Bible Gems

December 27

"We have heard."  (Joshua 2:10)

Rahab said to the spies: "We have heard."  It was a word which assured grace and deliverance to some, and judgment to others.  Faith in this word places her immediately, as to her conscience, under the weight of the judgment.  "As soon as we heard it out hearts did melt." (Ver. 11)  Like her people she is filled with fear; but while they had lost all courage, for her this very fear is the beginning of wisdom, for it is the fear of the Lord, a fear which makes her look to God, and immediately she acquires the certainty ("I know," Ver. 9) that this God is a God of grace for His people.  She seeks her resources in this God who is the resource of His own.  Faith is not mere human imagination which likes to deceive itself, and which sees things in whatever light it pleases.  It is not the human mind building its conclusions on possibilities or probabilities; she says simply, "I know," because she had heard what the Lord has done.  (H.L. Rossier - Joshua)

 N.J. Hiebert # 2111

December 28

"Evening, and morning, and at noon will I pray, and cry aloud: and He shall hear my voice."  (Psalm 55:17) 

Dependence finds its natural and normal _expression in prayer.  The only perfect Nazarite (Jesus) was a Man of prayer.  Let us be assured that there is no greater peril than losing a sense of the need of prayer.  A neglected closet means the loss of the dependent spirit.... Is it the habit of our lives?  It is possible for even the knowledge of grace to be used by the enemy to lessen the sense of dependence and so to cause prayer to become less constant.

(S. Ridout - Judges)

N.J. Hiebert # 2112

December 29

"For from within... proceed evil thoughts... covetousness, wickedness, deceit."  (Mark 7:21,22)

    As Christians, we face strong foes that would bring us into spiritual  defeat.  Our greatest enemy, however, lurks within.  Even though we have been born again, we are deeply aware of our inclination toward evil.  The apostle Paul wrote, "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find" (Romans 7:18).  He added, "For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members" (vv.22,23).

    In Victor Hugo's story, "Ninety-Three," a ship is caught in a storm.  The frightened crew hears a terrible crashing sound below.  Immediately the men know what it is:  a cannon has broken loose and is crashing into the ship's side with every smashing blow of the sea!  Two men, at the risk of their lives, manage to fasten it down again, for they know that the unfastened cannon is more dangerous than the raging storm.  Hillery C. Price made this application:  "Many people... are like that ship - their greatest danger areas lie within their own lives."

    Yes, if our "flesh" - that old tendency to envy, pride, malice, covetousness, and deceit - is not "fastened down" by yielding ourselves to God's Spirit, we will live under the constant threat of defeat.  So believer, let's be alert to that enemy within!  (R.W.D.)

If you desire the Lord Himself to fill you,

For Him alone you care to live and be,

Then 'tis not you, but Christ Who dwells within you;

And that, O child of God, is victory.  (Anon) 

 

Master that sin in your heart or it will master you.

N.J. Hiebert # 2113 

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December 30

"...but their nobles put not their necks to the work of their Lord."  (Nehemiah 3:5)

 Pride was governing their hearts.  They could not stoop low enough. They were not accustomed to the yoke, and they thus preferred their own importance and ease to the Lord's work.  What a contrast to Him Who, though rich, became poor, that we through His poverty might be rich for ever!  He came into this world, to do the will of God, and was in the midst of His own "as One that serveth;" and having finished the work which the Father gave Him to do, He has, in His unspeakable grace and love, become for ever the servant of His people.  It is well for every child of God to learn the lesson, that it is only in bowing their necks to the Lord's yoke that rest to their souls can be found.  The nobles of Tekoa chose their own will, and lost by their stubbornness the blessing of the service offered to them, and at the same time procured for themselves everlasting exclusion from the commendation given to their brethren, as well as a mark of condemnation for their pride.  (Edward Dennett - Nehemiah)

 N.J. Hiebert # 2114

December 31

"The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh  and whither it goeth: so is everyone that is born of the Spirit." (John 3:8)

If we could look at it aright we should perhaps be impressed with the fact that there are few things connected with our life more wonderful than prayer.  It is the breathing of the hidden life - the _expression of the soul's intercourse with God.  "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof," said Christ when speaking of new birth; so prayer is the sound that often indicates that this mysterious operation in the soul has taken place - as was said of newly converted Saul of Tarsus, "Behold, he prayeth."  Prayer is one of two tangible links with the unseen.  The other is the Bible.  In one God speaks to us; in the other we speak to Him."  (Selected)

 N.J. Hiebert # 2115