When we are young, we have energy and strength. This is all good, for the Lord has given it to us, and when it is coupled with faith in Christ and a desire to please Him, this youthful vigor often shows itself in a wish to do something in service for our Lord and Master. Again, this is a good desire, and one that may well spring from real devotedness to the Lord, coupled with a longing to present our bodies “a living sacrifice,” which is our “intelligent service” (Rom. 12:1 JND). However, as in every natural endeavor, there is training needed for that service. This does not, of course, preclude our doing something for the Lord in our younger years, but often the kind of service which the Lord has for us requires more preparation than we realize. Thus it is easy when we are younger to launch out into that for which we are not yet ready.
To be sure, there are those in Scripture who served the Lord in an admirable way even when they were young. We find John the Baptist performing his service as forerunner of our blessed Lord Jesus when he was a young man, and, in fact, he was martyred early in life, probably not more than thirty-one years of age. Yet the Lord Jesus could say of him, “Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist” (Matt. 11:11).
Likewise, we find a young king like Josiah, of whom it is recorded that “when he was yet young, he began to seek after the Lord God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places” (2 Chron. 34:3). At the tender age of eight he ascended the throne of Judah, and by the age of twenty he was taking serious responsibility in that position. Timothy too was a relatively young man, yet Paul could say of him, “I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state” (Phil. 2:20).
Schooling and Training
However, in the main we find a course of schooling and training that preceded the full responsibility which God had for His servants. Moses was in his prime at the age of forty; he was “learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds” (Acts 7:22). Yet when he set out to deliver his people Israel, he went about it in the wrong way, and God sent him into the backside of the desert for forty years, seemingly to do nothing but keep sheep. Yet this was the training that was needed.
Likewise, when the Lord had great things in store for Joseph, He allowed him to be sold as a slave and eventually to end up in prison for quite a few years, before he was elevated to be governor over all the land of Egypt.
David was one of the best kings of Israel and “a man after God’s own heart,” yet the Lord allowed him to be a fugitive, persecuted and hunted by Saul, for a number of years before he was made king. As another has said, “He who was to be used of God to lead His people into a deeper knowledge of Himself must first learn to lean on Him when all others had failed.” David did not become king over Judah until thirty years of age, and he was not king over all Israel for another seven years.
Elisha
Elisha was evidently a successful farmer (1 Kings 19:19), and he was chosen of the Lord to succeed Elijah as the prophet of the Lord. But then the Lord allowed him to be a servant to Elijah for approximately ten years before He took Elijah to heaven in a whirlwind, thus making way for Elisha to take his place as prophet. Elisha must have learned about Elijah’s failure and consequent removal from his place as prophet, yet he was happy to accompany Elijah for a number of years and learn from him.
Timothy
In addition, we find in 1 Timothy 4:12-16 that Paul impresses upon Timothy the need for a godly walk, as the first thing that would commend him to others. We cannot take responsibility in serving the Lord without first taking heed to the “kingdom of God,” for the expression “the kingdom of God” brings before us a moral state and walk that is in keeping with those who recognize the Lord Jesus as the rightful King. Paul finalizes his instruction to Timothy by saying, “Give heed to thyself and to the teaching; continue in them; for, doing this, thou shalt save both thyself and those that hear thee” (1 Tim. 4:16 JND). We must look after ourselves before we can serve the Lord and be a help to others; we must save ourselves before we can save others. (The word “save” here has the thought of being saved from the power of sin in our Christian lives and from worldly influences; it does not, at least primarily, refer to eternal salvation.)
Worship and Service
Finally, we must remember that throughout the Word of God, worship always comes before service. In the law itself, the first commandments concerned what was due to God; then what was due to man followed. During His earthly ministry, the Lord Jesus summarized this same fact, showing that the first commandment concerned what was due to God, while the second brought in what was due to man. When the Lord had blessed Israel with a good harvest in the land of Canaan, they were to bring their firstfruits unto the Lord, and this is connected with worship (Deut. 26:1-11). It was only after this that tithing was mentioned and the importance of giving to the fatherless, the stranger and the widow.
This same order of worship and then service is found throughout the New Testament. In Hebrews 13:15, we are reminded to “offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.” Then, in the next verse, we are told “to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased” (Heb. 13:16). Peter tells us that we are now “an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5), while later in the same chapter he tells us that we are “a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called us out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). Again, the order is first worship, then service.
It is of paramount importance, then, to learn to be a worshiper first. Without being a true worshiper, one cannot be an acceptable servant. Our hearts and minds may become enamored by service, especially if others are actively engaged in it, and we may suppose that we can raise our spiritual state by getting involved. Seldom does this happen; all too often it will result either in our seeking to salve our conscience with one frantic activity after another, or else in a spirit of complaint, as happened to Martha when she felt overworked in serving. Before we can serve effectively, we must be in communion with the Lord.
Training then is very important, and varies with each one; with some the Lord imposes a longer training period than with others. It is important not to resent this, but rather to submit to the Lord’s tuition for us, in order that we might serve Him better. God is a God of quality, not quantity, and it is better to serve well for a short time than to seek to serve before we are ready.
W. J. Prost