Sunday, December 8, 2024

Gems from December 11- 16, 2024

As the Father knoweth Me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down My life for the sheep.  No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself . . . this commandment have I received of My Father. John 10:15,18

What confidence the Father must have had in the Son's love and faithfulness to give Him such a commandment as this!  What love the Son must have had for the Father, to bear at His commandment the curse and death of the cross!  "Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God." (Hebrews 10:9). 

On the cross our Lord sustained God's wrath against sin; on the tree, He "Was made a curse for us" (Galatians 3:13); in those hours of Calvary's darkness, the Christ of God was forsaken (Matthew 27:46)"Thy wrath lieth hard upon Me, and Thou hast afflicted Me with all Thy waves" (Psalm 88:7).

This is what death meant to the Lord Jesus Christ: made a curse; visited with the wrath of God against sin; in darkness, forsaken, and alone, He died for us.  Utterly solitary He died that none of us might have to face death alone.


Crowned with thorns upon the tree; silent in Thine agony;
Dying crushed beneath the load, of the wrath and curse of God."


This was the heart-breaking anguish of His death.  God left Him alone in the hour of His deepest suffering.  The sorrowing One of Psalm 22 pleaded "Our fathers trusted in Thee: they trusted and Thou didst deliver them.  They cried unto Thee and were delivered: they trusted in Thee and were not confounded.  But I am a worm and no man; a reproach of men and despised of the people".  

The One who was the most faithful and the most beloved was the first to know the bitter sorrow of being left alone by God in the hour of His deep distress. Yet, He who died at Calvary was "glorious in the eyes of the Lord," and He is God's "Salvation unto the ends of the earth."  Isaiah 49:6 
 Leonard Sheldrake

N.J. Hiebert - 9788

December 11

Stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.  Philippians 1:27

Earnestly the apostle exhorts these saints to stand fast in one spirit.  He saw the need for this earnest appeal.  Now he goes a little further, beseeching them to fill full his joy when they mind the same thing.  The other conditions for filling full his joy indicate that all in Philippi were not of one mind. 

When we come to chapter 4 the apostle speaks out plainly, but oh how gently: "I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord." (Philippians 4:2).  Two dear sisters, sisters who had toiled with him in the gospel, were not of one mind: and it kept the apostle's joy from being full.  And let us ask what about the Lord's joy in His saints?  Did it hinder His tender heart from having the full joy He longed for from His own?

What about us today?  We must often fill His heart with grief rather than joy.  How few companies of saints do we find where they mind the same thing!  Rather, how often do all seek their own; do all look on their own thing; do all mind different things.  Oh, the shame and sorrow of it!  We know it grieves the Spirit of God and must fill our Lord's heart with sorrow. 

We all know something of the exceeding difficulty of healing coldness and divisions that arise between the saints. "A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city." (Proverbs 18:19)  Note the skill of the apostle, taught by the Spirit of God.    Before ever he mentions the need for them to mind the same thing, he turns their eyes to Christ.  "If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love" (Philippians 2:1).  He reminds them of that mighty bond, the "fellowship of the Spirit,"  and once again he looks off to Christ: "if any bowels and mercies."  Only in Christ will we find healing for these sad rents that come between God's people.  Let us be found "Looking unto Jesus" (Hebrews 12:2).  G. C. Willis

N.J. Hiebert - 9789

December 12

For I am in a straight betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better.  Philippians 1:23  

These words were penned in a dark Roman dungeon.  For the apostle it would have been"far better" to exchange it for the light and glory of Heaven.  But he recognizes that God might have a reason for him to remain.

There are times in the lives of suffering saints when it would be "far better" to be "absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord"  (2 Corinthians 5:8).  At such times, peace can be found in knowing that this blessed release will  be given, once His purposes for us in this world have been fulfilled.   
 W. H. Burnett 
Here let me wait with patience, wait till the night is oe'r,
Wait till I see the morning, break on the golden shore.  Fanny Crosby  


Shepherds  -  Where have all the shepherds gone,Those we loved and knew?
Who helped us with each falt'ring step, and through each face plant too!

Some are gone before our time to pastures green and bright,
Where all is peace, and joy, and love in the Saviour's glorious light.

Others have stumbled in the way, beset by trials sore
Or hindered by the cares of day and hazards of the road.

Some still carry on the fight with foes on every side,
Praying daily for our lives and helping stem the tide. 

Will you step in and fill the ranks, thinned and harried so?
To lift each heavy, burdened soul and make their cares your own?

For if you stop with brotherly love to share your neighbour's care,
The Lord will stoop with heavenly love and all your burdens bear!  
A.Scharf

N.J. Hiebert - 9790

December 13

And to love Him (God) with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all . . . sacrifices.  Mark 12:33 

LIVINGSTONE, ON SACRIFICE     

People talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa.  Can that which is simply paid back as a small part of a great debt we owe to our God be called a sacrifice?  Is that a sacrifice which brings its own best reward in healthful activity, the consciousness of doing good, peace of mind, and a bright hope of a glorious destiny hereafter? 

Away with the word in such a view and with such a thought!  It is emphatically no sacrifice.  Say, rather, it is a privilege.  Anxiety, sickness, suffering, or danger, now and then, with a foregoing of the common convenience and charities of this life, may make us pause, and cause the spirit to waver and the soul to sink, but let this be only for a moment.

All these are nothing when compared with the glory which shall hereafter be revealed in and for us. (Romans 8:18).  I never made a sacrifice.  Of this we ought not to talk when we remember the great sacrifice which was made by Him who left His Father's throne on high to give Himself for us.

"MY JESUS, MY LORD, MY LIFE, MY ALL, I  AGAIN DEDICATE MY WHOLE SELF TO THEE."  

The above words were found in Dr. Livingstone's diary under date of the day Stanley left him after failing to persuade him to take the only possible opportunity of returning home. 

David Livingstone when but twenty-three years of age was exploring the Dark Continent. 
 Mountain Trailways for Youth.

N.J. Hiebert - 9791

December 14

Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of Me this night: for it is written, I will smite the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.  But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee .  Matthew 26:31-32.   
He is not here: for He is risen as He said. . . . go quickly, and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead; and behold, He goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see Him: Lo, I have told you. (Matthew 28:6-7)


On the last journey to Jerusalem the Saviour charged the disciples to meet  Him in Galilee after His resurrection.  They were reminded of His words by the angels at the sepulchre.  Yet, when they reached the North, instead of quietly waiting for the Lord, seven of them went fishing, Simon Peter being the leader of this departure.  Their night's labour yielded nothing, for what blessing can disobedient ones expect from God?

At dawn a stranger on the shore challenged them as to their condition; and presently, at His command, they let down their net once more, and this time "they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes."  John said to Peter: "it is the Lord".  Instantly the impulsive Peter put on his coat, and flung himself into the sea in order to hasten to His feet.

Very beautiful is this!  Even after his shameful denial of his Lord, the apostle felt nowhere so happy as in His presence.  If human love had broken down, the offender knew perfectly that divine love was still the same.  Let every believer find comfort in the thought!

When the weary fishermen reached the shore that morning they found "a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread."  A divinely provided breakfast for disobedient disciples!  Well has the poet said, "To those who fall, how kind Thou art!"  Not a word of remonstrance  did the Saviour address either to Peter or his companions until He had first refreshed them with His bounty. 

Peter the Apostle - W.W. Fereday

N.J. Hiebert - 9792

December 15

But think on me (Joseph) when it shall be well with thee . . . I have done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon.  Genesis 40:14-15

It is often in the "dungeon" (pit)  experiences of life that God works to mold our character and bend our will to conform us to the image of Jesus Christ.  In the pit, we have nowhere to look but up, and we learn that God is enough.  The pit wasn't Joseph's choice, but it was here that God worked in him, to prepare him for kingdom service.  If we let Him, God can use our "pit experiences" to do the same for us. 
Deborah Manera

God is looking for people through whom He can do the impossible.
What a pity that we plan only things we can do by ourselves.  A. W.Tozer
  
"Without Me ye can do nothing." (John 15:5)

N.J. Hiebert - 9793

December 16

December 17

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Gems from December 11- 16, 2024

As the Father knoweth Me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down My life for the sheep.  No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of M...