Young People’s Blog

“For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed; then He openeth the ears of men” (Job 33:14-16).

God has different ways of speaking to men and women, and He knows how to get our attention when He wants to tell us something. Now that we have the complete Bible, God uses His Word most of the time to speak to those of us who live in countries where the Bible is easily available. However, there are countries in the world today where it is very difficult to get a Bible, and where someone who gets a Bible may get into trouble for doing so. In such places the Lord is still speaking to people with dreams and visions.

We all have dreams, and many of them are silly. Usually they are not worth remembering. But the Lord knows how to appear to people in dreams in such a way that they realize that God Himself is speaking to them. When Job was living in this world (probably about the time of Abraham, or shortly after him), the Bible had not been written yet. God still spoke to men in dreams and visions, and He can do so today. Tomorrow we will look at other ways that the Lord can speak to us.

“Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God” (1 John 3:21).

Yesterday we saw how that our heart can condemn us when we get away from the Lord, even though we have not actually committed a definite sin. In today’s verse we find what happens when we do walk with the Lord, and enjoy His company. When we put Him first in our lives, and take care to walk closely with Him, the Holy Spirit is free to give us joy in our hearts. Then our heart does not condemn us, and we have confidence toward God.

I think we can all understand that. When we have allowed ourselves to be at a distance from someone, emotionally and socially, we feel uncomfortable in their presence. We may not have actually done anything wrong to them, but we have perhaps neglected to maintain our friendship in the right way. However, when all this is made right, we then feel comfortable with that person again, and can be at ease in their company.

“For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things” (1 John 3:20).

When we have done something that we know is wrong, our conscience condemns us, and we feel unhappy and ashamed. But when our heart condemns us, it is perhaps a deeper thought. For example, I usually buy my wife some flowers on her birthday. But suppose I am very busy that week, and I forget about her birthday. I have not actually done something wrong, but my heart condemns me, because I love my wife. I feel bad that I forgot her birthday. I have allowed other things to crowd into my life, and forgotten to show my love by buying her flowers.

It can be the same in our Christian life. We can become occupied with the things to do with this life, which the Bible calls “the cares of this life.” We can become careless, and forget to read our Bibles, or spend time in prayer. Then it is not so much our conscience that condemns us, but rather our heart. When this happens, it is reassuring to know that the Lord is greater than our heart, and knows that we do love Him, even though we have been careless.

“And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son” (Genesis 22:13).

In the story in Genesis 22, Abraham is a picture of God the Father, and Isaac is a picture of the Lord Jesus. But in the story, God stopped Abraham from actually killing his son and offering him up for a burnt offering. A substitute was provided—a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. But there was no substitute for the Lord Jesus; only He could be the true burnt offering, and pay the penalty for sin. There are many pictures of the Lord Jesus in the Old Testament, but none of them are perfect.

The ram is also a picture of the Lord Jesus, for the ram was caught by its horns. The horns of a ram are strong, and it would be most unusual for a ram to be caught in this way. But the horns are perhaps a picture of the strength of the Lord’s love for us, and that love held Him to the cross, until the work was done.

“If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love; even as I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love. These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full” (John 15:10-11).

The Lord wants His children to be happy, and not only happy, He wants our joy to be full! Yes, it is true that we all experience difficult times in our lives, and things that may make us sad. However, the Lord wants us to be able to rise above those things, and to have an inner joy that even tough circumstances cannot spoil.

However, to be happy in the Lord, we must be obedient to His Word, for obedience and happiness go together. Sadly, we sometimes know what the Word of God says, but we persuade ourselves that we will be happier by doing our own will, instead of obeying the Lord’s will. We may not say it exactly that way, for we can sometimes try to persuade ourselves that the Bible does not mean what it says. Or we will bring up another verse that seems to support what we want to do.

However, if we walk with the Lord, we will know what pleases Him, because we are enjoying His presence. We will say a little more about that in a couple of days.

“But that which ye have already hold fast till I come” (Revelation 2:25).

“Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take they crown” (Revelation 3:11).

I have occasionally seen small children holding on very tightly to something, perhaps a favorite toy, some money, or something else that was of value to them. Why did they hold onto it so tightly? It was usually because they were afraid that some other child would take it away from them.

When we have received precious truth from the Lord, it is important to value it, to walk in it, and as our verses today tell us, to “hold fast” what we have. This is necessary because Satan is doing his best to take it away from us. If we do not walk in the truth that the Lord has given us, we may lose it. We may not have as much as someone else has, but what we have we are to hold fast. Also, the Lord will reward us for walking in the truth that He has given us, because it honors Him.

“Occupy till I come” (Luke 19:13).

The word “occupy” can have more than one meaning in English, but here in this verse it means to keep busy. It means to make good use of our time, our money, our minds, and everything that we have. (We have already looked at this verse earlier this year, in late July). In the parable here in Luke 19, the nobleman went away, but gave each of his ten servants a pound, telling them to occupy until he came back. The nobleman is a picture of the Lord Jesus, and we are like His ten servants.

The Lord has given us various things, including spiritual gifts, and He expects us to use them for Him. If you read the whole parable, you will find that one servant gained ten pounds, and another five pounds. But one servant wrapped his pound up in a napkin, and did nothing with it. Then he gave it back to the nobleman when he returned.

The Lord does not want us to wrap our pound in a napkin; He wants us to use it for Him, and He will reward us for doing this. Are you using what the Lord has given you for Him?

“Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine” (1 Timothy 4:13).

Several days ago we remarked that there are some things which the Lord has told us to do until He comes. A few more of those things are mentioned in our verse today. We are to “give attendance” to them; that means to pay attention to them. We are to be found reading what will build us up. This includes the Bible, but is not limited to it. There are good writings of reliable people who are now with the Lord, which are very valuable for us.

We are also to pay attention to exhortation, and this means to listen to those who give us practical instruction for our Christian lives. Also, we are to pay attention to good doctrine, which means good teaching. There is a lot of bad teaching circulating around in Christian circles today, and it is important to listen to good teaching.

Also, it is important to keep on doing this, for we need God’s Word all the way home. Let us remember to read it regularly.

“Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

We have been comparing the devil to mice, in the way that he invades our lives. The Lord Jesus showed us a good example of our verse for today, when the devil met Him in the wilderness and tempted Him. You can read about this in Matthew chapter 4. The Lord Jesus, as God, could easily have commanded Satan to go away, but this would not have helped us. We do not have the power to do this. But the Lord Jesus simply quoted the Word of God to Satan, and he was totally defeated. He resisted the devil, and Satan went away.

It will be the same in our lives, if we remember what the Word of God says. There is an answer in the Bible for every temptation that Satan brings before us. However, in order to do this, we must be familiar with the Bible, and this is why it is so important to read it every day. Then we become familiar with God’s Word, and the Spirit of God is able to bring it to our remembrance when we need it. In this way the devil will not be able to overcome us, because he cannot resist the Word of God. He will leave us alone if we use God’s Word.

“Neither give place to the devil” (Ephesians 4:27).

Two days ago we talked about mice getting into homes. You and I might wonder how mice could get into homes, but it is amazing how small a hole they can squeeze through. Also, mice can climb well, even up brick walls, and they can fall from a great height without hurting themselves. In our home, they have gotten into our attic through an air vent that is about fifteen feet (almost five meters) above the ground. We have heard them running around up there, and scratching too. We have tried to catch them, but they just keep on coming.

This is like Satan in our lives. We may think that we are being careful in our behavior in our Christian life, but all Satan needs is one little slip in our life, and then he can lead us astray. We must be on our guard all the time.

The only way to fix the mouse problem in our home is to place a strong wire screen behind the vent, so that the mice cannot get in. The only way to keep the devil from causing trouble in our life is to walk with the Lord Jesus. We will talk about this more tomorrow.