Young People’s Blog

“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another, and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25).

It is easy to come together for meetings when everything is going well, and many other people come out to hear the Word of God. But God has told us in the Bible that when we are in the last days, things will get worse and worse in this world. Also, even among believers things will gradually get weaker. Then it takes real spiritual energy to get together with other believers to pray and read the Word of God.

But here we are told that as we see the day of judgment approaching, we are to come together more and more, for we need one another for support and fellowship. Life is busy today, and there can be a lot of reasons why we think we should stay home. But it is important to come together, and enjoy the Lord collectively. We need the encouragement of the Word of God and prayer more than ever!

“The lion’s whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by it” (Job 28:8).

Today we have before us the verse after the one we had yesterday. Once again, the pathway of the believer is pictured to us. The lion’s whelps (young ones) would speak of super-strength, and again, they are a picture of man in his natural strength. But we cannot walk the Christian pathway in our own strength; we need the Lord’s strength, and dependence on Him. Our own strength will wear out, but we read that they that wait upon the Lord will “renew their strength” (Isa. 40:31).

The fierce lion speaks to us of Satan in His energy, as we get in 1 Peter 5:8—“a roaring lion…seeking whom he may devour.” But Satan cannot attack us in the pathway of faith, if we stick close to the Lord. He is a defeated enemy, and he knows it. If we resist him, the Scripture tells us that he will “flee from us.” (See if you can find this verse; it is in the book of James.) Whether Satan comes as a vulture or a lion, we can be sure of getting the victory if we walk with the Lord.

“There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture’s eye hath not seen” (Job 28:7).

This verse is really speaking about mining precious metals from deep in the earth, and how the birds have not seen what goes on down there. However, the passage also pictures to us the pathway of the believer.

Birds of prey, such as hawks, eagles, and owls, all have wonderful eyesight. They can see small animals like mice a long distance away. They are a picture of the natural man in his intelligence. The vultures feed on dead things, and they fly about, looking for dead animals which they can eat. Those dead things again speak of the natural man, but in a different way. We read in Ephesians 2:1 that naturally, before we are saved, we are “dead in trespasses and sins.” The vulture is like Satan, who looks for those who are dead in this world, and preys on them. Sadly, even a true believer can appear dead, if he is not walking with the Lord and enjoying His presence. In that condition, the devil can attack us, for we are acting like the dead people of this world.

Let us make sure that we find the path the Lord has for us. It cannot be found by natural intelligence, nor by those who are spiritually dead. But there is a path for us, marked out by the Lord. We can find it by walking with Him according to His Word.

“When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, It is finished: and He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost” (John 19:30).

In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, it is recorded that before the Lord Jesus dismissed His spirit, He cried out with a loud voice. Here in John’s gospel, we learn what He said. He gave that victorious cry, “It is finished,” for in the three hours of darkness, He had borne all the righteous judgment of God against sin. Now the work was done, and the Lord Jesus cried out with a Victor’s cry. Then He dismissed His spirit, and died.

The centurion who was there, and others who were looking on, were very impressed, for normally a man who died from crucifixion was so weak that he could scarcely talk at all. But here was One who cried with a loud voice, and then voluntarily dismissed His own spirit. Only the Lord Jesus could do that, as a divine Person. A natural man might commit suicide, but he cannot dismiss his own spirit and die. This was a fulfilment of what the Lord Jesus had said previously, “I lay down My life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from Me but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of My Father” (John 10:17-18). It proved even to the soldiers that this was no ordinary man; He was the Son of God.

“Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee” (Proverbs 9:8).

Today’s verse is not very popular in the world right now, even among Christians. A few months ago, I read on the internet that we should never try to tell people that they are wrong. The question was asked, When was the last time someone thanked you for telling them that they were wrong? Sadly, it is true that most of the time, if we try to tell others that they are wrong, they will defend themselves, even if they realize that they are wrong. Perhaps we act the same way, if someone tries to show us that what we are doing is wrong.

Here in our verse we read that only a scorner will hate you, if you try to help him understand where he is wrong. But a wise man will appreciate it if he is told when he is wrong, because that is the way to learn. Let us never react like a scorner when someone tries to help us when we are wrong. If we are wise, we will value someone like that.

“There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 14:12).

This verse is so important that God has put it into His Word twice. See if you can find the other reference to it!

As I write this in January, 2023, I remember that last month (December, 2022) on the same highway here in Ontario, Canada, but on different days, two cars tried to travel on the wrong side of the road. Highway 401 is a divided highway, so there was really no excuse for either driver to end up going the wrong way. Both cars ended up in a head-on collision with another vehicle, and in the accidents, people were both killed and injured. Those drivers probably thought that they were going the right way, but it literally was a way of death.

Both were awful accidents, but there are many people in this world who are doing the same thing spiritually. Instead of believing God’s Word and trusting in the Lord Jesus for their souls’ salvation, they are going their own way, thinking that everything will be all right. But those who trust their own thoughts will find that it is indeed a way of death, for eternal life can be found only in the Lord Jesus.

“Job hath spoken without knowledge, and his words were without wisdom…Then Job answered the Lord and said…I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth Thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:1,5-6).

Job did not realize that he was a proud man—proud of his own goodness! He thought that his goodness was all from himself, instead of its being the result of God’s grace working in him. As a result, he felt that God was unjust to allow such severe trouble in his life. But through it all Job came to know the Lord better than before. He realized that God was greater than he was, and that all his goodness was only because God had given him a new life. Then he gave God the glory, instead of being proud of his own goodness.

Then God gave him twice as much as he had before, and also gave him ten children again, to replace the ones who had died. Job profited from God’s dealings with him, and this is a good lesson for us too. Whatever God allows in our lives is for our blessing, and we can learn from it.

“What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips” (Job 2:10).

Job is one of the oldest books in the Bible, for it seems that he lived about the same time as Abraham, or perhaps shortly afterward. He was a good man, but he did not yet know the Lord as well as he might have. Satan came along, and the Lord commended Job as a good man, but then Satan suggested that Job was a good man because God had blessed him, and given him wealth and prosperity.

Then the Lord allowed Satan to take away first of all Job’s possessions and his children, and finally his health. We see Job’s reaction in today’s verse. His words are like those of many people today, who say, “Sometimes things go well, and sometimes bad things happen. That’s life!” Have you heard people talk like that? Sometimes even believers can think like that.

But God never allows bad things in our life unless He wants to teach us something. Tomorrow we will see what He wanted to teach Job.

“For he that is entered into His [God’s] rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His” (Hebrews 4:10).

When God finished His work of the six days of creation, He saw that everything was very good, and we read that “on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made” (Genesis 2:2). But now God has done a different work through His beloved Son on Calvary’s cross. God is not resting today in His earthly creation, for sin has made a mess of it. Rather, God is resting in His Son Jesus Christ, who has finished the work so that sin will eventually be removed from the entire universe.

Now God calls us to rest in His Son too. Sometimes we think we can work toward making things right in this world, but if we really appreciate God’s rest, we will stop trying to straighten out this world, and realize that we too can rest in what Christ has done.

There will definitely come a day when everything in this world will be straightened out, but in the meanwhile, we can have peace in the finished work of Christ.

“For yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry” (Hebrews 10:37).

We do not use the word “tarry” in everyday speech today, as it is an old English word. It simply means to delay, or to stay in one place in expectation. The Lord Jesus tarries now, for He is waiting in expectation for the Father’s word to call us home. But He will not delay unnecessarily, or wait a moment longer than is needed for the Father’s house to be filled.

When the book of Hebrews was written, there were many Jewish believers who were somewhat disappointed when the earthly kingdom was not set up immediately. The Lord reminds them in our verse for today that it would be only a little while until the Lord would come. Then they would enjoy, not an earthly kingdom, but a heavenly one, which is much better.

Perhaps you and I get a little impatient at times, and wonder why the Lord does not hurry up and come, and take us home. But there are others out there that need to be saved, and the Lord wants more to fill the Father’s home. We can afford to be patient, while we continue to tell others about the Lord Jesus.