The Voice of the Lord: December 2025
Table of Contents
The Voice and Will of the Lord
In every age the servant character is marked by the Holy Spirit as one of special value. It is the only thing that will stand in times of general declension. Of this we have numerous examples in Scripture. When the house of Eli was about to fall before the divine judgment, Samuel occupied the position of a servant whose ear was opened to hear. His word was, “Speak; for Thy servant heareth.”
When all Israel had fled from the face of the Philistine champion, the servant character in David again stood prominently forth. “Thy servant will go and fight.” The Lord Jesus Himself had the title of servant applied to Him in the words of the prophet, “Behold, My Servant.” Furthermore, when the church had failed, when it ceased to be “the house of God” and had become the “great house,” the servant of the Lord was told how he ought to carry himself.
One of the special features of the heavenly Jerusalem is that “His servants shall serve Him.” When a worldly spirit threatens, what is the remedy? A little of the mind of the spirit which would lead us to say, “Speak, Lord; for Thy servant heareth.” The Lord grant us more of this spirit!
C. H. Mackintosh
Knowing God's Will
“If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light” (Matt. 6:22). People would like a convenient and comfortable means of knowing God’s will, as one might get a receipt for anything, but there exists no means of ascertaining it without reference to the state of our own soul.
Moreover, we are often of too much importance in our own eyes, and we deceive ourselves in supposing some will of God in such or such a case. God perhaps has nothing to tell us thereon, the evil being altogether in the stir we give ourselves. The will of God is perhaps that we should take quietly an insignificant place.
Further, we sometimes seek God’s will, desiring to know how to act in circumstances in which it is not His will that we should be found at all.
Be assured that if we are near enough to God, we shall have no trouble to know His will. In a long and active life it may often happen that God, in His love, may not always at once reveal His will to us, that we may feel our dependence, particularly where the individual has a tendency to act according to his own will.
It is then the will of God, and a precious will, that we should be able to discern it only according to our own spiritual state. In general, when we think we are judging circumstances, it is God who is judging us — who is judging our state. Our business is to keep close to Him. God would not be good to us, if He permitted us to discover His will without that. It might be convenient just to have a director of consciences, and we should be thus spared the discovery and chastisement of our moral condition. Thus, if you seek how you may discover the will of God without that, you are seeking evil. It is what we see every day.
One Christian is in doubt, in perplexity; another, more spiritual, sees as clear as the day, and he is surprised, sees no difficulty, and ends by understanding that it lies only in the other’s state of soul.
J. N. Darby
I Will Guide Thee With My Eye
As regards circumstances, I believe a person may be guided by them; scripture has decided that. It is what is meant by being held in with “bit and bridle” (Psa. 32:9), whereas the promise and privilege of him who has faith is, “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with Mine eye” (Psa. 32:8). He warns us not to be as the horse and mule which have no understanding of the will, thoughts, desires of their master. It is needful to hold them in with bit and bridle. Doubtless that is better than to stumble and fall, and strike against Him who reins us in, but it is a sad state, to be guided by circumstances.
Here, however, there must be a distinction made between judging what one has to do in certain circumstances and being guided by them. He who allows himself to be guided by them always acts in the dark as to knowing the will of God. There is absolutely nothing moral in it, but rather an exterior force drags along. Now, it is very possible that I may have no judgment beforehand of what I shall do: I know not what circumstances may arise, and consequently I can take no side. But the instant the circumstances are there, I judge with a full and divine conviction what is the path of God’s will. That demands the highest degree of spirituality.
J. N. Darby
God's Holy Will
God has expressed His heart’s desire for “a man after Mine own heart, which shall fulfill all My will” (Acts 13:22), and He has had that wish gratified by the blessed Lord Jesus, who said, “I delight to do Thy will, O My God” (Psa. 40:8).”Who gave Himself for our sins ... according to the will of God” (Gal. 1:4), and taught His disciples to pray, “Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10).
No adverse will in the Man Christ Jesus ever warred against God’s will; no sinful thought or selfish desire ever marred the fragrance of His life. Distressing circumstances only served to display the perfection of His heart. His acquiescence in the will of God He sweetly expressed, “Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in Thy sight” (Matt. 11:26).
To those He has redeemed, He reveals those marvelous delights that flow to them from the will of God, declaring that “whosoever shall do the will of My Father which is in heaven, the same is My brother, and sister, and mother” (Matt. 12:50). Thus He proclaimed the endearing character of spiritual relationship, using dearest natural ties only, to illustrate the holy intimacy between Himself and His own — dearer than the closest of natural ties.
His Nourishment
“My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me” (John 4:34) is also the needed food to nourish the believer’s life. As a test of faith’s reality, our Lord has declared, “Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven” (Matt. 7:21). His words assure every truly trustful soul that the will of God secures eternal safety. “This is the Father’s will which hath sent Me, that of all which He hath given Me, I should lose nothing. ... This is the will of Him that sent me, that every one that seeth the Son, and believeth on Him may have everlasting life” (John 6:39-40). It is on record (Psa. 40:6-8) that no service (sacrifice or offerings) could compare with the submission of the Lord Jesus to God’s will. Believers, too, find their “delight” in such subjection to the will of God. The subjects of His gracious purpose should be found “doing the will of God from the heart” (Eph. 6:6).
Proving God’s Will
The “proving” of God’s “good, acceptable, and perfect will” (Rom. 12:2) is conditioned upon the “presenting of our bodies a living sacrifice” — being “filled with the knowledge of His will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding” (Col. 1:9) — standing “perfect and complete in all the will of God” (Col. 4:12): “rejoicing evermore,” praying “without ceasing,” “in everything giving thanks, according to the will of God concerning you” (1 Thess. 5:18).
Be assured that such compliance with God’s will is unattainable by mere personal resolves or endeavors, but how surely we may rely upon the Spirit’s “intercession according to the will of God” (Rom. 8:27)! We may also depend upon the power “which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13). God has written a guarantee of full compliance; its terms are simple, yet it excludes dependence on anything besides what faith appropriates. If we abandon ourselves to its blest direction, we will prove the happy outcome. God’s desire is to make us “perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory forever and ever” (Heb. 13:20-21). Rejoice that “He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it” (Phil. 1:6).
For an example other than the blessed Lord, the Word testifies of the Apostle Paul: “The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldst know His will. ... Thou shalt be His witness” (Acts 22:14-15). He abandoned self-will when he cried, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” (Acts 9:6). His apostleship by the will of God he recited in five of his Epistles. Even his journeying by the will of God (Rom. 1:10; 15:32) is on record.
For clear views as to sound doctrine, we have also to heed John 7:17: “If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine.” Heartily subscribing to the solemn fact that there is but one sovereign will in the wide universe, Jesus yielded to the will of God. “Christ pleased not Himself” (Rom. 15:3), so the measure of the soul’s obedience to the will of God is Christ.
Self-Will
There will be no self-will in heaven, and there only complete happiness is known. There will be nothing but self-will in hell, and consequent weeping and wailing. Such realities should impress our souls to spurn the offers of the prince of darkness, remembering that every time self-will governs, we pay the fare, as Jonah did. It seems costly to renounce our own wills, but it is only so if we fail to anticipate the eternal advantage:
“He that doeth the will of God abideth forever” (1 John 2:17).
“After he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise” (Heb. 6:15).
“The glory that shall be revealed in us” (Rom. 8:18).
Meanwhile, here and now, we have the blessed assurance that “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28).
The calm of a soul which reposes in the will of God is unspeakable. The Savior said, and we too may say, “I delight to do Thy will.” These are delightful words to His and our loving Father’s ear. Our delight to gratify His desire will be truly evidenced by our lowly subjection and our happy acknowledgment of His blessed will, and it is assuredly the way of blessing. Amidst all life’s uncertainties, may we keep in view the sublime stability of which we have our God’s assurance.
“My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure. ... I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I also will do it” (Isa. 46:10-11).
E. J. Checkley (adapted)
Yes, Lord
The exact words of the title of this article are found only once in the Word of God, yet what significance they carry for us! The story in which they are found is given to us in Mark 7:24-30, also Matthew 15:21-28, and it concerns a visit that our Lord made to the borders of Tyre and Sidon, on the Mediterranean coast of the land of Israel. Although this territory was actually part of the land of Israel that Jehovah had given them, those cities were not conquered by Israel, and thus they remained famous Gentile trading centers. Their strong sea-faring people were often referred to as Phoenicians. Tyre was finally conquered by Alexander the Great, while Sidon submitted to him. Tyre eventually recovered, and both were important ports in the Roman Empire.
When our Lord visited there, He tried to hide Himself, but as usually happened, “He could not be hid.” A Greek woman approached Him, wanting Him to “cast forth the devil out of her daughter.” In the account in Matthew, she addressed Him as “Thou Son of David,” a title peculiar to Israel.
The Severity of the Lord
At first glance, the answer our Lord gave her seems rather harsh, and (we speak reverently) out of character for Him. He said, “Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it unto the dogs” (Mark 7:27). This was indeed strong language, and it might easily have generated anger and resentment in her heart.
However, our blessed Lord and Master always acted in the perfect mind of the Spirit of God and never made a mistake. He never had to apologize for a remark that was not delivered in the right way. So it was here. Our Lord’s seeming severity only brought out a heart that was right with God and a heart that recognized the preeminent place of God’s earthly people. The nation of Israel had failed most seriously, to be sure, and was about to be rejected. But to the world at large they remained God’s people.
The woman’s response was, “Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs” (Mark 7:28). She did not become offended, nor argue with the Lord. She simply accepted what He said and pleaded only for the crumbs that dogs were allowed to have. She got the blessing, when no doubt some in Israel missed it.
The Best for Us and for His Glory
All this has a good lesson for us, at any time. When the Lord seems to allow adverse circumstances in our life, and perhaps events that are hard to accept, is our first response to Him, “Yes, Lord”? It should be, for His will is not only always the best for us, but also for His honor and glory. His glory is paramount, and to appreciate this often requires us to take a long-range view. The experience of the man who was born blind (John 9:1-3) and the fatal sickness of Lazarus (John 11) were both very difficult at the time, but Scripture records that ultimately the case of the blind man was for “the works of God” to be “manifest in him,” and in the case of Lazarus, “that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.” Are we prepared for this? To give glory to our blessed Savior ought to be considered a high privilege for us, and especially in this time of His rejection. We must also remember that He will never allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able to bear. He sends the grace for whatever He allows in our lives.
We cannot glorify Him in our own strength, but in saying, “Yes, Lord” first of all, we are opening the way for His grace to come in. As another has said, “It is worthwhile going through a trial with the Lord, for then we see what a Comforter He can be.”
W. J. Prost
The Message of Haggai
Obedience to the Voice of the Lord
In Haggai 1:12-15, we have the effect of the message sent by the Lord through the prophet. From Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, down to the lowest of the people, obedience was rendered to the voice of the Lord with one consent. The word of the prophet had been with power; all hearts recognized the truth of his message and the claims of their God. And it is important to note, as a principle everywhere affirmed in the Scriptures, that the voice of the Lord is linked with the words of the prophet (vs. 12). When God sends a messenger, He is pleased to identify Himself with His servant. Our blessed Lord thus said to His disciples, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth Me; and he that receiveth Me receiveth Him that sent Me” (John 13:20; see also Matthew 10:40-42). So in our passage it stands, “The remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him.” This is a solemn consideration for the people of God, for the converse is true, that if one who is really sent of the Lord is refused, it is the Lord who is refused in the person of His servant (Matt. 25:41-45). Not that everyone who claims to be sent of God is to be received as such, for the test is, Do such speak the words of God (John 3:34)? We are taught elsewhere that “many false prophets are gone out into the world,” but it is just on this very account that the responsibility is cast upon the saints of “trying the spirits whether they are of God” (1 John 4:1). The apostles could say, “We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error” (1 John 4:6). They could take this ground because they were inspired men, and they had therefore the infallible word of truth on their lips. No servant, however devoted, could now adopt this language, but he might apply the principle to the message he delivered, if that message were indeed the pure Word of God. While these limitations are necessarily made in our present circumstances, yet let us not forget that the Lord does in these last days send His servants with messages to His people, and wherever the soul is in the presence of God, they will be readily discerned. Thus it is no less grave now than at any former time to turn a deaf ear to the words of admonition and warning they may utter. Look at the case before us. Were not Zerubbabel and Joshua the leaders of the people? And who was Haggai? Why should he set himself against them all? Why should he find so much fault and prophesy such bitter things? And what had he to recommend himself to the attention of the people? He was evidently of no birth or standing, for his parentage and genealogy are not recorded. He had but one qualification. It was not his position, his office, or his gift; it was simply that he was sent by the Lord their God. So now the only questions for any of us, when a professed servant of God stands before us, are, Has he been divinely sent? and, Does he speak the word of the Lord?
E. Dennett
The Grace of the Glory of God
We find that the great aim, all through Scripture, is to connect the soul with God personally. After the fall, it was the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden that accosted Adam, and it was from the presence of the Lord God that Adam hid himself — and so on. The personal connection of the soul with God is given in many instances, until we reach the culminating point of it in the gospel of glory committed to Paul — “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6). Here alone the soul is in true worship. There are other truths and other parts of the testimony for God — dispensational truth, principles, all most important in their place and valuable as far as they go. This alone goes the whole way and reaches the goal.
As to these two lines of truth and testimony, I may illustrate what I mean by the prodigal in the father’s house. In order that he might not feel his unsuited condition to the house, the father summoned the servants and directed them to invest him with clothing indicative and assuring of his high position. Very happy and interesting work for the servants this was, and of an order which engages many among us now. But however interesting, it does not reach the end of the father’s purpose. If the prodigal were only dressed and decorated, and not then conducted into the house of the father, both son and father would have been deprived of the great end of their reconciliation.
In like manner, in Joshua 5, we have all the preparation for possessing the land. A skillful servant might educate me deeply in all of the details, from the circumcision to the corn of the land. But I should lose the real power and conscious title of entrance if I had not seen the Captain of the Lord’s Host, and, as an unshod worshipper, known that it is with Him that I take possession. In 2 Corinthians 4:6, the Apostle has been showing how the reception of the gospel connects us with Christ in glory, as it had thus connected himself at first, when he was taught this Gospel and was enjoined to be a minister and a witness of the things that he had seen. Now it was a glorified Christ that he had seen; therefore, if anyone does not see this light which is the ministration of righteousness, it is not salvation merely that he is rejecting, but the “light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face [or person] of Jesus Christ.”
The Person and Presence of the Lord
I have often felt that, in preaching or teaching, the person and presence of the Lord was not made the great object set before the soul. By some the gospel is preached by calling on sinners to present Christ to God as an all-sufficient atonement for their sins. Others, more enlightened, proclaim the love of God declared in His Son giving eternal life to every believer. But both of these fall short of the presentation of God in establishing righteousness in His own Son, and through Him, thus leading the believing prodigal to His own house, and nearness to Himself forever, in full and unbroken joy to both. In the two former, though the gain of the sinner is largely insisted on, God’s satisfaction — His gain, we may say His joy — is not entered on at all. We little comprehend the gospel of the glory of Christ disclosed to Saul of Tarsus, who from that point on became the witness of the things that he had seen. The glory of God became the starting point of the sinner; it was also the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Under the law, there were sacrifices, which, however, never saved the transgressors of the law from legal penalties. The gospel preached, even today, is often more the presentation of the sacrifice. It is proclaimed, I admit, as all-sufficient and satisfactory, and the call on sinners is to approach it. However, this is not presenting to faith God’s salvation, because to Him the sacrifice is full and endlessly satisfactory, His satisfaction is the great subject matter presented to faith. The reception of the prodigal, great as was his rescue, does not derive its chief excellence from the completeness of his safety and the greatness of his deliverance, but from his happy and welcomed nearness to the father.
We want a gospel which connects us with the presence of God in His joy, and we want an education in His Word which would connect us with our Lord personally as the living transcript of the mind of God.
The Remembrancer, 1899 (adapted)
Power and Nearness
1 Kings 18-19
Demonstration of power never invigorates the soul, unless it is connected with private communion with the Lord, and then, it is the communion and not the power which confers the blessing. The demonstration of power gives effect to service, but it is followed by depression and disheartenment unless the soul is kept in secret nearness to the Lord. We learn this from the chapter before us — 1 Kings 18. Here was Elijah after witnessing one of the most marvelous demonstrations of the Lord’s power on earth: “The fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench” (1 Kings 18:38). Besides this, there was also a great rain in answer to Elijah’s prayer. There had been a double manifestation of God’s power: one to corroborate the mission of His servant, the other to bless His people. Yet, after all, we find in the next paragraph that Elijah is so disheartened and fearful that he fled for his life a day’s journey into the wilderness and requested for himself that he might die! In this state, the angel of the Lord comes to him to prepare him for a journey to Mount Horeb. Then, having eaten nothing for 40 days and 40 nights, he is instructed that the Lord is not in the strong wind which rent the mountains, nor in the earthquake, nor in the fire, but in “the still small voice.” He is in that secret, invisible, noiseless communication which “no man knoweth but he which receiveth it” (Rev. 2:17). When Elijah heard the latter, his soul responds to the unmistakable voice of the Lord; the sheep knows His voice. The manifestations of His mighty power had no such effect on him. And this is our experience if we have but retirement and abstraction enough from nature to observe it. The soul must be in a listening attitude in order to distinguish the peculiar notes of the voice of the Lord. The listening attitude is morally typified by Elijah’s position at the mount of God — alone, without food, and subsisting only on God’s provision for him. It is solitude with God at Horeb, unsustained by nature, that is the true preparation for spiritual judgment and instruction.
Demonstrations of Power
In the histories of God’s people in the Scriptures, we find that humiliation and disaster immediately succeed some signal mark or demonstration of God’s power in their behalf. Why is this? Simply because to be signalized is always dangerous, unless the soul is simultaneously kept conscious of the necessity of dependence on God. When the disciples told the Lord that even the devils were subject unto them, He replied, “Rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20). What God is to me is greater than anything God does before me.
No sooner is the song for the marvelous deliverance from Egypt ended than the children of Israel are murmuring on account of Marah. What does the great demonstration of power in the passing through the Red Sea avail them now? They must realize their dependence on God as a very present help in time of trouble. The great deliverance proved to them His value, but Himself and not the proof is the only sure blessing in every time of need. Therefore there was a need that they should be brought into such trying circumstances.
When David reaches the summit of regal consequence, he numbers the people, but in his humiliation he learns God in a way that he had never known before. In his fall respecting Bathsheba he had learned the depth of God’s restoration, so now he learns in the hour of humiliation a much fuller revelation of His mind than he had ever known before. Not that it is good to fall, but God’s grace is a greater thing to my soul than the acts of His power, and therefore David advanced more in moments of repentance than he ever did in any season of honor and glory. Paul found more strength to his soul from the communication, “My grace is sufficient for thee,” than from all the evidence of the glory which he had seen in the third heaven.
Dependence and Love
The source of strength and blessing to man is in dependence on God. A manifestation of power has a tendency to make me independent of God, as having power on my side. There is ever a craving for power in the natural mind because the thought of man since the fall is that if he had power he could do better for himself than God would do for him. Man did not primarily in his nature deny the power of God. He distrusted His love, and as His power without love could not be trusted, the power was distrusted too, but at the same time it was always desired.
Men may own God’s power abstractedly, but His love — never. They therefore seek the one to accomplish what their own love for themselves, not what God’s love for them, would seek for in it. They have no faith. Man would use any borrowed power and personally glory in it; consequently, the moment man is engaged by the power of God, apart from communion with Himself, it must be a snare to him and must leave his soul barren and unfruitful. The consciousness that the Powerful One LOVES me and is beside me is the true invigoration of the soul. When Elijah heard the “still small voice,” he returned to his work like an omnipotent man. When David was at the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite, he was in spirit and intelligence more advanced than ever he had been before. When Paul said, “I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches ... that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Cor. 12:9-10), he had reached the summit of moral glory.
I like to see the power of God that I may magnify His name, but the more I do so, the more do I desire to realize in an unseen nearness that He is my God. The latter is always dearer to me than the former. Have we not seen gifts and distinct powers from God become a snare to the church, and the possessors of them, over and over again? The soul can easily become more occupied with the expression than with the heart of Him from whom it came.
The Inward Sense of Power
Powerful teaching blesses me just in proportion as I can realize the love of Christ, of which the teaching is the exposition. If I am engaged with the exposition, as I might be by a poem, then it is mental and not spiritual. Later, if I find that I need the results of the exposition, I discover that I received it and felt the power of it without appropriating it to myself as the very sentiments of God’s heart toward me. The consequence is, I am worse off than if I never heard, for I am humbled when I thought I had gained something. Real power, after all, consists in the inward sense it produces, not in the outward demonstration of itself. Paul would rather speak five intelligible words than possess the gift of tongues as a mere demonstration of power. People sometimes wonder at the manifestations of God’s power, as if they were total strangers to the manner and greatness of it in their own souls. An undue place is given to that which nature can more readily apprehend, for with nature it is always from the outward to the inward, instead of vice versa.
May we be spiritual enough to own every gift and power from God as given, to the church, from the church, and for the church, but also may we know the “still small voice,” the secret communion, the unseen link which should be our real resource rather than any demonstration of power.
Girdle of Truth, Vol. 5
The Voice of the Lord Disregarded
The human heart, even where it is not renewed, feels the need of religion till hardened by sin without conscience or blinded by the speculations of a misguided mind. But however fair its promise or its actual form, the will is soon put to the test of God’s Word, which nothing but faith can accept. We see an example of this in the case of some of the people who were left in the land of Israel, after Nebuchadnezzar had carried Judah away into captivity. They appealed earnestly to the prophet Jeremiah, asking to hear the word of the Lord.
“Then all the captains of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least even unto the greatest, came near, and said unto Jeremiah the prophet, Let, we beseech thee, our supplication be accepted before thee, and pray for us unto the Lord thy God, even for all this remnant (for we are left but a few of many, as thine eyes do behold us:) that the Lord thy God may show us the way wherein we may walk, and the thing that we may do” (Jer. 42:1-3).
Real Faith Is Unsuspicious
Real faith in God is unsuspicious, and it can afford to be so, for the believer knows in whom he has believed and can commit oneself and others, the present and the future, to the One whose grace has looked on us for eternity. His righteous government notices every word, feeling and desire along the road. If wise, one is spared from a critical spirit, and though liable to be deceived, it is only when we fail to bring every difficulty to our God. So it was here. “Then Jeremiah the prophet said unto them, I have heard you; behold, I will pray unto the Lord your God according to your words; and it shall come to pass, that whatsoever thing the Lord shall answer you, I will declare it unto you; I will keep nothing back from you. Then they said to Jeremiah, The Lord be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not even according to all things for the which the Lord thy God shall send thee to us. Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God, to whom we send thee; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of the Lord our God” (Jer. 42:4-6). If protestation could have assured the prophet, all this surely sounded strong enough. But he was not ignorant either of man or of Satan. His trust was in God, let the Jew be true or false.
But how painful it is to prove that the flesh betrays itself quite as much by its excessive show of piety as by profanity! It is not by want of fervor that its hollowness is detected by the experienced eye, but rather by too profuse, or at least too self-confident, a readiness to obey the divine will, whatever it be. The duty may be plain, but what of the heart? What of the power to go on and to go through? Faith supposes the sense of our own weakness as surely as it counts on God and His grace. Human resolution in divine things has its force only where it is allowed its own will.
The Word of the Lord
“It came to pass after ten days, that the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah. Then called he Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces which were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest. And said unto them, Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, unto whom ye sent me to present your supplication before Him; if ye will still abide in this land, then will I build you, and not pull you down, and I will plant you, and not pluck you up: for I repent Me of the evil that I have done unto you. Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid; be not afraid of him, saith the Lord: for I am with you to save you, and to deliver you from his hand. And I will show mercies unto you, that he may have mercy upon you, and cause you to return to your own land” (Jer. 42:7-12). The prophet himself waits till the divine answer comes; it was no question of his wisdom, but of God’s word. And God now very strongly warns against fleeing into Egypt for protection, as He had before admonished them to submit to the king of Babylon. Faith accepts the chastening that is due to us because of sin, yet withal confides in God and His grace. Unbelief is fruitful in resources, all of which are merely the workings of a rebellious heart and secure nothing but ruin to those who are carried away by it. If they believed, low as their estate was, they need not make haste, and they would surely be established. They would be in the hand of Him who could turn the heart of Nebuchadnezzar toward them: Why should they be terrified by their adversaries? “But if ye say, We will not dwell in this land, neither obey the voice of the Lord your God, saying, No; but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread; and there will we dwell: and now therefore hear the word of the Lord, ye remnant of Judah; Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; If ye wholly set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to sojourn there; then it shall come to pass, that the sword, which ye feared, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine, whereof ye were afraid, shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there ye shall die. So shall it be with all the men that set their faces to go into Egypt to sojourn there; they shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: and none of them shall remain or escape from the evil that I will bring upon them. For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; As Mine anger and My fury hath been poured forth upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem; so shall My fury be poured forth upon you, when ye shall enter into Egypt: and ye shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach; and ye shall see this place no more” (Jer. 42:13-18).
Walking in the Way of God’s Will
Thus God in the long run invariably accomplishes His will. Happy they who are in its current all the way through! If men resist, they gain nothing but grief and disappointment, which temporary success only embitters. Far from hindering the word of Jehovah, they only accomplish it by the measures intended to give effect to their own wishes, and the evils they most dread they bring infallibly on themselves.
“The Lord hath said concerning you, O ye remnant of Judah; Go ye not into Egypt: know certainly that I have admonished you this day. For ye dissembled in your hearts, when ye sent me unto the Lord your God, saying, Pray for us unto the Lord our God; and according unto all that the Lord our God shall say, so declare unto us, and we will do it. And now I have this day declared it to you; but ye have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God, nor anything for the which He hath sent me unto you. Now therefore know certainly that ye shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, in the place whither ye desire to go and to sojourn” (Jer. 42:19-22).
The prophet had walked in patience, the people in dissimulation, and God made all plain for His own glory and in His own time. Justly are those destroyed for their disobedience of God who had made the most pious protestation of unswerving devotedness to His will.
W. Kelly (adapted)
Gifts and Influence
The more gift and the more influence anyone has, the more useful he will be to his brethren when, while walking in lowliness and meekness, he has guidance from the Lord in his path. On the other hand, the more gift and the more influence such a one has, the more of a stumbling block he will be to his brethren when, not understanding the mind of the Lord, he follows the leadings, imaginations or workings of his own mind.
We find a notable instance of this in regard to Peter to whom the Lord had given the keys of the kingdom of the heavens (Matt. 16:19 JND), to whom He had committed His lambs and His sheep (John 21), and to whom also was committed the gospel of the circumcision (Gal. 2). His preaching had been used for the conversion of 3,000 persons at one time (Acts 2). Then again, when going through the streets of Jerusalem, he would find the sick laid there on beds and couches, in order that his shadow in passing over them might heal some of them (Acts 5). These favors from above would give him a large place in the consciences and love of the saints, and much influence and authority in the church.
A happy exercise of this influence and authority is found in Acts 15. There, after there had been much disputing in the assembly, Peter rose up and spoke. His words were used to produce order where before there had been disorder, for instead of the much previous disputing (or discussion), the multitude then kept silence and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul. Such is the blessed fruit of gift and influence when exercised according to the mind of the Lord. But this is not so when the fear or praise of man, or trust in or occupation with oneself, has influence over the mind. We find this same blessed Apostle, not only himself signally failing in respect to a most important truth for the church of God (Gal. 2), but that the same influence and authority, so happily exercised at Jerusalem, was afterwards at Antioch leading others in dissimulation and in a walk that was neither upright nor according to the truth of the gospel. It was even sufficient for the carrying away of Barnabas, hitherto the companion of Paul.
The Dangerous Influence of Good Men
It may seem strange to some saints to be told that a good man is often more dangerous in an attack of the enemy than a bad man. However, it does not need any great measure of discernment in order to discover the character of a bad man, and so avoid being led by him. But the failure of the good man, when deceived himself, is often not discovered until those who have trusted in him have reaped the bitter fruits of their confidence. We understand this in the things of the world, but in the things of the Lord each individual saint, if not walking habitually in the fear of the Lord, is liable to put his trust too much in those whom he reckons to be more spiritually minded than himself.
What is needed by saints, in order to walk in a way that is pleasing to the Lord, is the knowledge of the will of God. Some may think that the knowledge of the will of God is only to be attained by those who are specially gifted and who have been Christians for many years. Although a saint should undoubtedly advance in the knowledge of the will of God, yet many mistakes have been made in regard to younger and older Christians on this very point. A little child will not know his father’s will in many things which will be told to the son who has grown up to manhood. But the little child, if attentive, will know enough of the father’s will to do those things which are pleasing to the father.
The Babe in Christ
So with the youngest Christian, there is no excuse for the least failure; the word addressed to the babes is, “Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things” (1 John 2:20). If looking to the Lord, the babe will find the Word of God sufficient for him, and sufficient to prevent his being beguiled by others. “The entrance of Thy words giveth light” (Psa. 119:130). “All things having their true character exposed by the light are made manifest; for that which makes everything manifest is light” (Eph. 5:13 JnD). The babe may not be furnished with the whole Word to the same extent as the young man (1 John 2:14), but the babe in Christ has guidance enough from the Word to save it from any misunderstanding of the Father’s will or any disobedience to Him.
John is used in a special manner to warn the babes in Christ, for it is to them that he writes: “I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth” (1 John 2:20). A great principle is contained in this verse: The knowledge of what is true enables us to discern that which is false. (This will be found to be true in the everyday things of this life.) It is well always to bear in mind that it is the being occupied with the truth itself that is the security for the believer, whether babe, young man, or father. Being occupied with what is false is not the way to learn the character of what is false, but rather the way to be seduced and beguiled by it.
The Anointing
Many a saint (whether young or old), through reasoning with or listening to those holding or teaching false doctrine, has been taken in the snare of the enemy who would have escaped the snare had he been obedient to the Word of God, which commands him to turn away from such (Rom. 16:17; 1 Tim. 6:5; 2 Tim. 3:5). The Apostle John also writes to the babes, “These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you,” and also, “The anointing [or unction] which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him” (1 John 2:26-27).
We need hardly remind the youngest believer that this anointing does not in any way make him independent of being taught by others. Ephesians 4 shows that teachers are among the gifts given for the perfecting of the saints, and where the teaching is in accordance with what is taught in Scripture, then the babe and all others should value it. The warning through the blessed apostle, when attended to, will help the believer to judge whether the teaching is in accordance with what he has already learned (Gal. 1:9), or whether it savors of those things against which the believer is so constantly warned by the Scriptures.
I therefore again remind the reader that the greater the gift, and the more influence anyone has among the saints, the more of a stumbling block he will be in any matter that may arise among the saints, if speaking or acting without the knowledge of the mind of God.
A. B. Pollock
Marah and Elim
Exodus 15:22-27
From Exodus 15 to the end of Exodus 18 is a distinct section of the book. To understand it aright, it must be remembered that as yet Israel was not under law, but under grace; and hence this brief period closes, in figure, with the millennium. The careful reader will find in this statement the key to many of the events recorded. For example, the murmurings recorded in chapters 15, 16 and 17 are borne by the Lord with long-suffering and tenderness, and their needs are ministered to out of the fullness of His unwearied love. But after Sinai, murmurings of the same character are the occasion of judgment, for the simple reason that the people had been, at their own request, put under law. Being therefore under the reign of righteousness, transgressions and rebellion are instantly dealt with according to the requirements of the law which formed the basis of Jehovah’s righteous rule. Before Sinai, being under the reign of grace, they are borne with, and their sins and iniquities are covered.
The wilderness journey of Israel had now to be entered upon. The strains of their song had scarcely died away before they commenced their pilgrim journey.
“So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea; and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water. And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? And he cried unto the Lord; and the Lord showed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there He made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there He proved them, and said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in His sight, and wilt give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee. And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters” (Ex. 15: 22-27).
Three Days
“They went three days in the wilderness, and found no water” (vs. 22). The expression “three days” is always significant in Scripture. Very frequently it is associated with death; and so here the three days will mean the distance of death. They had in figure in crossing the Red Sea passed through death, and now they must learn it practically. If God in His grace gives us a perfect standing before Him, if He associates us with Christ in His death and resurrection, the object of all His ways with us will be to bring us into practical conformity with our new position. The children of Israel must thus be taught that, as a consequence of deliverance from Egypt, the world had become desert to them, and that this must be entered into by the acceptance of death.
This is the fundamental necessity for every believer. There can be no progress, no real break with the past, until death is accepted, until he reckons himself dead to sin (Rom. 6), dead to the law (Rom. 7), and dead to the world (Gal. 6). Hence the character of God’s dealings with souls. He will teach them experimentally — as in the case of Israel before us — and thus enable them to understand the true character of the path on which they have entered. And what was the first experience of Israel? They found no water. Like the Psalmist, they were in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is (Psalm 63). No; every spring from earth is dried up for those who have been redeemed from Egypt. There is not a single source of life — nothing that can minister in any way to the life we have received in Christ,
And how blessed it is for the soul to understand this truth! Starting on our pilgrimage, elated with the joy of salvation, how often are we surprised to find that the sources at which we had drunk before have now run dry. We ought to expect this, but never is the lesson learned until we have gone the three days’ journey in the wilderness. It is indeed a startling experience to discover that earth’s resources are exhausted, but it is an indispensable requisite if we would know the blessedness of the truth that “all our springs are in Thee.”
Bitter Waters
They passed onward and came to Marah. Here there was water, but they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. This is the further application of the same principle. First, there was no water to drink; and, secondly, when it is found it is so bitter that it could not be drunk. This is the application to the soul of the power of that death by which we have been delivered. The flesh shrinks from it, and would refuse it altogether. But for those who have been delivered from Egypt, and are pilgrims journeying on to the inheritance, it is absolutely necessary. Truly it is Marah — bitterness; accordingly it troubled the people, and they murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? What a contrast! A few days ago, as with one heart, they sang, with exultant joy, the praises of their Redeemer; and now the song is silent, and discordant murmurs take its place. So is it with the believer — now filled with praise, and immediately after the flesh complains and murmurs because of the trials of the wilderness. But Moses intercedes for them, and the Lord showed him a tree, which, when cast into the waters, made them sweet. This is a beautiful figure of the cross of Christ — which utterly changes the character of the bitter waters. “Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness” (Judg. 14:14). Or, as Paul cries, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world” (Gal. 6:14). Bring the cross into the bitterness of Marah waters, and at once they become sweet to the taste — are welcomed as the means of deliverance and blessing.
Blessing is Dependent on Obedience
Thereon follows a most important principle — a principle ever applicable to the walk of the believer. It is one found throughout the Scriptures, and in every dispensation. It is that blessing is dependent upon obedience; that is, the blessing of believers (for the children of Israel were now redeemed) is dependent upon their walk. They were to be guarded from the diseases of Egypt, if they would diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord their God, and would do that which was right in His sight, and so forth (vs. 26). In the same way our blessed Lord says, “If a man love Me, he will keep My words: and My Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him” (John 14:23). This principle cannot be too much insisted upon. There are many believers who have known the joy of salvation, and who are yet without the conscious enjoyment of a single blessing. The reason is that they are careless of their walk. They do not study the Word, or “give ear to His commandments” (vs. 26), and are consequently walking as seems right in their own eyes. What wonder is it, therefore, that they are cold and indifferent, that they are not in the conscious enjoyment of the love of God — of fellowship with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ? No; it is to the obedient ones that God comes, and delights to come, in the sweetest manifestations of His unchanging love; it is to those who have a conscience about every precept of the Word, and are seeking, in the power of the Spirit, to be found in obedience in every particular, to those whose delight it is to be doing the will of their Lord, and whose one aim it is to be at all times acceptable to Him, that He can draw near and bless according to His own mind and heart. Nothing can compensate for the lack of an obedient walk. All our blessing — as to its apprehension and enjoyment — is made dependent upon it. It is moreover the means of growth, and the condition of communion.
It is on this account that it is immediately added, “And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters” (vs. 27). That is, they at once found refreshment, rest, and shade — the wells and the palm trees being, as one has said, “types of those living springs, and of that shelter which had been provided, through instruments chosen of God, for the consolation of His people.” How welcome the rest to the already weary pilgrims! And how tender of the Lord to provide such grateful refreshment for His people in the wilderness! As the Shepherd of Israel, He thus led them, as it were, into green pastures, and made them to lie down by the still waters, to comfort and strengthen their hearts.
E. Dennett
Four Essentials for Service
Four essentials of enduring service ...
I must wait for four things —
“First, to know whether a work is GOD’S work.
Second, to know whether it is MY work.
Third, to know whether it is God’s TIME.
Fourth, to know whether it is God’s WAY.”
George Muller
Finding God
I stand upon the mount of God
With sunlight in my soul;
I hear the storms in vales beneath;
I hear the thunders roll.
But I am calm with Thee, my God,
Beneath these glorious skies;
And to the height on which I stand,
No storms nor clouds can rise.
Oh, this is life! Oh, this is joy!
My God to find Thee so:
Thy face to see, Thy voice to hear,
And all Thy love to know.
H. Bonar