"The fiery darts of the wicked." (Ephesians 6:16)
Be not surprised if doubts and fears assail you. They are to be expected like evil
thoughts or disease germs. You cannot avoid being attacked and, if you are sore
beset, remember that the Bible, the Word of God'‘ has told you they will come.
It is not wrong to be the target of their onslaughts, but you need not be overcome by them. It means that you are in real conflict and dangerous enough to the devil to bring in his hostility.
If you wonder why they seem to increase as you go on and grow older, it is because the fight gets hotter as you grow in grace and it never lets up. But greater is He that is in you than all your adversaries.
You are pressed by many a foe so that you may be all the more helpful to others who are not shadow boxing but are in the thick of the fight."
(Vance Havner - All the Days)
N.J.Hiebert — 9502
February 29
"One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty
of the LORD, and to enquire in His temple." (Psalm 27:4)
As we come together to worship, what is the focus of our attention? Do we meditate upon the beautiful character and person of our Saviour? He never sinned and never had to ask forgiveness for His words or actions.
His words were full of grace and truth. His life was a life fragrant with love for all. His loving hands healed the sick. His loving lips spoke words of forgiveness to the broken sinner. His agonizing death for sinners proclaimed the amazing love of God.
He is a beautiful Saviour! Behold the beauty of the Lord! (Donald Norbie)
N.J.Hiebert — 9503
…Esau came from the field, and he was faint: and Esau said to Jacob, feed me, I pray thee… for l am faint... and Jacob said, sell me this day thy birthright. And Esau said, behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me... Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils; and he did eat and drink... Esau despised his birthright." (Genesis 25:29-34)
Note the conduct of Esau in reference to the birthright, and all which it involved. The natural heart places no value on the things of God.
To it, God's promise is a vague, valueless, powerless thing, simply because God is not known. Hence it is that present things carry such weight and influence in man's estimation. Anything that man can see. he values, because he is governed by sight and not by faith.
To him, the present is everything; the future is a mere un-influential thing - a matter of the merest uncertainty. Thus it was with Esau. "I am at the point to die; and what profit shall this birthright do to me?" What strange reasoning! - the present is slipping from beneath my feet, I will therefore despise and entirely let go the future! - Time is fading from my view, I will therefore abandon all interest in eternity! "Thus Esau despised his birthright."
Man has no heart for the things of God. The present is everything to him. Food is better than a title to Canaan. Hence, the very reason why Esau made light of the birthright was the very reason why he ought to have grasped it with the greater intensity. The more clearly I see the vanity of man's present, the more I shall cleave to God's future.
(C.H. Macintosh - Notes onGenesis)
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TRUSTING
When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. Romans 5:6
Lord, Thou wilt ordain peace for us; for Thou also hast wrought all our works in us. Isaiah 26:12
What a long time it takes to come down to the conviction, and still more to the realization of the fact that without Him we can do nothing, (John 15:5) but that He must work all our works in us! This is the work of God, that ye believe in Him whom He hath sent. And no less must it be the work of God that we go on believing, and that we go on trusting.
Then, you who are longing to trust Him with unbroken and unwavering trust, cease the effort and drop the burden, and now entrust your trust to Him! He is just as well able to keep that as any other part of the complex lives which we want Him to take and keep for Himself.
And oh, do not pass on, content with the thought, “Yes, that is good idea; perhaps I should find that a great help!” But, “Now, then, do it.” It is no help to the sailor to see a flash of light across a dark sea, if he does not instantly steer accordingly.
I am trusting Thee, Lord Jesus, trusting only Thee;
Trusting Thee for full salvation, great and free.
I am trusting Thee, Lord Jesus; never let me fall!
I am trusting Thee forever, and for all.
Opened Treasures - Frances Ridley Havergal
N.J.Hiebert - 9505
Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man, of Kabzeel, who had done many acts, he slew two lionlike men of Moab: he went down also had gone down and slew a lion in the midst of a pit in time of snow.
2 Samuel 23:20
On a snowy day
Benaiah was one of the men who accompanied David on his flight from King Saul. The Bible calls him a brave man and tells how he fought a lion in a pit on a snowy day. Benaiah performed a difficult task in a difficult place and under difficult circumstances.
God took note and made a point to record this feat in great detail in His Word. The external conditions under which Benaiah had to fight particularly highlight his courage of faith.
The Lord also knows the circumstances under which we serve Him and commit ourselves to His cause:
• He takes note of that Christian who takes the opportunity on a hot summer day to bring people into contact with Jesus Christ.
• He sees the Christian who sits for hours in a traffic jam because she wants to cheer up a sick sister in the faith by visiting her.
• He also notices how a believing mother wants to faithfully fulfil the task of caring for her children despite a headache.
• It does not escape His notice when a servant takes a long drive in the pouring rain to visit a small, lonely group of believers.
In heaven we will realise with amazement that the Lord has taken notice of all these details. It will be a joy for Him to reward the faith that overcame the difficulties with His help. The Good Seed.
N.J.Hiebert - 9506
IS YOUR HEART IN IT?
Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men.
Colossians 3:23
In Second Chronicles 31:21 we read of Hezekiah that in every work that he began he did it with all his heart and prospered. It is not merely much pleasanter to be bright and brisk about everything, but it is actually one of God's commands, written in His own Word. I know this is easier to some than to others. Perhaps it comes natural to you to do everything heartily. But even that is not enough.
What else? "Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to the Lord, and not unto men."
He knows whether you are seeking to please Him or whether He is forgotten all the while and you think only of the smiles of others. But perhaps it is hard for you to do
things heartily. You like better to take your time, and so you dawdle, and do things in an idle way, especially what you do not much like doing. Is this right? Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily! Is it not just as much disobeying God as breaking any other command?
Are you not guilty before Him? Very likely you never thought of it in this way, but there the words stand, and neither you nor I can alter them. May the Lord give us strength to obey this word of His. And then the last word of the verse about Hezekiah will be true of us to — we will be "prospered."
Jesus, Master! Wilt Thou use…One who owes Thee more than all?
As Thou wilt! I would not choose,…Only let me hear Thy call.
Jesus, let me always be… In Thy service glad and free.
Frances Ridley Havergal - Opened Treasures
N.J.Hiebert - 9507
"No man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it,
even as the Lord the church." (Ephesians 5:29)
There is the special entrance of His mind, His careful interest in those that belong to Him. It is a great comfort that we know this to be true in the present state of the Church, when we think of the ruin of all around. Does Christ ever cease to nourish that which belongs to Him? Impossible. Spite of all the ruin, He has the same care for His people.
We never can pray too much for the Church; but it is another thing to be troubling our minds as if the Lord forgot her, and were not taking adequate care of the saints in their need and sorrow. The Lord has never failed; and what He here tells us to do in our earthly relationships is no more than what He perfectly does towards His Church. He loves the Church; He nourishes and cherishes it, and He does this because
"we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones." (Ephesians 5:30)
Just as Eve was a part of Adam, so the Church is of Christ. The Lord took out of Adam's side that which He built into his wife. So we stand in this nearness of relationship to Christ. (William Kelly - Lectures on Ephesians)
N.J.Hiebert — 9508
What man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God"
(I Cor. 2: II).
I remember looking at a busy ant colony on a broiling summer day in Australia. My thoughts ran as follows. The distance between a man and an ant is very great,
but after all it is but a finite distance. You can weigh the substance of a man and that of an ant, and you can find out how much heavier a man is than an ant. But can an
ant understand what is passing through a man's mind? Can an ant understand the achievements of men? We know it cannot. But the distance between God and
man is infinitely greater than that between man and ant. God is the Creator. Man is the creature. The distance between them is infinite. No arithmetic is of any use
here. Is it possible that the mind of man can understand and comprehend God? He is " the only Potentate, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords; who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting.
Amen (I Tim 6: 15, 16).
We may well re-echo the words of Zophar, " Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? It is as high as heaven;
what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know? The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea " (Job II: 7-9).
If I could understand the Bible through and through I should not and could not believe it to be a revelation from God. That there are mysteries insoluble is what my faith feeds upon. As the Christian poet expressed it:
“They are darkness to my intellect,
But sunshine to my heart”
N.J.Hiebert - 9509
King Agrippa… Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead? Acts 26:7,8.
Why did Christ die?
He died for sinners. That is the wonderful news which the gospel brings to us, that "when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly" (Rom. 5:6). Paul had got hold of the blessed news that the Son of God had become incarnate; had become a man in this world; that He passed through it a blessed, holy, sinless man; and that at length, in grace, He died on the cross for man.
It is quite true, man put Him there, but when there, He died to make atonement for sin. But God raised Him from the dead. Wickedness nailed Him to the tree. Hatred slew Him; love took Him down from the cross, and buried Him; and fear sealed Him in the tomb. Do not forget that! They rolled a great stone to the mouth of the tomb, and set a watch over it. Was not that a strange thing?
They put aguard around a dead man. And why? Because, they were afraid He would rise; and thank God, that was what happened. He has been raised. If hatred slew Him, love buried Him, and fear sealed Him in the tomb, what raised Him? Righteousness.
It was His due, and He got it. The glory of the Father raised Him, as we read “Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father " (Rom. 6:4). God took that sinless man out of death, and put Him into glory. Paul had seen Him there, and been commissioned to proclaim the news. He had been preaching it to the Gentiles, and for that dire offence he is accused of the Jews, and cast into prison. Strange that man should refuse the most blessed tidings that ever fell on mortal ears!
Resurrection is the very backbone of the gospel: it is the evidence
- that the work of redemption is accomplished;
- that the power of the enemy has been broken;
- that death has been annulled;
- that sins are wiped away;
- that God’s claims in righteousness are met. Seekers for Light - W.T.P. Wolston M.D
N.J.Hiebert — 9510
"And he (Mephibosheth) bowed himself, and said, What is thy servant, that thou shoudest look upon such a dead dog as I am? (2 Samuel 9:8)
When Mephibosheth was five years old, an unfortunate accident caused him to become lame on both feet.
Today we would extend every effort to make such a one have a quality of life as normal as possible. But Mephibosheth's estimation of himself was "a dead dog" as he stood before the king.
Are we any different as we stand before the King of kings? We come dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2) and the Lord gives us life. But more! David made Mephibosheth sit at his table and enjoy the bounty of the king.
Our Lord makes the same offer. May we accept His invitation today. (Charlie Tempest)
N.J.Hiebert — 9511
"Consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds." (Hebrews 12:3)
I once heard a marathoner tell how there comes a point in a race when the runner "hits the wall," meaning that his body cannot go on, and every muscle is crying out to give up.
He said that at that point it is the mind that will determine if the race will continue. So it is spiritually. If our minds have not been disciplined and directed by the Word of God on an ongoing basis, when we "hit the wall” in our spiritual life, we will fail.
May we determine to fill our minds with His Word, and so to discipline our thought life in such a way that we will have victory in the crises of life. (Wm. Burnett)
N.J.Hiebert — 9512
"Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against Thee."
(Psalm 119:11)
The word of God should not only be a check on our thoughts, but the source of them, which is a far deeper thing. We see it in Christ, the only perfect one. He only could say, "By the word of Thy lips I have kept me from the path of the destroyer." (Psalm 17:4) "Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against Thee."
There is preserving power in the word, to keep the feet from sliding, which those only know who receive the truth in the love of it. Merely having the word hid in the memory and mind will not do. There must be the action of the truth on the heart and conscience, separating from all defilement, otherwise its preserving power cannot be experienced.
There is nothing more dangerous than to use the Word when it has not touched my
conscience. I put myself into Satan's hands if I go beyond what I have from God, handling the Word apart from the guidance of the Spirit.
I know of nothing that separates more from God than truth spoken out of communion with God. (J.N.Darby)
N.J.Hiebert — 9513
"Abraham said, My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering:
so they went both of them together." (Genesis 22:8)
"Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" (Amos 3:3)
Abraham and Isaac were united as they made their trek to the altar on the top of Mount Moriah. So too, in that long walk from heaven to Calvary, that place of divine sacrifice for our sin, God the Father and God the Son were in perfect harmony and total agreement in the great plan of salvation.
Who were the objects of this unified, unsurpassed, and undeserved love? You and me! How much we owe! (D. Logan)
Lest I forget Gethsemane; lest I forget Thine agony;
Lest I forget Thy love for me, lead me to Calvary.
(J.E. Hussey)
N.J.Hiebert — 9514
"Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake? ... Is there not yet any of the house of Saul, that I may show the kindness of God unto him? (2 Samuel 9:1,3)
King Saul had not been kind to David, but all that is forgotten. David remembers the one lovely thing that came from that house. "Whatsoever things are...lovely..think on these things." (Philippians 4:8); leave the rest - forget them - that is the word that shines forth here.
Would it not be good to get into the way of looking out for chances to show kindness over and above duties? These words might be well written up, if not on the walls of our rooms, then on the walls of our hearts. "is there any that I might show him kindness? Is there any that I might show the kindness of God unto him?"
(Amy Carmichael - Edges of His Ways)
N.J.Hiebert — 9515
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