"(Now I was cupbearer to the king)" Nehemiah 1:11 R.V.

OLD TESTAMENT PARENTHESES (18)

"(Now I was cupbearer to the king)" Nehemiah 1:11 R.V.

THIS sentence is placed between brackets in my Bible, though not in some other versions. Nevertheless it seems worthy of a place among our collection. It follows an eloquent and moving prayer. It also precedes a bold action. Prayers should be the basis of our actions but never an excuse for inaction.

WHEN Nehemiah had finished praying he seems suddenly to have recalled his personal condition: "Now I was cupbearer ...". It may be that he was appalled at his own helplessness. 

What hope had a man in his position of ever being able to go off to join the returned exiles in Jerusalem? Moreover, what could his type of man contribute to the work of recovery? What could a soft palace official do in the great task of conflict and re-building?

ALL of us know the feeling of hopelessness which can come over us when, after rising to great heights in our prayers, we come down to earth and realise what poor material we are for the great work about which we have been praying. Whether this is what happened or not, it is certainly true to experience.

THERE is, however, another explanation of Nehemiah's parenthetical note. It may be that he realised that the unattractive job which had been forced upon him could be the very key to Jerusalem's problem. In his position of trust in the palace, he could perhaps gain the King's ear and speak up for the interests of his God.

HE had been praying for some months when he came to the day of resolution. "... prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day ...". The king, after all, was only a man, whereas his Lord was "the God of heaven" (2:4).

SURE enough, that very day the occasion arose for him to lodge his appeal. He apparently showed signs of his inner tension, for prayer does not always free us from natural emotions, but the Lord used this to arouse the suspicions of the king and provoke the question which led to his release for the task. So, in answer to prayer -- both the laboured intercessions of the months and the ejaculatory petition of the moment -- the king's butler became the Lord's master-builder.

LATER, when Nehemiah wrote this story, he must have looked back in wonder. He had not had to break away from his palace job -- indeed he could not do so -- but prayer had released him and set him on his way of service for God. He thought of what he was -- cupbearer to a heathen king; and then what God had made of him -- an honoured instrument for the recovery of the Lord's testimony in the earth.

THERE seems to be no limit to God's power. It does not matter what we are in ourselves; what is all important is what God can make of us if we only persevere in the place of prayer.

Only One Life

Only One Life

By C.T. Studd

      Two little lines I heard one day, Traveling along life's busy way;
      Bringing conviction to my heart, And from my mind would not depart;

Only one life, 'twill soon be past, Only what's done for Christ will last.

      Only one life, yes only one, Soon will its fleeting hours be done;
      Then, in 'that day' my Lord to meet, And stand before His Judgment seat;

Only one life,' twill soon be past, Only what's done for Christ will last.

      Only one life, the still small voice, Gently pleads for a better choice
      Bidding me selfish aims to leave, And to God's holy will to cleave;

Only one life, 'twill soon be past, Only what's done for Christ will last.

      Only one life, a few brief years, Each with its burdens, hopes, and fears;
      Each with its clays I must fulfill, living for self or in His will;

Only one life, 'twill soon be past, Only what's done for Christ will last.

      When this bright world would tempt me sore, When Satan would a victory score;
      When self would seek to have its way, Then help me Lord with joy to say;
      Only one life, 'twill soon be past, Only what's done for Christ will last.

      Give me Father, a purpose deep, In joy or sorrow Thy word to keep;
      Faithful and true what e'er the strife, Pleasing Thee in my daily life;
      

Only one life, 'twill soon be past, Only what's done for Christ will last.

      Oh let my love with fervor burn, And from the world now let me turn;
      Living for Thee, and Thee alone, Bringing Thee pleasure on Thy throne;
      Only one life, 'twill soon be past, Only what's done for Christ will last.

      Only one life, yes only one, Now let me say, 'Thy will be done';

      And when at last I'll hear the call, I know I'll say 'twas worth it all';
      Only one life,' twill soon be past, Only what's done for Christ will last.

[MINISTRY] Watchman Nee

 [MINISTRY]

[Watchman Nee]

"Out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you ... that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you" (2 Corinthians 2.4).

A ministry that is to bring healing and life must spring essentially from experience. This fact is strikingly displayed in the apostle Paul. The ministry of 1 Corinthians, for example, is based firmly on the man revealed to us in 2 Corinthians.

In 1 Corinthians Paul writes of God's choice of "the weak things"; 2 Corinthians shows in grim reality his own experience of a divinely imposed weakness. In the first letter Paul appeals to his readers for unity; in the second he shows how, in spite of their rebuffs, he still counts himself one of them. 

Chapter 13 of the fist letter offers his classic treatment of love; in 2 Corinthians 12.15 he affirms "I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls." 

Finally, 1 Corinthians 15 gives us the clearest teaching anywhere in the New Testament on the subject of the resurrection: yet 2 Corinthians makes plain his own desperate need to trust from hour to hour in "God which raiseth the dead". 

At every point his doctrine is backed with experience. Nothing else really constitutes a basis for a ministry of Christ. - W. N. [22/23]

Behold, if the leprosy have covered all his flesh, he shall pronounce him clean. Lev 13:13

 Our Daily Homily

 

      Behold, if the leprosy have covered all his flesh, he shall pronounce him clean. Lev 13:13
      
      At first sight this seems a very extraordinary provision. When the leprosy was beginning to show itself, and whilst the marks were hardly distinguishable, the poor patient was treated as unclean; but, when it was fully developed, from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot, the priest pronounced the leper clean.
      
      As long as we palliate and excuse our sins, and ,dream that there is much in us which is noble and lovely, we are not fit subjects for God's saw ing grace. But when we take our place as helpless and undone, without one plea or one redeeming trait, we are in the position in which the free grace of God can have its blessed way with us.
      
      We must come to an end of ourselves, and fall prostrate, in the very helplessness of our despair, in the very dust at our Saviour's feet; we must confess that from the crown of our head to the sole of our foot we are full of need and sin - then we are nearest Christ, and in a fit condition to be richly blest, and made the channel of blessing to others.
      
      Would you rise? then you must humble yourself before God. God's thrones are approached, not by steps up to them, but by steps down to them. It is the publican who beats his breast, saying, "God be merciful to me the sinner," that goes clown justified to his house. It is when sin abounds, that grace much more abounds. He that humbleth himself shall be exalted. "For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones" (Isa 57:15).

Better Farther On - Charles Spurgeon Devotional

Jeremiah 31

31 At the same time, saith the Lord, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.

2 Thus saith the Lord, The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.

3 The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.

4 Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel: thou shalt again be adorned with thy tabrets, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry.

5 Thou shalt yet plant vines upon the mountains of Samaria: the planters shall plant, and shall eat them as common things.

6 For there shall be a day, that the watchmen upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the Lord our God.

7 For thus saith the Lord; Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, O Lord, save thy people, the remnant of Israel.

8 Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together: a great company shall return thither.

9 They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.

10 Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock.

11 For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he.

12 Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all.

13 Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together: for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.

14 And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, saith the Lord.

15 Thus saith the Lord; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.

16 Thus saith the Lord; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy.

17 And there is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy children shall come again to their own border.

18 I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the Lord my God.

19 Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth.

20 Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the Lord.

21 Set thee up waymarks, make thee high heaps: set thine heart toward the highway, even the way which thou wentest: turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities.

22 How long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding daughter? for the Lord hath created a new thing in the earth, A woman shall compass a man.

23 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; As yet they shall use this speech in the land of Judah and in the cities thereof, when I shall bring again their captivity; The Lord bless thee, O habitation of justice, and mountain of holiness.

24 And there shall dwell in Judah itself, and in all the cities thereof together, husbandmen, and they that go forth with flocks.

25 For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.

26 Upon this I awaked, and beheld; and my sleep was sweet unto me.

27 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast.

28 And it shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over them, to build, and to plant, saith the Lord.

29 In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge.

30 But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.

31 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:

32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord:

33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

35 Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The Lord of hosts is his name:

36 If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever.

37 Thus saith the Lord; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the Lord.

38 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the city shall be built to the Lord from the tower of Hananeel unto the gate of the corner.

39 And the measuring line shall yet go forth over against it upon the hill Gareb, and shall compass about to Goath.

40 And the whole valley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes, and all the fields unto the brook of Kidron, unto the corner of the horse gate toward the east, shall be holy unto the Lord; it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more for ever.

Liberty

 Liberty

by T. Austin-Sparks

Extract from The Heavenly Calling, Conduct and Conflict of the Church - Chapter 2

The ascension of the Lord Jesus is essentially His emancipation, His liberation, release and victory over the world-rulers. "When He ascended up on high He led captivity captive". As He went out, He made a way out. "Translated out of the authority of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of His love". That is said to be our blessed position: transferred from one Kingdom to another. Well, John 17 again - "They are not of the world even as I am not of the world. I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world" (geographical, physical), "but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil one" (v.15,16). Later we shall find that the Lord Jesus has turned us from the power of Satan unto God, that in Christ we are outside of the domain of satanic authority. The essential thing for believers is to recognise that there is a heavenly position, heavenly life, heavenly resource and heavenly everything if ever they are to know the fulness of liberty and capability in doing the Lord's work, in living in the Lord's life.

Let us look at that in the other way, the reverse position. Immediately you and I get down into that realm where Satan functions and operates and has his rights, we lose our power and we lose our liberty. We immediately come into spiritual limitation and defeat. We can only know complete release as we maintain our position in the heavenlies. This is the history of the church. The church has always lost its power, its effectiveness, when it has become an earthly thing in any way. The Lord's people always come into limitation when they get down into that realm where the enemy has everything to play with. The more you and I and the Lord's people know our ascension union with the Lord Jesus as outside of this world and outside of the authority of darkness, the more we shall know our liberty and our ability to go on in the work and purpose of God.

Now, it seems to me very clear that this is the explanation of Pentecost, as we call it. The great days at the beginning of the dispensation which emerged from that day, took their rise in that day, all that took place then and all that immediately followed, was because the Lord Jesus was in heaven, because He had gone outside, and that now, by the Holy Spirit, He had a heavenly people. And you see that in all their conduct, their behaviour immediately after: they are exemplifying a heavenly life. The earthly things have dropped away. You cannot bring those things about by telling people to do them, that they ought to do this and ought not to do that. If you have got five hundred or a thousand pounds, a few houses or worldly possessions, and I say, "Go and sell all and bring the proceeds and we will divide it among the Lord's people", I do not know what might be the result of doing that. I should be optimistic if I expected to get apostolic New Testament conditions immediately and spontaneously without any Holy Spirit in it. But when you get a heavenly life by the Holy Spirit, heavenly things happen; that is, earthly things assume an altogether smaller importance than before and they are much more easily let go. And so you find that there, for one thing, they that had goods and property and so on, and sold them, brought the proceeds, and they were distributed for the saints, for the church. Get the position and the other thing is quite simple. It just happens.

Now, I say that, I illustrate it because it operates in so many other ways. "They continued in fellowship". What a struggle it is to get fellowship! What a lot of trouble there is about this fellowship matter. We are always labouring along the line of fellowship. But get a heavenly position and you have got fellowship. Get off earthly ground in union with Him in heaven and you know fellowship - it comes in spontaneously. As we have often said, teams of wild horses would never have dragged Saul of Tarsus out of Judaism and separated him from Judaism, but the heavenly vision did it with very little trouble. It was an accomplished fact out of heaven. So they preached, but they preached with the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven. It is that which is heavenly and it is all bound up with the spiritual value of the ascension, that we lose our grave-clothes; not only are we raised, but our grave-clothes, bonds and limitations go when we are outside.

Oh, for an emancipated church, a people living not a false life, not a life of mere imagination, abstractions, unrealities, but really knowing a heavenly life by reason of the heavenly Spirit of the heavenly Lord reigning within. There will be liberty and we shall see that Christ in heaven answers to our hopeless, bound condition by nature.

John 7:24

 John 7:24, KJV: "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment." John 7:24, 

NASB: "Do not judge by the outward appearance, but judge with righteous judgment. '" John 7:24, 

NLT: "Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly.