Gems for January - wk 2
January 9
O the depth of the riches
both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are His judgments,
and His ways past finding out!" (Romans 11:33)
I thank God there is a height in the Bible I do not know anything about, a depth I have never been able to fathom, and it makes the Book all the more fascinating. If I could take that Book up and read it as I can any other book and understand it at one reading, I should have lost faith in it years ago. it is one of the strongest proofs that it must have come from God, that the acutest men who have dug for fifty years have laid down their pens and said, "There is a depth we know nothing of." "No Scripture," said Spurgeon, "is exhausted by a single explanation. The flowers of God's garden bloom, not only double, but sevenfold: they are continually pouring forth fresh fragrance." (Selected)
N.J.H. # 2852
January 10
"But not long after there arose against it a tempestuous wind,
called Euroclydon." (Acts 27:14)
The tempestuous wind - no doubt what we would term a hurricane - hit the Centurion's ship suddenly and unexpectedly. One moment all was calm and sunny with the south wind blowing gently. No indication of impending doom. Then, without warning the storm hit in all its fury. There was no slow build up of raging waves and winds - it was calm, clear and gentle one moment, and raging storm was upon them the next. There were no more warnings, for thy had refused to listen to the warnings of Paul.
This is exactly what you will face in your life's journey, if you disregard the truth of God. He has warned you through His chosen servants - the Word of God, the circumstances of life, or parents or Christian friends. To disregard God's loving and solemn warnings is to, without fail, end up in a disastrous storm. "He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy." (Proverbs 29:1) Consider well and soberly the awful consequences of having and doing your own will, in direct opposition and disobedience to the will and Word of God. (The Journey of Life - Reflections on Acts 27)
N.J.H. # 2853
January 11
"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable (intelligent) service." (Romans 12:1)
This morning my son and I read Romans 12. It is a very good chapter for daily life. Every verse is a lesson, and the apostle does not begin with "I command you" but rather "I BESEECH YOU" It is the love of God and not the command of God that makes us want to do what pleases Him. What a wonderful Saviour we have! (Ruth Smith - Gems for the Singing Pilgrims)
N.J.H. # 2854
January 12
"If thou wouldest seek unto God betimes,
and make thy supplication to the Almighty. . . ." (Job 8:5)
"I would if I could." So said Moses and so said Jeremiah in a humility which God did not accept. God was saying, "You could if you would." Moses lamented that he was not eloquent, was slow of speech and of a slow tongue (Exodus 4:10). Jeremiah said, "I cannot speak: for I am a child" (Jeremiah 1:6). Humility is not thinking meanly of oneself, but rather it means not thinking of one's self at all. Get our of the "woulds"! We can do whatever God wants us to do as He works in us to will and to do of His good pleasure. (Vance Havner - All the Days)
N.J.H. # 2855
January 13
"Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk." (Psalm 143:8)
To ascertain the Lord's will we ought to use scriptural means. Prayer, the Word of God, and His Spirit should be united together. We should go to God repeatedly in prayer, and ask Him to teach us by His Spirit through His Word. For if we should think that His Spirit led us to do so and so, because certain facts are said to be so and so, and yet His Word is opposed to the step which we are going to take, we should be deceiving ourselves. . . . No situation, no business will be given me by God in which I have not time enough to care about my soul. Therefore however outward circumstances may appear, it can only be considered as permitted of God, to prove the genuineness of my love, faith, and obedience, but by no means as the leading of the His providence to induce me to act contrary to His will. (George Mueller)
God's voice in His Word, and His voice in the leadings of His providence never contradict each other. If the event points one way and the Word another we may be assured God is not speaking in the event.
N.J.H. # 2856
January 14
"God SO loved the world." (John 3:16)
Standing on the top of a high hill with his little son's hand grasped in his, a father sought to teach the message of the measureless love of God. He pointed northward, eastward, westward, and southward; and then sweeping his hand round the circling horizon, said: "Johnny, my boy, God's love is as big as all that." "Why, father, "replied the lad with sparkling eyes, "then we must be in the middle of it." Observe that word "so." It is one of the smallest words in the Bible; in a very real sense it is the greatest. It reaches from heaven to earth, and through time right into eternity. It speaks of compassion that embraces the peasant among the hills, and the wise men of the schools; the fisherman by the seaside, and the soldier on the battle field; great and small, rich and poor, learned and illiterate.
The love of God is broader
Than the measure of man's mind,
And the heart of the Eternal
Is most wonderfully kind.
(George Henderson - In Pastures Green)
N.J.H. # 2857
January 15
"But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature . . . for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart."
(1 Samuel 16:7)
This world offers different types of beauty. King Saul was "choice and comely; and there was not among the children of Israel a comelier person that he." Eliab also had a handsome appearance that captivated Samuel's eyes, but such beauty alone is of no value except in men's eyes. There is another kind of beauty that may be joined with outward beauty in men of faith, but that God esteems as being the refection (remake, refresh) of character: the beauty of a pure soul or of simple faith, the outshining of a heart from which evil and sin are excluded, of a guileless heart. This is the beauty of the little child Moses of whom the Word says: He "was exceedingly lovely," literally, "fair to God" (Acts 7:20) This is the beauty of Joseph, "of a beautiful form and of a beautiful countenance," but a Nazarite among his brothers (Genesis 39:6); this is the beauty of Daniel (Daniel 1:4), humbly cleaving to his God in order to guard himself from the world's defilement; and lastly, this is the beauty of David developed in the wilderness by the pastures for the sheep where in secret he experienced the strength and the glory of His God.
(H.L. Rossier)
N.J.H. # 2858
January 16
"Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof." (Romans 6:11, 12)
It would be out of character to tell us not to let sin reign, if it were not actually dwelling in us. There is a great difference between dwelling and reigning: it dwells in a believer, but it reigns in an unbeliever. (Food for the Desert)
N.J.H. # 2859
