I said to the man who stood at the Gate of the Year,“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”And he replied, “Go out into the darkness, and put your hand into the hand of God.That shall be to you better than light, and safer than a known way.”May that Almighty…
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Lord, what am I, that with unceasing care,Thou didst seek after me, that thou didst wait,Wet with unhealthy dews, before my gate,And pass the gloomy nights of winter there? Oh, strange delusion, that I did not greetThy blest approach! and oh, to heaven how lostIf my ingratitude’s unkindly frostHas chilled the bleeding wounds of thy…
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A soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger. Proverbs 15. 1 The natural thing to do when someone is angry with you is to reply in anger: yet how often we regret the words once they are out of our mouths. The tongue, despite being such a small part of the body,…
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No room for the baby at Bethlehem’s inn,Only a cattle shed;No room on this earth for the dear Son of God,Nowhere to lay His head;Only a cross did they give to my Lord,Only a borrowed tomb;Today He is seeking a place in your heart,Will you still say to Him, ‘No room!’ ‘O Lord, in my…
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I have escaped by the skin of my teeth. Job 19:20 The English idiom ‘escaped by the skin of one’s teeth’ is derived from this graphic expression in the book of Job. One of the main themes of the book is the problem of suffering. At the beginning of the book we find Job well…
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He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it. Proverbs 11:15 A friend of mine, with his wife, moved to Britain a while ago. John had emigrated from Botswana to the UK to read for a post-graduate degree in Bath University. He had been a primary school teacher for several years, and had…
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Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 16. 18 No one, other than the proud himself, likes a proud person. God likes the proud least of all. One of the seven things that are an abomination to God is ‘a proud look,’ Proverbs 6. 17. This is because pride is…
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Whoever slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. Matthew 5:39 Perhaps you, like many others, have little time for the Lord Jesus. Some deny He is the Son of God, saying He was deluded in many of His claims, especially when He said, ‘I am the way… no man cometh…
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In the way.In the breaking of bread.In the midst. Luke 24:35-36 I walked abroad, and on life’s toilsome wayHe met me there.In home’s sweet peace, my hearth at close of dayHe came to share.I sought His own, of Him to hear and tellIn converse rare;When lo! a hush, a sudden glory fell:The Lord was there!…
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To everything there is a season Ecclesiastes 3:1-9 These words, from a book of Proverbs written thousands of years ago by wise King Solomon, became a surprise hit for the Byrds in the song charts in the Sixties. They go on to say there is ‘a time to every purpose under heaven’. Few would disagree…
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Father, give me Luke 15:12 Father, make me Luke 15:19 ‘Give me,’ he prayed, the foolish, wilful boy.He thought that but to have was to enjoy.A broken, sobered man, robbed, hungry, bare,‘Make me,’ he prayed; and ’twas a wiser prayer. Much wiser. My possessions may decay:What I become can no one take away.A man’s true worth may be appraised…
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