“Who will have all men to be saved,
and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.”
(1 Timothy 2:4)
Here we have a glimpse of the expansiveness of the heart of God —
that all men should be saved.
There is no one on the face of the earth, however distant from God,
who is beyond the pale of the great salvation that God offers.
Sir Robert Anderson wrote “There is no deception in it. If forgiveness is preached to all,
it is because all may share it . . . it is impossible that election can ever limit the
value of the death of Christ, or the power of that name to save and bless.”
May we continue, in accord with the mind of God, to preach the “whosoever” Gospel,
and to have the expectation that any hearing it can be saved.
(W. H. Burnett)
Sinners Jesus will receive, sound this word of grace to all,
(Erdmann Neumeister)
N.J. Hiebert - 7459
May 22
“So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.”
(Jonah 1:6)
Good, sensible shipmaster! He well knew what Jonah ought to be doing, surely not sleeping at such a time! Arise, call upon thy God! It is a message from the heathen about us that we all would do well to hear. We cannot all go out to the heathen, but we can all arise and call upon our God.
Was not this just the point? Jonah could not arise and call upon his God nor do we hear
that he even tried to do as the shipmaster commanded him. How could Jonah call
on the name of the very One from whose presence he was even then fleeing?
No, dear fellow-Christian, you and I know very well that sin and prayer do not go together:
We must give up one or the other. Sad to say, Jonah had chosen sin, and he
could not pray. As we noted before, he did not even try to pray.
He knew perfectly well what was the cause of that storm, and he knew equally well the remedy.
This was not a time for prayer but a time for confession, and bowing to the just
punishment that he so rightly merited for his sin against his God.
Though indeed confession and prayer might, and should have been found
together in the same breath.
Jonah had not yet come to the point, however, where he was willing to humble himself to do this.
Therefore, God allowed these heathen sailors to force him to do
what he would not do of his own will.
(G. Christopher Willis)
N.J. Hiebert - 7460
May 23
“O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember Thee from
the land of Jordan, and the Hermonites from the hill Mizar.”
(Psalm 42:6)
Did you ever feel that you had nothing great enough to be called a trouble,
and yet you very much needed help?
I have been been finding much encouragement in the Hill Mizar.
For Mizar means littleness—the little hill.
The land of Jordan was a place where great floods (the swelling of Jordan) might terrify the soul,
and the land of the Hermonites was a place of lions and leopards; but Mizar was only
a little hill: and yet the word is, I will “remember Thee from . . .
the hill Mizar”, from the little hill.
So just where we are, from the place of our little trial, little pain, little difficulty, little temptation
(if temptation can ever be little), let us remember our God.
Relief will surely come, and victory and peace; for
“the Lord will command His loving kindness” (Psalm 42:8), even to us in our little hill.
(Edges of His Ways - Amy Carmichael)
N.J. Hiebert - 7461
May 24
“And hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all.”
(Ephesians 1:22-23)
# 6
Reality, reality,
Lord Jesus Christ, is crowned in Thee.
In Thee is every type fulfilled,
In Thee is every yearning stilled
For perfect beauty, truth, and love;
For Thou art always far above
The grandest glimpse of our Ideal,
Yet more and more we know Thee real,
And marvel more and more to see
Thine infinite Reality.
# 7
Reality, reality
Of grace and glory dwells in Thee.
How real Thy mercy and Thy might!
How real Thy love, how real Thy light!
How real Thy truth and faithfulness!
How real Thy blessing when Thou dost bless!
How real Thy coming to dwell within!
How real the triumphs Thou dost win!
Does not the loving and glowing heart
Leap up to own how real thou art?
(Verses 6 & 7 of 9)
(Francis Ridley Havergal)
N.J. Hiebert - 7462
May 25
GLORY AND BLESSING
“And they went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan
unto Jacob their father, and told him saying, Joseph is yet alive, and he is
governor over all the land of Egypt. And Jacob’s heart fainted, for he believed them not.”
(Genesis 45:25-26)
The brethren of Joseph fulfil their mission according to the direction of Joseph.
They "came into the land of Canaan unto Jacob their father, and told him,
saying, Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor of all the land of Egypt”
(Genesis 45:25,26).
They witness to a living and exalted Joseph, even as today it is the privilege of the believer
to witness to the risen and exalted Saviour. A testimony so incredible to the
natural mind that it is received with unbelief.
Thus it was with Jacob. The exposure of his unbelief was the first result of hearing the good news.
Twenty years before these same men had brought a lying report to Jacob, with evidences
to support their lie. And without a question Jacob believed the lie.
“Without doubt,” he said, “Joseph is rent in pieces.”
Now his sons bring a true report of Joseph with evidences to support the truth,
and at once Jacob doubts. His "heart fainted, for he believed them not.”
Ever since Adam gave his ear to the devil’s lie it has been natural for fallen man to believe a lie.
Only a work of grace enables man to believe the truth. Hence we read that those who
believe on the Name of Christ are born “not of blood, nor of the will of the
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
(Hamilton Smith)
N.J. Hiebert - 7463
May 26
IT BEGAN WITH GOD
“He appointed the moon for seasons: the
sun knoweth his going down.”
(Psalm 104:19)
We begin our life with God in a strong and buoyant season, sometimes called our “first love summer.” But it is usually followed by the subdued events of fall season during which more mellow mood engulfs our souls.
Then come those severe storms of sorrow, the tough trials of pain and parting,
the winter winds of adversity. Our faith is tested.
Our confidence in Christ is constricted. But as we endure, spring comes again.
We are renewed.
The truth and credibility of Christ’s resurrection power engulfs us.
We are assured of His everlasting hope and life.
Love springs anew within our spirits. Faith flames bright again.
All is well, for He is here!
(W. Phillip Keller)
N.J. Hiebert - 7464
May 27
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.”
(Ephesians 1:3-4)
# 8
Reality, reality!
Such let our adoration be!
Father, we bless Thee with heart and voice,
For the wondrous grace of Thy sovereign choice,
That patiently, gently, sought us out
In the far-off land of death and doubt,
That drew us to Christ by the Spirit’s might,
That opened our eyes to see the light
That arose in strange reality,
From the darkness falling on Calvary.
# 9
Reality, reality,
Lord Jesus Christ, Thou art to me!
My glorious King, my Lord, my God,
Life is too short for half the laud,
For half the debt of praise I owe
For this blest knowledge, that “I know
The reality of Jesus Christ,”—
Unmeasured blessing, gift unpriced!
Will I not praise Thee when I see
In the long noon of Eternity,
Unveiled, Thy “bright reality!”
(Frances Ridley Havergal)
N.J. Hiebert - 7465
(This poem had 9 verses included in
Gems #7450, #7454, #7462 & #7465)
May 28
“A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves,
which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him,
and departed, leaving him half dead.”
(Luke 10:30)
Have you ever read and pondered that wonderful parable (Luke 10) about the man who fell among thieves? After wounding him, and taking away all he possessed, they left him half dead by the roadside. The priest and Levite passed by, but the most they did was to look upon him and leave him as he was.
At length came a Samaritan, and he went to him and bound up his wounds; and more than that,
we read, he “set him on his own best, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.”
But even this was not the limit of his goodness. The words (addressed to the host) that
fell upon the astonished ears of the erewhile benighted traveller were these:
“Take care of him, and whatsoever thou spendest more,
when I come again, I will repay thee.”
when I come again, I will repay thee.”
It will be seen at once that the story illustrates far more than how forgiveness of sins is to be obtained. The guilt of the sinner is implied, no doubt, for the man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. From the place of blessing—Jerusalem means, the vision of peace—to the place of the curse.
With one stroke the moral tendency of the race is exposed! But one comes along Who can reverse all this. He brings the oil and the wine, the balm of Gilead. Man is a prey to enemies, but here is a friend. But there is more. A threefold need on the part of the man is met by a threefold action on the part of the Good Samaritan.
The man is wounded, he is weak, and he is in want. His wounds are bound up, oil and wine being poured in. This meets the first need. The second is met by his friend placing him upon his own beast. The third, by bringing him to the inn and taking care of him.
This last is the climax of the parable.
(Angels in White - Russell Elliott)
N.J. Hiebert - 7466
May 29
“Therefore I endure all things for the elect’s sakes,
that they may also obtain the salvation which in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.”
(2 Timothy 2:10)
If Job could have known as he sat there in the ashes, bruising his heart on this problem of Providence—
that in the trouble that had come upon him he was doing what one man may do to work
out the problem for the world, he might again have taken courage.
No man lives to himself.
Job’s life is but your life and mine written in larger text. . . .
So, then, though we may not know what trials wait on any of us, we can believe that,
as the days in which Job wrestled with his dark maladies are the only days
that make him worth remembrance, and but for which his name had
never been written in the book of life, so the days through which
we struggle, finding no way, but never losing the light,
will be the most significant we are called to live.
(Robert Collyer)
N.J. Hiebert - 7467
May 30
STRATEGY FOR VICTORY
“Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.”
(Romans 12:21)
“OVERCOME EVIL WITH GOOD”—here is a principle often overlooked.
We do not master our sins and doubts and fears by
direct frontal assault, taking them one by one.
It is better to concentrate on the positive, become occupied with the Lord,
and leave these evils to die from neglect.
General MacArthur did not take each Japanese outpost on the way back to the Philippines.
He concentrated on a few major objectives and left the other enemy
garrisons to “rot on the vine.”
If we become taken up with every temptation and difficulty we shall wear ourselves out on secondary skirmishes. Let us rather put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh.
We can circumvent a lot of our worries by giving out attention to the good.
Most of our ailments will die from neglect. We give
them importance when we devote time
and thought to them.
Make your life a major drive with Christ the objective — "This one thing I do” —
and let the devil’s minor outposts starve to death.
(Day by Day with Vance Havner)
N.J. Hiebert - 7468
"I cried unto the LORD with my voice;
with my voice unto the LORD did I make my supplication.”
(Psalm 142:1)
Generally speaking, caves are unpleasant places.
In a figurative sense multitudes live in caves every day —
caves of worry, discouragement, depression, bitterness, fear, doubts,
loneliness, to name just a few.
When David wrote this psalm he was in a literal cave, perhaps Engedi or Adullam,
hiding from King Saul who wanted to kill him.
What did David do? He prayed.
And this is what we should do when we find ourselves in a
dark and troublesome cave.
(W. Ross Rainey)
Whatever fears or foes betide,
In Thy blest presence we may hide;
And while we rest our souls on Thee,
Thou wilt our Sanctuary be!
(Samuel Medley)
N.J. Hiebert - 7469
June 1
“The Lord recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the
Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust.”
(Ruth 2:12)
"He that planteth and He that watereth are one:
and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.”
(1 Corinthians 3:8)
To Him our weakness clings
Through tribulation sore,
And seeks the covert of His wings
Till all be o’er;
And when we’ve run the race
And fought the faithful fight,
We then shall see Him face to face,
With saints in light.
(Mary Bowley)
N.J. Hiebert - 7470
June 2
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