“As for me, I will behold Thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness.”
(Psalm 17:15)
The wonderful hope given to the believer is that the Lord is coming again.
His promise, although not yet fulfilled, is certain.
“I will come again” (John 14:3).
How exciting that it could be today! Like John we contemplate that,
“We are the sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know
that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him,
for we shall see Him as He is."
(1 John 3:2)
Then our joy will be complete—like Him!
(Jim Paul)
Oh, the soul thrilling rapture, when I view His blessed face,
And the luster of His kindly beaming eye;
How my full heart will praise Him, for the mercy, love and grace,
That prepared for me a mansion in the sky.
(F. Crosby)
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December 11
“They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick.”
(Luke 5:31)
Our Great Physician possesses the most perfect skill to discern the peculiar needs of each case.
He sees the working of all this sin and corruption and hardness of heart—and He can
counteract it all by His all-sufficient grace.
Before you have spoken a word, when you kneel down and cast yourself upon His mercy—He
is prepared to forgive and save. Christ knows beforehand all that you are,
and cannot fail to support His tempted or afflicted child.
In Christ there is not only Divine wisdom to discern every case of spiritual
disease—but He also has Divine power completely to effect a cure.
When He was upon earth, none were sent away unhealed.
The blind and the lame, the deaf and the dumb,
the palsied and the lepers, those possessed
with demons and the dead—all alike were
healed immediately by the
touch of Jesus.
"The whole multitude sought to touch Him—for there went virtue out of Him, and healed them ALL.”
(Luke 6:19)
Thus completely and surely does Jesus restore all who come to Him. He can . . . open the eyes long
closed in the night of ignorance, strengthen those who have yet had no power to walk in God’s
ways, unstop the ear long deaf to the sweet voice of the Gospel, teach the prayerless lips
to plead with God, remove the paralysis of a careless indifference, cleanse souls from
the leprosy of debasing lusts, cast out the evil spirits of envy, and hatred and
unbelief, save men from the fever of covetousness, and every evil temper.
(George Everard - 1874)
“Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take My yoke upon you, and and learn of Me: for I am meek and
lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
For My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
(Matthew 11:28)
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December 12
CRISIS AND CONTINUANCE
“And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost . . .
and they continued steadfastly.”
(Acts 2:4, 42)
The same chapter records both Crisis and Continuance.
Some of us major on one, some on the other.
We need a synthesis of both.
Ecstasies, high days, lofty experiences—some go in for these but cannot maintain
such a high-strung pitch and often run into excesses.
Others major on the daily walk and growth in
grace but tend to get into a rut.
Why not “a sea of glass mingled with fire,”
a combination of both Crisis and Continuance?
“Tasks in hours of insight willed can be in hours of gloom fulfilled.”
"After he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go.” (Acts 16:10)
The Vision and the Venture!
The best evidence of being truly filled with the Spirit is that one so filled “continues daily.”
The Glory shows up in the Grind!
As important as the Grandeur of Getting Started is the Grace of Going On!
(Day by Day - Vance Havner)
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December 13
“Feed (Shepherd) the flock of God which is among you . . . neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being examples to the flock.”
(1 Peter 5:2-3)
Shepherding and feeding are two words that are very closely related to each other. From this we can learn some very important lessons. First of all, no one will be able to feed others if he himself is starving. One must first be well nourished with the Word of God in order to be of help to others.
The flock of God has suffered much throughout history because of “shepherds" who themselves were badly undernourished. A shepherd must also be familiar with the pastures so that he can lead the flock to them. David was very happy because his Shepherd made him to lie down in green pastures and led him beside the quiet waters.
Shepherding also involves restoring the sheep that go astray, which is the natural tendency of sheep. Isaiah said, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; (Isaiah 53:6).
Peter said, “For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls (1 Peter 2:25).
But most beautiful of all are the words of our Lord Jesus Christ: “What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not . . . go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders rejoicing” (Luke 15:4-5).
Shepherding requires concern, compassion, and commitment. It requires love for the sheep in spite of their tendency to wander away from the right path. David was a shepherd, and he knew much about sheep. He also knew about himself as a sheep among the flock of God, and so David spoke about his own Shepherd: “He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.”
(Psalm 23:3).
May we learn lessons from Our Good Shepherd who gave His life for the sheep.
(A. M Benham)
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December 14
“I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning and from
ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand,
and I will do all my pleasure. . . .Yea, I have spoken it, I will also
bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.”
(Isaiah 46:9-11)
God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea, and rides upon the storm.
His purposes will ripen fast, unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste, but sweet will be the flower.
(William Cowper)
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December 15
“Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.”
(Philippians 3:8)
“The Lord is able to give thee much more than this.”
(2 Chronicles 25:9)
What is loss in this world when compared to that day,
To the glory that then shall from heaven be revealed?
“The Saviour is coming,“ His people may say;
“The Lord whom we look for, our sun and our shield.”
What a day that will be when the Saviour appears!
How welcome to those who have shared in His cross!
A crown incorruptible then will be theirs,
A rich compensation for suffering and loss.
(T. Kelly)
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December 16
AS THE TREE FALLS, SO IT LIES
“Thou art my hiding place; Thou shalt preserve me from trouble.”
(Psalm 32:7)
"A man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest.”
(Isaiah 32:2)
Any hour may be the sunset of your day of grace, with no twilight of possibilities of salvation beyond. And then, as the tree falleth, so it lieth. As death finds you, so judgment will find you. Where it finds you . . . there the day of the Lord will find you.
“. . . in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein, shall be burned up” (2 Peter 3:10).
What will you do then, when neither heavens not earth afford even a standing place for you? But come to Jesus. He is the hiding place from that fiery tempest.
“I flee unto Thee to hide me” “from the wrath to come.” (Psalm 143:9)
“Thou art my Hiding place" (Psalm 32:7).
(Francis Ridley Havergal)
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December 17
“We see Jesus . . . crowned with glory and honour.”
(Hebrews 2:9)
Looking to God one is above the heaving and breakers,
and walking on a rough sea is the same as walking on a smooth sea.
If Christ is my life . . . Christ and heavenly things become the object of my life. Every creature must have an object. It is God’s supreme prerogative not to want an object. He may love an object;
but I cannot live without an object any more than without food. . . .
“We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthian 3:18).
There is the life; and this life has got a perfect blessed object which it delights
in and contemplates: and this the Lord Jesus is . . . in His glory.
(Pilgrim Portions for the Day of Rest - J. N. D.)
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December 18
THE RECEPTION OF JOSEPH’S BRETHREN - RECONCILIATION
“Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him; and he cried,
cause every man to go out from me. And there stood no man with him, while
Joseph made himself known unto his brethren.”
(Genesis 45:1)
Such ways of grace are blessedly foreshadowed in the history of Joseph.
Alone with his brethren he at once declares, “I am Joseph.” And as the Lord could say
to the woman, “Come hither,” Joseph can say to his brethren, “come near to me” (verse 4).
It is not only that Joseph is ready to forgive, but he desires the company of those he forgives.
We rejoice in the grace that meets our need, but how slow to realize that the One
who has removed our guilt desires our company; Christ has come
near to us that we might come near to Him.
When passing through this world “He ordained twelve, that they should be with Him.”
When He left the world, He “died for us that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together
with Him; and when He comes again to receive us unto Himself it is that we may for ever be “with the Lord.”
If love makes us suited to His company, love will not be content without our company.
(Hamilton Smith)
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December 19
“It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto Thy name, O most high:
To show forth Thy lovingkindness in the morning, and Thy faithfulness every night.
Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery;
upon the harp with a solemn sound.”
(Psalm 92:1-3)
It is sometimes said the angels never sing.
Why this is may be difficult to explain, but as a matter of fact we are never told that they do. We read that at creation “all the sons of God shouted for joy;” At the birth of Jesus they said, “Glory to God in the highest;” and in Revelation 5 it is recorded that the number of angels was ten thousand times ten thousand,
and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice,“Worthy is the Lamb that was slain,”
But of the redeemed it says “they sung a new song.”
To account for this difference two reasons may be suggested. One is, the angels are not the subjects of redemption; and the first and last songs in Scripture are both connected with redemption. The other is they have never had the varied experience that belongs to a redeemed sinner, and, as far as we know, they have never suffered.
Of those only who have come out of great tribulation is it written: “They stand on the sea of glass mingled with fire and sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb” (Revelation 15:2,3).
(Angels in White - Russell Elliott)
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December 20
“To show forth thy loving kindness in the morning,
and Thy faithfulness every night.”
(Psalm 92:2)
There is one string every Christian should possess—that is salvation. The first music God ever had from the children of Israel was when He had delivered them from their enemies (Exodus 15).
If anyone says, “Well, I am a Christian, but I have never sung like that,” it is because you have imperfectly understood the Gospel. If you are looking at your doings, and what you are, and how often you fail as a Christian, it is not to be wondered at if such a song has never come from your lips.
The song is all about what the Lord has done. And when you see that He has delivered you from your sins and enemies, and brought you to Himself, by the work of Christ, then you will for the first time really sing to God.
You will have one string to your instrument.
One string there is of sweetest tone, reserved for sinners saved by grace;
’Tis sacred to one class alone, and touched by one peculiar race."
(Angels in White - Russell Elliott)
N.J. Hiebert - 7307
December 21
“Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery;
upon the harp with a solemn sound.”
(Psalm 92:3)
"One string there is of sweetest tone, reserved for sinners saved by grace;
’Tis sacred to one class alone, and touched by one peculiar race.”
But God wants us to have others. He want us to praise Him with an instrument of ten strings.
At the end of Romans 4 and beginning of chapter 5 we see how we are brought to God.
The past is all settled; we have peace. As to the present, we stand in the highest
favour with God. As to the future, we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Then the apostle says, “Not only so but we glory in tribulations also.” Here is a wonderful thing, to be able to glory in tribulations! To glory, or boast, in the very thing we most dislike.
Well, it is these very tribulations that produce some of the finest music from the saints of God.
If you have learnt to glory in tribulations, you have got another string or two to your instrument,
perhaps several, because tribulations are so varied. Look at Paul and Silas in prison,
their backs laid open with stripes, their feet fast in the stocks, their dungeon
dark and unwholesome; yet at midnight they prayed
and sang praises unto God, and
the prisoners heard them.
What sounds to fill such a place, and at such a time!
(Angels in White - Russell Elliott)
N.J. Hiebert - 7308
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