The Value of Good Books
EDITOR'S LETTER
Source: Tayler Lyons, Unsplash
Moses was a great leader of the Israelites who led the people for forty years through the wilderness on their journey toward the land of Canaan. There were many highs and lows during the journey. The highs included God parting the waters of the Red Sea for the Israelites to cross over safely, and then bringing back the waters to drown the Egyptians, the receiving of manna and quail as food, and striking a rock and water gushing out. Probably the greatest was the time Moses spent on Mount Sinai with God as he was given laws for the people. But there were lows: the people constantly complained against Moses and against God, they rebelled against God and refused to enter Canaan which led to the wilderness wanderings, and then of course the incident of Numbers 20 when Moses struck the rock instead of speaking to it – an event which prevented Moses from entering the Promised Land.
In Numbers 27:12 and 13, God told Moses that he was about to die, but Moses was given the special privilege of climbing a mountain and seeing the Promised Land before he died. Although he would not enter in, he could see the land and marvel at God’s goodness to His people. It is interesting to notice what Moses did after this. He didn’t plead with God and ask that he be allowed to enter into the land of promise. Instead, he prayed that God would set a man over the Israelites who would lead them well (read verses 16 and 17). You can learn things from Moses’ prayer.
Firstly, Moses was concerned for the people. He didn’t want them to be left like sheep without a shepherd. He prayed that God would give them a faithful leader to guide them.
Secondly, Moses trusted in God. He didn’t look for a new leader or just go and appoint Joshua who had been his faithful assistant. He asked God to set a faithful man over the congregation.
Thirdly, Moses obeyed God and appointed Joshua as the new leader. Moses’ obedience is highlighted in the text when twice in verses 22 and 23 it speaks of him doing “just as the LORD commanded him.”
Learn the importance of submitting to the will of God. Moses knew it was not God’s will for him to enter the Promised Land, so he accepted it. Have concern for the wellbeing of other people and pray that God will work in their lives for good. Lastly, be quick to do all that God says.
The Value of Good Books
Source: Ed Robertson, Unsplash
Books can be read many times and may last sometimes for hundreds of years. Have you ever thought of how valuable and important good Christian books are? There are many good books available for us to read.
History records some lovely stories of how God has blessed the reading of good books.
John Flavel (1628-1691) was one of the Puritan preachers in England. He had a bookseller friend, Mr Boulter, who sold the various books which Mr Flavel wrote. One day, in 1673, a very well-dressed man came into Mr Boulter’s shop and asked for some books on play-acting. Mr Boulter told him that he did not have any such books, but showed him Mr Flavel’s little book called “Keeping the Heart” and urged him to read it. The man glanced quickly at a few pages and said, “What a damnable fanatic he was who wrote this book.” Mr Boulter continued to urge him to buy and read it because it would do him much good, and not to speak so harshly against the book.
At last the man agreed to buy it, but said he would not read it. “What will you do then with the book?” asked Mr Boulter. “I will tear it up and burn it,” replied the man. Mr Boulter then told him that he should not have the book if that was so. At last the man said that he would read the book. Mr Boulter told him that if he was not happy with the book when he had read it, then he would refund the money.
“Sir, I thank you for putting this book into my hands; I bless God that I ever came into your shop.”
About a month later the man visited the shop again. His whole appearance showed that he was a changed man. He said to Mr Boulter, “Sir, I thank you for putting this book into my hands; I bless God that I ever came into your shop.” He then bought a hundred copies of John Flavel’s book, and said that he would give them to the poor if they could not afford to pay for them. Then he left the shop praising God for His goodness and mercy to him.
Let us read good books ourselves, and also seek to encourage others to read them. And remember that God has given us His Word in a book, the Bible, which is the best book of all.
(From “The Shark’s Secret and 50 Other Stories”
By R. Cameron-Smith)
An Interesting Survey
World Vision UK released an interesting study in 2022 using Google search data to discover the world’s most searched for Bible verses. Here are the twelve most searched for Bible verses in New Zealand:
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For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
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“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
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These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.
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I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
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But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.
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The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
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So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
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For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
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Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you. I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.
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I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
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For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
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For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
How many of those verses do you know – either from memory, or through a good familiarity with them?
There are a few surprises there for me, especially to see the world’s most searched for verse, John 3:16, down in eighth place. Maybe since it is so well known, people know it off by heart so they do not need to search for it.
Other well-known verses such as Proverbs 3:5, Proverbs 3:6 and Romans 8:28 were nowhere near making the top ten.
On a worldwide basis, the most searched for verse was John 3:16 with 2,100,000 searches per month, followed by Jeremiah 29:11 and Philippians 4:13 with 82,000 searches each. Rounding out the top five were John 10:10, Proverbs 3:5 and Matthew 28:19.
One thing that was particularly notable was that Genesis 1:27 was the most searched for verse in the majority of Central American and South American countries, and not in any country outside of those areas. It wasn’t, though, in Uruguay, where the most searched for verse was Acts2:38, “Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’”
Pass it on for Eternal Benefit
62 He also gave His people over to the sword,
And was furious with His inheritance.
63 The fire consumed their young men,
And their maidens were not given in marriage.
64 Their priests fell by the sword,
And their widows made no lamentation.
65 Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,
Like a mighty man who shouts because of wine.
66 And He beat back His enemies;
He put them to a perpetual reproach.
Psalm 78 is a Psalm of Asaph that reviews parts of Israel’s history from their time in Egypt as slaves through to the time of King David.
In our look through the psalm, we have seen marvellous things God did to deliver the Israelites, and the way the Israelites responded to God. Sadly, their response was not usually one of faith and love because they constantly rebelled against the Lord God who was so good to them.
“Israel was not defeated by their enemies because they possessed greater strength, but because God gave His people over to destruction because of their sinful rejection of Him. ”
This month’s verses continue to speak about the punishment God brought upon Israel as a consequence of their rejection of Him, and their worship of idols. Verse 62 emphasises that Israel was not defeated by their enemies because they possessed greater strength, but because God gave His people over to destruction because of their sinful rejection of Him.
The result of that was that many people died, even those who were priests. Verse 64 brings to mind the death of Eli’s sons Hophni and Phinehas, who died in the battle with the Philistines when the Philistines captured the ark of God. When Phinehas’ wife heard that her husband had died in battle, that her father-in-law Eli had died upon hearing news from the battlefield and that the ark of God was captured, she gave birth to a son prematurely. She was close to the point of death, so the women who were near to her tried to comfort her, saying, “Do not fear, for you have borne a son” (1 Samuel 4:20), but she was so grieved that she did not answer.
Why was she so grieved? It was not primarily because her husband and father-in-law were dead. She was more concerned about the ark of God, which was a sign of God’s presence with His people, being captured. That is why she named her son Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured” (1 Samuel 4:22). As verse 64 says, she “made no lamentation” for the death of her husband. Her lamentation was for the loss of the ark of God.
Source: Bharath Kumar, Unsplash
But hope comes in verse 65. God does not forsake His people forever. He is described as waking as from sleep. This does not mean that God sleeps. Psalm 121:4 makes it clear that “He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.” What it does mean is that He showed compassion toward His people and faithfulness to His promise that He would not cast them off forever or destroy them completely. That is why in later times, Jeremiah could have hope in the midst of the Babylonian captivity, because He knew that “Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not” (Lamentations 3:22).
This is the Christian’s confidence and hope. God is always faithful to His people. He disciplines us for our good so that we may be partakers of His holiness and be drawn back to Himself (Hebrews 12:5-11).
Little Things
Little things in life are important because how you deal with the little things will shape your whole life. Jesus told the parable of the talents in which two men were faithful in using the sums of money that were given to them, and one man was not. The master said to the two faithful men, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord” (Matthew 25:21, 23). They were rewarded for being faithful in little things and given greater responsibility by their master.
Source: Wolfgang Hasselmann, Unsplash
Take care that you do the little things well. They lead to good habits that will serve you well in life. Things such as tidiness, punctuality and honesty may only seem to be little things, but they are crucially important in shaping your life so that you are a responsible, trustworthy person.
It is also important to make sure that you do not treat sin lightly as a little thing. Sin is not a little thing. The Shorter Catechism – A Baptist Version says, “Sin is any lack of conformity unto, or transgression of the law of God.” There are two parts to sin according to this definition.
Sin isa failure to do what God commands you to do. For example, in James4:17 it says, “Therefore to him who knows to do good, and does not do it, to him it is sin.” In this sense, it is possible to sin by doing nothing because you are failing to do the good you ought to do. Sin is also disobeying or breaking the commandments God has given. God says, “You shall not steal” (Exodus 20:15). Therefore, you sin whenever you steal anything, no matter how small it may be.
Song of Solomon 2:15 says, “Catch us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines.” There is an important principle there. Just as it is important to protect the vines from the little foxes that do a little damage before they grow into bigger foxes that do more damage, so it is important for you to catch the small sins in your life before they become larger, habitual sins.
“Sin is never a little thing because it is always disobedience to the God to whom we must all give account.”
Think of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The serpent tempted Eve to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil which God had commanded them not to eat, with the promise of death attached to the commandment. When the serpent came to Eve with the temptation, he made eating the forbidden fruit sound like a little thing and even made it appealing by saying it would make her wise like God. But it was no little thing. Sin is never a little thing because it is always disobedience to the God to whom we must all give account; the God who has given commandments because He knows what is best for people.
The sin of Adam and Eve eating one piece of fruit from a tree, seemingly such a little thing, had huge consequences. It brought sin and death into the world. Ever since that day, all people born into the world are born sinners and sin every day.
Thankfully, there is hope for sinners in the gospel. Jesus came to die for sinners by suffering death in their place for their sins. He commands you to believe in Him to receive His gracious gift of eternal life. Many people think that believing in Jesus is too small a thing for them to do to receive eternal life. They think they must do good works to earn favour with God. That is a tragic mistake. The gospel says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
Make sure that you take notice of the little things in life.
We hope you enjoyed the excerpts from this month’s volume of The Christian Informer.
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