Dead Flies - Harry Foster

Dead Flies


by Harry Foster
(Published in "A Witness and A Testimony" magazine, 1945)


"As dead flies cause even a bottle of perfume to stink, so a little foolishness spoils great wisdom and honour." (Ecclesiastes 10:1) Solomon's book of Ecclesiastes is full of worldly wisdom, always helpful and sometimes very penetrating. But we remember that its writer was a man who received special wisdom from God, so we must regard this verse not merely as a pungent comment on human life, but as an expression of a divine spiritual truth. The picture is a simple one. The perfumer, or apothecary, gathering together his precious oil and his various costly ingredients, weighing and measuring them and skillfully blending them together, is able to produce something delightfully refreshing and fragrant. In a moment of unwatchfulness, however, he allows one or two flies to kill themselves by getting mixed up in the confection. Being of a particularly unsavoury species, although they are quite small, these flies introduce a corrupting influence which takes away all the value of this attractive scent and makes the ointment to be so unpleasant as to be objectionable. The moral comment is that any amount of wisdom and honour can be marred by a little foolishness. Indeed the more wisdom and honour there is, the more refined and costly the scent, the more damage is done by even a little folly. The spiritual commentary is this: there is an ointment being compounded by the great divine Apothecary; the whole Bible is filled with references to this fragrance and its meaning. In the early wilderness days, in the instructions concerning the Tabernacle, men were commanded by God to produce an anointing oil of unique fragrance, with a sweetness that none must try to imitate, which was to represent the ineffable fragrance of our Saviour. Right through the Bible this matter of sweet scent is brought before us as a reminder of the beauty of Christ's character. The very next book to Ecclesiastes is Solomon's Song of Songs, which speaks frequently of ointments, and opens with this testimony concerning the Lord: "Because of the fragrance of Your good ointments, Your name is ointment poured forth" (S. of S. 1:3). The sweet ointment which the Father has prepared is the beautiful character of His Son Jesus Christ. In the Gospels we are told of the feast which was made for Jesus after the raising again of Lazarus from the dead, and concerning the costly ointment of spikenard which Mary there offered it is said that "the house was filled with the fragrance" (John 12:3). This was symbolic of Christ Himself, and in the epistles we find the same thought transferred to His people, for the apostle was able to say: "We are a sweet savour of Christ unto God", who makes that fragrance known through us "in every place" (2 Corinthians 2:14-15). This is a beautiful thought and it should be a great encouragement to us, as we find ourselves in the hands of the great Perfumer. We are not expected to produce the fragrance by our own efforts; indeed according to the Old Testament any attempt at mere imitation will only result in death. It is vain to try to copy Christlikeness; we cannot produce it by any human effort. We are assured, though, that if we truly belong to Christ and follow Him, if salvation is a vital experience, then Christ is in us and the spiritual ointment is present. The sweetness and fragrance are received when Christ is received, and it is His scent and owes nothing to our natural effects. In all humility the apostle was able to declare that we are a sweet savour of Christ. Alas! the most skillful perfumer with his most costly ingredients can find his work hindered and thwarted because of the presence of "dead flies". Flies have a way of seeming to come from nowhere; they are so quick that they are often present when least expected. It may seem that such small creatures cannot have much effect on a large preparation of ointment, but clearly they can, and in the spiritual realm it is certain that just a little element of corruption can spoil the fragrance, displacing it by what is unsavoury. The margin informs us that the phrase "dead flies" is taken from the Hebrew "flies of death", and an interesting feature of the grammatical construction, so I am told, is that the verb is in the singular. It does not need a swarm of such flies to do the damage - "it causes" the trouble. If there is only one, this is enough to produce the repulsive smell. Here, then, is a practical lesson from one of the most practical of the Bible books. It is as though the Lord says: "I have committed to your life, as a believer, the most beautiful fragrance. There is no need for you to be yearning and planning, praying and studying, in an effort to produce it. It is not man-made at all. I have made it and I give it freely to you. Christ is in you and you are therefore a sweet savour of Christ to Me. Beware, then, of the 'flies of death', elements of corruption which can subtly spoil this gracious purpose of Mine in your lives." Each of us may ask ourselves just what might be the dead flies which mar the fragrance of our testimony. Speaking generally, everything corrupt can be included under this head of "flies"; anything of sin, however small, can spoil the delicacy of our fellowship with God. In our world corruption flies around us all the time, but what we have to watch is the entry of this intrusion into the purity of our spiritual experience. What are the most common faults which threaten the fragrance of Christ in us? Can we single out a few of our most common dangers? 1. Self Importance I suggest that we begin with the dead fly of self-importance. Just a little conceit on our part and the fragrance somehow disappears, though nobody knows just why this has happened. What should be so attractive becomes faintly distasteful and all because of the intrusion of Self. We can easily explain away this fault, for self-importance can masquerade under pious descriptions of "my ministry" or "my responsibilities" or other expressions which act as a cloak to our pride and justify us in our attitude. It is not the name that matters, though, but the dead fly, and whatever pious name we give to self-importance, it still makes the ointment of grace to have a bad smell. Self-importance manifests itself in various and sometimes in apparently opposite ways. You can be determined to have prominence or you can be hurt because you are not taken notice of. I think of two men who were unexpectedly called to the throne of Israel. The first, Saul, began with an appearance of humility while the other, David, proved truly humble. In both cases they could not be found when they were first called. Saul was deliberately hiding, so that when he was brought forward to be acclaimed king he had about him an air of reluctance which subsequent history proved to be unreal. David, for his part, was simply caring for the sheep and was overlooked by his father in this matter of the selection of a king. But the Lord's eye was upon him and Samuel's enquiries eventually discovered him. He too had to be sought out, and what a difference there proved to be between him and Saul. David was not self-conscious at all. He neither came forward nor did he hide; he just gave himself to the humble work of a shepherd. Self-importance may be shown by seeking prominence or by hiding from it in order to attract more attention. David did neither. He just forgot himself as he attended to his task of caring for his father's sheep. And what a fragrance there was about the life of David from those early days and right through to the end! Every preacher knows what it is to long to convey something of the fragrance of Christ through his ministry, and most of us have had times when this has all been spoiled by some "fly of death", perhaps the strength of one's own personal opinion or the desire to be clever rather than gracious. The fault was a small one, hardly meriting the charge of being a fault, and it may be that there was no very bad odour of death on the occasion. But even the small flies can rob our ministry of its fragrance, when something of the man obscures what should have been of the Lord. 2. A Critical Spirit Another "fly" which can rob life of its sweetness is the spirit of criticism. This can act as just a small element of corruption which robs the atmosphere of what should be delicate fragrance. I do not here refer to the need for discernment. It is important for us to be faithful in discernment of right and wrong, both in the realm of the family and in our personal relationships. Fellowship calls for such faithfulness. This is right. So easily, however, a little unkindness or destructive criticism comes in, like a dead fly, and if it does no harm to the one concerned, it sours our own inner life. I think again of Saul the king, and of how Samuel was forced to be very faithful in saying some hard things to him in the Lord's name. Having done this, though, the prophet went home and gave himself up to heart-broken prayer for the erring Saul. His behaviour shows us how it is possible to be faithful in discernment without the defiling influence of unkind criticism. Then there was another prophet, Jeremiah, who was commanded by God to speak to the people in the strongest terms, but whose prophecies are interspersed with references to his secret sorrows and prayers over them. I am afraid that few of us can measure up to his example of self-sacrificing frankness. It frequently happens that what could have been a lovely atmosphere of fellowship in the fragrance of Christ can be spoiled by a little thoughtless criticism. So perverse are our hearts that, even in the midst of divine mercies, we tend to adopt a superior attitude to others, blaming them because they do not appear to have the favours which God is showing us. The Lord blesses us. We have the great privilege of helping in the work of the salvation of sinners. This provokes much praise to Him, but before we know what is happening, we look round and blame others for not having similar results. This is a dead fly, a little folly, but it chases away the fragrance which should always be present where grace abounds. The Lord wonderfully answers our prayers in providing for our needs, but if we are not careful we begin to look down on others whose experience is less sensational, as though there were some merit in us which produced the happy results. So quickly do the flies of criticism pollute what should be the delicate fragrance of pure praise to God. If it is true that the Lord finds a pleasant scent where brethren "dwell together in unity" (Psalm 133:1), then how sadly He is deprived of that delight when they despise or denigrate one another, as alas, they not infrequently do. 3. Impatience We imagine that the fragrance of the holy ointment was meant to convey a hint of the lovely sweetness of the atmosphere of heaven. A main feature of that atmosphere is surely divine peace. Quiet serenity and delicate perfume go well together. Christ carried this about with Him wherever He went. We are told that He is the same now and always will be the same as He was when here upon earth (Hebrews 13:8) which means that even when He was here among the unsavoury conditions of the world He carried with Him the beautiful scent of a serene spirit. One "dead fly" of impatience would have spoiled that loveliness, but none was ever found in Him. We regret that this is one of our common failings. We so soon lose patience with people, with ourselves and even with God. Only by a constant appropriation of that divine love which "suffers long and is kind" can we hope to be a sweet savour of Christ unto God. The whole point of this verse in Ecclesiastes seems to be that it is the apparently insignificant ingredient which nullifies the Perfumer's labours, in which connection it may be well to remember that we tend to be indulgent with ourselves over this matter of impatience, as though it were of little or no importance. Yet we agree that there are few more fragrant experiences than to encounter a Christian who is graciously patient under trial. What is their secret? What was Christ's secret? Perhaps we get a hint of it in His simple statement: "My Father... is greater than all" (John 10:29). The one who is governed by that conviction will never harbour the dead fly of impatience. 4. Unbelief Perhaps unbelief includes all other faults. It certainly deprives God of enjoying the sweet scent of Christ in us. Like the fly it may seem very small, and it is certainly most elusive. It is as difficult to get hold of and deal with as any fly, but it must be dealt with if the fragrance of Christ is not to be driven from our lives. Unbelief keeps us from action or drives us into carnal action; it can keep us from praying or even urge us to handle affairs ourselves instead of waiting for God to answer our prayers. It can make us afraid to venture on in the Lord or it can make us rush in and take things out of His hands. It is as unpredictable as a fly and - like the flies of which Solomon wrote - it robs a life of the fragrance of Christ which characterises the true believer. It is interesting to note that Beelzebub means "prince of flies". Unquestionably it is he who labours night and day to move us from the ground of simple trustfulness to reactions of unbelief, and this is not surprising, for he is the sworn enemy of Christ and all that speaks of Him. The sad truth is that when we allow unbelief to settle in our hearts, then the beautiful perfume of what Christ is gives place to the unwholesome evidence of our natural life. In this way God is robbed of the pleasure which He could and should have from us, for the fragrance is first of all for Him and then made available to others. How we need the Lord to help our unbelief! It is interesting to observe the contrasts between this book of Ecclesiastes and the following Song of Songs which was written by the same man. In this connection, then, perhaps we should conclude by turning away from the ointment with a stinking savour to consider the fragrance of divine love as portrayed in the second book. Certainly our Saviour's name is as ointment poured forth. What a beautiful ointment the great Apothecary has compounded in the person of His beloved Son! Oh, the sweetness and preciousness of this gift of God to an unsavoury world! No trace of corruption ever lessened the sweetness of His holy life. His ointment has a good fragrance; it is unique and incapable of being imitated. In the Song of Songs, though, the Bridegroom is made to exclaim: "How much better is your love than wine! And the smell of your ointments than all manner of spices!" (4:10) while the bride uses an almost New Testament illustration when she is made to say: "While the king sat at his table, my spikenard sent forth its fragrance" (1:12). Can this be possible in our case? We can only repeat Paul's words: "We are a sweet savour of Christ unto God". None but the Redeemer Apothecary could ever make such a miraculous ointment as that. The very idea provides us with a new inspiration to be rid of the dead flies which can subtly spoil God's handiwork in us. All Christ's garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, "out of the ivory palaces" (Psalm 45:8). Let us so abide in Him that at least a trace of that fragrance may be on our garments too.

 Found @ Unveiling website

THE NARROW GATE: A GIANT BUFFET OF CHRISTIAN SELF-FOCUS

THE NARROW GATE: A GIANT BUFFET OF CHRISTIAN SELF-FOCUS: DISTORTION: The Smorgasbord of Self-Focus A. Brother "Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth..." Acts 20:30 ...

The Root and the Offspring - James Jarjou

 

The Root and the Offspring

“I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, [and] the bright and morning star.” (Revelation22v16)

“And David said, Solomon my son [is] young and tender, and the house [that is] to be builded for the LORD [must be] exceeding magnificent, of fame and of glory throughout all countries: I will [therefore] now make preparation for it. So David prepared abundantly before his death.

Now, behold, in my trouble I have prepared for the house of the LORD an hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand thousand talents of silver; and of brass and iron without weight; for it is in abundance: timber also and stone have I prepared; and thou mayest add thereto.”( I Chronicles 22v5,14)

The scriptures in Revelation and in Chronicles above are much related in principle; one is symbolic of the other. Both speak of the relationship between David and His offspring, Solomon. One (David) is a foundation builder; the other (Solomon) is the builder of the external building. David's works are internal with much trouble, war and hidden to the external world while Solomon's works are external, with much glory and rest which is to be manifested to the external world for fame, glory and honor of the Lord's name in the nations around.

We find in revelation 22v16 that Christ Jesus is the root (David) and offspring (Solomon) of David. The root speaks of death and the offspring speaks of resurrection. David is symbolic of death - while Solomon is symbolic of resurrection. Christ Jesus is not only the root of David (death) but He is also the offspring (resurrection), neither is he only the offspring (resurrection). We cannot get the offspring without the root, neither is the purpose of the root accomplice without the offspring.

The truth of this principle has many facets... and to look at it one sided is to dim the whole picture. We can look at it comparatively as related to the Lords work in building and extending His kingdom through His Church, or individually as related to the building of His person, the new man (Christ) in us.

Comparatively, as related to the Lords work through His church, there seems to be out of His sovereign Choice a David company and a Solomon company.  The David Companies are foundation builders and speak more to the church than the world. The power they carry within may hardly manifest without as related to gifts, yet they have a weighty power in their words to bring saints to their knees.  Most of this company suffer more opposition, war, and trouble as foundation builders, yet at the end of the day they may not be able to point you to something of external importance that they have built for the honor of the Lord. And sometimes even if there is such a thing in any measure the sprit will forbid them to announce it.  There record is not external but internal, which not only heaven knows about but even demons and satanic powers tremble and know about their internal influence against Satan's kingdom.

The Solomon companies are those who out of sovereign Choice bring God's Kingdom to be manifested in the earth. The power they carry within manifests without through mighty signs and wonders to act as foundation and builders of Gods kingdom eternally. They are agents of revival. They may speak more to the world than the church, or equally speak to the church as they speak to the world. Yet we are not to confuse this company with the so much fleshy external works that are out of the order and leadership of the Holy Spirit. If we had more of this company today the world might not be as it is today. Any place or corner the Lord raises such a company, there is always an impact to those around them, for when the power within manifest without there is always a glory which goes against natural laws and bring sinners into awe and repentance.

Finally, individually this principle of the root and offspring of David works in us, to build Christ in us. Before we reap the fruits of the root, we must know the sowing in tears.  In David (Death) the Lord lead us into an unknowing, blindness, of what is to be next, a contentment of the present providence, faithfulness in the little things, and a leaving of the future fears and worries into His care. We are taught to live in the providence of the Divine Life that comes to us through His Grace and to stop trusting ourselves and ability, forgetting our past victories and failures. We look Him in the Presence; His Grace in the presence and sure through this present grace in us we overcome the weakness of the present. And here, by His Present Grace, we become safe from the battle, challenges and the temptations of the present and here we witness the truth that it is of this present grace we became saved from our afflictions  weakness and temptations, and not because of our own strength (Ephesian2v8-9).  And so the work becomes His and not ours, and therefore the flesh will have nothing to glory in, having no work to do in the presence of His grace and Here we witness the truth “That no flesh might glory in His presence”.

We see it looks like this issue of death and resurrection happen simultaneously yet that is not the case. It is just that the moment David stopped building the temple, room was given for Solomon to build. That is the moment our self ceases trying to do what only Christ is assigned to do, we are giving room for the offspring or resurrection. If David had said, “no Lord I will build the temple”, out of His natural perception of goodness or zeal for the Lord, there would have been a disorder, chaos and loss; a reverse and a giving of a crown to another.  An eternal order is already passed in Christ, that the David in us ((Flesh) cannot build the temple, but Solomon, the fruit of God in the dead flesh. It is the work of His present grace in us that can save us from our present struggles, weakness, failures etc.

Amen

James Jarjou

Right Where You Are... - T. Austin-Sparks

We know that for those who love God, that is, for those who are called according to His purpose, all things are working together for good. (Romans 8:28 ISV)

Go back to the place where, for the time being, the Lord has put you, where He has called you to live your life and do your work in all the trial and difficulty and suffering of it, and do not strain to get out of it. Do not lose the present value of it by always living mentally or hopefully in a time when you will be out of it, but go back there and recognize that if you are the Lord's, if you love God and are called according to purpose (as you are if you are in Christ), God is seeking to do something with you and in you by means of the conditions of your present situation. You will only defeat God's end if you try to get out, and will fail to recognize and accept what He is seeking to do. I can think of few things more regrettable and grievous than that we should look back upon any part of our life and have to say, "I might have realized some great purpose of God in that period of my life if only I had taken another attitude toward it than the one I did take; I was chafing, impatient, all the time looking for a way of escape; I was rebellious, living in another mental world of my own creating, in which I would do and be this and that; and I missed all that God intended at that time." I say, there can be few things more grievous than that.

So we must go back to the sphere and conditions in which the Lord has placed us, with this attitude — God has a thought which relates to me as one of His Own; and that thought is, that through the conditions and sufferings of my life He should develop in me the features of His Son. On the one hand, the features of the old creation may be seen to be more and more terrible and horrible, as I recognize them in myself; but over against that God is doing something which is other than myself, not me at all. He is bringing into being Another, altogether other, and that is His Son. Slowly, all too slowly; nevertheless something is happening. That sonship is not very much manifested yet, but it is going to be manifested. What God has been doing will come out into the light eventually — conformity to the image of His Son; "that He might be the firstborn among many brethren." So we look out upon the people of God on the earth amongst whom we are included, and we have to adjust our ideas as to why we are here. There may be things to do, but God is far more concerned with the being than with the doing, and we have to learn all over again what service is.

By T. Austin-Sparks from: Conformed to the Image of His Son

November 12

From Morning & Evening, daily devotional by Charles Spurgeon

November 12

Morning Verse
"The trial of your faith." 1Peter 1:7

Faith untried may be true faith, but it is sure to be little faith, and it is likely to remain dwarfish so long as it is without trials. Faith never prospers so well as when all things are against her: tempests are her trainers, and lightnings are her illuminators. When a calm reigns on the sea, spread the sails as you will, the ship moves not to its harbour; for on a slumbering ocean the keel sleeps too. Let the winds rush howling forth, and let the waters lift up themselves, then, though the vessel may rock, and her deck may be washed with waves, and her mast may creak under the pressure of the full and swelling sail, it is then that she makes headway towards her desired haven. No flowers wear so lovely a blue as those which grow at the foot of the frozen glacier; no stars gleam so brightly as those which glisten in the polar sky; no water tastes so sweet as that which springs amid the desert sand; and no faith is so precious as that which lives and triumphs in adversity. Tried faith brings experience. You could not have believed your own weakness had you not been compelled to pass through the rivers; and you would never have known God's strength had you not been supported amid the water-floods. Faith increases in solidity, assurance, and intensity, the more it is exercised with tribulation. Faith is precious, and its trial is precious too.

Let not this, however, discourage those who are young in faith. You will have trials enough without seeking them: the full portion will be measured out to you in due season. Meanwhile, if you cannot yet claim the result of long experience, thank God for what grace you have; praise Him for that degree of holy confidence whereunto you have attained: walk according to that rule, and you shall yet have more and more of the blessing of God, till your faith shall remove mountains and conquer impossibilities.


Evening Verse
"And it came to pass in those days, that He went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God." Luke 6:12

If ever one of woman born might have lived without prayer, it was our spotless, perfect a Lord, and yet none was ever so much in supplication as He! Such was His love to His Father, that He loved much to be in communion with Him: such His love for His people, that He desired to be much in intercession for them. The fact of this eminent prayerfulness of Jesus is a lesson for us—He hath given us an example that we may follow in His steps. The time He chose was admirable, it was the hour of silence, when the crowd would not disturb Him; the time of inaction, when all but Himself had ceased to labour; and the season when slumber made men forget their woes, and cease their applications to Him for relief. While others found rest in sleep, He refreshed Himself with prayer. The place was also well selected. He was alone where none would intrude, where none could observe: thus was He free from Pharisaic ostentation and vulgar interruption. Those dark and silent hills were a fit oratory for the Son of God. Heaven and earth in midnight stillness heard the groans and sighs of the mysterious Being in whom both worlds were blended. The continuance of His pleadings is remarkable; the long watches were not too long; the cold wind did not chill His devotions; the grim darkness did not darken His faith, or loneliness check His importunity. We cannot watch with Him one hour, but He watched for us whole nights. The occasion for this prayer is notable; it was after His enemies had been enraged—prayer was His refuge and solace; it was before He sent forth the twelve apostles—prayer was the gate of His enterprise, the herald of His new work. Should we not learn from Jesus to resort to special prayer when we are under peculiar trial, or contemplate fresh endeavours for the Master's glory? Lord Jesus, teach us to pray

—Morning and Evening

The Peril of Divided Loyalties - T. Austin-Sparks

The Peril of Divided Loyalties by T. Austin-Sparks 

Reading: 1 Sam. 31:1-13; 2 Sam. 1:17-27.
It is around Jonathan that our thoughts are gathered at this time. His is a strange and very pathetic story and raises a matter which is perhaps more difficult to resolve than most - the whole question of divided loyalties.

We take a cursory glance at Jonathan and his father Saul, and we see a good many variations in their histories; strange mixture, many conflicting and contradictory features. Sometimes both of them seem to be in the full flood of Divine blessing and help. At one time you find Saul moving out and subduing all his enemies round about, seeming to be in a tide of spiritual life and power and help from the Lord, and then at another time you see situations such as the one we have just read, with everything in reverse - defeat, failure, tragedy. So also with Jonathan. There was at least one outstanding occasion when with his armourbearer he went out and made that great assault upon the Philistines, issuing in the complete demoralization of the Philistines so that they fled before Israel. Clearly the Lord was with Jonathan on that day in great fulness and blessing. Then you come to the story we have just read - complete reverse. Taking such an inconsistent and contradictory history, you have to get down into it and behind it and ask some basic questions.

The Lord Not Prejudiced Against People As such

 

But we must first of all look at it from the Lord's side; and what I see as coming up out of this whole story in the first place is this, that the Lord has no prejudices against people as such. When a man is, even if only temporarily, stretched out for the Lord's interests and abandoned to His honour and glory, although the Lord knows a great deal more about him as to origins or as to ultimates and knows perhaps the failure that is coming later, yet for that time the Lord shows that He is not prejudiced against the man. He is with him while and when he is utterly for the Lord. There were times when even Saul surmounted that other side of his nature and seemed to be set upon the Lord's interests, and it is quite clear that Jonathan was like that. The Lord knew what the end would be and what was deeper down in the heart, but for that time He showed that He was not prejudiced against the individuals. It is a tremendous thing for us to realize, that "the Lord is with you while ye be with him" (2 Chron. 15:2). In spite of a lot that the Lord knows about us, and of the fact that He knows the end from the beginning, He is right there to give us a full chance and a full blessing, immediately we are utterly for Him. It is a thing to lay in store.

God Cannot Compromise on Principle

But while that is true, what comes out in the life of both Saul and Jonathan is that God cannot compromise on principle. When principles are contravened He cannot stand by the people concerned. Sooner or later it will be manifested that, while the Lord loves the people, He cannot support the wrong principles which are governing their lives. That will be the key to this whole situation, as we shall see as we go on.

No Compromise with the Self-Principle

Now, deep down in Saul there was the self-principle active; there is no doubt about it; and, although at times he seemed to rise above it and to have the Lord's interests at heart, that self-principle was recurrent, and when put to the final test with Amalek in Chapter 15, we find that it asserted itself again. That was the turning point, where the Lord rejected Saul and finally in intention passed the kingdom from him to David. The self-principle goes too deep for the Lord to regard it lightly. It is not just a matter of the person. It is there that the link with an entirely antagonistic spiritual system is found. Amalek was such a link. Amalek had stood in the way of Israel when they came out of Egypt and were making for the land. They had stood across their path in the attempt to frustrate the Lord's intentions of spiritual fulness for Israel, and that very people Amalek were the test case for Saul as to whether he was really wholly set upon the Lord or whether he had personal interests. When, through Samuel, the Lord commanded Saul to destroy every vestige of Amalek, leaving nothing alive, Saul reserved the best of the herd and the flock. He discriminated according to human judgment, to keep something that he fancied, that he thought was good. He set his own judgment over against the judgment of the Lord because of this self-principle that was in him, thus proving that in principle he was one with Amalek, that is, he was not set upon all that the Lord was after. The Lord was seeking to bring Israel into the land, that is, to spiritual fulness. Amalek said 'No'. Saul and Amalek found themselves one in principle. He spared them. But see what Samuel does to Agag, king of the Amalekites! - he hews him in pieces before the Lord. There is no compromise there.

The Self-Principle Links With the Kingdom of Satan

 

The self-principle goes so deep as to link with not just another nation, but with the spiritual domination of false principles that are standing right in the way of spiritual fulness. Any self-interest is Amalek straddled across the path which leads to spiritual fulness. It is not just a little bit of childish selfishness to be excused and pardoned. It goes right deep down to the kingdom of Satan, and God cannot compromise on a principle that gives Satan an opportunity to frustrate His full purpose in Christ. So God sees where this thing comes from, not just the form of its present manifestation. It comes from the devil, and the devil is all the time out to cut across the way of spiritual fulness. The Lord, knowing that, cannot compromise. We have to be quite sure that the background is wholly according to the Lord's mind, or all our fighting against what we think to be the Lord's enemies will only bring disaster upon ourselves, as in the story of Saul.

Divided Loyalties Issue in Disaster

 

Now take Jonathan. Even he can be involved at last in the awful tragedy of compromise. It is one of the saddest stories. We all want to shed tears when we read David's lament over Jonathan. We remember the beginnings of the relationship between David and Jonathan, how their souls were knit together. Their story is always being taken as a kind of classic and model of friendship, and yet even there there were divided loyalties in the case of Jonathan - loyalty to the realm of nature, to his father after the flesh, straining against his loyalty to David, and causing him to be a divided personality. When he is with his father, his heart is with David. When he is with David, he feels the pull of duty to his father. He is a divided man. What a problem divided loyalties present!
Jonathan must have known all about that Amalek episode and what Samuel did; that in the Divine intent the kingdom was then taken from Saul and passed to David; that the Lord forsook Saul and was no longer with him. He may have known of the consultation with the witch, the touching of that realm forbidden so strongly by the Lord. And yet, on natural grounds of some kind, Jonathan did not break with that whole system of things. What a different story might have been told if he had taken sides wholly with David and been David's right hand man for the kingdom! But this divided loyalty involved him in the ultimate tragedy. And even good people who have been blessed of the Lord, to whom He has shown His favour and whom He has used very greatly, may in the end be involved in spiritual tragedy if for some reason compromise has entered in. It may have come in because of policy. What a snare policy is! We tell ourselves we must be very careful that we do not do this or that because it may have such and such a result. It is all policy and diplomacy. 'We must be careful to avoid...' - what? just what we seek to avoid betrays the whole case. Are we afraid of losing prestige with men, support, friends, position, opportunity? Do these things weigh with us as over against implicit obedience to the Lord? If so, there is divided loyalty; and if we allow it, we may at the end pass into terrible tragedy; the tragedy that always follows compromise.

Divine Fulness Reached By Subjection to Divine Principles

 

The whole question of spiritual fulness is at stake. I have spoken of what might have been in the case of Jonathan. David came to the kingdom in fulness, and Jonathan might have been there at his side, his strength and support in the kingdom. But no; instead of that, he passes out in this tragic way. In a sense, there is nothing wrong with Jonathan; but he has become involved in compromise with another one and another instrument and another order of things, because he did not make a clean cut. It is not for us to judge why, but it does seem that it must have been that he argued on the ground of natural reasoning about this thing. What does it all amount to? If spiritual fulness is to be reached, we have to be governed by Divine and heavenly principles, and not by human considerations. Divine principles; not, What will the consequences be? not, What shall we lose? not even, What will the Lord lose? - because that is a very subtle argument. The Lord does not ask us to reason this thing out on that level at all. He says, 'What is the Divine principle? Let that principle govern and guide.' You may not see at all how it is going to work out. If you are governed by Divine principles you may seem to lose a lot here; you may, for a time, have to go out with David and wait. But in the end the principles will be vindicated. You have to recognise that compromise on principle only brings disaster. You see it everywhere.

Former Blessing No Argument for Present Compromise 

The need is to seek to know what the Divine principle is in any matter. Has God revealed His own thought and mind? Then I must not pursue some other way on the ground that the Lord has blessed and the Lord has used that other way. That was true of Saul; that was true of Jonathan. But there came a point at which an ultimate issue was raised on principle by the revealing of God's full mind. Now I cannot argue that because people have been blessed and used of the Lord though they have not at given times and in given ways stood for that full mind, therefore it is not necessary for me to be abandoned to God's full thought. That is human argument. We must not do it. The Lord blesses when the heart is wholly for Him, but that does not mean that everything is there that He wants. The very people whom He is using He will presently bring to see something more of His will and how much more deeply His thoughts go. Then it is no less an issue than Amalek. Human judgment must be utterly put away, in the light of the Divine mind then revealed.

I have no doubt you can see through what I am saying a great deal more. If you do not grasp the whole thing, just take this as a guiding lesson in life, that where Divine fulness is concerned, the fact that the Lord blesses does not warrant us in arguing that we can stay in a certain position, that there is nothing more required. The point is, has the Lord revealed something more than is actually represented in the sphere where we have known His blessing? If so, it is for us to go on in the light of all that the Lord has revealed, and take the consequences. In the end it will be seen whether the principle was vindicated by God.

This story of Jonathan is, I say, a terribly pathetic and tragic story. No doubt he had a good argument for what he did, but he certainly did not argue from the heavenly standpoint. He did not say, 'God has made it perfectly clear that it is through David that His full purpose is to be realized. I knew from the beginning that David was the anointed, and not my father; I have had it confirmed again and again; I told David that he was going to have the throne and the kingdom; my heart is with him; and yet he is out there in the wilderness and I am here with my father. What am I doing here?' He did not argue, 'That is the direction in which the Lord's full purpose lies; it is for me to be there.' He doubtless had his arguments and his reasons and could probably have been very plausible as to why he was still sticking to his father and to the kingdom from which God had departed. He was compromising. His loyalty was divided and he was involved in the tragedy.
It is a fresh call to us to act on principle with the Lord and not to argue from any other standpoint, on any other ground. We must say, 'What has the Lord revealed? It will mean this, it will cost that, it will involve me thus; but that is not the point. I am not going to be influenced or governed by consequences at all. Policy must have no place with me. What God has revealed - that is the only argument for me.'

So Amalek became the occasion for bringing up the whole question of obedience to the Lord, involving the necessity for the setting aside of a great deal of natural judgment. "Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord?" (1 Sam: 15:22). Beyond all outward observance and profession, the Lord looks for full and uncompromising obedience to His revealed will.

First published in "A Witness and A Testimony" magazine, Nov-Dec 1949, Vol 27-6

Come Up Hither, by Serving

There is the story of a man who desired from the Lord a true understanding of heaven and hell. One night in a dream he was told that he would soon receive this understanding.  He was taken into a room where a few dozen people were sitting around a huge kettle of stew.  Each one had only a long-handled spoon to eat with, and their arms were straightened so they could not bend them and bring the food into their mouths.  The people were extremely upset and angry at their plight, shouting and cursing those who had done this to them.  This, he was told, was hell.  Then he was taken into another room which would be a picture to him of heaven. To his surprise, the room was identical.  The large pot was there, as well as people with stiff arms and long spoons.  There was one major difference, however. In this room, each one would smile and lovingly dip into the stew with his or her long-handled spoon and feed his fellow on the other side of the kettle!  In this day we are being translated from hell to heaven within ourselves as we learn the ways of the kingdom which is the kingdom of love — by SERVING!
 

Prophets or Farmers - A. Brother

PROPHETS OR FARMERS

A. Brother

“On that day every prophet

will be ashamed of his prophetic vision.

He will not put on a prophet’s garment of hair

in order to deceive.  He will say,

‘I am not a prophet.

I am a farmer; the land has been

my livelihood since my youth.’

If someone asks him,

‘What are these wounds on your body?’

he will answer, ‘The wounds I was given

at the house of my friends.’”

Zech. 13:4-6

I am not a prophet.  I am a farmer.  The Word of God is the seed, and I have been given the task of sowing it.  I am not responsible for the increase of it, only the sowing.  I am not responsible for the reaping of it, only the sowing.  The wounds on my body are the wounds of my Friend, Christ.  This is a simple revelation, but one we must listen to.

Too many of us are zealous to do the Lord’s work.  The Lord requires us to put off the natural man, and to “put on Christ”, who will do His work in us, and who will advance His work through us without our particular help.  The importance of this putting off of self, and putting on of Christ cannot be overemphasized.  So many of us strive and strive, we take up a “work for God” and do it in the natural man, we undertake tasks for God, we run off and do things for God.  Yet the important work, the making of each of us into a man or woman of God, we neglect and ignore. 

We have been raised in a wrong way of thinking.  Even in the churches we have stressed the doing of things.  We have stressed the building of things, the taking hold of things, the effort of things.  We talk of “living the Christian life” and “doing the Lord’s work” and we haven’t died at all, we have just taken up a work in our own strength and our own hands.

In the calling of Abraham, God did the impossible.  He took this old man, and his old wife, and he made them parents of an entire nation.  He did something, not out of the efforts of the old man, but out of His own power.  This resulted in glory for God alone, and not for Abraham.  Abraham’s only glory was that he “believed God and it was reckoned unto him as righteousness.” (see Romans 4:18-25)

This man is a picture of Christ in us.  It is God who calls, God who wills, God who works in us for His good pleasure.  It is none of our effort that benefits the Kingdom.  Our faith is our glory, because it brings glory to God alone.  Until we see this, we are still viewing Christ as someone outside ourselves, who we serve because we want to earn His favor, to be significant.  We are striving because of the emptiness inside us, which many of us know to be the truth from experience.  Even those of us who’ve claimed Christ as Lord for many years KNOW this emptiness, this striving after wind.

The wounds of Christ are His marks in us.  What does this mean?  It means we must die, and be marked with the death of Christ in us before we can experience His life in us. 

Too many of us claim to speak for Christ.  Yet we live without scars and wounds, and we have never gone up to the “Place of the Skull”, Golgotha, carrying our cross, dying to self, and having God turn His face away during our time of dying.  When Jesus was on the cross, He cried out in his natural man, “MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?”  Yet the Father had to turn away in his grief, and not save His only Son, but let Him die for us.  At that moment, Jesus became man in the way that allows Him to know every suffering we will ever go through.  So the Father must turn away and let us die many times in this life on earth, because He knows, even in His grief over our pain, that we must go through the dying in order to have Life.

The small things are the significant things.  The things that go unnoticed by the world, and sadly, often by the people of God.  These are our Golgothas.  The places of dying.  These are necessary for Resurrection to take place in us.

Then, with Paul, we will understand, and say:

“Since you died with Christ…

Since then you’ve been raised with Christ…”

Col. 2:20;3:1

In this new place, this place of resurrection beyond the grave:

“Here there is no Greek or Jew,

circumcised or uncircumcised,

barbarian, Scythian, slave or free,

but Christ is all, and in all.”

Col. 3:11

Brethren, we must stop our striving to be someone in Christ.  We must stop working to be someone of significance.  We must stop working to do the Lord’s work.  It is Christ in us that does His work.  We must rest in Him, and let Him work.  His work in us will be enough.

Religion ... but not as we've known it - Lynette Woods

Religion... but not as we've known it
by Lynette Woods

"The time is coming when people will not tolerate sound and wholesome instruction, but, having ears itching for something pleasing and gratifying, they will gather to themselves one teacher after another to a considerable number, chosen to satisfy their own liking and to foster the errors they hold, and will turn aside from hearing the truth and wander off into myths and man-made fictions." 2 Tim. 4:3,4.

If there is anything that epitomizes "myths and man-made fictions" then religion would have to be it! These verses describe exactly what we see in the world today, whether people call it "religion" or not. Religion is a word very closely associated with the church and is thought of in a positive light by many Christians. Those outside of the church typically think of someone religious as being legalistic, traditional, crusading for Christianity etc. However, what I'm wanting to focus on is a One World Religion which I believe to be at the root and foundation of every single human being, regardless of age and regardless of what belief system they have and regardless of whether they go to church or not. This One World Religion is behind every religion that is on this earth (whether Christian or not). This religion has only one god and this god is worshiped and served like no other. The name of this religion's god is Self.

Being religious extends far beyond Pharisees, beyond Muslims, beyond Christians, to the very core of who we are: Self with a capital S. Jesus said some awful things to the religious, so if this is true, then we may find Him saying some harsh things and upsetting a few of our temple's tables in order to reveal the god that is behind it all, releasing us from our self-made religion and revealing the freedom which can only be found in Him.

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