Gems for the Week
October 30 - November 1
"And he (Herod) sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young Child; and when ye (wise men) have found Him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship Him also." (Matthew 2:8)
The Lord knows them that are His. Sometimes the most unlikely ones are chosen to do His work. Imagine three kings kneeling before a baby. God protects all His own for Herod could have easily had them followed instead of trusting them in their return and information. Satan always fouls up. God guides by physical circumstances and miraculous events such as stars, prophecy and dreams. (Mediations in Matthew - B.R.)
N.J. Hiebert # 3142
"And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. And He (Jesus) was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake Him, and say unto Him, Master, carest Thou not that we perish?" (Mark 4:37,38)
"Faith delights in "man's extremity," simply because it is "God's opportunity." It delights in being "shut up" to God - in having the platform thoroughly cleared of the creature in order that God may display His glory - in the multiplying of empty vessels in order that God may fill them. (2 Kings 4:1-7) Such is faith. It would, we may surely say, have enabled the disciples to lie down and sleep beside their Master in the midst of the storm. Unbelief, on the other hand, rendered them uneasy; they could not rest themselves, and they actually aroused the blessed Lord out of His sleep by their unbelieving apprehensions. He, weary with incessant toil, was snatching a few moments repose while the vessel was crossing the sea. He knew what fatigue was; He had come down into all the circumstances. He made Himself acquainted with all our feelings and all our infirmities, being in all points tempted like as we are, sin excepted. He was found as a man in every respect, and as such, He slept on a pillow, and was rocked by the sea's wave. The storm beat upon the vessel, and the billows rolled over it, although the Creator was on board in the Person of that weary, sleeping Workman. (Christian Truth - Vol. 22 - December 1969)
N.J. Hiebert # 3143
"God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all." (1 John 1:5)
No language could be used to describe more forcibly God's intrinsic and absolute purity. It is a purity that admits of no degree of evil. Not only is God "light," but no "darkness" can mingle with that light. Darkness is necessarily excluded by what He is as light. And if we have been brought to God, we are not "in darkness," but "in the light." It is the place and condition into which we have been brought. We were once darkness, but now light in the Lord (Ephesians 5:8). (A.H. Rule)
N.J. Hiebert # 3144
