Gems for the Week
August 5 - 10
"Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity."
(Ecclesiastes 1:2)
The world has a philosophy that the pleasure is in the chase, and not in the prize. How often has it been proved that the world's favors have vanished just as easily and as disappointingly as the wayfarer's mirage in the desert has fled from him when he was faint and famished. The alluring oasis with its promise of water and shade proved to be only a deception to mock him when the reality was most needed.
The world's history is strewn with examples of those who vainly sought for happiness only to find it vanish as quickly as a broken bubble. That this world has its glory is not to be denied; that it is a vain and fleeting glory which will not satisfy the heart of man, is likewise a weighty fact. Solomon was allowed to taste most of the glories and pleasures here, but he wrote after each and all of them, "vanity and vexation of spirit." Oh, why should anyone have to learn the disappointing lesson for himself? (Paul Wilson)
N.J. Hiebert # 3056
"And when it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying . . . send the multitude away. . . but Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat." (Matthew 14:15-16)
What a striking contrast between "Send them away," and "Give ye them to eat." Thus it is ever. God's ways are not as our ways, and it is by looking at His ways that we learn to judge our ways - by looking at Him that we learn to judge our ways - by looking at Him that we learn to judge ourselves. Jesus, in this lovely scene, corrects the selfishness of the disciples - first, by making them the channels through which His grace may flow to the multitude - second, by making them gather up "twelve baskets full of the fragments" for themselves.
Nor is this all. Not merely is selfishness rebuked, but the heart is most blessedly instructed. Nature might say, "What need is there of the five loaves and two fishes at all? Surely the One who can feed such a multitude with, can as easily feed them without, such an instrumentality." Nature might argue thus; but Jesus teaches us that we are not to despise God's creatures. We are to use what we have, with God's blessing. This is a fine moral lesson for the heart. "What hast thou in the house?" is the question. It is just that and nothing else that God will use. It is easy to be liberal with what we have not; but the thing is to bring out what we have, and with God's blessing, apply it to the present need
. (C.H. Mackintosh)
N.J. Hiebert # 3057
"Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." (James 1:27)
The caring for souls - the binding up of those that are broken in spirit - the interesting ourselves in the troubles and trials and difficulties of the saints of God - is of great price with Him; and this kind of ministering is, I am afraid, often sadly neglected today. (Christian Truth - Vol. 22 - 1969)
N.J. Hiebert # 3058
"Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy Word is truth." (John 17:17)
An act may be unholy, though done with a good conscience, because "the truth," and not the conscience, is the rule of holiness. (Selected)
N.J. Hiebert # 3059
"When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then Thou knewest my path."
(Psalm 14:23)
There are times in our lives when our hearts are overwhelmed and we wonder how we can go on. It is at times like these that we need to be reminded that we are on the Rock who is higher than we are.
"From the end of the earth will I cry unto Thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I." (Psalm 61:2)
This elevation gives us a position of strength over our spiritual enemies; a position of perspective on our situation, in view of eternity - the big picture; and a position of closeness to the Most High God where we can rest in the calming comfort of His omnipotent presence. (David J. Logan)
On Christ the solid rock I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.
(Edward Mote)
N.J. Hiebert # 3060
"They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles. . ." (Isaiah 40:31)
I watched a bird upon a fragile stem;
It seemed it would surely break with him;
He did not seem to worry or to mind,
For all his swaying in the wind.
He sat erect and sang his lilting song,
He felt so very sure, so very strong.
FOR HE HAD WINGS!
(Selected)
N.J. Hiebert # 3061
