Gems for the Week
September 19 - 20
"There came a messenger unto (King) Saul, saying, Haste thee, and come; for the Philistines have invaded the land. Wherefore Saul returned from pursuing after David, and went against the Philistines: therefore they called that place Sela-ham-mahlekoth" (that is, the rock of divisions or escape).
And David went up from thence." (1 Samuel 23:27-29)
Saul was pressing David very close. It seemed as if Saul had captured his long pursued quarry on this occasion - "Saul and his men compassed David and his men round about to take them" (verse 26).
But suddenly a messenger appeared, saying to Saul, "Haste thee, and come." Saul was called away, and thus one of the spots of David's greatest danger became henceforth a monumental place of divine deliverance; for in all this the believer sees God's intervention in David's escape. Are there not places in our own experience over which we too might write as truly as these Hebrews did, the long and difficult word, "SELA-HAM-MAHLEKOTH"?
God was no more David's deliverer than He is the deliverer in these days of those who put their trust in Him. Let us not forget the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, "The very hairs of your head are all numbered."
(Christian Truth - Vol. 21 - March 1968)
N.J. Hiebert # 3101
"Whatsoever things are true." (Philippians 4:8)
The Word says of us: "As he thinketh in his heart, so is he" (Proverbs 23:7). If a man constantly thinks of something, the time will come when he cannot stop thinking of it: and woe be it to him, if these thoughts are evil and impure and false.
Our thoughts form us; and it is out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. And let us not forget that our thoughts are formed by what we read, and look at, and hear. How much about us is superficial, or false. Our newspapers, the radio, the magazines about the house: do these help us to meditate on whatsoever things are true? Do we realize what a terrific influence these things have on our children, as well as on ourselves? And how much of all this is not true, but utterly false, as we very well know. Little wonder the Spirit of God exhorts us to think on, to meditate on, to calculate, whatsoever things are true.
The Word here tells us to calculate. Let us calculate the awful loss to one who does not heed this admonition. It may mean the loss of a soul: if not your own soul, it may be the soul of one you love even better than yourself. It has been well said:
"Light obeyed increaseth Light.
Light refused, but bringeth night.
Who shall give us power to choose,
If the love of Light we lose?"
(G. Christopher Willis - Sacrifices of Joy -Philippians)
N.J. Hiebert # 3102
