Young People’s Blog

“For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land…a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey” (Deuteronomy 8:7-8).

In this verse we have listed some of the food that the Lord promised Israel in the land of Canaan. The kinds of food mentioned here are significant in a spiritual way. First of all, there are seven of them, for seven is God’s perfect number. Secondly, all of these foods grow above the ground. Wheat and barley grow on stalks, while figs and grapes grow on trees and vines. This is a picture of heavenly things that are not connected with this world.

Third, all of these foods require effort in order to get them. Wheat and barley must be harvested, threshed, winnowed (the chaff blown off), and then ground up, before they can be used. Fruit must be picked, and olives must be crushed to make olive oil. Honey must be carefully harvested so that we are not stung by the bees! This is a picture of how it takes effort to enjoy the things in God’s Word. We must be diligent in reading and prayer, for the Lord knows that we value something more if we must work a little to get it.

“Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on….Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things” (Matthew 6:25,32).

When we first look at this verse, it might seem to be saying the opposite to what we had in Proverbs yesterday. Does today’s verse mean that we should not bother to plant crops, harvest them, and put them away for food later on? No, it does not mean that. God means us to work and to manage our lives sensibly. Part of this is planning for the future.

Our verse today means that we are not to be constantly anxious and worried about the future. We are not always to be thinking that we might not have enough, or that something bad may happen, and we will have no food or clothing. Rather, we are to do what the Lord gives us to do, but then trust Him to look after us. The birds do not worry about the future; they are content with what they have today. We are worth more than they are, and we should not worry either.

“Go to the ant, thou sluggard [lazy person]; consider her ways, and be wise…which…provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest” (Proverbs 6:6-8).

As we read through the Word of God, we find that it is always perfectly balanced, and perfectly accurate. For example, we notice that the ant referred to in our verse today is female — “Consider her ways.” This is because an ant colony is set up in much the same way as a colony of bees, and the females do most of the work.

Also, we notice that the ant encourages energy and work in lazy people, for you never see a lazy ant; they are always busy working. They provide for the winter too, by laying up food for the colder months.

This is a good lesson for all of us. At the time I am writing this, it happens to be harvest time here in most of North America. While most of us probably do not live on farms, yet it is a good idea to put something aside for the future, and not to spend all our money at once. I had a letter from a farmer in the U.S.A. this month, and he said that in his area, it had been an exceptionally good harvest. We can be thankful for all this, and for food throughout the winter.

“Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen” (Revelation 1:7).

Two days ago, we saw the grace and love of God in verses five and six of this same chapter. But now we see that God is also a God of judgment, and that He must punish sin. There is a time coming when the door of mercy for lost sinners will close, and then it will be too late to come to the Lord Jesus and get saved. Then the Lord Jesus will come back to this world to judge it, and when that happens, every true believer will come with Him.

The world will not want to see Him, for they will know that He is coming in judgment. Those who rejected Him as Messiah (the Jews) will see Him, and also those who pierced Him (the Gentiles). All will be found guilty before God at that time, for every true believer will be gone. I sincerely hope that no one who reads this is still lost, and is in danger of being on earth at that awful time!

“Jesus Christ the same, yesterday, to day, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8).

We all have friends and acquaintances in this world — people we meet at school, at work, or perhaps other Christians. No matter what friends we may have, we sometimes find that they change over time, and do not treat us the same way. Sometimes this happens because of something we have done, but often it is because of something that has nothing to do with us. That other person changes because of something that happened in his/her life. This can be very disappointing, and makes us feel bad.

How precious it is to realize that there is One who never changes. He was the same in the past, is the same now, and will remain the same for all eternity — the Lord Jesus Christ. His love to us never changes, nor does He ever treat us differently than He did yesterday. We can always go to Him, knowing that He will listen to us, and respond in love and grace.

Of course, while His love to us does not change, He does not love our sins, and may have to speak to us if we sin. But even this is in love, in order that we might confess the sin, and enjoy His company once again.

“To Him who loves us, and has washed us from our sins in His blood, and made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father: to Him be the glory and the might to the ages of ages. Amen” (Revelation 1:5-6 JND).

The Revelation is mostly a book of judgment, yet here, right at the beginning, we find a strong reference to the grace and love of God. We are reminded that the Lord Jesus not only loved us when He went to the cross and died for us, but that His love continues; He loves us all the way home, and we will enjoy His love for all eternity.

He has made us a kingdom, although we do not actually possess it yet. But He has prepared it for us, and we will reign over it with Him after He comes for us. In the Old Testament only the family of Aaron could be priests, but every true believer is a priest now; we do not have to wait for that. That means that we can approach God in prayer at any time, for through the work of Christ, He has opened the way for us. Surely, as our verse says, our Lord Jesus is worthy of all glory, praise, and might!

“Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have” (Hebrews 13:5).

When we have a chance to speak with other people, and especially with those of our own age, what do we talk about? Do we talk about things that really matter, or are we usually speaking about things that we might want? If our thoughts are focused on this world, we will talk about the things in this world, and perhaps about what we would like to have. But our verse today says that our conversation should be without covetousness, which means that we should not always be wanting things that the Lord has not given us. It is easy to get into this way of thinking, and then our talk tends to be about the things we wish we had.

If we belong to the Lord Jesus, our treasure is in heaven, and if we realize this, we will not constantly be wanting more things down here. The Lord is able to make us content with what He has given us.

“Anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see” (Revelation 3:18).

Yesterday I had cataract surgery on my right eye, and for the next few weeks I have to put three different kinds of drops in that eye, four times a day! All this is important to promote proper healing after surgery. Although I am faithfully putting the drops in my eye, my vision is still blurry, as it will take time for complete healing.

In our verse today, we are told to anoint our eyes with eyesalve, in order to see. This is a spiritual application of the words, for anointing in the Bible usually speaks of the Holy Spirit. Without the leading of the Holy Spirit, we do not see well spiritually. Those in the Laodicea assembly were proud, and thought they knew a lot, but they did not realize how little they really knew. They needed to walk more in fellowship with the Lord, in order to give the Holy Spirit liberty to help them see better. It is only the Holy Spirit that can enable us to see things properly in our lives. We may have good eyes naturally, but we need the Lord’s help to look at things morally in our lives in the right way, and to make good decisions.

“Esau, who for one morsel (plateful) of meat (food) sold his birthright…He found no place of repentance, though he sought it (the blessing) carefully with tears” (Hebrews 12:16-17).

Esau and Jacob were twins, but Esau was born first, and thus he was the elder brother, strictly speaking. But Esau did not value this privilege, and when he came in very hungry one day, he agreed to give Jacob his birthright, if Jacob would feed him. Jacob was cooking a stew and did feed him, but Esau did not care that he had lost his birthright. (His birthright as the elder son meant that he would normally receive a bigger blessing than those who were younger than he.)

Later, Esau badly wanted the blessing from his father, but he never repented of despising his birthright. He did get a blessing, but he would surely have received more if he had been repentant towards God. As believers, it is important to be able to repent — to admit that we are wrong. When we are willing to admit we are wrong, we justify God, and then we can be restored to happy fellowship with the Lord. Sadly, Esau went his own way, and there is no record that he ever repented, or walked with the Lord. His descendants became bitter enemies of Israel, the descendants of Jacob.

“Looking diligently lest any man fail (or lack) the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled” (Hebrews 12:15).

This verse carries us a step further than what we had in our verse yesterday. Yesterday’s verse talked about watching our own behavior carefully, and walking in peace and holiness. But we are also to help each other. Perhaps someone else is having difficulty, and a “root of bitterness” is springing up. Roots are in the ground; you cannot see them. But sometimes they begin to grow into plants, and bitter roots make bad plants. Then, sad to say, many usually become defiled.

Even as Christians we can have bad roots in us — resentful feelings toward someone else, envy, irritation because someone said something bad about us, or did something to us, etc. Instead of acting in grace, we can let that bad root grow and cause a lot of trouble. Let us be on guard, and help one another to pull up those bad roots!