According to the pattern God has shown on the mount

  Scripture Reading: Heb. 8:5; Psa. 19:13

One

  The most important thing in our spiritual work is a knowledge of the "pattern on the mount." In our spiritual work, many things are important, and if we come short in any of them, our work will lose its spiritual usefulness and not please God. Of these important items, the most crucial one is "the pattern on the mount." The pattern on the mount is God's plan. If we do not understand God's plan, it will be impossible for us to do God's work.

  The book of Hebrews tells us that the tabernacle was made according to God's revealed pattern. Before Moses built the tabernacle, he remained on the mountain forty days and nights, in order to give God time to show him the pattern and method of construction for the heavenly tabernacle. There were prescribed patterns for everything from the Holy Place to the altar, including the material and color of each layer of the tabernacle's covering. Nothing was left to random design; there were prescribed plans and standards for everything. The altar, laver, table, lampstand, incense altar, ark, and everything else were made according to God's prescribed pattern, which even specified the kind of metal or wood to be used and their measurements and colors. Nothing was left to Moses' design.

  God's building of the church is the same as His building of the tabernacle; He works according to a prescribed plan. No matter how great or how small a matter is, God has an ordained way. Moses was not responsible for the design of the pattern of the tabernacle; he was only responsible for carrying out the pattern according to instructions he received on the mount. The glory of a servant of Christ does not lie in his ability to come up with new designs for God but in his faithfulness in carrying out the will of God as he understands it. Understanding God's plan and working according to His plan are the glory of a servant of Christ.

  A sister who has been serving the Lord for many years once said that man does not have any liberty at all in the work of God. When Moses built the tabernacle, he did not have the liberty to determine whether gold or silver should be used for even the smallest nail; everything had to be done according to God's instruction.

  Moses was a meek person (Num. 12:3). What does it mean to be meek? It means to be pliable and yielding. He did what God wanted him to do. God prescribed the materials, colors, designs, and measurements, and Moses carried out the work according to God's instruction. He did everything according to God's command and did nothing according to his own will. This was Moses' meekness.

  Moses' building of the tabernacle gives us much spiritual light. It shows us the proper standing of a servant of God in spiritual work. God prescribed everything concerning the tabernacle; He did not leave one single feature or small detail for Moses to design. God did not allow Moses to propose anything. He told Moses not only the general features of the tabernacle but the details as well. Not only were the patterns, materials, colors, and measurements of every item determined by God, but even the way they were to be made was determined by God. It was not enough for Moses to make them according to God's prescribed measurements and pattern; he even had to make them according to God's prescribed procedure. For example, the veils had to be made not only of fine linen but of fine linen that was twined. The lampstand had to be made not only of gold but of one piece of gold of beaten work. God did not leave any room for Moses to make any proposals. He knew what He wanted. He did not need man to be His counselor, and He would not allow His servants to follow their own ideas in carrying out His work.

  The greatest blessing a servant of Christ can possibly have is to receive God's instruction on the mount, to know the kind of work God has assigned for him, and to know the prescribed pattern concerning the work. Servants of Christ, are you coming to God to ask for your assigned work? Are you coming to God for His instruction as to the time and method of your work? Or are you conducting your work according to human reasonings, plans, schemes, and decisions? Many people think that God has no detailed prescriptions concerning His work and that many things are left to their own design. They have not seen that they are but a servant in God's work, and they can only do as they are told. They forget the words: "Whatever He says to you, do" (John 2:5). They forget that they are but a member in the Body of Christ and that they have to hold the Head (Col. 2:19) and be under the direct control of the Head. They presume that God needs their fleshly life and natural strength to fill up the lack of His plan. May God show us that Christ is the absolute Master in God's work. Everything related to God's work must first pass His authorization. The power of Christ's servants and the fruitfulness in their spiritual service can only be secured and manifested through singleness in pursuit of God's will and adherence to His plan. Otherwise, a worker's work may appear exciting, and the outward accomplishments may be great, but before the judgment seat of the Lord, all of these works will be shown by the trying fire to be nothing but wood, grass, and stubble.

Two

  Psalm 19:13 says, "Keep Your servant from presumptuous sins;/Do not let them have dominion over me;/Then I will be blameless and cleared/Of great transgression." This tells us that God's servants have two kinds of sins before Him. One is the sin of rebellion, and the other is the sin of presumptuousness. If you do not do what God wants you to do, this is the sin of rebellion. We all know that this is a sin, and we are all willing to remove this sin. None of us wants to commit this sin. But brothers and sisters, please remember that not only is rebellion a sin; presumptuousness is also a sin. If we do what God has not commanded us to do, we are committing the sin of presumptuousness. Rebellion is to refuse to do what God commands us to do, whereas presumptuousness is to do what God has not commanded us to do. Any activity outside of God is presumption. God says that one should not commit fornication or steal. If a man transgresses in any of these things, he has sinned. This is something we know. But we also think that we can do what God has not commanded us to do. We do not realize that this is sin also. If God has not commanded you to do something, yet you do it according to your own will, you have committed a sin before God even though you may think that you have done a most wonderful work. David's prayer was excellent; he prayed that God would keep him from the sin of presumptuousness.

  God knows what He wants, and He reveals what He wants through the Bible or through the Spirit. Spiritual work is not a matter of quantity but a matter of being according to God's use and will. The most important thing for a servant of Christ is to know what God wants from him. A characteristic of the new covenant is that man can know God's will. A servant of Christ can receive the revelation of the Holy Spirit within himself; he can know clearly God's requirement. This kind of knowledge is real; it does not come from one's imagination or from others' persuasion or instruction. This kind of knowledge cannot be learned from the letter of the Bible. These commandments from God are revealed by the Holy Spirit to a person's spirit, in the deepest part of his being.

  How many today truly understand spiritual revelation? How many can truly say, "I have seen it"? Many people have replaced God's own work with things they consider to be good and spiritual, things that they zealously pursue after, and things that they consider to be beneficial. There are more volunteers in God's work than called ones. Many people can only say, "I have come"; they cannot say, "I am sent." This is why many of the so-called works of God are filled with deadness. Many works are not approved by God; they are merely the result of man's zeal for God. Man does them because he thinks that God needs them, and he calls them the works of God. Actually, in this kind of work the element of God is almost nonexistent; there is almost nothing that is from God.

  Genuine spiritual work is not initiated by us, but by God. Our only responsibility is to discern God's will. Any work that has any genuine spiritual value finds its source in the heart of God; we work only when the Holy Spirit puts a revelation in us and gives us the understanding of His will. In spite of the vast differences in outward appearance and results, there are only two kinds of service to God — that which has its source in God and that which has its source in man. One is what God wants, and the other is what man thinks God wants. Dear brothers and sisters, what kind of work are you doing?

  It is unfortunate that many servants of Christ do not pay attention to the sin of presumptuousness, or shall we say, are not thoroughly clear about the nature of presumptuous sins. They have not allowed the Holy Spirit to bring them to the point where they deeply judge themselves. They have not yet realized that God is the only Master and that there is no place for them to propose anything. We need the conviction of the Holy Spirit to show us the sin of presumptuousness and God's hatred toward such sin. We should realize that it is a sin for us to not do what He has commanded, and equally a sin for us to do what He has not commanded. We should not say, "Since God has not stopped me, why can't I do it?" Rather, we should say, "How can I possibly do what God has not commanded me to do?" Those who do not know the Lord deeply will think that they can do what the Bible has not forbidden them to do. But those who know the Lord deeply realize that even though the Bible does not forbid them to do many things, they are committing a presumptuous sin if they do anything without God's explicit command. Brothers and sisters, God will bring us to a deeper place one day, and we will realize that it is not enough to refrain from rebellion against God; it is not enough to refrain from doing what He forbids us to do. We also have to refrain from doing what He has not commanded us to do. If we can stop our self-will from doing what God has not commanded, we will be perfected, and God can use us. A perfect man is one who will not work when he has not received God's command; he is one who does not commit the sin of presumptuousness. If God has not told us to do anything, we should stand still and not move. God can use only this kind of people; only this kind of person can work for God.

  In God's work we see many people working according to their self-will. If a man does not care for God's will, God's timing, and God's method, even the best work will be just the zealous activity of the soulish life. We must realize that the flesh not only opposes God, but it also tries to help God. Our soulish (fleshly) life may have much natural merit. The soulish life can become zealous for God, thinking of this and that way to revive the church of God, coming up with this and that way to increase the kingdom of God, or laboring this and that way to save many sinners. Soulish believers have good intentions and motives, but they do not realize that the fleshly life is bringing about all their zeal, planning, design, and labor. They do not realize that only what God has commanded is worthwhile. They think that nothing can be better than engaging oneself in the work of God. They do not know that the fleshly life, even if it comes with good motives, wonderful goals, or laudable results, is not pleasing to the Lord, because it is not according to God's will and not suitable for His use. They also do not realize that God will not lend His strength to any work that is not done according to His will. They think that the zeal, noise, emotion, energy, and tears of their work are being supplemented by God's power. Little do they realize that they are drawing from the power of their natural life to supply a work that issues from their natural life.

  What is the reason for such presumptuousness? It is nothing other than a desire for the expression of the self-life. Many people obey God's command when they know of it, yet in their heart, they do not have a desire for His will; they still prefer their own will. Therefore, when God is silent and does not speak, they become presumptuous. Brothers and sisters, if we do not judge the flesh and take up our cross to deal with the self-life, we may obey reluctantly when God's command comes, but when we have no command from Him, we will act according to our own will.

  In God's work, those who are presumptuous do not necessarily have a bad motive. Before we turned to God, our self-life did not have any desire to serve God. But after we turned to Him, we began to have a desire to serve Him. This is the most dangerous period. In the past we had absolutely no desire to serve God, but now we want to serve Him. However, we want to serve according to our own way. But God demands that we not only serve Him but also serve Him according to the way He approves. Man frequently makes the mistake of thinking that God only wants our service and that we can choose the way to serve Him. We have to realize that God does not approve of any service that is not done according to His direction. Therefore, not only must our work be ordained by God, but also the method, timing, and procedure of the work must be determined by Him.

  No matter how good man's motives are, these motives cannot replace God's will. No matter how successful man's work is, no success can replace God's approval. Too many works are done solely for "meeting the needs of the circumstances," for "edifying the spiritual life of the believers," or for "saving sinners' souls"; they are not done out of obedience to God's will. We cannot say for sure that these works have not produced any result. But these works and these workers are of no use in the sight of the Lord. Our primary concern should not be the outward needs of the sinners and believers but God's need of the hour. Our work should first meet God's needs, not the needs of the sinners or the saints. We are God's servants, and although He has entrusted the responsibility of the work to us, He reserves the authority to direct the work for Himself. Although the Holy Spirit summoned God's servants to their work, Paul and Barnabas could not go to Asia according to their self-will. The matter depended on whether or not God had a need at that time in Asia. The Acts of the Apostles wonderfully shows that the One who gives the power for work and the One who dictates the direction of the work is the Spirit. The responsibility in our work is to meet God's need in this hour.

  The Bible shows us that we are not hired but bought by God with the blood. God has the absolute, sovereign right over us. Therefore, we cannot do anything according to our own will. God has not entrusted things to us so that we can make proposals according to our own view. He does not do things this way. God has specific instructions for us concerning every work of His. If we act presumptuously without waiting for His command, we will not be approved, and He will not use us. Our work will not stand the fire and will be burned.

  The Bible shows us that God wants to manifest His work not only in big things but also in small things. Therefore, we have to allow Him to have preeminence in all things. We must acknowledge God not only as the Lord of big things but also as the Lord of small things. He is through all and in all. If our work is not according to His will, we may win man's praise, but God will not be able to use us.

Three

  The Bible has many examples to illustrate this point. Leviticus 10:1-2 says, "Now the sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, each took his censer and put fire in it, and placed incense upon it, and offered strange fire before Jehovah, which He had not commanded them. And fire came out from before Jehovah and consumed them, and they died before Jehovah." The law concerning the offering required that every time one burned the incense, the fire had to come from the altar. The failure of Nadab and Abihu lay in their failure to use the fire from the altar. They used a different fire for the incense, and the result was death before Jehovah.

  The altar is a type of the cross, whereas the incense is a type of our service before God. The zeal of our service must come from the altar of the cross. Those who do not offer according to this rule will die. What is the cross? It is the place where the self is put to death and the place where we allow the Lord to live. It is the experience of Galatians 2:20, which says, "I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me." The cross deals with the self's wisdom, opinion, energy, zeal, hope, and desire. After we have been dealt with in this way, we are qualified to serve before the Lord.

  The zeal of many is but strange fire! Men often do not go through the dealing of the cross; they do not reject their own will and wisdom, and they act according to their flesh. Yet they think that by so doing, they can please God and revive the Lord's work. This is zeal to be sure, but it is not zeal that comes from God. It is fire to be sure; however, it is not fire from the altar but strange fire. Anything that is not from the altar of the cross of self-denial is strange fire. Strange fire is fire of the self; it is fire that issues from the soulish life, the fleshly life, and the natural life. Strange fire means that the self-life interferes with the works of God. Although the works are God's, the self-life wants to dictate the way the works are carried out. Offering up strange fire is employing the self's methods and wisdom and insisting on the self's proposals in the works of God. Strange fire will not win us God's acceptance in the incense of our service but will cause us to die before the Lord.

  Nadab and Abihu were two sons of Aaron. Aaron was the high priest chosen by God. What the two men did was not rebellion against God; they burned incense to serve God and please Him. Yet they did what God had not commanded them to do. They did not act according to God's command and were judged by Him. Aaron's sons might have thought that since God had not explicitly forbidden them to use other kinds of fire for the incense, they could use strange fire. They did not realize that in God's service, anything that He has not explicitly commanded us to do should not be done at all. They did not see how strict our God is. In God's work, anything that He has not commanded is forbidden by Him, and if man does any of these things, he errs and has sinned. God sent fire to Nadab and Abihu and burned them to death because they committed the sin of presumptuousness. Although they were the sons of Aaron and were priests rendering service to God, God did not tolerate their actions.

  They did not commit any treachery, fraud, fornication, or robbery like the sons of Eli. They did not rebel against any of God's explicit commandments and did not do anything that God forbids men to do. They were there specifically to serve God and please Him. They purposefully prepared two censers and burned incense with their own fire. They thought that they would please God. Little did they realize that even though their motive was good, they were serving the Lord according to their own will. They did what God had not commanded them to do; they did something outside God's will. This offended God. In all of our service to God, we cannot presume that God will approve our work just because we have a good motive. Our motive may be good, but if we are presumptuous, God will still punish our sin of presumptuousness. Today we may not see God's severe judgment immediately upon our work, but we must realize that all the work that comes from strange fire will be judged at the judgment seat on that day. May the Lord open our eyes to see what sin is. Not only are fornication, robbery, deceit, extortion, unrighteousness, and filthiness sins, but even "working for God," "preaching," and "helping others" can be sins if we are not doing them according to God's direction. God will judge the sin of presumptuousness also. All those who work by themselves without God's command are offering a service of strange fire and offending God.

  First Samuel 13:8-14 records the story of Saul offering the burnt offering by himself. It serves as a big warning to us. Saul had three great reasons for offering the sacrifice by himself. First, he saw that the people were leaving him. Second, Samuel had not come at the appointed time. Third, his enemy, the Philistines, had gathered in Michmash and were going to come down to Gilgal to attack them. Therefore, he "forced" himself and offered a burnt offering (v. 12). Saul did not do anything evil; he was offering a sacrifice to Jehovah. He thought in his heart that God might not be pleased if he did not pray and that God would be pleased if he prayed more. He thought that he would save the people from the enemy's hand by rendering a little more service to Jehovah. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Samuel said to Saul, "Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God, which he commanded thee: for now would the Lord have established thy kingdom upon Israel for ever. But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the Lord commanded thee" (vv. 13-14).

  Saul said, "Therefore said I" (v. 12). That was not a command from the Lord. Brothers and sisters, God wants us to serve Him according to His instruction; He does not want us to serve according to what we think or presume. Every work that originates from our thinking and presumption is rejected by God. God is after those who are after His heart. God's heart is not on what we do but on our obedience. "To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams" (15:22). This is something that every servant of the Lord should remember.

  Many times we are like Saul; we cannot wait to engage ourselves in many works. We find it hard to believe that God is ever late, and we cannot wait for His timing. We only see our needs and the needs of the environment, and we forget to wait on God's timing. As a result we do what God has not commanded us to do.

  Saul was rejected by God for his over-zealousness and his over-eagerness to offer sacrifices and to pray. He had many reasons for doing this, but God found a man after His own heart, whom He could appoint to be the ruler of the people. The man God is after is not one who is impatient; he is one who is after His heart. If we were there, we would surely have loved a man like Saul because he was an outstanding person. When Saul stood among the people, he was a head taller than the others. But God is not after outstanding persons; He is after those who are after His heart. May the goal of our service not be a great work or our own or others' approval but the heart of God and His acceptance. God can only use such people, and He is looking for such people.

  Read 2 Samuel 6:1-7: "Again, David gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. And David arose, and went with all the people that were with him from Baale of Judah, to bring up from thence the ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the Lord of hosts that dwelleth between the cherubim. And they set the ark of God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in Gibeah: and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drave the new cart. And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab which was at Gibeah, accompanying the ark of God: and Ahio went before the ark....And when they came to Nachon's threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God." When they read this portion, many people ask why God did this. Uzzah stretched out his hand to uphold the ark of God. He should have been rewarded. Why did God immediately kill him instead? God's glory was with the ark. Was it not a good thing for Uzzah to uphold the ark? Why did God smite him instead? The only reason is that God cares for obedience to His will more than help in His work. God does not need anyone to uphold His glory. Whoever touches the ark is smitten by the Lord. The issue here is not the consequence of the ark falling down. The issue here is whether or not God has commanded a person to do something. Man thinks that the ark should not be touched at ordinary times but that it is all right to touch it and keep it from falling when it is in peril. He thinks that he will not be punished by death, because this is a provisional move. But with God there are only eternal edicts; there is no such thing as provisional measures. If a man does what God has not commanded him to do, he dies either physically or spiritually.

  God did not ask whether the work was good or bad. He did not ask for help; rather, He said that man's hand should not touch the ark and that whoever touched it would die. God would rather see His ark fall than have men help Him without His command. Many times when we see outward needs, we try to help God. How terrible it is when God's servants try to do what Uzzah did; they try to help God's work with a fleshly hand. The result is God's judgment! Brothers and sisters, we must remember that we should only pay attention to God's command. Those who make provisional moves because of circumstantial needs and who do not wait on God's command will never please God in His work. We can allow our work to temporarily (and superficially) fail, but God's sovereign right cannot be set aside, and man's flesh cannot be left unchecked. He has no need for man to uphold His work with the flesh. His intention is to judge all fleshly activities.

  Some people try to do what God has not told them to do. They try to please God according to their own will. They strive to do what God has not commanded them to do and do not realize that they are not pleasing God but rather are inviting His condemnation. When we were sinners, we walked according to our own wisdom and did many things contrary to God's nature. Now that we are saved, we still think that we can exercise our own wisdom to serve God and help Him according to what we think is right. Little do we realize that when we were sinners, it was a sin for us to oppose God with our own wisdom, and now that we are saved, it is equally a sin to help God in His work with our own wisdom. God does not need us to help Him with our own wisdom. God does not like to see man opposing Him with his own wisdom, and He does not like to see man helping Him with his own wisdom either. God does not need man to help His work. We must accept the principle of the cross and deny the activities of the self-life. We must be willing to put our flesh to death and lose our own will. Whenever we act according to our own will and think that by so doing we will revive God's work, it shows that we have not denied the self and do not know the cross. A man must be brought to a "zero" position before God can use him.

  May none of us be presumptuous, and may we not disrupt God's work. We should only care for God's command. Even if the work falls, we cannot uphold it with the hand of flesh. We can only do what God wants us to do. God does not want us to be responsible for what is not our responsibility. Even if everything falls down beside us, God will not rebuke us for it.

  Strictly speaking, presumptuousness is the result of human wisdom being unchecked by the cross. What God requires today is for us to hold fast to this fact: We should only do what God commands us to do and not do what He has not commanded us to do. We have to maintain this stand.

  Perhaps some will think that this way is too narrow and that their work will become too common. But brothers and sisters, that day will show whether or not this is the right way. When that day comes, we will see that all works apart from God's will are unapproved and worthless. The judgment seat will reveal all works apart from God's will to be nothing but reasons for rebuke.

  Second Chronicles 26:16-21 tells the story of King Uzziah entering Jehovah's temple according to his own will and burning incense on the altar of incense. He was subsequently punished by the Lord. God's ordinance allowed only the sons of Aaron to inherit the holy office and be priests; only they could enter the temple to burn incense. No one else was allowed to do this. But Uzziah insisted. He was proud to enter the temple and burn incense. God punished him, and leprosy broke out in his forehead. This story is a big warning to us. We can never rashly do what God has not commanded us to do; otherwise, we will suffer God's punishment. Spiritually speaking, leprosy signifies the filth of sin. All those who act presumptuously without God's command have committed a filthy sin before the Lord. Man's zeal is useless in God's work. Man cannot direct God's work with his zeal. It was a good thing to enter the temple and to burn the incense, but since it was not done in accordance with God's will, it became a punishable sin. King Uzziah entered the temple presumptuously to burn the incense. He offended God and was struck with leprosy until the day he died. This is a serious warning for our consideration.

Four

  Paul was an apostle of deep spiritual stature. He wrote to the Corinthian saints, saying, "But we will not boast beyond our measure but according to the measure of the rule which the God of measure has apportioned to us, to reach even as far as you. For we are not extending ourselves beyond our bounds, as if we did not reach you...but have the hope, as your faith is increasing, to be magnified in you according to our rule unto abundance" (2 Cor. 10:13-15). Paul's word was a word of experience. He said he was not willing to extend himself beyond the bounds which God had measured for him. He would not go to the places which God had not measured to him. He felt it was his responsibility to take care of the places God had assigned to him. But he would not extend beyond his measure to try to take responsibility for the places which God had not assigned to him. If every servant of God had done the same thing, there would not have been so many disputes and sects. Every servant of God has a specific work that God has assigned to him. Every believer has a way that God has ordained for him. If everyone would stand in his proper position, do his proper work, and walk his proper course, the result would be a real glory.

  We should not work because we reckon the work to be good or because a work can save men or render help to others. Our only concern should be whether or not our work is within the bounds of God's measurement for us. The main pillars in a house are important, of course, but all the little nails are equally indispensable. If everyone in the church wants to be a great revivalist or evangelist, how can the church be built up? We should choose the course that is according to God's will. We should not aspire to do only great things; we should stand firm in the position that God has measured to us. We should be willing to become calm and do small works. God is not after great gifts; He is after those who can be used by Him. May we be willing to remain in the position that He has measured to us; this is the proper ground. Strictly speaking, all thoughts of change for the better and all kinds of ambitions and aspirations are worldly, soulish, and fleshly, and we should guard ourselves against these thoughts. Once we are clear about this, we will not dare to touch God's work either lightly or rashly.

  Paul said, "I have finished the course" (2 Tim. 4:7). What course was that? Mrs. Penn-Lewis said the following in her autobiography: "There is a `course' prepared for each believer from the moment of his new birth, providing for the fullest maturity of the new life within him and the highest which God can make of his life in the use of every faculty for His service. To discover that `course' and fulfill it is the one duty of every soul. Others cannot judge what that course is. God alone knows it, and He can make it known and guide the believer into it, as certainly today as He did in the day of Jeremiah and other prophets, and of Paul and Philip and other apostles." The most glorious thing for a child of God to do is to fulfill what God wants him to do within the bounds of God's assignment. God has a preassigned course for every believer to take.

  God uses only those He has chosen for His work; He does not want any volunteers. Those whom God has chosen have no liberty of their own. If you want to be free and take your own course, you will end up with nothing but failure and suffering. If God does not use you, nothing more needs to be said. But if God uses you, you cannot escape from His assigned course. Even if you escape to Tarshish, the waves will still bring you to the sea, and the fish will still bring you back. You cannot run away. God's servants can never act according to their own will. The men God is after are those who carry out only God's assigned work, who run only God's assigned course, and who do not walk according to their own will.

  When Moses led the Israelites through the wilderness, God told them not to work on the Sabbath. When someone reported to Moses that someone had picked up sticks on the Sabbath, Moses did not decide on his own to deal with him. God had not told him what to do. Only after God gave him the clear command to stone the Sabbath trespasser did he dare to order him to be stoned (Num. 15:32-36). Moses would only act after he had received God's command; he dared not do anything on his own.

  If we do not wait, God's work will suffer great loss! How impatient is our disposition! We always feel that God is too slow. We cannot follow God's leading patiently, step by step. Anything we think of as good we jump into hastily, and whenever we see a lack we try to fill it up immediately. We think that if we have to wait in everything, our whole life will be wasted in waiting, and we will not be able to accomplish anything. We have forgotten the fact that those who wait before God and who work according to His command are blessed.

Five

  The one great responsibility we have to bear is to be clear of God's command and carry out His work accordingly. Before we have His command, we should never do anything. God's command expresses His heart's desire. If we want to become a useful vessel in God's hand, we must move only after we have His command. We do not please God by doing what He has not told us to do. Whenever a work is placed before us, we must first ask whether or not such a work is according to His heart and whether it will please His heart. May we seek only after God's will. We should not engage ourselves in a spiritual work just because it is a good piece of work or because the circumstances require our help. Our foremost responsibility in our work is to seek after God's will. If we want to be useful in God's hand, we have to walk according to His will.

  Man cannot randomly change God's pattern on the mount; he must work according to the pattern. Will you say that this is your work and that you can accomplish it without God's will? Or will you say that this is God's work, and you will act only according to His will? It is lamentable that many times God's work has been spoiled under man's fleshly hands!

  Brothers and sisters, we should remember that unless our wisdom is first judged and our will first put to death, we cannot do God's work. May God guide us to the point where we are free from the self and our own thoughts and where there is only God's will. Before we engage ourselves in a work, we must first find out whether or not this is God's will. Once we know God's will, we should work according to the pattern that He has shown us.