Gems worth pondering
May 31
"The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise."
(Proverbs 12:15)
A man with a fallen nature and in a fallen world to confide in himself is to play the fool.
God is not in any of his thoughts. He is sure he needs no advice; he is right in his own eyes. What can his eyes do but help him to judge according to sight, which the Lord contrasts with judging righteous judgment? and what so dangerous as every question of self? For there is nothing a man dislikes more than thinking ill of himself, unless it is of believing good of God. Truly the way of a fool is right in his own eyes. He that is wise distrusts himself and hearkens to counsel; nor does he cheat God and his conscience by seeking counsel of the weak and easy-going, but of the godly. (William Kelly - The Proverbs)
N.J. Hiebert # 3721
June 1
"Jesus came and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, PEACE BE UNTO YOU. And when He had so said, He showed unto them His hands and His side."
(John 20:19,20)
The billows had rolled over Him; the storm had exhausted itself upon Him; the sword had found its sheath in His bosom, when, risen out of the grave, He announced, "PEACE" - peace established in resurrection power, peace eternally secure. And having proclaimed peace, Jesus showed the divine evidence of it: His hands and His side.
He bade His disciples look upon Himself. We behold Jesus risen from the dead, and see in His once wounded hands and feet and side the evidence that our sins have been borne, and that the justice of God has raised the Sin-bearer from among the dead. There is no other evidence of peace having been made like the Person of Him who made it. (H.F. Witherby)
N.J. Hiebert # 3722
June 2
"For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth . . .
all things were created by Him, and for Him."
(Colossians 1:16)
I was tired and sat down under the shadows of the great pines in a Swedish forest, glad to find such a cool retreat from the broiling sun. I had not been there long before I noticed a fragrant odour and wondered what it could be and where it came from.
No, Marechal Niel rose grew on that barren soil, nor could the sun penetrate the shades of the forest to extract its perfume even if it had; I looked around, and found by my side a tiny flower about half the size of an ordinary daisy, nearly hidden from view by the moss. It was the little "Linea blomma."
Oh, how fragrant it smelled. Again and again I held it near my face, enjoying the perfume, and then I looked up and thanked God for that tiny flower, so insignificant, growing in a wild, almost untrodden forest, yet bringing cheer and refreshment to me.
I thought, why is it so obscure, when it is a flower with such fragrance, and surely worthy of a place in the most stately grounds? I learned a lesson by it, and it spoke powerfully to my heart.
I thought, If I cannot be a pine in God's forest, I may be a tiny flower to send forth the fragrance of Jesus in this world of sadness.
(Traveling Toward Sunrise)
N.J. Hiebert # 3723
