Young People’s Blog

“Thy wrath lieth hard upon Me, and Thou hast afflicted Me from My youth up” (Psalm 88:7).

In the gospels, we get the record of the sufferings of the Lord Jesus; in the Psalms we get His feelings during those awful sufferings. His sufferings from the hands of man were terrible, but His sufferings from the hands of God were infinitely worse. Here in our verse today the psalmist is referring to His sufferings at the hands of God.

Of course, it is not the Lord Jesus speaking directly here, for the psalms were written long before He came into this world. But sometimes the Spirit of God led those who wrote the Old Testament to write far beyond their own experiences, to speak of the Lord Jesus. In this way we know something of the feelings of the Lord Jesus when He suffered. David was not afflicted from his youth up, but the Lord Jesus was. David never felt the wrath of God the way the Lord Jesus did. Those old inspired writers realized this, and when they asked the Lord what it meant, they were told that they were writing for a people later on. That means you and me.

When we think of all that the Lord Jesus did for us, how it should make us thank and praise Him for what He endured!

“There is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:22-23).

“For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him” (Romans 10:12).

In these two verses we find two things where there is no difference. First of all, we are all sinners, no matter what race or nation we belong to. We all need a Savior, and none of us can get saved through our own efforts. We have all come short of the glory of God.

Secondly, there is also no difference as to who can be saved. God is reaching out to everyone in this world, telling them that He loves them, and wants to save them. The Lord Jesus Christ has died for all, and His blood has power to wash away the sins of anyone who comes to Him. If we call upon Him, He will surely hear us and save us, no matter who we are.

“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Luke 12:34).

This verse is not hard to understand, for what we value is what we think about. When we talk to others, it is not long before we know what they value. Many times I have tried to speak to people about where they were going to spend eternity, and sad to say, much of the time they simply changed the subject. They did not want to talk about what happens after death; most people wanted to talk about the things of this world, for that is what they valued.

What is most important in your life? Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, or are you not interested in that subject? A poem expresses it well—

To lose my wealth is much;
To lose my health is more;
To lose my soul is such a loss,
That no man can restore.

“But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?” (Luke 12:20).

If you read the parable connected with this verse, you will find that a wealthy farmer thought that he had enough stored in his barns for many years. However, God told him that his soul would be required of him that night; that is, he would die. Then who would get all those things that he had stored up?

Many people today are like that farmer. They make sure that they have everything to make themselves comfortable in this world, yet make no plans for what happens after death. God calls that kind of a person a fool, for we are in this world only a few years, but all eternity stretches ahead of us after death. It is much better to be rich toward God than to be rich in this world. Even as Christians we can go after the things of this world, and neglect the true riches. Everything we have in this world we must eventually leave behind, but spiritual riches are ours for all eternity.

“For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known” (Luke 12:2).

This is a very solemn verse, for it tells us that everything that has been done in secret shall eventually be brought to light. Last week in our area, a young man was killed in a car accident. It seems that another car came around a curve, and was driving in the wrong lane. The young man who was killed swerved to avoid a head-on collision, lost control of his vehicle, and landed in the ditch. He was killed instantly. The driver of the other car (who was at fault for being on the wrong side of the road) simply drove off. Since it happened on a country road in the middle of the night, no one saw him. Of course, the skid marks on the road made it clear to the police what had happened. The driver who was at fault may never be found out in this world, but God knows about it, and will bring it all to light.

However, this verse also works in the opposite direction. The immediate connection in Luke 12 is referring to evil things, but the verse also applies to good things. If you have done something for the Lord, perhaps no one knows about it, and you never got any thanks for it. Never mind; the Lord noticed it, and will reward you in a coming day.

“Go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow Me. And he was sad at that saying” (Mark 10:21-22).

The young man in this story thought he was doing everything right, for he was trying to keep the law of Moses. However, as the Lord Jesus said to him, he lacked one thing. He thought he could earn his way to eternal life by doing what was right, but he was not willing to give up everything and follow the Lord Jesus. His riches meant more to him than the Lord Jesus, and he went away very sad. He was also not willing to give his wealth away to the poor.

The Lord Jesus was proving to him that he could not be saved through his own efforts, no matter how hard he tried. The only way to be saved is to come to the Lord Jesus and accept Him as our Savior.

“One thing thou lackest” (Mark 10:21).

I have recently been reading an interesting book about a sailing expedition in the year 1742. Several ships set out from England on a mission that would take them into the Pacific Ocean. That meant sailing across the Atlantic Ocean and around “Cape Horn,” the southern tip of South America. Cape Horn has some of the most dangerous seas in the world, so those outfitting the ships put in everything they thought the men might need—dried beef, hard biscuits, plenty of fresh water, guns, and many other things.

But several months into the voyage, many of the men began to get very sick. They lost weight, their teeth fell out, and their muscles shrivelled up. Some of the men died. No one knew what was wrong, but they were lacking one thing—vitamin C. Today we understand this. The men had “scurvy” because they had no fresh fruit or vegetables in their diet.

Eventually they were shipwrecked on a small island where hardly anything grew, but they found some wild celery and ate it because they were starving. Within a short time the disease of scurvy disappeared! Tomorrow we will talk about the spiritual meaning of today’s verse.

“For He [God the Father] hath made Him [the Lord Jesus] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Have you ever thought of what it meant for the Lord Jesus to be “made sin” for us? It means that God the Father dealt with the Lord Jesus as if He had committed the sins that we committed. The Lord Jesus took all the punishment for sin as if He had done all those wrong things. This was something you and I will never be able to understand. He has a nature that hates sin, yet He was made sin for us.

During those three hours of darkness on the cross, the Lord Jesus suffered more than you and I can ever imagine. But His love to God His Father, and His love to us, kept Him on that cross until all the judgment was exhausted. Have you ever thanked the Lord Jesus for what He has done?

“For without are…whosoever loveth and maketh a lie” (Revelation 22:15).

Usually, we talk about someone “telling” a lie. But do you know that you can tell a lie without speaking a word? Today in our Sunday school a man told us a story and showed us a picture. A long time ago (more than fifty years!) he was working with two other men on a small, barren island in the far north of Canada. A grizzly bear was on that island too, with no food, and he was looking for a good meal. In order to preserve their lives, it was necessary for one of the men to shoot the bear. The man who told the story showed us a picture of himself kneeling by the dead bear with a rifle in his hands. Then he asked the children to tell him who they thought had shot the bear. Of course they were all sure that he had done it! But the picture was “making a lie,” as our verse says. It was just a posed picture, as one of the other men had shot the bear.

God hates lying, no matter whether it is spoken with our lips, or just a picture that tells an untruthful story. Let us remember that God wants the truth, always.

“But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:42).

Mary and Martha were two sisters who lived in the same home with their brother Lazarus. One day the Lord Jesus came for a visit, and they prepared a meal for the Lord. Martha was very anxious that everything would be done right, while Mary (who had been working with Martha) went and sat down at the feet of the Lord Jesus to hear His Word. Then Martha wanted the Lord Jesus to tell Mary to come back and help her.

Sometimes we can get so taken up with doing everything just right in our lives that we neglect to read God’s Word, and pray. We can get so busy with life that our spiritual life suffers. That is what was happening to Martha.

Instead of telling Mary to go and help Martha, the Lord Jesus reminds Martha that “one thing” was “needful.” In our busy world, we have to remember our priorities, and give the Lord first place in our lives. No longer can we listen to the Lord Jesus in person, but we can read His Word and meditate on it. Then we learn more of Him, and this will be ours for all eternity. Good food is important too, but it will last only for this life. What the Lord Jesus tells us through His Word is forever.