Gems for April - wk 4
April 26
"Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against Thee."
(Psalm 119:11)
The word of God should not only be a check on our thoughts, but the source of them, which is a far deeper thing. We see it in Christ, the only perfect one. He only could say, "By the word of Thy lips I have kept me from the path of the destroyer." "Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against Thee." There is preserving power in the word, to keep the feet from sliding, which those only know who receive the truth in the love of it. Merely having the word hid in the memory and mind will not do. There must be the action of the truth on the heart and conscience, separating from all defilement, otherwise its preserving power cannot be experienced.
* * *
There is nothing more dangerous than to use the Word when it has not touched my conscience. I put myself into Satan's hands if I go beyond what I have from God, handling the Word apart from the guidance of the Spirit. I know of nothing that separates more from God than truth spoken out of communion with God. (J.N.Darby)
N.J.H. # 3320
April 27
"Mary stood without at the sepulcher weeping:
and as she wept, she stooped down,
and looked into the sepulcher." (John 20:11)
When Mary Magdalene (Mary of Magdala) sought her Lord at the sepulcher, she saw "two angels in white" sitting in the tomb where Jesus had lain. After telling them of her sorrow and search, she "turned herself back" - back from the angels. They could not satisfy the heart of one who was seeking the object of her affections. (Selected)
N.J.H. # 3321
April 28
"And say to Archippus, 'take heed to the ministry which thou hast received
in the Lord, that thou fulfill it'." (Colossians 4:17)
Are you fulfilling the place where the Lord has put you? Are you walking before His eye? Are you taking heed to fulfill what has been committed to you? It is possible for us to have received a distinct commission from the Lord for a certain work we are to do for Him. It is possible to receive that, and not do it. Archippus was in danger of becoming careless and giving up. Perhaps he was thinking, "This little work I am doing is not very important after all." He was slipping, and the Apostle by the Spirit says, "Archippus, take heed." (C.H. Brown)
N.J.H. # 3322
April 29
"Abraham said, 'My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering': so they went both of them together." (Genesis 22:8)
"Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" (Amos 3:3)
Abraham and Isaac were united as they made their trek to the altar on the top of Mount Moriah. So too, in that long walk from heaven to Calvary, that place of divine sacrifice for our sin, God the Father and God the Son were in perfect harmony and total agreement in the great plan of salvation. Who were the objects of this unified, unsurpassed, and undeserved love? You and me! How much we owe! (D. Logan)
Lest I forget Gethsemane; lest I forget Thine agony;
Lest I forget Thy love for me, lead me to Calvary.
(J.E. Hussey)
N.J.H. # 3323
April 30
"God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power
belongeth unto God." (Psalm 62:11)
The Bible is the only book that gives me certain information as to God, as to the creation, as to how man comes to be in the state of sin and misery in which he is found today. It is the only book that makes known to me God's remedy for sin - a remedy which no man could ever have invented or dared to propose - but which nevertheless the whole moral being recognizes as altogether worthy of God.
But what is man to say, " the only God I would accept is a God of love, and not a God of vengeance"? Imagine a prisoner saying this in open court, "the only judge I will accept, etc." Such a one would very soon learn that government has authority and power. And is God, the source of all supreme power, to be dictated to by His creatures? It is absurd. "Power belongeth unto God." (A.H. Barry)
N.J.H. # 3324
"Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."
(Romans 10:17)
Does faith come by reason, and reason by the word of man? It would seem that many think so, and that the rare and exquisite touches of the pen of inspiration must be tried by the clumsy rules of arithmetic, or the far more clumsy rules of the infidel's moral sense; and the precious sacrifice of the Son of God must be treated more as a subject for a doctor's case-book than as a holy mystery revealed in the pages of the Book of God.
May God preserve His saints in these perilous times! May He fill our hearts with a very deep sense of the solemnity of the present moment, and lead us to keep close to Himself and to His Word! Then shall we be safe from every hostile influence. Then shall we not regard the sneer of the skeptic or the arguments of the infidel. We shall know whence all such things come and whither they tend. Christ will be our enjoyed portion, His Word and Spirit our guide, His coming the hope of our hearts. (Christian Truth - Vol. 23 - November 1970)
N.J.H. # 3325
