“Through faith he [Moses] kept the passover.”
(Hebrews 11:28)
- "By faith he kept the passover,”— not “they.” It was between God and the mediator (Hebrews 11:28).
All the work of our salvation was done between God and Christ: we had no part in it.
- I must have directly the sense of the Lord’s mind and word, for what I do.
- We get light in seeing a thing in relation with Christ,—what suits Him.
- It needs known responsibility, according to His revelation of Himself, to walk “before God”:
but communion, to walk with God.
- All our paths, devious as they may be, have not turned aside His love.
(Hunt’s Sayings)
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June 22
“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart:
and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”
(Matthew 11:29)
It is one thing to own Christ as the One who can give rest, and another thing to walk with Christ under the yoke, so that we find rest ourselves when all is against us; to walk with Him in everything, saying, I have got nothing to do, save to please my Master; and I have to walk so that, whatever turns up, I can say,”I thank Thee, O Father.”
This is not the case with us. We have ways and plans of our own, and we
don’t like Christ to pass us through them under His yoke.
He would have His light so to shine in us as to bring out all that is in us,
and that we should so walk according to the light
that the world should reject us even as it rejected Him.
that the world should reject us even as it rejected Him.
The more closely I am bound up with Him, the more I shall feel the contrast between His ways and my own. If I am under His yoke, do you suppose He will allow self-will— “I like, and I don’t like”?
If Christ has given me rest, and yoked me up with Himself,
He does not let me go my own way, but His way.
(G. V. Wigram - Gleanings)
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June 23
“Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device,
nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.”
(Ecclesiastes 9:10)
How many times have we stood at the graveside of a saint and rejoiced that they have gone home!
The Bible’s words of hope and promise bring comfort to our hearts and reflect
the spiritual reality of the life and death of the departed one.
It is interesting how a funeral seems to bring utter clarity to our lives.
For the lost, a great gulf has been fixed; for the saved,
it is a transition to glory.
A believer’s grave brings to mind the basics of life and makes so clear to us the
utter blessing and joy it is to be saved.
(Mark Fen)
Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind—sight, riches, healing of the mind,
Yea, all I need, in Thee to find, O Lamb of God, I come.
(Charlotte Elliott)
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June 24
“Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
(Ephesians 4:3)
“Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man
have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
And above all these things put on charity (love), which is the bond of
perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the
which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.”
(Colossians 3:13-15)
Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace; giving diligence;
earnestly striving to maintain.
Each translation emphasizes not the ease of keeping in vital unity, but the difficulty.
It is not a natural thing for people to live so. It is supernatural, heavenly.
So it is assaulted on all sides by the prince of this world, sometimes covertly with a
horrible subtlety, sometimes openly.
The underground operations of the devil are more dangerous than the obvious attacks.
But Paul never contemplates defeat or any surrender whatever of the position,
as Colossians 3:13-15 makes clear. Nor need we.
(Amy Carmichael)
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June 25
“For the Lord, is a great God . . . He is our God . . .”
(Psalm 95:3,7)
In 1897, one year before Mr. Mueller died (in his ninety-third year), he wrote,
"I have been a lover of the Word of God for sixty-eight years and three months—and that uninterruptedly.
During this time I have read considerably more than one hundred times through the
whole of the Old and New Testaments with prayer and meditation."
"My great love for the Word of God and my deep conviction of the need of it being spread far and wide, have led me to pray to God to use me as an instrument to do this, and to supply me with means for it; and He has condescended to enable me to circulate the Scriptures in all parts of the earth, and in various languages; and has been pleased thus simply through the reading of the Scriptures to bring thousands of precious souls to the knowledge of the Lord Jesus.”
Through prayer and faith, Mr. Mueller provided and cared
for 10,000 orphans at Ashley Down, Bristol, England.
God cause us to be conservative in our faith
and radical in its application.
(Traveling Toward Sunrise)
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June 26
“And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God:
and the prisoners heard them.”
(Acts 16:25)
In the summer of 1963, after an all-night bus ride, US civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer
and six other black passengers stopped to eat at a diner in Winona, Mississippi.
After law enforcement officers forced them to leave, they were arrested and jailed.
But the humiliation wouldn’t end with unlawful arrest. All received severe beatings,
but Fannie’s was the worst. After a brutal attack that left her near death she burst out
in song; “Paul and Silas was bound in jail, let my people go.” And she didn’t sing alone.
Other prisoners, restrained in body but not in soul, joined her in worship.
According to Acts 16, Paul and Silas found themselves in a difficult place when they were
imprisoned for telling others about Jesus. But discomfort didn’t dampen their faith. Their bold
worship (as quoted in the Scripture above) created the opportunity to continue to talk about Jesus.
“And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in the house” (v. 32).
Most of us will not likely face the extreme circumstances encountered by Paul, Silas, or Fannie,
but each of us will face uncomfortable situations. When that happens, our strength comes
from our faithful God. May there be a song in our hearts that will honour Him
and give us boldness to speak for Him—even in the midst of trouble.
(Arthur Jackson)
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“Our Daily Bread” RBC Ministries, Copyright (2019), Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted permission.
June 27
ALL THINGS
“Having nothing, and yet possessing all things.”
(2 Corinthians 6:10)
Paul had suffered the loss of all things, yet he says, “All things are yours”
and of course that means all things were his, too.
Here is the paradox of having both nothing and everything.
We may suffer the actual loss of all things as Paul did or be “as though”
we had nothing (1 Corinthians 7:29-31).
It amounts to the same thing.
In ourselves we have nothing; in Christ we have everything.
We may be actually poor or have abundance, yet be poor in spirit.
Then we are above the tyranny of things and we triumph over them.
(All the Days - Vance Havner)
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June 28
“Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of
my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight, O LORD,
my strength, and my redeemer.”
(Psalm 19:14)
A soul in meditation is on his way to prayer.
It is impossible for a naughty heart to think well of an afflicting God.
The great talkers of religion are oft the least doers.
Does thy heavenly Father keep so starved a house that the devil’s scraps
will go down with thee?
No truth but has some error next door.
(William Gurnall - 1617 - 1679)
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June 29
“See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise.
Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”
(Ephesians 5:15-16)
This incisive expression—“redeeming the time”—occurs also in Colossians 4:5 “Walk
in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.”
The Greek word for “redeem” means to "buy back,” to “ransom,” or even to "rescue.” That is, time
is a very valuable asset, in danger of being lost forever unless it is rescued or redeemed.
Time is just about the most valuable asset we have. If we squander our money
or lose our health, there is always the possibility of earning more money
or being restored to health, but wasted time is gone forever.
Those who are wise redeem the time, whereas those who are fools waste or misuse it.
The word in the original for “circumspectly" is translated “diligently” (Matthew 2:7).
The text thus indicates that those who redeem the time are walking diligently;
Colossians 4:5 says they are walking in wisdom. The time God gives us,
therefore, should be used both carefully and diligently.
Moses prayed to the Lord, “Teach us to number our days,
that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”
(Psalm 90:12)
(With thanks - R. Lucas)
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June 30
RETURN OF CHRIST
“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 4:17)
When clothed in His brightness, transported I rise
To meet Him in clouds of the sky,
His perfect salvation, His wonderful love
I’ll shout with the millions on high.
~~~~~
"This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven,
shall so come in like manner as ye have seen
Him go into heaven.”
(Acts 1:11)
He is coming, the “Man of Sorrows,”
Now exalted on high;
He is coming with loud hosannas,
In the clouds of the sky.
(Fanny Crosby)
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July 1
THE MIDNIGHT TALK
There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
the same came to Jesus by night . . . Jesus . . . said unto him, verily,
verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
(John 3:1-3)
The midnight talk with the Son of God as recorded in John 3, evidently left its impress upon
his soul, for we find him later pleading His cause before the Council in John 7:50,
and bringing down upon his own head the contempt of his fellows.
But he was not yet prepared to throw in his lot with the Nazarene, and to
share the reproach and shame that came upon Him from day to day.
Thank God, Nicodemus shone out brightly at the finish.
When all others had fled, boastful Peter doing worse still, Nicodemus proffered his assistance
to Joseph of Arimathia for the burial of his Lord. His righteous soul was stung to
the quick by the unrighteousness that he had witnessed.
Delay was no longer possible; timidity was thrown to the winds; and he allowed
it to be seen by all that he loved and honoured the outcast Son of God.
Truly, “the last shall be first, and the first last” (Matthew 20:16).
(W. W. Fereday)
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