One lesson I am
learning of late is our absolute dependence upon the power of God every time we
speak; it is not our liberty nor our words, but it is the power of God that
affects the souls to whom we speak (see 1 Cor. 12:6).

We are as
dependent upon God when we speak to one soul as when we preach to a thousand. I
have learned this by experience; I have gone to see a sick person in great
self-confidence and found I had nothing to say. And then the Lord taught me I
must wait upon Him for the message for a single soul as much as when I was
going to preach. May we ever remember this, that there may be no trace of
self-confidence remaining in the heart.  

Do you know the
national motto of the United States? It is found on each coin of the realm:“In
God we trust.” While the exact wording of this motto is not found in the Bible,
many verses closely approximate it.

Past:
“God … they put their trust in Him” (1 Chron. 5:20).

Past and
present:“In God I have put my trust” (Psa. 56:4,11; 73:28).

Present:
“We trust in … God” (2 Ki. 18:22; Isa. 36:7; 2 Cor. 1:9; 1 Tim. 4:10). “God,
in Thee do I put my trust” (Psa. 7:1; 16:1; 25:2; 141:8). “God, Thou art my
trust” (Psa. 71:5).

Present and
future:“God … in Him will I trust” (2 Sam. 22:3; Psa. 18:2; 91:2). “God
… I will trust in Thee” (Psa. 55:23).

Imperative:
“Trust in … God” (1 Tim. 6:17).

The Hebrew and
Greek words for “trust” in these passages convey the thoughts of fleeing for
protection, having confidence, being safe, secure, and assured. These are words
that denote activity—such as fleeing to God for safety—more than
passively waiting for God to do something.

As believers in
Christ, we “have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us” (Heb.
6:18). But the question each believer ought to ask him/herself often is this:
“In whom did I trust yesterday, in whom am I trusting today, and
in whom will I trust every moment of every day of the rest of my life?” 

                   Competitors
for Our Trust

It is well to
be aware of the many competitors for our trust that rise up each day. The Bible
tells us about some of these:

Human
weapons and defenses. “He shall besiege you in all your gates, until your
high and fenced walls come down, wherein you trusted” (Deut. 28:52).

“The children
of Benjamin … were smitten … because they trusted unto the liers in wait”
(Judg. 20:36).

“Some trust in
chariots, and some in horses:but we will remember the name of the LORD our God”
(Psa. 20:7).

“For I will not
trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me. But Thou hast saved us from
our enemies” (Psa. 44:6,7; also Matt. 26:52).

What is the
first thing we think of when we notice the first symptoms of a cold, get a
headache, have insomnia, or fall and injure ourselves? Is it vitamin C,
aspirin, a sleeping pill, a bandage, a doctor? Or do we immediately flee to,
trust in, and call upon the Lord to help us, heal us, and/or give us wisdom as
to what kind of medical help to seek?

Idols.
“Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands…. Those who make
them are like unto them; so is every one who trusts in them. O Israel, trust in
the LORD” (Psa. 115:4-10).

“They shall be
greatly ashamed that trust in graven images” (Isa. 42:17).

As Christians,
we do not bow down to idols of wood, stone, or precious metals. But we may put
our trust in other kinds of idols to help us forget the pain of a broken
relationship, a difficult boss, failing grades at school, and the like. These
idols may include alcohol, narcotics, pornography, novels, television, movies,
and many other kinds of amusement. These are all designed to help us forget our
problems, whereas God wants us to cast our burdens upon Himself (Psa. 55:22; 1
Pet. 5:7) and find out how He wants us to deal with our problems and
what He wants us to learn from them. “No chastening for the present
seems to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, afterward it yields the
peaceable fruit of righteousness unto those who are exercised thereby”
(Heb. 12:11; also Rom. 8:28).

Falsehood.
“This is your lot … saith the LORD, because you have forgotten Me and trusted
in falsehood” (Jer. 13:25).

If someone is
hurt by an offensive or demeaning comment, do you lie and say, “I was just kidding”?
If you are caught in a sin, do you deny it or blame it on someone else? The
Lord has provided a place of refuge for sinners—repentant sinners, that is.
When we sin, let us humble ourselves, accept the truth about ourselves, confess
our sin, receive a fresh application of God’s forgiveness and cleansing (1 John
1:9), and be reconciled to the person(s) we have sinned against (Matt. 5:24).

Wealth,
riches. “Lo, this is the man who made not God his strength, but trusted in
the abundance of his riches” (Psa. 52:7; Job 31:24-28).

“Those who
trust in their wealth and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches,
none of them can by any means redeem his brother” (Psa. 49:6,7).

“Charge those
who are rich in this world, that they [not] trust in uncertain riches, but in
the living God who gives us richly all things to enjoy” (1 Tim. 6:17).

Do you try to
use your riches (or your imaginary riches made available through your credit
cards) to purchase happiness, to make other people like and respect you, or to
influence people (even other brothers and sisters in the assembly) to do what
you want them to do? Or do you have the spiritual maturity to realize (a) that
true happiness and peace are found only in trusting the Lord (Isa. 26:3,4; Psa.
16:11); (b) that only by trusting and pleasing the Lord will we gain the love
and respect of our fellow believers, and often even that of our enemies; and
(c) if we are trusting the Lord, we will want others to trust the Lord as well
so that they might learn to do His will and not what we want them
to do.

Friends,
fellow-men, princes, guides. “Yes, my own familiar friend, in whom I
trusted,… has lifted up his heel against me” (Psa. 41:9; Prov. 25:19).

“It is better
to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in
the LORD than to put confidence in princes” (Psa. 118:8,9).

“Trust not in a
friend, put not confidence in a guide” (Mic. 7:5).

Sister A
trusted the Lord for her salvation but she was a fearful, anxious woman. Her
husband had left her and she depended upon her unbelieving and abusive son who
lived with her to take her places and to protect her from a host of imaginary
foes. The Lord took her son away in death at the age of 29 and Sister A
practically went out of her mind. She had not learned to place her trust and
dependence first and foremost upon the Lord. As a possible application to
ourselves, are we so dependent upon our husband/wife that if he/she should die,
we would immediately feel we had to seek a new marriage partner?

Brother B was
brought to the Lord by Brother C, and he became an intensely devoted follower
of Brother C’s teachings. Sadly, he failed to be like the Bereans who “searched
the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so” (Acts 17:11), and was
carried away by serious errors taught by Brother C. Do we ever depend more upon
our Bible commentaries than upon the Bible itself, and uncritically accept
everything our favorite writer teaches?

Teenage sister
D had a very close friendship with another girl her age. They hardly did
anything or went anywhere without the other. When D’s friend wanted to try
marijuana, D went along with her, fearing to say or do anything that would
cause their friendship to break up. D’s trust and dependence upon her friend
far exceeded her trust and dependence upon her Lord and Saviour.

Our own
understanding, wisdom, righteousness, works. “Trust in the LORD with all
your heart, and lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways
acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths” (Prov. 3:5,6).

“He who trusts
in his own heart is a fool” (Prov. 27:26).

“Because you
have trusted in your works and in your treasures, you shall also be taken”
(Jer. 48:7).

“And he spoke
this parable unto certain who trusted in themselves that they were righteous:
two men went up into the temple to pray:the one a Pharisee and the other a
publican….” (Luke 18:9-14).

“For we are the
circumcision, who worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and
have no confidence in the flesh” (Phil. 3:3).

Most of my
readers have already read (Words of Truth, Sept/Oct 1993, page 113) or
heard me tell of the consequences of leaning to my own understanding and not
trusting in the Lord on an occasion when my car battery was dead.

Now here is
another one that you probably have not heard yet. We once had a wisteria tree
(or more like a bush) in our back yard. However, a honeysuckle bush had grown
up with it and the branches of the one were intimately entwined about the
branches of the other. One day in late winter or early spring I got the idea in
my head (did Satan put it there?) to perform major surgery on the honeysuckle.
I really whacked away with my pruning shears and cut that honeysuckle down to
ground level. However, I made three mistakes:(1) I didn’t ask God for His
help; (2) I didn’t ask my wife for her advice; and (3) as a result of mistakes
(1) and (2) I cut the wisteria to the ground and left the honeysuckle fine and
healthy. “Lean not unto your own understanding” took on a fresh and poignant
meaning to me that day.

Another aspect
of trusting our own wisdom relates to the present day cultural ideal of living
independently. Children and teenagers are taught by their parents how to launch
out on their own and live independently. But God never intended for His
creatures to live independently. He gave us parents first of all for us to
depend upon, and He counts upon parents to help their grown up children to
transfer that dependence from the parents to God Himself. When we become
elderly we will often need more and more help from others, such as our
children. If we have never learned real trust and dependence upon the Lord in
our daily lives, we are going to have a difficult time adjusting to this period
of increasing dependence upon others.

Beauty.
“Your renown went forth among the heathen for your beauty, for it was perfect
through my comeliness which I had put upon you, saith the Lord GOD. But you
trusted in your own beauty” (Ezek. 15:14,15).

Young brother
or sister in Christ, are you trying to attract a life partner by means of your
physical attractiveness, strength, or athletic ability? “Favor is deceitful and
beauty is vain:but a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised” (Prov.
31:30). If you marry one who is attracted only by your outer beauty, what will
happen to the marriage when that beauty begins to fade. However, if you and
your life partner are mutually attracted by each other’s “inner beauty,” that is,
your spiritual characteristics and love for the Lord and His Word and will,
that inner beauty has the potential of continual, lifelong growth and increase.
As each partner grows in conformity “to the image of [God’s] Son” (Rom. 8:29),
they will grow correspondingly closer to each other, making for a wonderful,
truly beautiful marriage.

In whom are you
trusting?

Oh, the Rest of simply
trusting!

Yielded to my
Father’s will,

In His loving arms enfolded,

Just to trust
Him, and be still.

Rest from toiling, rest from
bearing;

Rest beneath
the midday sky;

Trusting Jesus, leaning on Him,

Truest,
sweetest rest have I!

 

Oh, the Peace of simply
trusting!

Perfect peace,
full, deep, serene,

Like an endless river flowing

With an
ever-brightening sheen.

Peace in conflict, peace in
trial,

Peace, while
tempests o’er me sweep;

’Mid the fiercest, wildest
tumults,

Christ my soul
in peace will keep.

 

Oh, the Joy of simply
trusting!

Is there joy can
equal this?

Calm delight and holy gladness,

Foretaste of
the coming bliss!

Joy, though sorrows dark enshroud
me;

Joy, though
doubts and fears assail;

Joy in deepest tribulation,

Trusting Him
who ne’er can fail.

 

Trusting! oh, who would not trust
Him,

When He gives
rewards like these?

Rest complete, and joy unending,

Fullest pardon,
perfect peace!

Trust Him—this is all the secret;

Take Him simply
at His word;

Trust Him only, trust Him wholly,

Christ, thy
Saviour and thy Lord!

 

(From Help
and Food, Vol. 42.)

 

Lord, be Thou unto me, I pray,

My blest companion day by day.

Be to me as my vital breath,

The One o’er all, in life, in
death,

The One to whom my soul shall
cling

In joy or sorrow, while I sing.

 

Sing of Thy love for such as I,

That led Thee to the cross to
die;

To cleanse me from all sin and
guilt,

By Thy most precious blood, thus
spilt.

Oh, be to me my staff and stay,

My guard by night, my guide by
day.

 

And let me not plan any thing

Apart from Thee, but I would
bring

All things to Thee continually,

The things that are too hard for
me;

From henceforth I’d no burden
bear,

But cast on Thee my every care.

 

(From Help
and Food, Vol. 47.)

 

Elijah was an
inhabitant of Gilead, a city noted for its wickedness. As a solitary witness he
stood for God and rebuked the throne on which sat one of the most wicked of
Israel’s kings (1 Ki. 16:33).

Elijah had the
strength to do this because the Lord had commanded him. It is necessary for us
to be thus dependent on the Word of the Lord if we desire to do His will. After
speaking to others and exhorting them to obey the Word of the Lord only, the
preacher is (and ought to be) exercised himself. The Lord takes him aside and
asks, “Are you dependent on Me as you have been telling others to be? Do you
believe I will supply all your need? Are you troubled in these trials,
or do you cast all on Me?” So the Lord speaks to the speaker.

After Elijah
gave his public testimony, the LORD directed him, “Turn eastward, and hide
yourself by the brook Cherith that is before Jordan” (1 Ki. 17:5). The Lord
promised to sustain him by extraordinary means—by impossible means, we should
say—for the brook was fed by rainfall that had been stopped as Ahab’s
punishment, and the ravens were the most unlikely birds to bring him food. They
are specially spoken of as crying for meat in Job 38:41 and Psa. 147:9. They
are also noted for eating carrion, and so would naturally be repulsive to
Elijah.

What a test of
faith it was for Elijah to dwell by the brook Cherith which daily grew smaller.
It was close by the much larger Jordan River, but he must stay here and must
not go there because it was the word of the Lord. Do you realize what it meant
to him and means to us? We, like Elijah, are to stay just where the Lord would
have us, in separation from all, alone, beside a brook that will surely dry up
because its sources have been cut off, in full view of the Jordan (which speaks
of judgment). Do we have a brook on which we depend? It must dry up and fail,
but the Lord who placed us there knows this and will make provision when it
does. Are we content to be thus waiting for “the word of the Lord” when it
looks foolish to stay?

When the brook
did dry up the Lord put Elijah’s faith to a further test and sent him to
Zarephath, a city of Zidon (a Gentile city), to a widow woman who did not have
enough food for herself. Indeed, when Elijah asked her for food her need was
revealed; she said she had only “a handful of meal in a barrel and a little oil
in a cruse” and was about to prepare her last meal and die. But Elijah said,
“Make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for
you and for your son. For thus says the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal
shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail until the day that the
LORD sends rain upon the earth.” (1 Ki. 17:12-14).

The widow did
this; she had faith to provide for God’s representative first, and her own
needs were satisfied, not only for the present but for the immediate future
also. Notice that she spoke of “a handful of meal in a barrel and a little oil
in the cruse,” but the LORD God of Israel referred to it as “the barrel
of meal” and “the cruse of oil.” Do we put the Lord’s interests first as
this widow did? Do we? If we do, then He will look after our interests.

“Bring all the
tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in My house, and prove Me
now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of
heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to
receive it” (Mal. 3:10).

“Seek ye first
the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added
unto you” (Matt. 6:33).

A little boy
once said to his mother when things were at low ebb:“Oh, mother, I believe God
waits until He hears the scraping of the bottom of the barrel.” And He does
hear. He is the all-sufficient One. May we just trust, and make use of faith’s
keys, and “The barrel of meal shall not waste and the cruse of oil shall not
fail.”

(From Help
and Food, Vol. 46.)

                             *
* *

May we thus, in God confiding,

And from self‑dependence
free,

Find our rest—in Christ abiding—

Till with joy Himself we see.

                                              Philip
Doddridge

Jesus, Master whose I am,

Purchased Thine alone to be,

By Thy blood, O spotless Lamb,

Shed so willingly for me;

Let my heart be all Thine own,

Let me live to Thee alone.

 

Other lords have long held sway;

Now, Thy name alone to hear,

Thy dear voice alone obey,

Is my daily, hourly prayer.

Whom have I in heaven but Thee?

Nothing else my joy can be.

 

Jesus, Master! I am Thine;

Keep me faithful, Keep me near,

Let Thy presence in me shine

All my homeward way to cheer.

Jesus! at Thy feet I fall,

Oh, be Thou my All-in-all.

 

Jesus, Master, whom I serve,

Though so feebly and so ill,

Strengthen hand and heart and
nerve

All Thy bidding to fulfill;

Open Thou mine eyes to see

All the work Thou hast for me.

 

Lord, Thou needest not, I know,

Service such as I can bring;

Yet I long to prove and show

Full allegiance to my King.

Thou an honor art to me,

Let me be a praise to Thee.

 

Jesus, Master! wilt Thou use

One who owes Thee more than all?

As Thou wilt! I would not choose,

Only let me hear Thy call.

Jesus! let me always be

In Thy service glad and free.

“When the LORD
your God shall bring you into the land where you go to possess it, and has cast
out many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the
Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations
greater and mightier than you; and when the LORD your God shall deliver them
before you, you shall smite them, and utterly destroy them. You shall
make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them; neither shall you make
marriages with them. Your daughter you shall not give unto his son, nor his
daughter shall you take unto your son. For they will turn away your son from
following me, that they may serve other gods. So will the anger of the LORD be
kindled against you, and destroy you suddenly” (Deut. 7:1-4).

Such were the
instructions given by Jehovah to His people. They were clear and explicit.
There was to be no mercy for the Canaanites, no covenant with them, no union,
no fellowship of any kind, unsparing judgment, intense separation.

We know, alas!
how soon and how completely Israel failed to carry out these instructions.
Hardly had they planted their foot upon the land of Canaan before they made a
covenant with the Gibeonites (Josh. 9:15). Even Joshua himself fell into the
snare. The tattered garments and moldy bread of those wily people beguiled the
princes of the congregation, and caused them to act in direct opposition to the
plain commandment of God. Had they been governed by the authority of the Word,
they would have been preserved from the grave error of making a league with
people who ought to have been utterly destroyed; but they judged by the sight
of their eyes, and had to reap the consequences.

Implicit
obedience is the great moral safeguard against the wiles of the enemy. No doubt
the story of the Gibeonites was very plausible, and their whole appearance gave
a show of truth to their statements; but none of these things should have had
the slightest moral weight with Joshua and the princes; nor would they if they
had but remembered the Word of the Lord. But they failed in this. They reasoned
on what they saw, instead of obeying what they had heard. Reason is no guide
for the people of God; we must be, absolutely and completely, guided and
governed by the Word of God.

This is a
privilege of the very highest order, and it lies within the reach of the
simplest and most unlettered child of God. The Father’s word, the Father’s
voice, the Father’s eye, can guide the youngest, feeblest child in His family.
All we need is the lowly and obedient heart. It does not demand great
intellectual power or cleverness; if it did, what would become of the vast
majority of Christians? If it were only the educated and the deep-thinking that
were capable of meeting the wiles of the adversary, then most of us would give
up in despair.

But, thanks be
to God, it is not so; indeed, on the contrary, we find, in looking through the
history of the people of God in all ages, that human wisdom and learning, if
not kept in their right place, have proved a positive snare, and rendered their
possessors only the more efficient tools in the enemy’s hand. By whom have
most, if not all, of the heresies been introduced that have disturbed the
Church of God from age to age? Not by the simple and the unlearned, but by the
educated and the intellectual. And in the passage to which we have just
referred in the Book of Joshua, who was it that made a covenant with the
Gibeonites? The common people? No, but the princes of the congregation. No
doubt all were involved in the mischief, but it was the princes that led the
way. The heads and leaders of the assembly fell into the snare of the devil
through neglect of the plain word of God.

“You shall make
no covenant with them.” Could anything be plainer than this? could tattered
garments, old shoes, and moldy bread alter the meaning of the divine command,
or do away with the urgent necessity for strict obedience on the part of the
congregation? Assuredly not. Nothing can ever afford a warrant for lowering,
even by the breadth of a hair, the standard of obedience to the Word of God. If
there are difficulties in the way, if perplexing circumstances come before us
as to which we are unable to form a judgment, what are we to do? Reason? Jump
to conclusions? Act on our own or on any human judgment? Most certainly not.
What then? Wait on God; wait patiently, humbly, believingly, and He will
assuredly counsel and guide. “The meek will He guide in judgment, and the meek
will He teach His way” (Psa. 25:9). Had Joshua and the princes acted thus, they
never would have made a league with the Gibeonites; and if the reader acts
thus, he will be delivered from every evil work and preserved unto the
everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

(From Notes
on the Book of Deuteronomy, Vol. 2.)

“Elect
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the
Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ” (1 Pet.
1:2).

It is essential
for the true character of our path as Christians that we should lay hold of
what this obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ was. The character of Christ’s
obedience was different from legal obedience. If my child wants to do something
and I forbid it, and the child promptly obeys, I speak of its ready obedience.
Christ never obeyed in this way; He never had a desire checked by an imposed
law. It was never needed to say to Him, “Thou shalt not,” when He willed to do
something. He acted because the Father willed it. That was His motive,
the only cause of His acting. He lived by every word that proceeded out of the
mouth of God. When there was none, He had nothing to do. Hence the will of God,
whatever it was, was His rule.

This is the
true character of the obedience of Jesus Christ and of our obedience as
Christians—that the will of God is the reason, the motive, for doing a thing.
We are sanctified to the obedience of Jesus Christ, to obey as He obeyed. When
Satan came and said to Him, “Command that these stones be made bread” (Matt.
4:3), He answered, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word … of
God” (verse 4). His actual life, as carried out in conduct, flowed from the
Word of God, which was His motive for doing it; if He had not that, He had no
motive. If I have no motive but my Father’s will, how astonishingly it simplifies
everything! If you never thought of doing a thing unless it was God’s positive
will that you should do it, surely three-quarters of your questions and
perplexities would at once disappear! This is the practical truth as to
ourselves; yet we clearly see that such was the obedience of Christ.

This, too, is
the principle of real godliness, because it keeps us in constant dependence
upon God, and constant reference to God. It is an amazing comfort for my soul
to think that there is not a single thing all through my life in which God as
my Father has not a positive will about me to direct me; that there is not a
step from the moment I am born (though while we are unconverted we understand
nothing about it) in which there is not a positive path or will of God to
direct me here. I may forget it and fail, but we have in the Word and will of
God that which keeps the soul, not in a constant struggle against one thing and
another, but in the quiet consciousness that the grace of God has provided for
everything—that I do not take a step that His love has not provided for. It
keeps the soul in the sweet sense of divine favor and in dependence upon God,
so that like David we can say, “Thy right hand upholds me” (Psa. 63:8). Moses
does not say, “Show me a way through the wilderness,” but “Show me now Thy way”
(Exod. 33:13). A man’s ways reveal what he is; God’s way shows what He is.

In its path the
heart gets separated more and more intelligently to God, and gets to understand
what God is. If I know that God likes this and likes that along my path, it is
because I know what He is; and besides its being the right path and
causing us thus to grow in intelligent holiness of life, there is godliness in
it too. The constant referring of the heart affectionately to God is real
godliness and we have to look for that. We have it perfectly in our Lord. He
said, “I knew that Thou hearest Me always” (John 11:42). There is the
confidence of power and reference to God with confiding affection. If I know
that it is His path of goodness, His will that is the source of everything to
me, there is then the cultivation of a life consistent in its ways with God;
communion is uninterrupted because the Spirit is not grieved. This is the
obedience of Jesus Christ to which we are set apart.

(From “The Path
and Character of the Christian” in Collected Writings, Vol. 16.)

 

The obedience
of Christ was marked by the unvarying character of perfect uniformity with the
Father’s will; the manner of His compliance with that will was always
unhesitating and unquestioning. Thus His obedience was of the very highest
order. There is an obedience among men that is the result of persuasion or even
fear, as when an adverse will is overcome by tender entreaties or powerful
reasons or a superior will. But the Lord’s obedience was not of any such
nature. It was His very meat to do the will of Him who sent Him (John 4:34). “I
delight to do Thy will, O My God” (Psa. 40:8; Heb. 10:9). His own will never
asserted or exercised itself but in one direction alone, and that in faultless
unison with the Father’s. In connection with this thought, it will be observed
that the Spirit of God, in witnessing of the obedience of Christ, uses a term
highly expressive of its character. The Greek word employed is always hupakoe
(literally, “to hear under”), or its cognate forms, indicating how completely
He was governed by what He heard from God. So the prophet had testified
beforehand, “He wakens morning by morning, He wakens my ear to hear as the
learned” (Isa. 50:4). This position of continual dependence the Lord never
left. “I can of My own self do nothing:as I hear I judge” (John 5:30). “The
Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do” (John 5:19). In
contrast to the men around Him, self as a ruling motive was obliterated and the
spring of His actions lay without Himself in the Divine Will. “If any man wills
to do His will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it be of God, or whether
I speak from myself. He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory” (John
7:17,18).

Never had there
been or could have been such obedience on earth, nor even in heaven. For
although the will of God was and is perfectly done above, the angels only
fulfill the purpose of their creation in “hearkening unto the voice of His
word” (Psa. 103:20). But this obedient Man, scorned for that very reason by all
the disobedient, was the beloved Son of God in whom He was well pleased. It was
the transcendent dignity of His Person that elevated the obedience beyond
compare, to say nothing of the adverse and afflicting circumstances in which it
was rendered up to death, and what a death! As the eternal Son, He was the
ruler over all. From the lowest creature on earth to the archangel on high
nothing stirred but at His bidding. Yet “He humbled Himself, and became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:8). What a marvel
was this that the divine Son should become a bondman and learn
(subjection being foreign to the Lord of all) “obedience by the things that He
suffered” (Heb. 5:8). The lesson was learned perfectly. From first to last not
a single exhortation was needed; without exception, He invariably did those
things that pleased His Father.

This obedience
was unparalleled, and gave infinite satisfaction to God. By so much as He was
displeased by the disobedience of Adam, by that much, and far more, was He
pleased by the obedience of the Second Man. His obedience was not primarily on
man’s account, nor in any strict sense vicarious; but therein God found a
perfect answer upon earth to the divine mind in heaven. Christ alone, as being
ever the dependent and subservient One up to the death of the cross, was worthy
to be Head of the new creation. In the very particular wherein Adam failed,
Christ perfectly glorified His Father and His God upon the earth. Therefore all
who are Christ’s are bound to exhibit the same moral attitude toward Him who
has called them. For as surely as we are elect, sanctified, and sprinkled, so
surely are we called unto the obedience of Jesus Christ (1 Pet. 1:2). This not
only refers to outward action but we are to bring into captivity every thought
even to “the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5). The significance of this
phrase is not so much that we are to obey Christ as our Master—which, of
course, is in itself true—but rather that the peculiar kind of obedience that
characterized Christ should characterize us. There had been obedience of old.
“By faith Abraham … obeyed” both in leaving his father’s country and in
offering his son (Heb. 11:8,17; Gen. 22:18). Again, the allusion seems to be to
Israel’s obedience of the law under the sanction of death set forth in the
victim’s blood sprinkled on all concerned. But the obedience of the Son
transcended all and afforded an example beyond all. He lived upon every word
proceeding out of the mouth of God. His life, as a Man, was the prompt and
joyful response below to the divine will above. He obeyed as a Son, while we
also are privileged to obey as children. This is in entire contrast with legal
obedience in view of a threat or a reward. No less than this is what God looks
for in His saints.

When the Spirit
portrays in detail the incomparable stoop of grace, He precedes it by the
exhortation, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” (Phil.
2:5). Conformity to Christ commences in the heart and mind. The mind of the
saint, like that of his Exemplar, should ever be open for directions from
above. Obedience is implicit subjection to that which is heard. This principle
marks even the initial stage of the believer’s life. The obedience of faith was
the aim of Paul’s preaching (Rom. 1:5; 16:26). No saint, however advanced, gets
beyond dependence on the Word of God. The most obedient child is the one whose
words and ways are most influenced by the Scriptures. Our obedience is not the
dull, wearisome, legal-minded, external conformity to His Word, because such
and such is known to be His will, and therefore must be obeyed; but
rather it is a running in the way of His commandments, a saintly alacrity in
divine things, a holy anxiety to know His will and to do it. Such a cheerful
obedience to His revelation will be a savor of Christ in His people, well
pleasing before Him. And is not this worth seeking? Thank God, He has made us
“partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet. 1:4) and given us of His Spirit in
order that the task may not be in vain.

(From The
Bible Treasury, Vol. 19.)

 

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FRAGMENT  The
will of God was the only law of Christ’s life. He was never governed by human
considerations or affections. Are we set upon this—that the will of God should
be our only law?