Catharine Shaw

“ The most precious thing Abraham had was that son who was walking beside him. And besides his love for his boy, God had promised that Isaac should live to have a son, and that by and by the Saviour should come into the world as one of Isaac's great-great-great-great-grandchildren!
Isaac was now grown into a strong young man, but he went with his father; and though he asked him on the way, Where was the lamb for the burnt offering? He was satisfied with his father's answer, "My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering." ”

“ Eve was not surprised that a serpent could talk to her, for so many wonderful things were around her, that she listened to him, and answered him, without thinking it was any harm.
This is how temptation often comes to us, children!
Satan began by asking Eve a very clever question. He said, "Are you sure God has said that you may not eat of every tree in the garden?"
Then Eve said eagerly, "We may eat of every tree except one; but if we eat of that one we shall have to die!"
Then the serpent said to Eve, "You will not have to die! You will only be a great deal more wise than you are now!" ”

“ Jesus, our Saviour, is like the ladder which rested on the earth close to Jacob; and He is gone back to heaven now to be there to help us in every way: that is the top of the ladder which reached to heaven, where the Lord stood and spoke to Jacob.
So when you see this picture, say to yourselves, "Jesus is my ladder! He is close to me here, He is close to God there! He will never leave me nor forsake me; I can send messages and prayers every time I am lonely or in trouble, and He will send back answers if I wait for them." ”

“ Then Jesus told her that Lazarus would rise again; and Martha showed her faith in answering that she knew he would rise at the last day. And again Jesus questioned her with these wonderful resurrection words, "Whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die. Believest thou this?"
And Martha gave one of the most wonderful answers that we read in the Bible: "Yea, Lord: I believe that Thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world." ”

“ For many days Moses had been trying to persuade Pharaoh to let the Children of Israel go out of his land; and though God had sent great and dreadful plagues to warn the Egyptians that they must obey Him, yet Pharaoh would not listen.
At last, God sent Moses to him again and told him that if he would not let His people go, God would send His destroying angel through the land, and the first-born of every man and beast must die! And there would be most dreadful sorrow through all the land of Egypt. ”

“ This Deliverer is Jesus Christ our Saviour, Who came to earth to live and to die for us, that He might undo all that Satan had done to hurt us, and make all who will trust Jesus, happy in heaven for ever.
And in the Revelation, we read a beautiful promise, which tells us something about Heaven that we never could have guessed when we saw poor Adam and Eve driven out of Eden—
"To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the Tree of Life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God!" ”

“ Then Jacob awoke from his dream and said, "Surely the Lord is in this place! . . . This is none other than the gate of heaven!"
So he took the stones on which he had been resting, and set them up for an altar to the Lord, and made a vow that he would serve God all his life, and would give to God the tenth part of everything that God gave to him.
Now it seems to me, children, that this Ladder up to heaven comes into our lives every day. ”

“ Perhaps you ask, dear children, "Why must Jesus, the Holy One, be tempted by Satan?"
I think it was for two reasons: that He might be our perfect example in everything; and that He might show us the way to conquer Satan.
It says in the Bible Jesus was tempted in all points like we are!
One of Satan's temptations to Jesus in the wilderness was "if He was the Son of God," to make the stones into bread.
Jesus was very hungry, He had not had food for a long time; but Jesus would not do what Satan asked Him. ”

“ By and by, when the wicked King Herod was dead, God sent an angel again to Joseph, and told him to take the little Child and His mother back to Palestine, directing him to go to Nazareth, so that the words of the prophet might be fulfilled: "He shall be called a Nazarene."
So Joseph and Mary left Egypt and came back to Nazareth, "that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my Son."
We must never forget, children, that Jesus is the Son of God! He became a little child, and lived on earth as a man, in order that He might die for us ”

“ Jesus is the true Bread from heaven, and every day, if we want to grow strong, and brave, and good, we should—before we begin the work, or play, or school of our day—kneel down and ask God to give us a sight of Jesus, and to let us taste the sweetness of His love. ”

“ He perhaps tells us that God has forgotten us for a little while, that we are like those weaker Israelites in the camp, who were particularly exposed to the enemy!
Then what must we do, when we feel Satan is too strong for us?
We must, like Joshua, resist with all the fighting power at our disposal; and like Moses we must take the Rod of God—the rod of faith and prayer—and go up on the hill top and get nearer God!
Do you wonder what the hill top is for us?
It is kneeling in our room and asking Him to help us.
It is looking up with our hearts, and saying one word of faith to Jesus! ”

“ If we trust in our own strength we shall be sure to fail; but if we look to Him and truly seek to please Him, He will help us to become more and more like the Lord Jesus.
And when we know that we have failed in anything, let us not wait a single moment, but lift our hearts to our Father in heaven, and ask Him, for Jesus' sake, to wash away our sin and make us pure and white again in the precious Blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God.
XLVII. A Great Victory
Soon after the smiting of the Rock, out of which God made water to flow for the people's thirst, another difficulty came. ”

“ And we read another thing in the Bible about "In the beginning," and that is, that Jesus the Son of God was "in the beginning with God."
That is such a comforting thought! Before our world was prepared for us to live on, Jesus was with God in Heaven!
You children love your fathers and mothers very much; you like to go on their messages, and to do what you can to help them, do you not? The Lord Jesus loved to do God's will, and to carry out all His Father gave Him to do. ”

“ So God our Father, and Jesus Christ our Saviour, and the Holy Spirit our Comforter, all prepared this beautiful earth for us.
It is God's power (by His wonderful laws) which holds the earth up in the sky, so that it does not tumble out of its place. ”

“ Then Jacob gave Esau some bread, and his pottage of lentils, and Esau ate and drank, and rose up and went away.
And thus, he despised the birthright which God had given him. He was very very sorry afterwards, but he could not undo what he had done.
I think this is a very sorrowful story, because there are so many people like Esau, who turn away from God's best gifts, and seek only the earthly things which will quickly pass away.
Let the lesson to us, dear children, be to love God first and best of all—before food or clothes, or toys, or happiness—to put God first ”

“ Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, He hath also rejected thee from being king."
And as Samuel sorrowfully turned away, he knew that he should never see Saul's face again.
This is a very sad and solemn story, children.
Let us all be aware of little disobediences, lest they should grow into greater ones.
God will dwell in the humble and contrite heart, which trembles at his word. He will give grace to the lowly.
Let us pray, as David did in Psalm cxix., "With my whole heart have I sought Thee: O let me not wander from Thy commandments!" ”

“ Jesus wants us all to set to work for Him. He has left us a charge to tell others about His love in dying for us, that they may come to Him to be blessed.
We may not be able to do very much, but we can try to please Him every day by being obedient, faithful and loving; and while we listen to His voice saying to us from the glory, "Surely I come quickly!" We can answer Him with adoring love,—
"Come, Lord Jesus!" ”

“ Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water; and she went and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink, and he revived, and presently got quite well.
And this is the lesson which we may learn from Ishmael's cry, children.
God knows our difficulties; God hears us when we speak to Him; God is nearer than we think; God is more loving than the most loving of earthly friends. ”

“ Then the people who have any money to spare, and who do not want to walk the long distance to the well, come out to the water-carriers and have their jars filled and pay for it.
Do you remember what God says about that in the 55th chapter of Isaiah?
"Ho! Every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money come and buy. Yea, come and buy wine and milk without money and without price."
Ah, children, God gives us His gifts without money and without price! The "Living Water" which Jesus promises, we have only to ask of Him and we shall be given it. ”

“ So Jesus was brought before Pilate, and stood there in all His majesty and humility, and Pilate asked Him, "Art Thou the King of the Jews?" And Jesus again left no excuse to those who condemned Him. Though He had answered nothing when the false witnesses spoke against Him, though He answered nothing now when the chief priests and elders accused Him, yet, to give Pilate an opportunity of believing and accepting Him, He answered him at once—
"You have said what I am—a King. ”

“ Let us think of Ishmael dying for want of water, and crying to God in his distress, and let us do the same in our troubles!
No matter how small they may seem, God says He cares.
Let us take courage, then; and if God whispers to us when we are sorrowful (like He did to Hagar) , "What aileth thee—what is the matter?" Let us listen for another whisper, for He will surely finish the sentence to us, as He did to Hagar, with the cheering words, "Fear not!"
XXXIV. The Offering of Isaac
So Abraham was given his dear little son Isaac, and he was the delight of Abraham's life, and of Sarah's too. ”

“ He at length reached the city of Nahor, where Abraham used to live. It seems that Eliezer used to pray about everything! If he could not kneel down to pray, he prayed in his heart; and to those who tell God everything, God sends very quick answers.
In those hot countries, the caravans stop outside the city at the well, so that the thirsty men as well as the camels may drink.
Then Eliezer prayed, and asked God to send out the maiden to draw water, who was to be the wife of Isaac, and to point her out to him by her offering to draw water for the camels ”

“ Does she not take you with her about the house, or in the garden, and show you by her manner how glad she is that you have come to her for forgiveness, and that you are going to try to do better?
Well, that is just a little bit like the love of Jesus.
He wishes you to come to Him, that you may have happiness and joy.
He wants you to live with Him all day long, and walk about by His side; to go to Him in every trouble; to ask His help in anything difficult. ”

“ I have told you about the wise men who saw the star of Jesus in the East, and how King Herod heard of it and was very troubled.
Herod was afraid that if the real King whom the godly Jews were expecting to come very soon should be born, he would lose his throne; so he sent for the chief priests and scribes, who knew more about the Scriptures than any one else, and asked them where Christ should be born. ”

“ How often we find in our daily lives, children, that when we mean to be very good, after all, we do not keep to what we had intended to do.
The only way is for us to ask God to write His Holy Law in our hearts every day, and to beg Him to keep us from doing what would displease Him. ”

“ I have read that generally the eldest son was given a bright coloured, beautifully-worked coat; but Joseph was the eleventh son, and Jacob, his father, gave him that pretty coat because he loved him so very much.
When his brothers saw it, they felt very jealous, and hated Joseph because his father made him such a favourite.
Now jealousy is a very wretched feeling. It is wrong as well as wretched. If boys and girls—or grown up people-give way to jealousy, they may by and by do very unkind and wicked things. ”

“ How wonderful it is that God notices and remembers when we try to please Him, and sees our hearts when nobody else can!
At length Abram was ninety years old, and the Lord appeared to him again, and told him that his name should not be called Abram any more, but Abraham, because he was to be a father of many nations. And then God told Abraham that very soon he and Sarah were to have a little son, and that his name was to be called Isaac.
So one day Abraham was sitting at the door of his tent in the heat of the day, when he looked up and saw three men standing by him ”

“ Nazareth was not a very good place, but the Holy Child Jesus was brought up there for thirty years. He, who did no sin and was pure and good, lived in the midst of sinful people, so that He might be a holy pattern to all of us—showing that we may be good with God's help wherever we are!
IV. Found in the Temple
It is nice to think that the dear Lord Jesus was a boy, just the age that you little boys and girls are to-day. ”

“ So he inquired of the chief priests whether they knew where Christ should be born; and when he understood that God had said in the Scriptures that He should be born in Bethlehem, he sent secretly for the wise men, and told them to search for the Baby King, and when they had found Him, to let him know, and he would come and worship Him too.
So the wise men left King Herod, and when they began their journey again, lo! The star which they had seen in the East, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. ”