CHRIST FOR US
The voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled . . ." Song of Solomon 5:2
The voice that His sheep hear and know, and that calls out the fervent response, "Master say on." This is not all. It was the literal Voice of the Lord Jesus which uttered that one echoless cry of desolation on the cross for thee, and it will be His own literal voice which will say, "Come ye blessed" to thee. And that same tender and glorious Voice has literally sung and will sing for thee.
I think He consecrated song for us and made it a sweet and sacred thing forever when He Himself sang an hymn the very last thing before He went forth to consecrate suffering for us. (Mark 14:26) That was not His last song. "The Lord thy God . . . will joy over thee with singing." And the time is coming when He will not only sing for thee or over thee but with thee. He says He will. "In the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee." (Hebrews 2:12)
Now what a magnificent glimpse of joy this is. "Jesus Himself leading the praise of His brethren," and we ourselves singing not merely in such a chorus but with such a leader! If singing for Jesus is such delight here, what will this singing with Jesus be? Surely song may well be a holy thing to us henceforth. Frances Ridley Havergal
Join the singing that He leadeth, loud to God our voices raise;
Every step that we have trodden is a triumph of His grace;
Whether joy, or whether trial, all can only work for good,
For He healeth all--Who loves us, and hath bought us with His blood.
Mrs. J. A. Trench
N.J. Hiebert - 8467
May 1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.
John 1:1,14
These were more noble...in that they received the Word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily whether those things were so. Acts 17:11
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable"
2 Timothy 3:16
It is well to remind ourselves of the close connection that exists between the written Word of God and the incarnate Word of God (God became flesh). We shall never enjoy the one apart from the other. It is through God's own revelation in the written Word that we really see and know the Word Who was made flesh, and Who rose from the dead.
It is through the written Word we shall feed on Him, not through our own speculations. It is important that we bear in mind that as the incarnate Word is a Divine Person, so is the written Word a Divine Message; and as we may rest all our soul's interest on Jesus Christ, so we may rest all our souls weight on the Word of God.
To be unsettled on the question of inspiration is to be overcome by temptation, and to be unable to accomplish God's work. The connection between full faith in God's will as revealed in His written Word (Scripture) and in the incarnate Word (Jesus) is so close and intimate, that you can no more separate them than you can separate between body and soul, or soul and spirit.
Begin to separate them, and to study theology instead of the Word of God (rather than as a mere aid in gaining a fuller grasp of it) and if it does not make you weaker rather than stronger you will be fortunate indeed. No! Take God's Word as it stands, and God's Christ as He reveals Himself to us, and enjoy all in Him. Hudson Taylor
N.J. Hiebert - 8468
May 2
Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, one thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow Me. And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions." Mark 10:21,22
As the rich man sweeps away sorrowfully in his costly robes, Peter looks upon him with apparent scorn, and turns to Jesus with some self-complacency to say, "Lo, we have left all, and have followed thee." He also asks a question, "What shall our reward be?" (Matthew 19:27) It is not a noble question; it expresses a commercial, worldly spirit; but Jesus refrains from uttering a rebuke. He gives instead a promise; and some of us need to listen to it, at times.
Occasionally a whisper steals into our hearts. We have sacrificed for Christ's sake; "does it pay?" Jesus replies that every sacrifice, made for His sake, receives a hundred-fold recompense in this life, not in literal kind, but such as to satisfy the soul a hundred times more than the thing surrendered ever could, and then, in the future, that completed, perfected, "eternal life" which the rich man craved, but which he lost that, for a few fleeting years, he might retain his wealth.
Jesus adds, however, that Peter must beware of self-confident pride. Many who had the opportunity of being nearest to Christ in this present life, may not receive the greatest rewards. Men will be judged according to faithfulness. Still more solemn is the warning to such as would cling to their wealth. Their power and riches place them now in the first place of opportunity; they may be the last to accept Christ and the life He offers. The Gospel of Mark - Charles R. Erdman
N.J. Hiebert - 8469
May 3
THE BEAUTY OF COURTESY
I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds: which in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me: whom I have sent again: . . . receive him . . . not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved. . . receive him as myself. If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on mine account. Philemon (verses 10,11,12,16,17)
Therefore, my dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord . . . I intreat thee also, true yoke fellow . . . help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also and with other my fellow labourers . . ." (Philippians 4:1,3)
Courtesy is like an air-cushion: there is nothing in it, but it eases the jolts of life. There is, however, another sense in which there is a great deal in it; for the supreme characteristic of courtesy is that thoughtfulness for others which is the very heart of Christianity. Schools of etiquette produce it by training; love does it by instinct.
A man usually reveals himself in his private letters; and in the only personal letter which we have of the apostle Paul--the epistle to Philemon--we see how courteous a gentleman he was. Someone has commented, "The most gentlemanly letter ever written, by the most perfect gentleman, is, in my opinion, Paul's epistle to Philemon. If you study its courtesies, you will see how manifold and how delicate they are."
If you want to see how Paul asks a favour, read Philemon; if you want to see how he returns thanks, read Philippians 4:10-21. If we all resolve that henceforth we will be gentle, courteous, thoughtful, unobtrusively sympathetic, and persistently friendly, how many unpleasant things will be prevented! Winsome Christianity - Henry Durbanville
N.J.Hiebert - 8470
May 4
The just shall live by faith. Romans 1:17
Weak faith. Weak faith will as surely land the Christian in heaven as strong faith; but the weak, doubting Christian is not likely to have so pleasant a voyage as another with strong faith. Though all in the ship come safely to shore, yet he that is seasick all the way, hath not so comfortable a voyage as he that is strong and healthy.
"Why are ye so fearful, O ye of little faith!" Matthew 8:26 You see the leak at which the water came in to sink their spirits: they had "little faith." It is not what God is in Himself, but what our apprehensions at present are of God, that comforts a soul in great straights. If a man fears his house will fall on his head in a storm though as it be as immovable as a rock, yet that will not ease his mind till he thinks so.
Bold faith. "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Hebrews 13:5)--there is the promise; and the conclusion, which He teaches us to draw by faith from this (verse 6), "So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper." We may boldly assert it in the face of men and devils, because He that is almighty hath said it. William Gurnall 1617-1679
When faith and hope shall cease, and love abide alone,
Then shall we see Him face to face, and know as known:
Still shall we lift our voice, His praise our song shall be;
And we shall in His love rejoice Who set us free.
John Beaumont
N.J. Hiebert - 8471
May 5
CLEAVE TO THE LORD
Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. Acts 11:23
Sin no longer remains on you (the born again believer), but the flesh is in you to the end: the old stock will put forth its buds, which must be nipped off as they appear. No fruit can come of it. It is the new nature that bears fruit unto GOD. But though the flesh is in you, do not be thinking of thIs, think of CHRIST.
As you grow in the knowledge of Christ, a joy comes, deeper than the first joy. Having known Christ for about forty years, I can truly say I have ten thousand times more joy in Him now than I had at first. It is a deeper, calmer joy. The water rushing down a hill is beautiful to look at, and makes most noise; but you will find the water in the plain deeper, calmer, more fit for general use.
Do not let the world come in and distract your thoughts. I speak especially to you younger ones. They who are older have had more experience in it, and know more what it is worth: but it all lies shining before you, endeavouring to attract you. Its smiles are deceitful; still it smiles. It makes promises which it cannot keep; still it makes them.
Your hearts are too big for the world; it cannot fill them. They are too little for Christ: He fills heaven, He will fill you to overflowing. "With purpose of heart . . . cleave unto the Lord." He knew how treacherous the heart is, and how soon it would put anything in His place.
Comforted of God - A. J. Pollock
N.J. Hiebert - 8472
May 6
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Less, less of self each day, . . . And more, my God of Thee; . . .
Oh keep me in Thy way . . . However rough it be . . .
Less of the flesh each day, . . . Less of the world and sin; . . .
More of Thy love, I pray, . . . More of Thyself within . . .
Riper and riper now . . . Each hour let me become; . . .
Less fond of things below, . . . More fit for such a home . . .
More molded to Thy will, . . . Lord, let Thy servant be; . . .
Higher and higher still-- . . . Nearer and nearer Thee.
Whom have we, Lord, but Thee, soul-thirst to satisfy?
Exhaustless spring! The waters free! All other streams are dry.
Our hearts by Thee are set on brighter things above;
Strange that we should ever forget Thine own most faithful love.
Yet oft we credit not He freely gives as God
Though well we know our happy lot in trusting to His blood.
None like the ransomed host that precious blood have known;
Redemption gives faith's holy boast to draw so near the throne.
Higher and higher yet! Pleading that same life-blood;
We taste the love that knows no let, of Abba as of God.
Mary Bowley
N.J. Hiebert - 8474
How well He knew what He would do! He was completely Master of the situation. And how well God knows the meaning, and the possible outcome, of every circumstance of our lives!
Yet appearances were, all against Christ. Why this inexplicable delay, if Lazarus was sick, and Jesus loved him and had power to do him good? Why abide two days still in the same place after receiving such tidings, and from such a quarter? Why should those anxious sisters, watching by the bedside of their dying brother, be kept waiting, their hearts torn with anxiety, as hour after hour passes, and he seems slipping away. Yet Jesus comes not. There is the additional anxiety beside as to why He tarried?
But there it is, Christ moves not one step in the direction of Bethany, nor does He send even a message! Oh these divine pauses! these divine silences! How can we explain them?
Yet there is an explanation, and, in His own time and way, God will always give it. How little any of us understand His ways! The sisters could not understand why Christ delayed coming; and when He did go, the disciples expressed their wonder that He went. "The Jews of late sought to stone Thee," they exclaim, "and goest Thou thither again?" (John 11:8)
Christ was misunderstood from both sides, but until the right time, not even love on His side, or need on theirs, would draw Him from His place. When the time to move had come, no stones would keep Him back!
God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea, and rides upon the storm. W. Cowper - 1779
N.J. Hiebert - 8475
As if Paul had said, For me to live, is to have Christ as my motive, Christ as my object, Christ as my strength, and Christ as my reward. This would be separation from the world, and yet rendering the best service possible in the world.
When the eye is kept steadfastly fixed on the Person of the Beloved, the heart is kept full of Him--the conscience is clear--the judgment sound, and our service fruitful.
The closer we are to the fountain-head ourselves, the surer we are to become channels of blessing to others. Like the spring in the desert, or the river in the valley, it benefits the region around.
"If any man thirst,", says Jesus, "Let him come unto Me and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive; for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)" (John 7:37-39)
From the heart thus filled with Christ, through the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, a blessed testimony will be given to the risen and glorified Lord Jesus. It should flow forth like "rivers of living water." For this testimony the believer is responsible to his absent Lord. "He that saith he abideth in Him, ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked."
Song of Solomon - Andrew Miller
N.J. Hiebert - 8476
I suppose nobody ever naturally did like the idea of getting older, after he had at least left school. There is a sense of oppression and depression about it. The irresistible, inevitable onward march of moments and years without the possibility of one instant's pause--a march that even while on the uphill side of life is leading to the downhill side--casts an autumn-like shadow over many a spring-birthday. But surely the Bible gives us the bright side of everything.
In this case it gives three bright sides of a fact which, without it, could not help being gloomy. First, it opens the sure prospect of increasing brightness to those who have begun to walk in the light. Even if the sun of our life has reached the apparent zenith and we have known a very noonday of mental and spiritual being, it is no poetic western shadows that are to lengthen upon our way but "our age is to be clearer than the noonday."
The second bright side is increasing fruitfulness. Do not let us confuse between works and fruit. Even when we come to the days when "the strong men shall bow themselves," (Ecclesiastes 12:3) there may be more pleasant fruits for our Master, riper, fuller, and sweeter than ever before. For "they shall still bring forth fruit in old age." The third bright side is the brightest of all, "even to your old age, I am He" . . . "even to hoar hairs will I carry you." For we shall always be His little children and doubtless He will always be our Father. The rush of years cannot touch this.
Come nearer, Sun of Righteousness! that we, whose swift short hours of day so swiftly run,
So overflowed with love and light may be, so lost in glory of the nearing Sun,
That not our light, but Thine, the world may see, new praise to Thee through our poor lives be won. Edges of His ways - Frances Ridley Havergal.
N.J. Hiebert - 8477
Faith is not clinging - it is letting go.
A traveller upon a lonely road was attacked by bandits who robbed him of all he had. They then led him into the depths of the forest. There in the darkness they tied a rope to the limb of a great tree, and bade him catch hold of the end of it, swinging him out into the darkness of surrounding space, they told him he was hanging over the brink of a giddy precipice. The moment he let go he would be dashed to pieces on the rocks below. And then they left him. His soul was filled with horror at the awful doom impending.
He clutched despairingly the end of the swaying rope. But each dreadful moment only made his fate more sure. His strength steadily failed. At last he could hold on no longer. The end had come. His clenched fingers relaxed their convulsive grip.
He fell - six inches, to the solid earth at his feet! It was only a ruse of the robbers to gain time in escaping. And when he let go it was not to death, but to the safety which had been waiting him through all his time of terror.
Clutching will not save anyone from his hopelessness. It is only Satan's trick to keep you from being afforded security and peace in the solid promises of God. And all the while you are swinging over the supposed precipice of fear and mistrust. Let go! It is God's plan that you fall - not to defeat, but into His arms, the solid rock.
As soon as you recognize your sheer helplessness and your failing strength, you let go; and falling upon Him, your fear goes, your mistrust goes, and the blessed assurance comes forever. For He - not your clinging but - "He shall save His people from their sins." (Matthew 1:21) Streams in the Desert
N.J. Hiebert - 8478
There is a scene in the life of the apostle Peter which beautifully illustrates this. The sifting process of which our Lord had warned him, but to which he paid little attention, had been carried out; and as a result Peter had denied his Master with oaths and curses. One can imagine the remorse which would fill his mind when he realized what he had done: the tendency would be to throw up utterly his new discipleship.
And here we would point out the meaning of a scripture, which is frequently misquoted. Our Lord had said, "I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not," not "that thou mayest fail not." The failure was evidently the only method by which Peter could be robbed of his self-confidence. But the danger was that, having fallen, he would give way to despair, and it was to obviate this that our Lord's intercession was exercised on his behalf.
Well, just at the time of Peter's great denial, "the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, 'before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice' And Peter went out out and wept bitterly" (Luke 22:61,62). "Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him . . . and when he thought thereon, he wept" (Mark 14:72).
That word penetrated Peter's soul, broke up the fountains of his heart, and drew forth floods of penitential tears. When he meant his best he found out what a wicked heart he had; and when he did his worst he found out what a blessed heart Christ had. How often in times of soul declension do we experience equally tender treatment from our gracious God!
Pearl of Psalms - George Henderson
N.J. Hiebert - 8479
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