| Christian Life and Doctrine | November 1949 |
“Songs in the Night”
NOVEMBER 1
Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.—Matthew 7:17
THE Lord’s true people are of such a kind that the fruit of their lives is nourishing and refreshing toward all who have fellowship with them. On the other hand; there are persons who, thistle-like, are always scattering seeds that will cause trouble—false doctrines, evil surmisings and errors; and there are some who, like thorn bushes, instead of bearing refreshing fruit, are continually reaching out to impede, to irritate, to annoy, to vex, to poison, to injure, those with whom they come in contact. The Lord’s people ought to have little difficulty in distinguishing between the false teachers who would mislead them and the under-shepherds who gladly lay down their lives in the service of the flock. The one class are continually mischief makers, under-miners, destroyers. The other class are helpers, builders, strengtheners, peacemakers.—Z 1906-93 (Hymn 267)
NOVEMBER 2
Be strong and of a good courage.—Joshua 1:6
COURAGE is always admirable, but there is a moral courage which should rank higher far than physical. This moral courage is greatly needed among the Lord’s people; without it they can do nothing, and many of their difficulties in the Christian way are because they fail to appreciate this matter and fail to develop this courage. It requires real courage of the highest order to stand for the Lord’s truth and his people when these are misunderstood, misinterpreted, antagonized. It takes real courage to stand for the light when the great Adversary with a world-wide influence brands it as darkness and leads an assault against it. It requires real courage to denounce the darkness, meekly, persistently, when it has on its side wealth, culture, influence, and churchianity.—Z 1907-283 (Hymn 261)
NOVEMBER 3
Your Adversary the Devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist steadfast in the faith.—I Peter 5:8,9
SATAN, the Adversary of the church, is strong and lionlike, vigilant and fully awake. As the Apostle Paul declares, he seeks to use every opportunity against us. He lies in wait, seeking to devour us. Although he is alert, he never approaches us with a roar, but creeps stealthily upon us in some unlooked for place or time, to devour us, to overcome us, to crush out our spiritual life, and particularly to destroy our faith in God. As those whose ears are trained to detect the footfalls of the lion will hear his steps, while those who are unfamiliar with his habits will not hear the slightest sound, so may we, whose ears the Lord has opened, and whose eyes have been anointed with the eyesalve of consecration and submission to the Lord’s will, be of quick perception to recognize the approach of our arch enemy and to resist him. Let us stand, clad in the full armor which the Word of God supplies, and in his strength wielding the sword of the Spirit.—Z 1913-54 (Hymn 183)
NOVEMBER 4
Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan.—Joshua 1:2
THE intimation is that Joshua, like Moses, was a meek man, humble-minded, and that instead of attempting to grasp authority he needed rather that the Lord should encourage him to undertake the responsibility of the position of leader. Happy would it be for all of the Lord’s people if they were similarly meek and backward. All should criticize their own hearts and motives along these lines, and such as find in themselves an ambitious spirit should remember its dangers to themselves and to the Lord’s people with whom they have to do, because the Lord resists the proud, the self-conscious, the boastful and ambitious, and shows his favor to the humble.—Z 1907-282 (Hymn 229)
NOVEMBER 5
Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.—Colossians 3:3
SOME Christian writer has well said: “Wherever there has been a faithful following of the Lord in a consecrated heart, several things have sooner or later inevitably followed. Meekness and quietness of spirit become in time the characteristics of the daily life. A submissive acceptance of the will of God, as it comes in the hourly events of each day, is manifested; pliability in the hands of God to do or to suffer all the good pleasure of his will; sweetness under provocation; calmness in the midst of turmoil and bustle; a yielding to the wishes of others [where there is no conflicting principle involved], and an insensibility to slights and affronts; absence of worry or anxiety; deliverance from care and fear—all of these, and many other similar graces, are invariably found to be the natural outward development of that inward life which is ‘hid with Christ in God.’”—Z 1916-184 (Hymn 294)
NOVEMBER 6
Behold, the Husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it. … Be ye also patient.—James 5:7,8
PATIENCE is a virtue which our Heavenly Father desires to cultivate in us and he manifests in himself the grandest example of it. Through all the centuries past he has patiently endured the reproaches of those who, failing to understand the course of his wisdom in executing justice and in working out the deep designs of his abounding grace, attributed evil, and only evil, to his truly glorious and holy character. He knows that “in due time” his character will be fully vindicated, and so he patiently waits and works and endures. So also our Lord Jesus waits and endures. He endured great humiliation in coming to our low estate. Then as a man he patiently endured the contradictions of sinners against himself, and ungrateful persecution, even unto death, from those he came to save. And, like his Heavenly Father, through it all he was cheered in consideration of that “due time,” though then in the far distant future, when his character, and also the Father’s character, would be fully vindicated and manifested to every creature in heaven and in earth. And still our blessed Lord Jesus and our adorable Heavenly Father await with patience the grand consummation. So, in similar attitude of mind, we must wait; for the servant is not above his Lord, and our rejoicing in view of the future will, if we have the mind of Christ, be not only because of our own prospective vindication and glory, but also in prospect of the vindication and glory of God and of our Lord Jesus, and of the prospective everlasting triumph of truth and righteousness.—Z 1906-166 (Hymn 29)
NOVEMBER 7
Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.—Matthew 7:14
IS NOT this a very narrow way? Yes, it is so narrow that it is wide enough to admit only the Lord’s plan and those who are willing to discard all other plans, projects, and questionings, and to devote themselves fully to its service; and who are quite willing to bear any reproach it may bring. Are you endeavoring from day to day to vindicate the divine character and to make known God’s righteous ways? Are you diligently studying to make yourself thoroughly familiar with the truth, so that you may indeed be a living epistle, known and read of all men within the circle of your influence? Are you indeed a workman that need not be ashamed? Are you of those who have really given themselves to the Lord, saying truthfully to him:
“Take myself—I wish to be
Ever, only, all for Thee”?
If so, you are just narrow-minded enough to say, “This one thing I do; and I make everything else bend to this one thing of showing forth God’s praises and of helping others into his marvelous light; and to this end I cultivate and use what talents I possess as a wise steward of my Heavenly Father.”—Z 1912-195 (Hymn 277)
NOVEMBER 8
Brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure.—II Peter 1:10
THIS our text is one of the most forceful of the many references to God’s elect, and is particularly clear in marking out the conditions upon which election may be surely attained by each one whom the Lord our God shall call or nominate to this grand office—the royal priesthood. The apostle has been mentioning the various graces of the Lord’s Spirit which those who are seeking to be of his royal and priestly class must develop in their characters. He shows us that there is more or less of an addition in the matter: we put on one grace and add to it another, and to that another, and so on; and do this repeatedly in respect to all the graces, which keep growing, developing in us and rounding out and deepening and broadening us as spiritual new creatures. And he shows that those who do not have such experiences of growth in grace and in knowledge are deficient, and cannot hope to make their calling and election sure.—Z 1905-201 (Hymn 192)
NOVEMBER 9
Be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.—James 1:22
TO BE honored with a knowledge of the divine will and plan is a great boon, a great blessing; but it brings a great responsibility: “Unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required.” We who have heard the voice of him that speaketh from heaven, speaking peace through Jesus Christ; we who, on the strength of this message of forgiveness of sins, have been accepted in consecration as members of the body of Christ, have greater responsibility than have others. To attain the glorious things to which we have been invited we must not merely have this honor, but must make use of the privilege and show our appreciation by obedience to the terms of the covenant—presenting our bodies as living sacrifices to the divine service in faithful obedience to righteousness, and in endeavoring to assist others in the same course.—Z 1906-98 (Hymn 65A)
NOVEMBER 10
They sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.—Revelation 15:3
THE more we come to appreciate divine justice and the righteousness of the sentence of death against our race, the more also we come to appreciate the love and mercy of God toward us, and to rejoice that he was not willing that any should perish, and hence made provision wide enough, high enough, deep enough, that all might turn unto him and live—have everlasting life. This provision of mercy cannot ignore the sin nor can it permit the sinner to ignore it. It is necessary that the redeemed should know, should appreciate, their fallen condition, the justice of their sentence of death, and that their recovery is wholly of divine mercy. Unless they learn this lesson they could never appreciate the divine arrangements and the only terms upon which God could grant them everlasting life—terms of acceptance of God’s grace and forgiveness and their obedience to him and his principles of righteousness.—Z 1906-62 (Hymn 79)
NOVEMBER 11
The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.—Philippians 4:7
THIS peace of God is not dependent upon the smile of fortune, nor upon physical health, nor upon a host of friends. But it is a peace which abides even when health fails, or poverty comes in, or death steals from us the treasures of our hearts. It is a peace which none of the changes and vicissitudes of this life can take from us and which enemies are powerless to touch. What gift so rich could our Father give to his children! How poor would be our inheritance today if we were without our anchorage in Christ! But with it we can endure all things which the Father’s loving providence shall permit. Then let us face the coming days with calmness and courage. He who was with his dear disciples upon the stormy Sea of Galilee, and whose word of power quelled the mighty storm and stilled the raging of the sea, has the same care over his disciples today. When they cried out in fear, he quieted their hearts, saying, “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?” Nothing can in any wise hurt us if our hearts are stayed on him.—Z 1914-103 (Hymn Appendix R)
NOVEMBER 12
Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.—Romans 12:9
AS HOLINESS and sin are opposites. so our feeling toward these must be represented by the sentiments of love and hatred. To grow cool in love for righteousness is to lose some of the abhorrence for sin. Let us, therefore, cultivate in ourselves hatred for sin, selfishness, impurity, and every evil way, that we may find it the easier to cultivate in our hearts the beautiful graces of the Spirit. Only in our minds have the old things passed away and all things become new. Actually, this change will be accomplished when we become spirit beings. Meantime, if we shall be counted worthy of a place in the first resurrection, it is required of us that we shall demonstrate our willingness of mind, our earnest desire, to be all that the Lord would have us be. In no way can this be better demonstrated to the Lord or prove more helpful to ourselves than in keeping a strict surveillance of our hearts and of our thoughts.—Z 1911-382 (Hymn 312)
NOVEMBER 13
And the light shineth in darkness.—John 1:5
WHOSOEVER receives the light of truth intelligently must rejoice in it; and rejoicing in it, he must let it shine out upon others, or, by covering his light with a bushel, he will demonstrate his lack of courage, lack of appreciation, lack of earnestness—qualities which the Lord is now specially seeking among those whom he has invited to be sharers with Jesus in the glories of the mediatorial kingdom about to be established among men. It is important, therefore, that we let our light shine before men; that we be willing, nay, glad if need be, to suffer for our loyalty to the Lord and to his message. And we have his Word for it that whoever is ashamed of him or of his Word now, of such he will be ashamed by and by. He will not own them as members of his bride class, will not accept them as assistants with him in his glorious throne.—Z 1912-49 (Hymn 261)
NOVEMBER 14
The Lord hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad.—Psalm 126:3
THE world is enslaved by sin and death, the twin monarchs which are now reigning and causing mankind to groan. We were born in this enslaved condition; as the Scriptures declare, “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, in sin did my mother conceive me.” Our race, groaning under the weaknesses and imperfections we have thus inherited—mental, moral, and physical—longs for the promised deliverance from the bondage of sin and death. The majority of mankind undoubtedly feel the gall of their slavery, and will be glad to be free. … While the whole creation groans under its load of sin and sorrow, the saintly few may sing, may rejoice, even in the midst of all the sorrows of life, and even though they share the results of sin as fully or even more fully than do others. The secret of their joy is twofold: (1) They have experienced reconciliation to God. (2) They have submitted their wills to his will. They obtained this new relationship by the way of faith in the Redeemer—faith in his blood of atonement. They entered by the “strait gate” and “narrow way” of consecration to God—surrendering their own wills and covenanting to do the divine will to the best of their ability.—Z 1911-380 (Hymn 101)
NOVEMBER 15
Only let your conversation be as it becometh the Gospel of Christ.—Philippians 1:27
HOW highly we, who belong to the Gospel dispensation, should value its privileges and opportunities seeking to make our calling and election sure! If those who were called with an earthly calling to be a “house of servants,” rendered but a reasonable service when they engaged in the Lord’s work zealously, as did John the Baptist, and were faithful, how much more zeal and energy ought we to put forth—we who have been favored so much more highly? “What manner of persons ought we to be, in all holy conversation and godliness?” Let us remember that this high calling, this heavenly calling, to joint-heirship with our Lord in the kingdom, is a very special and a very limited call, that it will soon end, and, that so far as the divine revelation shows, it will never be repeated. In view of these things, let us lay aside every weight, and run with patience the race set before us in the Gospel, looking unto Jesus, the Author, until he shall have become the Finisher of our faith.—Z 1912-68 (Hymn 259)
NOVEMBER 16
The Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey; a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it. … Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes.—Deuteronomy 8:7-11
WHAT an exhortation! What an incentive to faithfulness! Who would not worship and serve such a God! And what a wonderful application can spiritual Israel make of this scripture! How marvelously has our God led us, his covenant people, through the wilderness of this world, and provided for our needs day by day! How the chastenings of his loving hand have kept our feet from wandering; or if we have turned at any time to the right hand, or to the left, how has his love drawn us back! And has he not brought us into a good land, a land of brooks of water, a land of fountains and depths, a land of oil olive and honey, a land wherein we eat bread, the Bread of Heaven, without scarceness? Truly, we have not lacked anything in it. If Israel of old had reason to prove their gratitude and love to God, how much more reason have we, spiritual Israel!—Z 1914-263 (Hymn 181)
NOVEMBER 17
He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.—Proverbs 25:28
IT IS a part of our duty as Christians and as new creatures to withstand all assaults of the Adversary; and these assaults come, not from visible forces alone, but from evil spirits; from those who seek to obtain possession of us—as is the case with those who come under the control of these evil spirits. Their wills are subdued, broken down, and they are in the hands of their enemies, exactly as pictured in our text. Let such strive to cast out the enemy, to resist him, to strengthen the walls of their minds and to make an alliance at once with the Lord Jesus. Let them give their hearts fully and completely to him and accept his will, his Word, his guidance, in every matter.—Z 1911-94 (Hymn 44)
NOVEMBER 18
Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.—Galatians 4:28
CHRIST, our Head, and we, his members, are the antitype of him who was called “Laughter,” or “Joyous.” And do we not have more joy than others, even in this present time? True, we have a full share in the trials and difficulties and sorrows and disappointments that cause the whole creation to groan and travail in pain together, yet we have what they do not have—“the peace of God which passeth all understanding,” ruling in our hearts and enabling us to be “joyful in tribulation” also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and all the various fruits of the Spirit which, when perfected in us, shall bring us to the complete joy and rejoicing of the heavenly kingdom. And if this name, Joyous, applies to us in such degree in the present time, what shall we say of the glorious future, when joined to our Master in the glories of his kingdom we shall cause the knowledge and blessing of the Lord to fill the whole earth, and bring laughter and joy to a world of mankind, now weak and groaning under the administration of sin and death? “Praise God from whom all blessings flow!”—Z 1901-263 (Hymn 27)
NOVEMBER 19
For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.—II Corinthians 8:9
OUR text reminds us of the grandest example of self-denial in the interest of others on record—the gift by our Lord Jesus of himself for the world. He was rich in the possession of the spiritual nature and its honors and glory, yet for our sakes he became poor, taking the human nature that he might redeem us; and to this end he surrendered even life itself at Calvary, that through his sacrifice we might become rich—become possessed of divine favor, and the riches of divine grace in Christ, even joint-heirship with him who is now our exalted Lord at the right hand of divine Majesty. But to attain this joint-heirship with him we must study to be like him, to have his Spirit, and like him desirous of sharing whatever he may give us of either temporal or spiritual favors with others, particularly the “household of faith”—either to feed or clothe it, spiritually or temporally, as circumstances may dictate. “The liberal soul shall be made fat.”—Z 1897-262 (Hymn 168)
NOVEMBER 20
Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.—Matthew 16:19
THE declaration respecting Peter’s authority to bind and loose was a common form of expression in those days, to indicate forbidding and permitting. One writer declares, “No other terms were in so constant use in Rabbinic Canon Law as those of binding and loosing. They represented the legislative and judicial powers of the Rabbinic office.” This authority was shared by all the apostles (Matt. 18:18,19), and it is because of our belief in this that we hold to the exact presentations of the apostles as representing the divine will, and allow no testimony by subsequent followers of the Lord to have the same weight or influence. Respecting the apostles alone we have the assurance that they were divinely supervised—that whatever they forbade or allowed was under heavenly guidance and sanction.—Z 1906-174 (Hymn 227)
NOVEMBER 21
For the Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword.—Hebrews 4:12
IN EVERY case it has been the Word of God that has caused the disturbance, the commotion. Whether sent through the prophets of old or through the apostles and reformers of this age it has been God speaking from heaven—and his Word is quick and powerful, searching beyond any human message. It will separate, it will distinguish; it will find the truth-hungry, it will separate the others; it is the light of which the apostle declared, Whatsoever doth make manifest is light. The attitude assumed by the people toward the light, the truth, demonstrates better than all their professions would do whether they are of the light or of the darkness. In our imperfection of judgment we might suppose that some were children of light who really are not of the light, and we might presume some to be children of darkness who are really different at heart. The Lord knows them that are his; he demonstrates who is on his side and who is on the side of darkness; let us be content and let the sickle of truth do the separating in the harvest work, and let us not be self-willed and self-opinionated, but waiting on the Lord. Let us wait patiently on him to bring about the separation with divine wisdom and love—we know that his plan is the best in the end.—Z 1906-294 (Hymn 81)
NOVEMBER 22
They said to one another, It is manna. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat.—Exodus 16:15
THE supply of manna was a beautiful figure of the supply of grace in Christ: it needed to be gathered daily; it would not keep over for succeeding days. The lesson of this would seem to be that those who accumulate much of God’s grace and truth must also be dispensers of it. It is not provided with a view to the creation of a spiritual aristocracy. How often we have seen this exemplified: those who study the Word merely for themselves, and who do not commingle with the brethren and share their blessings, are not in the long run as much advantaged as we would have expected. Our gathering of the manna is to be day by day: our feeding on the Heavenly Bread is to be a continuous privilege, without which we will not have the strength for the journey of life; but with it we should be strong in the Lord, and may perchance be permitted to assist others by the dispensing of divine grace to them.—Z 1907-186 (Hymn 226)
NOVEMBER 23
Where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.—James 3:16
ENVY is one of the principal roots of human depravity—selfishness—and from this root have sprung some of the most injurious influences and experiences known to man—“every evil work.” … How each should realize that to permit the growth of even the smallest shoot of this root in his daily life might lead on to most disastrous consequences to him as a new creature! One writer has even said, “There is but one man who can believe himself free from envy, and it is he who has never examined his own heart” Undoubtedly this evil root of selfishness is to be found in every imperfect son and daughter of Adam, whether it is flourishing under favorable conditions or dormant for lack of them, or from the overmastering power of grace. Only the heart that is aflame with love for God supreme and for his neighbor as himself is in a condition so sterile as respects envy that the latter has no opportunity for development. With an abatement of our love for God and man comes a corresponding increase of favorable influence for the development of this root of envy and its concomitants of anger, hatred, strife, and every evil work—yea, murder—all of which the apostle tells us are works of the flesh and of the devil, and hence to be shunned by all those who now and by and by would have the Master’s approval. Whatever may have been the natural tendency of our flesh, the new nature begotten of the Holy Spirit of the Lord, the spirit of love, is expected by the Father to dominate and render sterile to envy all whom he recognizes as children of God.—Z 1907-106 (Hymn 95)
NOVEMBER 24
Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.—Ephesians 5:20
AS FOR the days of national thanksgiving, we, as citizens of the heavenly kingdom, have no special need of them; for every day should be with us a day of thanksgiving for all things—for the prosperity of our “holy nation” under the righteous authority of Christ our King, for its peace and joy and its glorious hope, for its privileges of spiritual enlightenment and blessing, for the perfection of its laws and the shaping of its course and destiny, and for the needed discipline as well, which is to prepare it for its future exaltation and glory. Let the people of the world and less enlightened Christians give thanks, as doubtless many of them do, out of a sincere heart, for the common blessings of this present life—for the air and sunshine and rain, for bountiful harvests and for seasons of comparative peace with the nations abroad. Yes, blessed be God, out of his abundant mercy these rich blessings are common to all—to the just and to the unjust—and it is well that the attention of all men should be called to mark and consider them. … And while the world thus marks and rejoices in, and in some cases returns thanks to God for the truly glorious common blessings which our loving and benevolent Father showers alike upon the evil and the just, let our hearts not only rejoice in these things, but also in the higher spiritual favors bestowed upon the sons of God, giving thanks always and for all things unto God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.—Z 1893-12 (Hymn 324)
NOVEMBER 25
Return unto Me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord.—Malachi 3:7
THE thought everywhere held out in the Scriptures is that God’s mercy endures forever—that is, “olam,” or to a completion. A small portion of the world of mankind at the present time has received God’s favor to the extent of being justified and made participators in the divine favors and mercies of this present time. As in his dealings with these the Lord is very gracious, so is he to those who return from the ways of sin, and he is even patient with those who lack the spirit of love and forgiveness, and comes to them entreating them to join in his gracious plans and arrangements. This loving-kindness bestowed upon the believers of the present time illustrates the Spirit of the Lord. It becomes an assurance to us of the fulfillment of his promise that in due time all the families of the earth shall be brought to a knowledge of his goodness, to an opportunity for knowing him whom to rightly know and appreciate will mean to them everlasting life.—Z 1906-254 (Hymn 3)
NOVEMBER 26
Rejoicing in hope.—Romans 12:12
WE ARE not to expect to have much in the present life to rejoice in, if we are faithful to our “calling,” because “through much tribulation shall ye enter the kingdom.” Our rejoicing is to be in hope—looking into the future. The eye of faith is to see what the natural eye cannot see, the crown of life and all the glorious things “which God hath in reservation for them that love him fervently.” And here is the advantage of doctrinal knowledge: it inspires hope, it gives a foundation for hope. Knowledge cannot bring us to the kingdom, but it may be a great help in building us up and preparing us for it, by constantly holding before us the hopes which God designs should stimulate and encourage us while running the race for the great prize.—Z 1897-265 (Hymn 149)
NOVEMBER 27
And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil.—Matthew 25:8
NONE can get too much of this Holy Spirit, none can secure an over-supply for his own use so that he could supply others from his abundance. The Bride-groom has made in advance abundant provision by which all those who are invited to go in with him to the marriage may be properly equipped, not only with robes and lamps, but also with the oil; and if any are careless in the procurement of the oil, they thus indicate their unfitness to be of the class who are to enter with the Bride-groom before the door is shut. This is the essence of the Lord’s instruction by this parable—that those who hope to enter into the kingdom and share its glories with him must expect to make preparation in advance. If they wait until the moment for the door to close, however willing they may be, however anxious, they will not be prepared—the preparation requires time, patience, care.—Z 1906-314 (Hymn 230)
NOVEMBER 28
In all thy ways acknowledge Him.—Proverbs 3:6
WHILE such an acknowledgment of the Lord is proper in all the affairs of life, it certainly is especially appropriate in connection with the study of the divine Word and any attempt to give an interpretation thereof. Let none of us speak as of ourselves, nor appropriate wisdom to ourselves, but rather, with hearts full of gratitude to the Lord for blessings received, let us acknowledge him and his Word and his arrangements in connection with his truth. Especially is this appropriate in those who occupy positions of responsibility in the church—whom the Holy Spirit has made overseers to “feed the flock of Christ.” To whatever extent self-seeking is indulged, to whatever extent the honor of men is craved, the Lord as the fountain of wisdom and the channels which he uses in dispensing his truth are ignored or belittled by any of us, to that extent we may be sure we are in a dangerous situation and not likely to make real progress in the good way.—Z 1907-120 (Hymn 145)
NOVEMBER 29
He said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.—Luke 5:4
IT IS evident that this miracle was performed for the purpose of fully and finally convincing Peter, Andre w, James, and John respecting the Lord’s relationship to the Father, and his power, of control in respect to things temporal as well as things spiritual. The lesson evidently had its designed effect, and our Lord clinched the matter by then and there inviting the four to become his permanent disciples—to become fishers of men. This was the opposite course from what Peter had suggested that the Lord depart from them because he was perfect and holy and had direct intercourse evidently with the heavenly powers, while they were poor and weak and sinful, imperfect through the fall. Separation did indeed take place, but it was between the disciples and their earthly business, not between them and the Lord. “They forsook all and followed him.” Similarly, tests have come to all whom the Lord has called throughout this age.—Z 1906-46 (Hymn Appendix O)
NOVEMBER 30
Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.—Galatians 5:1
IF THE world’s liberty has required fighting for, much more may we expect to battle for those who take the still higher ground of the Bible, and who strive for the “liberty wherewith Christ makes free.” For although this very Scripture declares that Christ gives this freedom, the Word shows us that he gives it only to those who desire it and who will fight for it. Their battle is not to be with carnal weapons which the law of love forbids, yet their warfare is to be mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds of error. Against what, then, do they battle? We answer that their chief fight is against the fallen tendencies of their own beings. They find that, through the long centuries of the fall, sin has become inbred and entrenched in their flesh to such a degree that it necessitates a warfare in the new mind. They get the new mind or disposition through hearkening to the Word of the Lord which, while speaking peace and forgiveness of sins through faith in Christ, invites to a newness of nature and a joint-heirship with Christ through a full consecration of all to the divine service—to the service of righteousness and truth. The making of the consecration on the part of the believer was his entering upon the career of a good soldier of the Lord Jesus. It was his engagement to battle against sin and selfishness everywhere, according to the rules laid down by the chief Captain.—Z 1906-296 (Hymn 54)