Stewart Custer

The Lord’s appeals to His people to “return” to Him testify to the certainty of our wandering. Before the Fall there was no need for Him to issue such a call to Adam and Eve. Sin brought about the awful separation, and we came back only by divine intervention. Only God’s grace can bring our heartbeat back into sync with His own.

“Return, O Lord, deliver my soul: oh save me for thy mercies’ sake” (Psalm 6:4). “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7). “For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not” (Isaiah 30:15). “I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee” (Isaiah 44:22). “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon” (Isaiah 55:7). “And they worshipped him [Jesus], and returned to Jerusalem with great joy” (Luke 24:52).

GOLDEN THOUGHT: Let him return unto the Lord,
and He will have mercy.

[Excerpt adapted from Wonderful Words by Stewart Custer (September 21 reading).]

“. . . the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” (John 14:4)

Rejoicing outside of anything other than sensual pleasure makes little sense to the outside world.  They cannot see the well of living water that resides inside of the Christian’s soul. Formed at the moment of regeneration, this well is fed by the daily blessings of a God who continually communicates His love.

“Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you” (Matthew 5:12). “And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name” (Acts 5:41). “And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together” (John 4:36). “I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you” (John 16:22). “Rejoicing in hope” (Romans 12:12). “Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord” (Philippians 3:1). “Rejoice evermore” (1 Thessalonians 5:16).

GOLDEN THOUGHT: Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord.

[Excerpt adapted from Wonderful Words by Stewart Custer (September 14 reading).]

There is no topic a Christian disciple would rather talk about than his Redeemer. That which consumes his thoughts day by day cannot help but become the natural topic of his conversation. Whether in prayer or praise, we make our “boast in the Lord.”

“For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth” (Job 19:25). “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer” (Psalm 19:14). “Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God” (Isaiah 44:6). “As for our redeemer, the Lord of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel” (Isaiah 47:4). “All flesh shall know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob” (Isaiah 49:26). “Their Redeemer is strong; the Lord of hosts is his name: he shall throughly plead their cause” (Jeremiah 50:34).

GOLDEN THOUGHT: I know that my Redeemer lives.

[Excerpt adapted from Wonderful Words by Stewart Custer (September 7 reading).]

Raising is God’s work. We see the Lord Jesus Himself acknowledge that in the verses below. Being united to Him, we will joyfully echo this declaration of our Father’s power when we are changed “in the twinkling of an eye.”

“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper” (Jeremiah 23:5). “The Lord God of Israel . . . hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David” (Luke 1:68–69). “God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham” (Matthew 3:9). “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you” (Romans 8:11). “Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you” (2 Corinthians 4:14). God “hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6).

GOLDEN THOUGHT: He that raised up Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus.

[Excerpt adapted from Wonderful Words by Stewart Custer (August 31 reading).]

Sin is not a popular topic nowadays. Churches that once dealt with it vigorously have become increasingly timid about focusing on it. But without the understanding that our sin has separated us far from a holy God, we will have no appreciation for propitiation—the total appeasement of God’s wrath against our sin. We cannot enjoy Christ’s work of propitiation until we know where we are without it.

The publican cried out, “God be propitiated toward me, the sinner” (Luke 18:13, Greek text). Sinful man has no plea but the propitiatory sacrifice of Christ. Paul referred to Christ Jesus, “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God” (Romans 3:25). “And he [Jesus] is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2). “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10).

GOLDEN THOUGHT: Jesus Christ is the propitiation for our sins.

[Excerpt adapted from Wonderful Words by Stewart Custer (August 24 reading).]