Gems for the Week
January 13 - 19
"And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother?"
(Genesis 4:9)
This question is very similar to the one the Lord asked Cain's father in the previous chapter. "Where art thou?" (Genesis 3:9) Just as God knew exactly where Adam and Eve were, He likewise knew where Abel was. What appears to be a question of His wrath was actually a probing of His grace. God knew the answer; He simply wanted Cain to take sides with God - and against himself - to confess what he had done wrong. An admission of guilt is the first step towards reconciliation. Will you agree with God today and be forgiven? (Craig Funston)
Our sins were borne by Jesus, the holy Lamb of God;
He took them all, and freed us from the condemning load.
Our guilt was borne by Jesus, who washed the crimson stains,
White in His blood most precious, till not a spot remains.
(H. Bonar)
N.J. Hiebert # 2491
"Give me understanding according to Thy word.
Let my supplication come before Thee:
deliver me according to Thy word."
(Psalm 119:169-170)
There is strength for every burden;
There is courage for the day;
There is hope for each tomorrow;
There is help along the way!
There is comfort in just trusting
Each new moment to His care,
And a real and blest assurance
In the quietness of prayer
(Anon)
N.J. Hiebert # 2492
"I am become like the pelican of the wilderness,
I am as an owl in desolate places;
I watch, and am like a sparrow alone upon the housetop."
(Psalm 102:6-7)
This language is that of the Lord Jesus in the days of His sojourn in the world. He had become like a pelican of the wilderness. The pelican is of course a water bird, so to be in the wilderness was far from its natural habitat. Thus the Lord Jesus, who was accustomed to the precious, refreshing fellowship of His Father, was in a dry and thirsty land, an experience that He deeply felt. Not even His disciples could give Him the comfort and enjoyment that He was accustomed to in heaven.
Or, like an owl in desolate places, He felt the loneliness of His path on earth far more than any other has ever felt loneliness. A sparrow alone on a housetop is another picture of the loneliness of the Lord Jesus, but in a different realm. For the owl was in desolate places, where no fellowship was to be expected. The sparrow is a different bird entirely, for its very nature is to be social. Sparrows love to congregate together, and the house speaks of the place of social fellowship. But here on the housetop, where the sparrow would expect company, it is alone.
Thus, the Lord Jesus desired the fellowship of His disciples, but on the eve of His crucifixion they were asleep! (Luke 22:40-46). Also, in Luke 9:18 we are told that "as He was praying alone, His disciples were with Him." Was He alone? Yes! Were His disciples with Him? Yes! Though outwardly present, the disciples did not enter into His thoughts, nor understand His prayer. What Loneliness! (Selected)
N.J. Hiebert # 2493
"For in Him dwells ALL the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in Him, which is the head of ALL principality and power." (Colossians 2:9,10)
There is nothing the heart can crave which we have not in Jesus. Does it long for genuine sympathy? Where can it find it, save in Him who could mingle His tears with those of the bereaved sisters of Bethany? Does it desire the enjoyment of sincere affection? It can only find it in that heart which told forth its love in drops of blood. Does it seek the protection of real power? It has but to look to Him who made the worlds. Does it feel the need of unerring wisdom to guide? Let it betake itself to Him who is Wisdom personified, and "who of God is made unto us wisdom." In one word, we have all in Christ. (Food for the Desert)
N.J. Hiebert # 2494
"Whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water . . . he shall in no wise lose his reward." (Matthew 10:42)
If only we are self-emptied, our every act may emit a sweet odour to God. The smallest as well as the greatest services may, by the power of the Holy Spirit, present the fragrance of Christ. The paying of a visit, the writing of a letter, the public ministry of the word, giving a cup of cold water to disciple, giving money to the poor, yea, the commonplace acts of eating and drinking - all may emit the sweet perfume of the name and grace of Jesus. (Food for the Desert)
N.J. Hiebert # 2495
"The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers." (1 Peter 3:12)
As a teacher with many ears of experience in high school and college classrooms, I have observed many kinds of students. One in particular is what I call the "just me and the teacher" student. This pupil has a kind of one-on-one conversation with the teacher - almost as if no one else were in the class. The teacher's rhetorical questions, for instance, result in verbal answers from this student - oblivious to anyone else's reaction. While the class is filed with other pupils, this one seems to think it's "just me and the teacher."
As I watched one of these students recently and saw him command the teacher's attention, I thought, He's on to something. He has the focus we all need to have when we pray.
The thought that millions of other Christians are talking to God as we pray should never cause us to feel that we are less important. No, as we talk to our everywhere-present, all-knowing, all-powerful God, we can be confident that He is giving us His full attention. David said, "This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him" (Psalm 34:6). God directs single-minded attention toward our praise, our requests, and our concerns.
When you pray, to Him you are the only one. (Dave Branon)
So lift up your heart to the heavens;
There's a loving and kind Father there
Who offers release - comfort and peace -
In the silent communion of prayer. (Anon)
THOUGH MILLIONS ARE BENDING GOD'S EAR IN PRAYER,
HE LISTENS TO EACH INDIVIDUALLY.
Our Daily Bread, RBC Ministries, Copyright (2005), Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted permission.
N.J. Hiebert # 2496
"I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts,
which war against the soul." (1 Peter 2:11)
Saint Jerome tells how, having lived a lecherous life in his youth, after he become a Christian he fled from all contact with the gross and vulgar world in which he had once sought to gratify every fleshly desire. He left Rome and wandered to Palestine, and there lived in a cave near Bethlehem, where he sought to subdue his carnal nature by fasting almost to starvation. And then he tells us how disappointed he was when, exhausted and weary, he fell asleep and dreamed he was still rioting among the dissolute companions of his godless days. The flesh cannot be starved into subjection. It cannot be improved by subjecting it to ordinances whether human or divine. But as we walk in the Spirit, and are occupied thus with the risen Christ, we are delivered from the power of fleshly lusts which war against the soul. (The Christian Newsletter)
N.J. Hiebert # 2497
