deliverance from the guilt of our sin is concerned,
but we are now to be saved practically by conformity to Christ and subjection
to the Word of God, that thus we may be fitted in the fullest
possible sense for fellowship with Him.
May God give us to be on our guard, to remember
that we cannot put the sword out of our hand,
that we cannot rest upon past victories
as long as we are in this scene.
And yet there is no reason for discouragement because,
as our faith and trust is centred in Christ,
we may know that
“Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.”
(1 John 4:4)
(Selected)
N.J. Hiebert - 6811
August 17
"Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south, blow upon my garden,
that the spices thereof may flow out!”
(Song of Solomon 4:16)
Look at the meaning of this prayer a moment.Its root is found in the fact that, as delicious odours may lie latent in a spice tree, so graces may lie unexercised and undeveloped in a Christian’s heart.
There is many a plant of profession; but from the ground there breathes forth no fragrance of holy affections or of godly deeds. The same winds blow on the thistle bush and on the spice tree, but it is only one of them which gives out rich odours.
Sometimes God sends severe blasts of trial upon His children to develop their graces. Just as torches burn most brightly when swung to and fro; just as the juniper plant smells sweetest when flung into the flames; so the richest qualities of a Christian often come out under the north wind of suffering and adversity.
Bruised hearts often emit the fragrance that God loveth to smell.
(Streams in the Desert)
N.J. Hiebert - 6812
August 18
“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things . . . are of
good report" (or sweet to speak of)”
(Philippians 4:8)
Whatsoever things are lovely, or loveable.
Oh, that we might have our minds occupied with such things!
Oh, that we might meditate on the gracious, winsome things in the saints,
and in others about us!
Oh, that we might put the most favourable construction
on every report we hear.
Love thinketh no evil. Love believeth all things: not the evil things,
but the good ones: and where it cannot actually believe all the good it would
like, it at least hopeth all things: it hopes the good report is true, and the evil one false.
Notice there is not the slightest suggestion we should meditate on the evil report: but only on the good.
“Above all things have fervent love among yourselves:
for love shall cover the multitude of sins.”
(1 Peter 4:8)
With the sins and evil reports covered by love,
we will be free to meditate on whatsoever things are of good report.
(G. C. Willis)
N.J. Hiebert - 6813
August 19
“To him that is afflicted pity should be showed
from his friend.”
(Job 6:14)
“They whom I loved are turned against me.”
(Job 19:19)
“It is better to trust in the Lord than to put
confidence in princes.”
(Psalm 118:9)
Do your friends despise, forsake you?
Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In His arms he’ll take and shield you;
Your will find a solace there.
Blessed Saviour, Thou hast promised
Thou will all our burdens bear;
May we ever, Lord, be bringing
All to Thee in earnest prayer.
(J. Scriven)
N.J. Hiebert - 6814
August 20
August 21
“For ye have need of patience.”
(Hebrews 10:36)
There are times when great waves of trouble sweep over us, wave upon wave.
There are calm times when all goes peacefully, and then suddenly something distressing happens.
Satan seems to be having things all his own way. Sometimes
those whom we wholly trusted disappoint us terribly,
and we are tempted to say,
“Whom can I trust?”
But this is fatal. There are many on whom we can count even in the worst times.
Let us never look only at the clouds and forget the blue in the sky.
There is far more blue than gray.
We are here because we are needed to fight through to victory. We never asked for ease.
Well, this is not ease, so it is what we expected—not play,
but war. It is and always must be a fight of faith.
Hebrews 2:9 has a word for us;
We se Jesus . . . CROWNED.
Nothing can touch that. We follow an undefeated Lord.
Love won on Calvary.
But we have need of patience. Give us Thy patience, Lord.
(Whispers of His Power - Amy Carmichael)
N.J. Hiebert - 6815
August 21
“Men ought always to pray and not to faint.”
(Luke 18:1)
Paul exhorts “that men pray every where” (1 Timothy 2:8).
Here we are exhorted to pray “at all seasons.” Prayer is the
constant attitude of dependence upon God.
Under all circumstances, in all places, and at all times, we are to pray.
Prayer however, may become a mere formal expression of need; it is therefore linked
with “supplication”, which is is the earnest cry of the soul conscious of its need. It is, moreover,
to be under the guidance of the Spirit, and to be accompanied with the faith that watches for God’s answer.
When Peter was in prison “prayer was made without ceasing unto God for him.”
But apparently the church failed somewhat in “watchfulness”,
for when God answered their prayer it was only with
difficulty that they believed that Peter was free.
Further, pray in the Spirit will embrace “all saints”, and yet come down to the need of a special servant. So the Apostle exhorts the Ephesian saints not only to pray for
“all saints”, but also for himself.
(Hamilton Smith)
N.J. Hiebert - 6816
No comments:
Post a Comment