My dear readers,

1. A topsyturvy world
(Wise Man, Foolish Man: Ecclesiastes 8)

The Preacher saw it and said, "This also is vanity." We see it still: the just punished and the wicked rewarded. The godly are perplexed while the godless prosper. It would seem as if the righteous has "cleansed his heart in vain" (Ps 73:13). He cries out: "My tears have been my meat day and night, while they con­tinually say unto me, where is thy God?" (Ps 42:3). "If there is a God, why all this mess in the world today?" So the atheist and unbelievers think they have the matter settled. Truly, it is a topsyturvy world -- on the surface, that is.

Dear reader in Christ, the things of God are beyond our vision. We need eyes of faith, and understanding hearts to perceive the deeper issues. In His own time and in His own way the Lord will bring order out of seeming chaos and confusion. After all, ours is only a momentary passing through, on this earth of corruption and vanity. In the New World to come all will be made right. Goodness will receive its rightful place. Evil will not be there. Until then, we must persevere.

But then, Christian sufferer, are you downhearted to see the wicked prosper? Does your heart rebel against the apparent injustice of it all? Perhaps you thought to exchange places. Is he better off than you? Would you truly have his earthly "good things" for your heavenly grace? Do you not realize that Jesus our Lord is more than all the world to you?

Listen to the Psalmist: "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God" (Ps 42:11). Leave yourself with God and be at peace. Let this living faith preserve you from that brooding dis­content. Earthly pleasures and possessions will soon pass away. They can never satisfy. God’s gifts, however small and meagre, are a foretaste of His heavenly favours. Enjoy them, whatever He has sent. Above all, strive for the smile of Divine acceptance. Serve Him with all that you have. He is our abiding portion, our lasting joy. Hold fast to Him and let the world go by.

"Take the world but give me Jesus, all its joys are but a name."

2. The Bruised Reed And The Smoking Flax
David Cloud, (February 25, 2015, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

"Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth" (Isa 42:1-3).

For more than 40 years I have meditated on this wonderful Messianic prophecy, this amazing statement of the character of Almighty God.

We learn here that the Son of God will not break the bruised reed or quench the smoking flax (Isa. 42:3).

What a wonderful description of Christ’s tender compassion! He is the Good Shepherd who redeems sinners by His atonement and cares for them continually as their High Priest. He does not discard His people when they are weak and overcome by temptation. He has committed Himself to them. They are ordained to be conformed to His image. It will happen! He has guaranteed that it will happen. And it is an eternal process that begins in this present life.

The believer is likened to a bruised reed. What could be weaker? At his best, the believer is a mere reed rather than a strong and majestic tree. But how often we are "bruised" reeds. Reeds are easily bent by the wind and injured by the elements. Reeds are highly affected by drought conditions. Likewise, the believer is easily bruised by the world, the flesh, and the devil, bent over by the storms of wickedness and trouble and persecution. We are bruised by failure to abide in God’s Word, bruised by unfaithfulness and sin and backsliding. Yet Christ does not cast away His bruised reeds; He does whatever is necessary to bring them back to health. He cares for them, nurses them, reproves and chastens them. David was a bruised reed after his sin with Bathsheba, yet Jehovah God brought him to repentance and forgave him. In his old age, David wrote great Psalms and received the plans for the Temple by the Spirit of God. The bruised reed was healed.

Likewise the believer is likened to smoking flax. This is a picture of an oil lamp with a flax wick that is not properly trimmed or that is low on oil. Rather than burning brightly, it is smoking. Rather than providing light in the darkness as it is intended to do, it is smouldering and producing irritants. Christ doesn’t throw away His smoking lamps. Those with true faith even as weak as a smoking flax are accepted and taken into His tender care. He renews the oil and tenderly trims the wicks and fans the smouldering fibres into a bright flame. Peter was a smoking flax after he denied Christ, yet Christ restored him, and afterward Peter’s lamp burned more brightly than ever. (End of article)

My dear readers, be of good comfort, heed God’s loving words:

"My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.
Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:
So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil" (Prov 3:1-7).

God bless all readers.

Yours faithfully in the Saviour’s Service,
Dr SH Tow, Sr Pastor