Gems for August - wk 5
August 23
"My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be moved." (Psalm 62:5,6)
Note the little word "only." It is very searching. It will not do to say we are trusting in God, while the eye is all the while askance upon the creature. It is much to be feared that we frequently talk about looking to the Lord, while in reality we are expecting our fellow man to help us.
"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings." (Jeremiah 17:9,10)
How needful to have the heart's deepest motive springs judged in the presence of God! We are so apt to deceive ourselves by the use of certain phrases which, so far as we are concerned, have no force, no value, no truth whatever. The language of faith is on our lips, but the heart is full of creature confidence. We talk to men about our faith in God, in order that they may help us out of our difficulties.
Let us be honest. Let us walk in the clear light of God's presence, where everything is seen as it really is. Let us not rob God of His glory, and our own souls of abundant blessing, by an empty profession of dependence on Him, while the heart is secretly going out after some creature stream. Let us not miss the deep joy, peace and blessing, the strength, stability and victory, that faith ever finds in the living God, in the living Christ of God, and in the living Word of God. Let us "Have faith in God." (C.H. Mackintosh)
N.J.H. # 3074
August 24
"I will make of thee (Abram) a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed." (Genesis 12:2,3)
When Abraham tarried at Charran, God waited for him.
When Abraham went down into Egypt, He restored him.
When Abraham needed guidance, He guided him.
When there was a strife and a separation (from Lot), He took care of him.
(Food for the Desert)
N.J.H. # 3075
August 25
"And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have FAITH in God. . . . What things soever ye desire, when ye PRAY, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. And when ye stand praying, FORGIVE, if ye have aught against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your
trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father
which is in heaven forgive your trespasses."
(Mark 11:22-26)
1) Faith - the "faith in God," that is, faith that takes its character and strength from God as its object - faith that brings God into the difficulty. There is a mountain to be removed. God only can lift a mountain up and throw it into the sea. But He is greater than the mountain; and if you can bring Him into the matter, the mountain must go.
2) Prayer is our proper attitude - what expresses our dependence on God - but the prayer of faith only is effectual.
3) There is a condition; that is, this prayer of faith is conditional on a certain state in us, and that is the spirit of forgiveness. (A.H. Rule)
N.J.H. # 3076
August 26
"For me to live is Christ." (Philippians 1:21)
Christian, see carefully to it, that your are not only saved by Christ, but also living on Him. Make Him the daily portion of your soul. Seek Him "early," seek Him "only." When anything solicits your attention, ask the question, "Will this bring Christ to my heart? Will it unfold Him to my affections, or draw me near to His Person?" If not, reject it at once. (Christian Truth - Vol. 21 - October 1968)
N.J.H. # 3077
August 27
"Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good
word maketh it glad." (Proverbs 12:25)
"The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall
be watered also himself." (Proverbs 11:25)
Pain's dreary vigils keep with me
When jest and mirth are flown;
In silence let me weep with thee
When thou dost grieve alone;
Thy darker moments share with me
When pleasure fails thy need;
The burden let me bear with thee
And crown me friend indeed.
(Submitted by a reader of the "Gems" - Christian Daily - August 7, 2007)
N.J.H. # 3078
August 28
"In My Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so
I would have told you." (John 14:2)
In the New Testament there are three outstanding illustrations that are used to portray for us the world beyond. It is spoken of as a country (Hebrews 11:16); as a city (Hebrews 11:10); and as a home (John 14:2). There is, however, not anywhere else in the Bible, a view of the heavenly world so clear and so full, and yet so brief and so simple, as is contained in the words of John 14:2.
There are mansions there; mansions - not made with human hands - changeless and eternal. Three things are suggested by the word: permanence, spaciousness, variety. There are many mansions, infinitely large in number, each suited to the inhabitant. It is a house of many mansions: unity presides over all variety. It is a Father's house - a great paternal dwelling-place where brothers and sisters form one family, abiding under His eye and hand.
"Oh think! To step ashore and that shore Heaven;
To breathe new air, and that celestial air;
To feel refreshed and know 'tis immortality.
Oh think! To pass from storm and stress
To one unbroken calm; to wake and find it Glory."
God will be there in His fulness; Christ in His majesty; redeemed humanity in the rapture and radiance of its everlasting bliss. Into that Home all the ransomed from every tribe of the peopled earth, and from every age of the history of man, shall enter, and there abide forever. When visiting a certain home, one was asked to sign his name in the guest-book. Before he did so his hostess drew his attention to these lines, which she had written on the opening page:
"When the great Guest-Book in the house above,
Lies spread before us in the Home of Love,
One record only waits the writer's name:
No record of departure; only 'came'."
In the earthly Eden there was a way out, but not in (Genesis 3:24); in our heavenly dwelling-place there is a way in, but not out (Revelation 3:12). (Henry Durbanville - His last Words - 1954)
N.J.H. # 3079
August 29
"With the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation." (Romans 10:10)
His love broke my heart to make room for Christ, and I know it was love that did it. Till then I never knew either the creature's need of Christ, nor Christ's sufficiency for a broken heart. (G.V. Wigram)
N.J.H. # 3080
August 30
"Yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry."
(Hebrews 10:37)
In His eternal presence, how shall we feel that all our little sorrows and separations were but little drops by the way, to make us feel that we were not with Him, and when with Him what it is to be there. (J.N. Darby)
N.J.H. # 3081
August 31
"And a certain woman said . . . if I may touch but His clothes, I shall be whole. (She) fell down before Him (Jesus) and told Him all the truth. And He said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole."
(Mark 5:25-34)
FAITH is a divine plant that only grows out of the soil of a broken will. (Edward Dennett)
N.J.H. # 3082
"Occupy till I come." (Luke 19:13)
I am never really in the spirit of service if I do not remember that Christ is an absent and rejected Lord. I am . . . a servant who has to recognize the sorrowful fact that his Master has been rejected and insulted here. Is it not a tender thought that the very sorrows and insults which have been heaped upon Him here are so many fresh claims on one's affections? (J.G. Bellett)
N.J.H. # 3083
