Author: BTP

“Add thou not unto His words, lest He reprove thee, and thou be found a liar” (Proverbs 30:6).

It is a serious thing to tamper with the Word of God, either to add to it, or take away from it. God has given us serious warnings in His Word about doing this, and this is one of them. Down through the history of the church, unsaved people have either added to, or taken away from, the Bible, in order to make it suit their own thoughts. Thomas Jefferson, a former president of the U.S.A., did this extensively to the Bible. He cut out many verses that he did not like, and the result was called the Jefferson Bible. But it was no longer the complete Word of God.

Sadly, even believers have occasionally been guilty of this, thinking that they knew better than God Himself. As a result, there are multiple translations of the Word of God, and while many of them are accurate, some are not reliable. If you are tempted to use a particular translation of the Bible because it seems easy to read, it is good to check with someone who knows about the various translations, and can direct you to one that you can trust.

“For the Lord God will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set My face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed” (Isaiah 50:7).

In this verse, and in the verses before it, the Lord Jesus is speaking prophetically about going to the cross. He shrank back from going through those awful sufferings in the three hours of darkness, and yet He knew that there was no other way for the work of redemption to be completed. Accordingly, He set His face “like a flint” when He went up to Jerusalem, to go to the cross.

Flint is one of the hardest rocks known, and before the days of matches, it was often used to start fires. The flint was struck against a piece of steel, producing a spark, which was then allowed to fall onto dry tinder such as thin paper, dry grass, or certain types of cloth that burned easily. To set His face like a flint meant that the Lord Jesus would not change His mind: He would finish the work His Father had given Him to do. He knew that He would not be ashamed, because He would finish the work.

“The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: He turneth it whithersoever He will” (Proverbs 21:1).

This is a most important verse to remember, and we see some examples of it in the Word of God. God has given certain people positions of authority in this world, such as kings, prime ministers, presidents, and others who are in lesser positions. However, this verse tells us that they cannot do just what they want. God is able to control their hearts and minds, and to make them do just what He wants. For example, God allowed Daniel to gain favor with the prince of the eunuchs (Daniel 1:9), and He allowed the Apostle Paul to find favor with the centurion on the ship, when Paul was being taken to Rome (Acts 27:43).

Are you having a real difficulty with someone in authority over you? Perhaps a certain teacher or principal at school does not like you, or perhaps you have trouble getting along with a boss at work. Ask the Lord to change their heart; He can do it. But first, make sure that you are not behaving in a bad way that causes the problem!

“Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; and looking upon Jesus as He walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!” (John 1:36).

A few days ago, on November 30, we had John 1:29 before us, where John the Baptist called attention to the Lord Jesus as the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world. This is most important for us, for it is the first step to a relationship with God. Then later, in our verse for today, John sees the Lord Jesus walking, and simply says, “Behold the Lamb of God!” No doubt the Lord was simply walking when John said this, but it brings before our hearts what is beyond salvation. That is, once we are saved, the life of the Lord Jesus and His walk through this world are a pattern for us. What did He do? How did He handle difficulties that appeared in front of Him? What was His “lifestyle?” In every step of His pathway down here, His love, grace, and faithfulness are shown out. After we are saved, let us remember that getting saved is only the beginning. How much more we can learn about the Lord Jesus as we read about His life!

“He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still…so He bringeth them unto their desired haven” (Psalm 107:29-30).

Here is the most encouraging of all these verses! No matter what storms we face in our lives, the Lord is eventually going to bring us into our “desired haven.” The word “haven” means a place of refuge and safety. The Lord may allow us times of rest during our lives in the world, for He is gracious. But this world is not our home, nor is it our rest. Our real rest is in heaven with the Lord, and what will make it a rest is the fact that He is there.

More than this, He has promised to bring us there; there is no doubt about it. Then He will make the storm a calm, and we will never have another storm!

“My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise” (Psalm 57:7).

In the poem we had a couple of days ago, the second stanza referred to “the set of the soul,” comparing it to “the set of the sails” in the first stanza. As we saw yesterday, a ship with its sails set right can often sail against the wind. When David wrote today’s verse, he was running away from King Saul, who wanted to kill him. But his heart was fixed: he was going to trust the Lord and follow Him, whatever situation he was in.

Let us ask ourselves, What is the set of our soul? Are we ready to make a commitment to follow the Lord, or will we buckle under when difficult circumstances come into our lives? We cannot follow the Lord in our own strength, but we can do it in His strength.

“And when the ship was caught, and could not bear up into the wind, we let her drive” (Acts 27:15).

There are times in sailing when a headwind is so strong that it is almost impossible to sail against it. The sailors simply have to let the wind carry the ship wherever it blows. But many times, if the wind is not too strong, it is possible to sail against the wind by tacking. This means zigzagging, and setting the sails in such a way as to catch some of the wind, and thus manage to make some headway. It takes much longer, but you go in the right direction.

In our Christian lives, we sometimes have what is called a “tail wind”—the wind at our backs. How good that feels! At other times we are compelled to sail against the wind. But unlike natural sailing, we never have to give in and go in the wrong direction. The Lord is in control of all the circumstances in our lives, and He can direct the various forces in this world to enable us to go where He wants us to go.

“They that go down to the sea in ships…these see the works of the Lord…for He commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof” (Psalm 107:23-25).

Ships that go over the oceans today are usually very large, and well able to withstand high waves. However, even these big ships occasionally get damaged by large waves. But in the past, in the days of sailing ships, bad storms often caused ships to be severely damaged, and to sink.

In the Bible, our lives are sometimes compared to ships on a journey over the sea. Back about 150 years ago, a poet wrote the following verses:

One ship sails East, and another West,
By the self-same winds that blow,
‘Tis the set of the sails, and not the gales,
That determines the way we go.

Like the winds of the sea are the waves of time,
As we journey along through life,
‘Tis the set of the soul that determines the goal,
And not the calm or the strife.

Tomorrow we will look at what this means for us.

“And the women also…prepared spices and ointment, and…very early in the morning…came unto the sepulchre…and they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre” (Luke 23:55-56;24:1-2).

These women really loved the Lord Jesus, and were horrified when He was taken and crucified. When He died and was buried, they wanted to do their very best for Him, and although spices were expensive in those days, they bought some in order to give Him what they considered a proper burial.

However, God had ordered otherwise, and the Lord Jesus Himself had told these women that He would rise again. When the women reached the tomb, they found the stone rolled away, and the tomb empty. What a wonderful ending to all their sorrow! The Lord had risen, as He said He would! They did not need those spices!

“He that is glad at calamities [bad things that happen to people] shall not be unpunished” (Proverbs 17:5).

Sadly, there is something in our old sinful nature that can be glad when other people are experiencing a calamity—something bad that happens to them. This is especially true if we feel that the individual deserved the bad thing that happened to him/her. I remember being in a taxi in a foreign country when the brakes on the taxi did not work properly, and he went over a white line at a stop light. The policeman who saw it treated the taxi driver very roughly, and I felt sorry for him. But when I told that story to some Christians later on, they thought it was a big joke and laughed about it.

The Word of God tells us not to be glad when something like this happens, for we may well have something happen to us someday, and wish others were kind to us, rather than being glad. Let us remember always to show other people the spirit of Christ.