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From early Christian
experience I had been taught that in religion
there is no place for independent judgment, that
I was not to use my mind, but trust in God and
have faith. The advice was well meant and largely
true. We are to have faith, and we are saved by
faith and not by works. However, the suggestion
that we are not to use our minds is entirely
untrue. We are to serve God with our mind as well
as with other faculties. Hear these words of
Christ: “And thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul,
and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength:
This is the first commandment. And the second is
like, namely this; Thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself. There is none other commandment
greater than these.” Mark 12:30,31. See also
Matthew 22: 37; Luke 10:27. As a fresh breath
from heaven come the words, “Come now, and
let us reason together, saith the Lord.”
Isaiah 1:18. Is it possible that God invites me
to reason with Him? Paul supported the idea when
he said, “Consider what I say; and the Lord
give thee understanding in all things.” 2
Timothy 2:7. “Consider” is defined:
“To look closely, to examine, to think
about, to ponder in order to understand and
decide, to observe, comprehend.” Did
Paul mean that I have a right to consider what he
said? To think it over? And what did he mean when
he said, “I speak as to wise men; judge
ye what I say.” 1 Corinthians 10:15. Perhaps
we had expected to hear Paul say, “Swallow
what I say.” Instead of this, he appealed to
men’s good sense, and told them to consider
what he said. He was so sure of his grounds that
he was will to leave the decision with the
hearers.
God is pleased when we
use the mind He has given us and seriously
consider a matter before taking action. Such is
not an act of disbelief, but of intelligent
faith. There must indeed be no doubtful
hesitation in obeying God; but ordinarily He
gives us time for reflection, that we may see the
light in His light and follow on to know the
Lord.
Little children should be
taught to obey without questioning. However, as
the child grows older, the wise parents will use
a different method. They will spend time in
explaining the reasons for certain requirements.
As the child gets the parent’s viewpoint,
there will be intelligent co-operation, unless
the child is willfully stubborn.
It is thus God deals with
us. He wants to reason with us; He wants us to
consider, to judge. God treats us as grownups,
which appeals to a child. As we think matters
through, we see wisdom in what might otherwise
seem an arbitrary and unreasonable demand.
God could sit on His
throne and issue His sovereign decrees without
giving any reason for them. However, He chooses
the better way. He reveals His secrets to His
servants, the prophets. Amos 3:7. He talked
things over with Abraham before destroying Sodom
and Gomorrah. Genesis 18:20-33. He would never
dare give us the right to think, did He not know
that when we have time to consider the matter, we
would agree with Him. How can any fail to
appreciate such a God! He makes us feel that we
count. We are not mere automations. Let no one
misunderstand. God demands obedience. However, He
talks things over with us and leaves to us the
final decision.
While, generally
speaking, every request that God makes of us is a
reasonable request, there are times when He tests
us to see what we will do under certain
circumstances. He tests us to see if we have
learned to trust Him absolutely and if we will
obey even without understanding them. Of such was
the order to Simon Peter, “Launch out into
the deep, and let down your nets for a
draft.” Luke 5:4. Jesus was no fisherman,
and Peter was. In addition, Peter had been
fishing all night and caught nothing, and in
daylight, it was no use to try again. Peter made
a weak protest (verse 5), then let down the net,
and the result was a greater catch than Peter had
ever had before. This was Peter’s first
lesson in obedience. Years later when Christ told
him to cast the net on the right side, there was
no arguing. John 21:6. Peter could have argued
that there was no more fish on the right side
than on the left. However, he had learned his
lesson.
When Abraham was told to
take his son Isaac and offer him on the mountain
God should show him, he did not hesitate. Genesis
22:2,3. He could not understand, but in previous
years, he had learned to trust God. Abraham stood
the test for obedience.
These are interesting
events, and there are others in the Bible. God
likes to talk over with His men, to prepare them
for the time when there must be prompt and
instant obedience.
God’s
Will in Me
It is well to pray that
God’s will be done in earth as it is in
heaven, for that calls our minds to fields far
and near where God’s will is not being done
or even known, and where we might be of some
help. If we Christians pray this prayer, we
cannot be inactive; for we have it in our power
to help answer the prayer. When Jesus said,
“This gospel of the kingdom shall be
preached in all the world for a witness unto all
nations, and then shall the end come”
(Matthew 24:14), He was depending on us to do our
part. He knew that such preaching was necessary
if God’s will was to be done. By our work
with our neighbors, by our interest in
fields’ afar, we may in a very definite way
speed the day when God’s will shall be done
in the earth.
There is, however, a very
personal application of this prayer that is of
more importance than anything we can do for
others. That is accepting God’s will for
ourselves. If we do this and our life becomes a
God-directed life, He will be enabled to use us
in ways we do not now understand or think
possible. In the abstract, it is easy to pray,
“Thy will be done.” Are we willing to
make it personal?
It must have been a
momentous disappointment for Moses when he was
put aside and not permitted to enter the Promised
Land and Joshua was given his place. He pleaded
for permission to go in and see the land, but his
prayer was denied. Deuteronomy 3: 23-27. As
for Joshua, God said to Moses, “encourage
him, and strengthen him: for he shall go over
before the people, and he shall cause them to
inherit the land.” Verse 28.
Moses bowed to the will
of God, and on His behalf “he gave Joshua
the son of Nun a charge, and said, be strong and
of good courage: for thou shalt bring the
children of Israel into the land which I sware
unto them: and I will be with thee.”
Deuteronomy 31:23. Moses did not enter the earthy
Canaan; he died and God raised him from the grave
in immortal glory.
Elijah must have been
much discouraged when after the great day on
Mount Carmel, where he did mighty exploits for
God and won a signal victory, God rebuked him for
his cowardly flight from Jezebel, and told him to
put his mantle on Elisha. However, he did not
murmur. When he found Elisha, he “cast his
mantle upon him.” 1 Kings 19:19.
However, God had not
forsaken Elijah. He and Elisha worked together,
until Elisha was fully able to take over the
work. Then one day, as they walked along together
talking together, “behold, there appeared a
chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted
them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a
whirlwind into heaven.” 2 Kings 2:11.
Elijah’s work on earth was done; so God took
him to heaven.
It must have been hard
for Paul, the active and energetic one, to sit
still in prison day after day and year after
year. In the midst of a busy and useful life he
was placed on the sidelines, his work apparently
done, though he was still in the strength of
manhood and planning a worldwide work.
Alternatively, was his work done? No, God was
merely changing his work. He had been so busy
traveling and preaching that he had not had time
to do the writing God wanted done. There was yet
a great deal of the New Testament to be written,
and Paul was the man to do it. However, he was
too busy. He needed quietness and freedom from
the care of the churches. Therefore, God arranged
for him a time of quietness, and Paul immediately
went to work. By writing fourteen of the
twenty-seven books of the New Testament, he
doubtless did more good that he did during his
active ministry.
Paul was willing to be
set aside, and in his retirement he did a mighty
work for God. He had learned in whatever state he
was, therewith to be content.
What shall we say of John
the Baptist? He had done a valiant work for God
in preparing the way for Christ, and now that
this work was done, he was consigned to prison
and apparently forgotten. Did envy and jealousy
fill his heart with discontent as a greater One
had taken his place? No, a thousand times No.
John said, “He must increase, but I must
decrease.” John 3:30. Had Jesus forgotten
him? “Among them that are born of woman
there hath not risen a greater than John the
Baptist.” Matthew 11:11.
It is not easy to say,
“Thy will be done,” when one is set
aside. However, the men we have mentioned had
learned the lesson. Therefore, Moses and Joshua
appeared together, and Moses strengthened and
encouraged Joshua. Elijah and Elisha walked and
talked together, and the younger man was
instructed by the older. Paul willingly changed
his work and accomplished more than ever.
Moreover, John cheerfully stepped aside when the
greater than he appeared. All these accepted
God’s way, though it must have cost some of
them great sorrow. All of them learned one of
life’s greatest lessons, to bow to
disappointment, to say, “Thy will be
done,” and cheerfully do what God had for
them to do. It is not easy to be set aside.
However, this is the part of the program of life.
He that can bow to the will of God, who can say
from the heart, “Thy will be done,” may
be set at another task where he can still serve.
There may be those among
the readers who have been set aside and resent
it. Let us repeat: This is part of life, a lesson
that all must learn. There may be wives who have
been put aside and are passing through the
experience of loneliness and of not being wanted.
There may be grandparents who once had a happy
home where all were welcome. Now they are given a
rocking chair in a corner and are given to
understand that they are not to make themselves
too prominent when “company” comes.
There are those who have
held high office in state or church or
institutions. Their counsel, which once was
sought eagerly, is not in demand any more; they
are outdated. The shock is almost unbearable for
some persons.
It is easy enough to say
that God’s will be done, when all goes well.
However, it is not easy to say this when a loved
one is on the deathbed and hope is gone. It is
not easy to say it when we are personally
involved, when we are incapacitated and feel we
are in the way and our usefulness is at an end.
It was not easy for Christ to say it in
Gethsemane. However, He did say it, and a world
was saved.
Frustrations and
disappointments are a part of life and an
important part. For in the darkness God may be
hid. If we relate ourselves rightly to reverses
and “dis-appointments,” they may become
“His-appointments.” If we accept the
disappointments as ordered or permitted by God we
may see God’s will being done in our
reaction. Therefore let all pray, “Thy will
be done in me.”
“Give
Us This Day Our Daily Bread”
This petition does not
ask for luxuries, but for bread, the barest
necessities of life. The historian Gibbon, in
recording one of the many famines in olden times,
makes the observation that some of the delicate
ladies in Rome learned for the first time how
little it took to sustain life.
They had feasted on
nightingale’s tongues and other delicacies,
and now they were happy to get a crust of bread.
This is a good lesson to learn. Paul says,
“Having food and raiment let us be therewith
content.” 1 Timothy 6:8.
God’s promise does
not include palatial homes, rich appointments,
and all the latest conveniences. While we would
not exclude these under appropriate
circumstances, they are not included in
Christ’s prayer. In it, we ask for bread.
God does not frown on
riches. If we have honestly acquired some of the
good things of life, and if we use them rightly,
we thank God for them. Job was the richest man in
all the East, and God blessed him. Abraham was a
rich man, and so were David and Solomon.
God is not against
riches, but against their misuse. Men who have
riches and look down on others who have not, men
who forget that it is God who gives power to
obtain wealth and that they are not owners but
stewards of their possessions, men forget that a
part of what they have God requires of them, men
who forget their brother’s need and close
their eyes to the cry of the world – such
will find it hard to enter heaven. It is easier
for a camel to go through the eye of a needle
than for them to gain eternal life. Matthew
19:24.
In daily bread we are
justified in including not only bread to sustain
life, but such things as shelter, clothing,
health, and also for the mind and, of course,
spiritual needs. Many people of the world need
bread, many are undernourished, and children
suffer for want of that which we waste. A
terrible responsibility rests upon those who
have, who store up, who waste while others
starve. This holds for nations and individuals.
However, great as the need is for temporal food,
we must admit that there is a great need for
intellectual and spiritual nourishment. In some
respects, this need is even greater.
The prayer for bread
furnishes an excellent illustration of how God
answers prayer. We ask for bread, and then we
work in the sweat of our face to provide it
ourselves. Even though Christians believe in
prayer, no one would think of asking God to
furnish food without any effort on the part of
the one who prays. Even when God sent manna from
heaven, the Israelites had to go out and gather
it. God did indeed send ravens with food for
Elijah, and God can do the same today; but this
is not God’s ordinary way of working.
It is just as consistent
to ask God for bread and expect Him to bring it
to our door, as to ask God for any other blessing
a hand to help ourselves. The fact that we in
most instances are to answer our own prayers
needs to be impressed upon all. We may ask God to
convert the heathen; but if so, we are not to
look the other way when the collection plate is
passed. God helps those who help themselves
– and others.
To those who are
religious but unconcerned about their
brother’s temporal needs, God sends a
warning. “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy
voice like a trumpet, and show My people their
transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.
Yet they seek Me daily, and delight to know My
ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and
forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask
of Me the ordinances of justice; they take
delight in approaching to God. Wherefore have we
fasted, they say, and Thou seest not. Wherefore
we have afflicted our soul, and Thou takest no
knowledge?” Isaiah 58: 1-3.
The people who make the
complaint that God takes no notice of them are
religious people. They fast and afflict their
souls, but God does not hear. They seek God daily
and ‘delight in approaching to God.”
And still God does not hear their prayers. They
think He ought to. They pray daily.
What
is wrong with them? In His answer, God tells them
wherein they fail. They pray and afflict their
souls, they fast and keep the ordinances of God,
but God ignores them. They do not keep the
right kind of fast. Then God tells them what
to do. They fast to be seen of men. They go with
bowed heads and spread sackcloth and ashes under
them. “Wilt thou call this a fast, and an
acceptable day to the Lord?” asks God. Verse
5. Is not this the true fast, God said, “to
deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring
the poor that are cast out to thy house [not to
the poorhouse or some public institution]? When
thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and
that thou hide not thyself from thy own
flesh?” Verse 7. God’s further demands
are “to loose the bands of wickedness, to
undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed
go free, and that ye break every yoke.”
Verse 6.
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