Gems worth pondering
August 16
"Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward."
(Job 5:7)
THE PREVALENCE OF SORROW
"Man is born to sorrow as the sparks fly upward.
- All history narrates it;
- All poetry sings of it;
- All biography confesses it;
- All experience teems with it;
- There is not one beating heart among us all that does not know it.
And mark that while righteousness brings blessedness and peace, it does not bring exemption from life's bitter trials."
So said a great preacher of the Victorian era; and the testimony of the Bible and the experience of the saints right down the centuries bear witness to the truth of his words. Philosophers may deride the third chapter of Genesis, but they cannot account for the facts of life without its aid. For that little section of the Book of God not only explains how sin came into the world, but also throws light on the sorrow which ever accompanies it (Genesis 3:16,17)
In a world which has been completely disarranged by sin, the experience of sorrow in one form or another is inevitable; that nevertheless God, Whose prerogative it is to bring good out of evil, uses it for the enrichment of the character and the deepening of the spiritual life of His people; that indeed it is an indispensable prerequisite in all who would attain to skill in comfort's art, and who would strengthen those that mourn. In other words, sorrow is common, purposeful, beneficent. (HEAVEN'S CURE FOR EARTH'S CARE)
N.J. Hiebert - 3798
August 17
"Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment."
(John 12:2-3)
In this passage John points out three postures of those who drew near to the Lord;
- Serving,
- Sitting, and,
- Kneeling.
The centre of attraction was Jesus, their Master and Lord. We might have thought it would be Lazarus, back from the dead, totally alive. But without their Lord's intervention there would have been no desire to;
- Serve,
- No resurrection life,
- No ability to to sit in His presence, and,
- Certainly no wish to celebrate Him in worship.
He is all in all. May we too be motivated to serve, sit and to kneel in worship at His feet. (DREW CRAIG)
More about Jesus would I know,
More of His grace to others show,
More of His saving fullness see,
More of His love who died for Me.
(HEWITT)
N.J. Hiebert - 3799
August 18
"And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels." (2 Thessalonians 1:7)
The enemy has, of course, no real good or blessing to hold out; but he can and and does work most effectively through fear of evil, especially where the conscience is bad or gets troubled. Therein lies his great power in awakening terror, availing himself of God's own threatened judgments on a guilty world. He may deceive the unbeliever by flattering him with false peace and false hopes; from this the believer is freed by the gospel, but if not filled with the hope of Christ, he might easily be distressed by the pressure and the variety and the continuance of affliction, especially if Satan got him under the fear that they were judicial inflictions from God on the world in which he was involved like others.
Where the heart is kept in peace and confidence before God, the mind can judge soundly. Fear unnerves the soul that is occupied with painful circumstances and throws all into confusion; for God and the word of His grace no longer guide, in the calm trust of a love that never fails, and that gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (W. KELLY - THE EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS)
N.J. Hiebert - 3800
August 19
"In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins,
according to the riches of His grace."
(Ephesians 1:7)
"If we walk in the light, as He is in the light . . . the blood of Jesus Christ
His Son cleanseth us from all sin."
(1 John 1:7)
"I can never forgive myself"! Are you struggling with some past failure which cannot be changed? You have come to the Lord in brokenness and honesty, confessing that sin and, yet you still cannot forgive yourself? His blood, not your remorse, is what cleanses from sin - from all sin. Simply take God at His Word. Don't try to earn what God has already given you; rejoice in what you have in Christ - forgiveness, full and free! (DAVID CROUDACE)
This is my story, to God be the glory,
I'm only a sinner saved by grace.
(J.M. GRAY)
N.J. Hiebert - 3801
