Faith

Faith never makes light of danger, for it knows what we are. On the other hand, faith never faints at danger, for it knows what God is.

Communion
The secret of our collective joy and comfort is individual occupation with our glorified Lord Jesus. When each heart is rejoicing in the Lord, then we can have fellowship one with another, worship the Father in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and delight in the thought that "yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry." Thanks be unto God, who hath called us "unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord." 1 Cor. 1:9.
Communion is the Christian's watchword. Our blessed Lord would have us share with Himself "the words"—divine communications—which the Father gave Him. (John 17:8.)
He gives us His peace, that calm, unperturbed state, which flowed from confidence in the Father's love, so that He would have us be without heart-trouble, or fear, during the whole time of His absence. He said, "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you.... Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." John 14:27.
He would have us share His joy. He said, "These things I speak in the world, that they might have My joy fulfilled in themselves." John 17:13.
As to love, He wants us to know that the Father loves us as He has loved Him. (John 17:23, 26.) And, to crown the whole, He will share with us His glory. "The glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them." John 17:22. Oh to be kept in the constant enjoyment of this sweet communion!
H.H. Snell

Editorial
"Listen to me!" "Pay attention, please." Nearly all of us have received these clear commands many times from our parents or school teachers. There was always a reason. We may have been disinterested, lazy, sleepy or just occupied with our own thoughts and desires.
Often God Himself tries to attract our attention and what He has to say is always very important. We have an example of this in Luke 9:44 where our Lord Jesus says, "Let these sayings sink down into your ears.”
The Creator has made man with two avenues to his soul—the ear and the eye. Prov. 20:12 reads, "The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made even both of them.”
God wanted a creature with whom He could have communion. Sin interrupted that communion, but God still spoke to man. Into Eden He went to speak to Adam and Eve, our first parents, who were hiding because of sin.
Many centuries later God used writing as a means of reaching man.
The ear, then, surely is the most important avenue to the soul. Hearing's advantage over reading is that no special schooling is necessary in order to learn. When we do read, though, the written word has an abiding, unchangeable character that is not evident in the spoken word.
When the Lord Jesus came, the Word was manifest in the flesh, was seen, looked upon by John and the disciples, and even handled (1 John 1:1).
Certainly we should be very interested and pay close attention to what God says to us. Let us take heed. Let us read the Bible, God's Holy Word.
Job says, "Doth not the ear try words?" (Chapter 12:11.) In Psa. 50:7 it is written, "Hear, O My people, and I will speak." And in Psa. 94:9 we read, "He that planted the ear, shall He not hear? He that formed the eye, shall He not see?" Two verses farther down it tells us that He knows even our thoughts. It is futile to try to hide from God.
Proverbs tells us to "bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise." (Chapter 22:17.) Then in verse 20 it says, "Have not I written to thee excellent things?" We say, "Yes, indeed." And don't we want to know what God has for us?
Twice in Matt. 13 our Lord says, "Who hath ears to hear, let him hear." In the Revelation, the last book, it is notable that the ear is singular and over and over again it says, "He that hath an ear, let him hear." It is as though finally God says that if you only have one ear, use that. "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Rom. 10:17.
In this issue, several articles emphasize the need to hear. "Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools.... Be not rash with thy mouth.... Let thy words be few." Eccl. 5:1, 2.
Ed.