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"And the man bowed down his head, and worshipped the Lord. And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth; I being in the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master's brethren" (Gen. 24:26-27).
"And it came to pass, that, when Abraham's servant heard their words, he worshipped the Lord, bowing himself to the earth. And the servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, and gave them to Rebekah: he gave also to her brother and to her mother precious things" (vv. 52-53).
"And Aaron spake all the words which the Lord had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. And the people believed: and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel, and that he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped" (Exo. 4:30-31).
"That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the Lord's passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped" (12:27).
"And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped. And he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance" (34:5-9).
"Now once, when Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked; and behold, there was a man standing opposite him, and His sword was drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, Are You for us or for our adversaries? And He said, Neither, but as the Captain of Jehovah's army have I now come. Then Joshua fell to the ground upon his face and worshipped. And he said to Him, What does my Lord speak to His servant?" (Josh. 5:13-14).
"And when Gideon heard the account of the dream and its interpretation, he worshipped. And he returned to the camp of Israel and said, Arise, for Jehovah has delivered the camp of Midian into your hand" (Judg. 7:15).
"It was for this child that I prayed, and Jehovah has granted me my request that I requested from Him. Therefore I, for my part, have lent him to Jehovah; all the days that he lives, he is lent to Jehovah. And he worshipped Jehovah there" (1 Sam. 1:27-28).
"And on the seventh day the child died. And David's servants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead; for they said, While the child was alive, we spoke to him, and he did not listen to our voice; how then can we tell him that the child is dead? He will do himself some harm. And David saw that his servants were whispering, and David perceived that the child was dead. And David said to his servants, Is the child dead? And they said, He is dead. Then David rose up from the ground and washed and anointed himself and changed his clothes. And he went to the house of Jehovah and worshipped. Then he went to his house; and when he requested it, they set food before him, and he ate" (2 Sam. 12:18-20).
"Then one day, when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their firstborn brother, a messenger came to Job and said, The oxen were plowing, and the donkeys were feeding beside them; and the Sabeans fell upon them and took them away, and they struck the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to relate these things to you. While this one was still speaking, another came and said, The fire of God has fallen from heaven and has burned up the sheep and the servants and devoured them; and I alone have escaped to relate these things to you. While this one was still speaking, another came and said, The Chaldeans formed three companies and raided the camels and took them, and they struck the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to relate these things to you. While this one was still speaking, another came and said, Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their firstborn brother; and suddenly a great wind came from beyond the desert and struck the four corners of the house, so that it fell upon the young people and they died; and I alone have escaped to relate these things to you. Then Job rose up and tore his clothes and shaved his head and fell to the earth and worshipped" (Job 1:13-20).
We must deal with one matter before God. If we truly intend to be worshippers of God, it is impossible to just worship Him. I am not saying that we should not worship God. We must worship God, but please remember that a day will come when God opens our eyes to know Him as more than just our Father; we will know Him also as our God. We need to see that we are not only His children but also His bondservants. When we see this revelation and meet God as God, we immediately will worship Him. However, we should not stop there. Whenever we have a revelation of God and meet Him, the result should be that we accept His ways. The result of seeing and knowing God is that we accept God's ways.
God's holy Word shows us that we must know God and we must know His ways. God Himself can only be known by revelation, and God's ways can only be known through submission. We know God Himself through His revelation, and we know the ways of God by being willing to be dealt with and by submitting to Him.
What are the ways of God? The ways in which God deals with us are His ways. His ways entail what He wants to do. The ways of God are the choices He makes concerning us. These are the ways of God. His ways are higher than our ways (Isa. 55:9). He has His own ordinations, and there is no room for our choice. He deals with this person in this manner and with another person in that manner. His ways are what He deems best. The ways of God imply that God acts according to His desire and choice.
Many people balk at the fact that, without an unveiling of God to man, we cannot accept God's ways. We must first have revelation before we can accept God's ways. We ask, "Why did God love Jacob and not Esau?" We feel that God was not fair to Esau, and we even feel indignant about the way Esau was treated. We think that Esau was a very good man who was cheated out of everything. Jacob was the one who was bad. Yet God said, "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated" (Rom. 9:13). Yet still we reason about this. Those who reason in this way have not seen God. Those who have seen Him know that He is God. God can act according to His pleasure. He does what makes Him happy. He is God. No one can tell Him how He should act. He does not need counselors or advisors. He does not need an advisory board to tell Him how to do things. He does what He pleases. These are the ways of God.
The ways of God are His choices. The ways of God are what He wants to do. He wants to do things this way, and He wants to deal with us in that way. He wants to accomplish this matter but not something else. He wants us to encounter this circumstance but not that one. These are the ways of God.
As we have already pointed out, when a person receives a revelation concerning God and he sees that He is God and that man is man, he only can bow down and worship. But we must not stop there because this is too abstract. We must immediately say, "God, I worship You, and I worship Your ways. I do not just worship You, I also worship Your ways." Our heart must be brought by God to the point of bowing down before Him and saying, "I see that I should not only worship You, but also what You have and what pleases You. I should worship what You choose. I should worship what You have ordained for me. I should worship what You are pleased to bring upon me. I should worship You for the things You do not want me to pursue." Brothers and sisters, it is easy to worship God while we are gathered here in the meeting because there is no price to pay. But let me repeat that all true worship comes from knowing God and receiving a revelation of God. Thank God, I know Him; therefore, I fall before Him, saying, "Everything You have done is right. You are never wrong." This is the way to accept the ways of God.
We learn to walk step by step. If we want to learn to walk before God, we will have no future unless we can learn to worship the ways of God — not just to worship God. Our entire spiritual future hinges on our ability to worship the ways of God. Thus, all who know God must be brought to the point of saying, "I worship the ways of God. I worship the things that God has ordained for me. I worship the things God has done to me. I worship God for what He is pleased to do in me. I worship God for the things He strips from me."
Let us consider a few of the worshippers of God in the Old Testament to see how they worshipped God. We will see the ways of God from the examples of God's worshippers in the Old Testament.
The ways of God are what God wants to do in us. Our first illustration is found in Genesis 24. Recall the story in which Abraham said to the servant who ruled over all that he had, "Go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac" (v. 4). This was a formidable undertaking. Abraham was living in Canaan. In order to reach Mesopotamia one had to cross the Jordan River, the Euphrates River, and the stretch of desert lying between them. It was a difficult matter for a servant to go to a strange place a great distance away and persuade a young woman to accept this offer of marriage. Eliezer, however, was looking to God. Although it seemed as if he was going to the ends of the earth to seek Abraham's relatives and find a woman, he was trusting in God. The record in the Scriptures about his trip is very marvelous. It says that when he came unto Nahor, the city of Abraham, he prayed, "O Lord God of my master Abraham, I pray thee, send me good speed this day, and show kindness unto my master Abraham. Behold, I stand here by the well of water; and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water: and let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac; and thereby shall I know that thou has showed kindness unto my master" (vv. 12-14). This prayer seems difficult to answer. But he had not even finished praying when Rebekah arrived at the well.
We all know the story here and that to the detail everything transpired as he had requested. But what if this damsel was not of Abraham's family? As we know, the type here is of Christ and the church, both being of one family. "He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of One" (Heb. 2:11). Rebekah needed to be of the same source as Isaac. What if she was of another race like Syrian or Babylonian? So Eliezer asked about her family background. Yes, she was Abraham's kin. Eliezer immediately bowed his head and worshipped the Lord (Gen. 24:23-27). Do we see? These are the ways of God. If we only will learn to acknowledge the Lord in all our paths as in Proverbs 3:6, we will be acknowledging God in His ways. If we request Him to do this and that and believe, looking trustfully to Him, then when things happen according to our requests, we will worship Him. Thus, we will not worship God merely because He is God; we also worship Him for His actions. Eliezer immediately bowed his head and worshipped the Lord as if to say, "You have given grace to me. You have given grace to me as You have given grace to my master Abraham, and You have led me in the way."
Brothers and sisters, do we see what it means to worship God? It means to render all glory to Him. Giving glory to God does not mean that we meet with a situation which turns out well after prayer and then we say that we were lucky, that things fell into place at the right time, or that we did things well ourselves. One who knows and has seen God is one who can do nothing but bow down and worship when he sees God do something. Abraham's servant did not even stop to talk with Rebekah. The first thing he did was worship God. He did not feel embarrassed; he instantly bowed his head and said, "God, I worship You."
What is worship? Worship is giving glory to God when He has His way with us. Giving glory to God is worship. Have I made myself sufficiently clear? I hope that we would see the connection between glory and worship. Giving glory to God is worshipping Him. The glory we give to God can never be more than worship. Bowing before Him is the worship He receives from us. Worship is being able to bow before God and say to Him, "I submit to You." The proud cannot worship God. Proud people can never worship God because when their way is prosperous, they attribute it to their own ability or to chance. They say, "I was smart to do this or to say this." They think, "I was lucky to meet this person." This kind of person can never give glory to God because He does not worship God. Being a true worshipper of God is offering praise and thanksgiving to Him for everything He has done for us and everything He has given us along the way. Let me say that many times we will not be able to refrain from bowing down and giving glory to God. We will have no other choice but to say, "God, I worship You."
When Abraham's servant went with Rebekah to her house, he explained his mission to Laban, Bethuel, and the rest of her family and told them that he wanted to take Rebekah back with him (Gen. 24:34-49). When Laban and Bethuel heard his story, they acknowledged Jehovah and let Rebekah go (vv. 50-51). We might say that he was very lucky or that he was very shrewd because the matter prospered so well. If we say this, however, it shows that we do not know God, nor have we seen Him. But here was a person who knew God and saw His acts. He had a special trait. Even when his way was prospered to such an extent, he did not rejoice or thank those he was with, he just bowed down to the earth unto the Lord (v. 52). This is real worship.
Brothers and sisters, we must learn to recognize God's ways. I do not know how to press this truth home, but I would reiterate that we need to know two matters. We have two roads. After becoming Christians, we must learn to know the will of God and the work of God on the one hand, and we must learn to know the ways of God, the methods by which He deals with us on the other hand. We must worship God, and we also must accept the ways in which He deals with us. The journey of Abraham's old servant was very prosperous, but he had an outstanding characteristic: His reaction to everything he met was to immediately worship Jehovah.
We have said before and we will say again that if we really want to worship God, we will find again and again that He gives us many opportunities to worship Him. When the old servant arrived at the gate of the village, he worshipped God, and he worshipped again at the door of Laban's home. When he got inside, he worshipped yet again. When we worship God the first time, He will give us a second opportunity to worship Him. God will do one thing to cause us to worship in speechless wonder. Then He will do something else for which we cannot help but worship Him. Many times God will give us a prosperous way. In these times, we must confess that it is not by our own hand or ordination. It did not happen because we are capable, but because Jehovah did it all. Jehovah led us; therefore, all the glory should go to Him.
Our second illustration is found in Exodus 4, when God sent Moses to tell the children of Israel that He had visited them and would deliver them out of the bondage of Egypt. They would not have to fire bricks, the material used to build the tower of Babel. Verse 31 says, "And when [the people] heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel, and that he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped." Do we have a group of people worshipping God for His ways? Many times it seems as if God is leading us in just the same way as He led Abraham's servant. When our way is well-prospered, we cannot but worship God. Here, however, the situation is different. They worshipped here because God visited them and looked upon their affliction. God did nothing but tell the children of Israel through Moses and Aaron that He had remembered them despite the passage of four hundred thirty years. God had visited them and looked upon their affliction. The meaning of looked is "saw." God saw what happened to them. When the Israelites saw that God remembered, visited, and looked upon them, they bowed their heads and worshipped.
Many times our brothers and sisters suffer trials. They cannot worship God because they think God has forgotten them. Many people have domestic difficulties, but the difficulties never last for four hundred thirty years. How can we say that God has forgotten us? Perhaps the children of Israel said, "We have been slaves for so many years, God does not care," just as we may say, "I have been sick for so long, God would not heal me. I have been unemployed for years, but God will not make a way for me. My husband still does not believe; there are still problems in my family." It seems that God has forgotten us, our difficulties, and our sufferings. But if we say these things, our lips will be sealed and we will not worship God. We will have no way to offer a word of worship to God. But a day will come when we see God. We will know Him and understand His ways, and we will see that God has not forgotten our situation. We will tell God that everything we went through was for our benefit; we will bow our head to say, "God, I worship You." We will be unable to refrain from worshipping God because of our gratitude. We will say, "God, I worship You for all the grace and blessings You have given me."
In Exodus 12:27 God commanded the Israelites to teach their children about the meaning of the Passover: "It is the sacrifice of the Lord's passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses." How did the Israelites receive this message? "The people bowed the head and worshipped." The people worshipped God. Please remember that in the Old Testament the sacrifice of the Passover was not a sin offering but a memorial sacrifice. This memorial sacrifice caused the people to worship God. God destroyed the firstborn in all the houses of the Egyptians, but He passed over all the houses of the children of Israel. As they recalled the separation that God had made between His people and the worldly people and the different places to which each had been brought, they could not help but worship Him.
The Passover, like our Lord's table meeting, is a memorial sacrifice and feast to recall the Lord's work and our separation from the world, the recollection of which begets worship in our hearts. We wonder why God ever chose us! We are constrained to worship because of God's way in His selection. Many times God's grace only causes us to give thanks, but it cannot cause us to worship. When we see God's ways, however, we cannot refrain from worshipping. When the Israelites saw the ways of God, they seemingly could not help but say, "God, there are so many people in Egypt, why would You pass over the houses of Israel and strike the houses of the Egyptians? Every firstborn of the Egyptians was slain; how could the firstborn of the Israelites be spared? God, how did You do this?" When we see what God has done and how He has chosen us, we will worship Him. The methods by which God does things are His ways. God not only gives grace to us, but the ways in which He gives grace and chooses us cause us to worship God.
Have we thought about these matters? I often think about the time when I was saved as a student. There were more than four hundred other students in the school. God did not choose any of those other students. Why would He choose me? My father had twelve brothers and sisters. Among such a tribe, God did not choose another; He chose me. When we think of the way in which God chose us, we are not just thinking of the grace of God. We do not just give thanks; we also worship God for the way in which He works. Worshipping is acknowledging that God has given grace in such a way. This is not just a matter of God giving grace, but of the way in which grace is given. Since He has given grace in such a way, we should say, "God, I worship You. These are Your ways. You are God."
O brothers and sisters, these are the ways of God! We might ask why He saved us. Let me say that He saved us because it was His delight to choose us. He wanted this and ordained this. There is nothing for us to say. We can only bow our head and fall before Him, saying, "God, I worship You. You not only have grace, but also You take wonderful ways to dispense Your grace." The children of Israel did not merely give thanks to God upon seeing this; they also worshipped Him.
At the breaking of the bread, as we contemplate His grace in saving, justifying, and regenerating sinners like ourselves, and in making us become His children, we offer thanks to God. But when we think of the way in which He forgave our sins, the process He went through to justify us, and the pains He took to pull us out of the muck and mire from among the thousands of other people around us, and when we think of how we happened to be in a certain church and happened to hear a particular gospel message preached by just the right person, and how that enabled us to receive Him, we remember God's ways. We will offer not only thanks but also worship. We will worship the God who orders our way. When we know the ways of God, we cannot refrain from worshipping Him.
There is a marvelous point in this verse. When the children of Israel heard the word, they bowed their heads and worshipped. Moses did not teach them this; Moses did not tell them that they should worship. He just spoke the word of God to them, and they simply worshipped. Worship does not require instruction, exhortation, or mental exercise. When we see the ways of God, we spontaneously worship Him.
In Exodus 32—34 we read of a serious difficulty that Moses encountered. God gave him two tablets of stone with the Ten Commandments written on them. While Moses was still on the mountain, trouble broke out among the Israelites at the foot of the mount. The people made a golden calf and worshipped it. This provoked God to great displeasure and He said to Moses: "Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: they have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiffnecked people: now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation" (32:7-10). God was furious, so Moses pleaded with God on the one hand and went down the mountain to deal with matters on the other. Thereafter, he ascended the mountain again and in obedience to God's command hewed two more tablets of stone. With these in his hand, he went to the top of Mount Sinai. There God made a solemn proclamation. First He said, "The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin" (34:6-7). If at this point Moses had fallen down and worshipped God, it would not have been surprising; but what is amazing is that he made haste to do so after the second part of the proclamation. The second part was totally different from the first. The first part spoke of God's compassion, grace, mercy, and forgiveness, but in the second part He said, "And that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation." When God had proclaimed the awe of His majesty, "Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped" (v. 8). Please bear in mind that knowing God is not merely a matter of grace. If it were just a matter of grace, it would be all over and there would be no problem, but we need to know God's holiness.
I love verses 8 and 9 in chapter thirty-four. In the latter verse Moses prays, but in the former he worships. He worships and then prays. He acknowledges the rightness of God's ways and then seeks God's grace. He did not say, "You are slow to anger, full of compassion, and ready to forgive, so please have mercy on us and do not do as You plan." We would pray in this way. We always love to pray, "Do not do what You are going to do. Even though this is Your way, do not do it." Moses was very different from us. He took his proper place before God and confessed that God's ways were right. Brothers and sisters, have we ever acknowledged that God's ways are right? Have we ever asked God to do anything that we knew was contrary to His ways of working? Have we ever besought Him to forgive a certain brother and cease to discipline him even when we know that His dealings with that brother were right? If we pray like this, we are not worshipping God. We are, in effect, saying, "O God, please change Your ways. Do not give him a burden, do not let him be sick, do not let him have domestic difficulties." Praying in this way is seeking grace and ignoring the ways of God. In our prayer, we are making ourselves too big; we are not identifying ourselves with God's way. Moses first acknowledged God's authority and His ways. God declared that He would by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. Moses instantly submitted, saying, "O God, You are right, Your ways are right, and I worship You. Since You have decided to do this and because this is Your way, I can only worship You." Thereafter, he prayed that if he had found grace in God's sight, God would still go up in the midst of His people. He prayed for grace, but only after he had worshipped God.
Sometimes we may visit a brother's home and discover that his child is sick. As we kneel with the husband and wife to pray, we immediately sense that God is not worshipped in this house. We know that God never receives worship in this place. As soon as they kneel in prayer, they say, "O God, heal my child." The first words from their mouths are, "O God, my child must not die; You must heal him." They are telling God what to do. They are deciding God's ways for Him. When they open their mouths, we know that God is not worshipped. I am not saying that we do not know God as our Father. Let me repeat that we need to know God not only as our Father, but as God. It is one thing to be the Father, and it is an entirely different thing to be God. We may visit another brother's home, and again there may be a sick child. When we kneel in prayer with the parents, they pray, "God, we praise You that You are always right. We praise You for allowing our child to become sick. You are never wrong, so we worship You. Everything You do is good. If it pleases You to take the child, we will accept Your will, but if it pleases You to show mercy to us, we ask You to heal him." It is proper to pray, and our worship should not replace our prayer. But we must worship first and then pray. Prayer is saying what I want; worship is acknowledging what God wants. Prayer expresses our desire; worship expresses God's desire. Prayer expresses our will, while worship expresses God's will.
How we need to learn from Moses' actions in Exodus 34:8-9! He saw that God was severe, and he could do nothing but kneel and bow down to the ground. Moses did not reason with God. Moses did not ask Him what would happen if He carried out such a punishment. He did not say, "If You do not forgive their sin, what will the Israelites do? If You visit their iniquity to the third or fourth generation, what will I do? I have led the people in vain. Forty years have passed already; I cannot wait for three or four generations. I am finished. I have worked in vain." Moses did not exhort God to change. Instead, Moses worshipped. I do not know what to say. The greatest need among Christians today is to learn the lesson of knowing God's ways and embracing them. It does not matter how it affects me or what I want. (Moses had a desire. It was a consuming desire of his to enter the land of Canaan.) However, Moses first said, "You are right in whatever You want; I worship You." Brothers and sisters, we must not only learn to do God's will and accept His work; we also need to love God's ways and His decisions. We must like what God likes.
In the book of Joshua, God commissioned Joshua to lead the Israelites into the land of Canaan. What a weighty responsibility! Moses had become old and died; Aaron had died as well. The only person left was the young man Joshua. Those who had the ability to bear this burden had already gone, leaving a young man alone. What could he do? What must he have felt? The mature, experienced Moses could not do it; how can a young man like himself do it? How could he cope with the seven formidable tribes inhabiting the land of Canaan? And how could he lead a people like the children of Israel with their fear of death and their constant complaints? Joshua was faced with this challenge. Can we blame him for feeling overwhelmed? No, we cannot. If we were in the same circumstances, we would feel overwhelmed too.
At this point, however, Joshua saw a vision of a great Man with a drawn sword. Joshua did not recognize the Man and asked, "Are You for us or for our adversaries?" (5:13). We must pay close attention to this question. How did the Man answer him? Many people erroneously believe that the Man said He had come to help Joshua, but the Man did not answer in this way. In His answer He first said, "Neither," that is, I am not here to help you, nor to help your adversaries. I am here for only one thing; "as the Captain of Jehovah's army have I now come" (v. 14). Thank God for doing this. Thank God that this is what the Lord Jesus does! He does not help us, neither does He help our adversaries, but He comes as the Captain of the Lord's army. If we are God's army, then He comes to be our Captain. This is not a question of receiving help, but of accepting leadership. He has not come to offer assistance but to demand subjection. He does not come to help but to lead. He says, "As the Captain of Jehovah's army have I now come." How did Joshua react when he heard these words? "Joshua fell to the ground upon his face and worshipped."
Brothers and sisters, we must learn the ways of God, and this is another of His ways. God does nothing to assist us or to assist our enemies. God does not stand in the midst of the conflict giving a little help here or there. God wants to be the Captain, and He demands our submission. In the face of so many foes, the need would not be answered if God merely helped us. Submitting to Him will solve the whole problem.
The issue is not whether or not God is helping us, but whether we are submitting to His leadership. When He is in command, all is well. A great trouble today among God's children is that we want everything to revolve around us and everything to serve our interests. But God will not allow this. He wants to bring us to the point of simply submitting to Him. When this matter is settled, all other problems vanish.
Joshua fell to the ground upon his face and worshipped. If we know God's ways by knowing Him as our Captain, God will handle everything, and we will worship Him. God does not come to assist us in battle; He comes to lead the troops. If we hope He will help us in the fight, we have misunderstood God. God comes to lead the troops. We must submit before Him. When we learn the true meaning of worship, we will also know that there is now a sword drawn on our behalf.
In the book of Judges there is a section that relates to Gideon. In chapter seven Gideon had no assurance; he did not know if he would be able to win the battle. He went to the camp of the Midianites and heard one Midianite say to another, "I have just had a dream. There was this round loaf of barley bread tumbling through the camp of Midian. And it came to the tent and struck it, so that it fell and turned upside down. And the tent collapsed. And his companion answered and said, This is nothing else but the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel. God has delivered Midian and all the camp into his hand." When Gideon heard the account of the dream and its interpretation, he worshipped (vv. 13-15). Gideon did not just worship God; he also worshipped for the things God would do. He did not just worship God for His power; he also worshipped for the way in which God would defeat the Midianites, for His choosing, and for the way in which He was pleased to fight the Midianites. It is God's ways and methods that bring in the worship in this instance. Praise God that it is easy for Him to open a way for us. It seems absurd to expect three hundred men to overthrow the Midianite army, yet God is able to make a way. Please remember that God wants us to constantly emphasize one matter: The portion that God should receive from His children is worship. This does not mean that the work of God is not important, but this does mean that worshipping God is to glorify God. This is what God requires of us.
In 1 Samuel 1 we truly touch the spirit of worship. Remember that Hannah did not have any children. Her husband had two wives. The other wife had children, but Hannah was barren and suffered much for it. Therefore, she begged the Lord for a child, and her request was granted. As soon as the child was weaned, she brought him to the temple in Shiloh and said, "It was for this child that I prayed, and Jehovah has granted me my request that I requested from Him. Therefore I, for my part, have lent him to Jehovah; all the days that he lives, he is lent to Jehovah" (vv. 27-28). Do we see these two phrases? They are exceedingly precious to me. Read them together. "Jehovah has granted me..I, for my part, have lent him to Jehovah." Jehovah gave the child to her, and she gave the child back to Him. No answer to prayer surpasses this one. The sum total of her request before God was this child. She had suffered for a lifetime. Her constant hope was to have this child, but what did she say in the end? "What You have given me, I will give to You; I will give You the portion You have given me." O brothers and sisters, of such a person it can be truly written that she "worshipped Jehovah." Hannah worshipped God in this instance. Only the person who wants God Himself, rather than His gift, can worship Him worthily. Hannah showed us what was supremely precious to her — not the gift of God, not the fact He was willing to hear her prayer, not even Samuel whom He gave, but God's way in giving Samuel to her.
God gave her Samuel, so she gave Samuel to God. When Samuel passed out of her hands, worship came forth. Please remember that no one who is not consecrated can worship God. I think that some among us understand this matter. The day in which we give everything to God, including our "Samuel," will be the day in which we begin to learn how to worship. The day in which we see the altar is the day in which we learn to worship.
I can never forget Abraham. Lately, we have referred to him frequently, but I cannot refrain from mentioning him again. I never cease to be impressed by the preciousness of his remark to his servants in Genesis 22. When he was about to ascend the mountain with Isaac, he said to his servants, "I and the lad will go yonder and worship" (v. 5). He did not say to sacrifice or make an offering, but to worship. It was not sacrifice but worship. His worship was to offer Isaac up to God. It was good for God to do things in this way, and he worshipped Him. O brothers and sisters, I do not believe that anyone who has not really consecrated his all can truly worship God. If we do not have this kind of consecration, we will be unable to worship even if we try. But when the day comes, as it came for Hannah, that our "Samuel," in whom all our hopes are centered, passes out of our hands into God's hands, then worship will flow out to God with him. Hannah knew the ways of God. Since God had given her a son, she gave him to God, not just once, but for all the days of his life. She worshipped God in this position.
Worship always follows the cross and the altar. Wherever there is the cross, the altar, consecration, and obedience to the ways of God, there is worship. Wherever one gives up working for one's self or holding on to something for one's self, there is worship. Worship is saying that we are not the center. The meaning of worship is that God is the center. The meaning of worship is that I step aside and give all the space to God. It is necessary for "Samuel" to pass out of our hands.
The ways of God do not always correspond to what we have prayed for. The reverse is often true. The ways of God do not always mean prosperity for us; not infrequently they bring adversity. What should our attitude be toward these ways of God? Recall the record of David's sin in 2 Samuel 12. Bathsheba became pregnant and bore a son. God sent the prophet Nathan with the message that the child would surely die. David had sinned, but he loved his son even though the child was the fruit of his sin. David, like all fathers, loved his child. What did he do? He prayed ceaselessly before God, hoping that God would heal the child. But God said, "Because you have given the enemies of Jehovah much occasion to blaspheme Him because of this thing, the son who is born to you shall also surely die" (v. 14). You all know that David knew how to pray. We can see how well David prayed in the Psalms. David not only prayed but also fasted. All night long he lay prostrate on the ground praying fervently. In the end, however, the child died.
Anyone who is not consecrated, who does not know God, who is not truly in subjection to God, after praying so well and so fervently with fasting, lying prostrate on the ground all night, surely would charge God with harshness when such a request was not granted. Many would say that God is too strict and would never worship Him again. They would stop going to the bread-breaking meeting. They would stop petitioning God and praying to Him. Oh, many people have controversy with God when their ways are not His ways. They fight and argue with God. They ask God why He did such a thing to them. Many people do not submit to God's ways. They say, "I cannot accept the fact that You have touched me in this way." They may not speak this aloud, but they disagree in their hearts and feel that God is too harsh.
The strange thing is that when others would have rebelled, David did not rebel. When others would have been disappointed, David was not disappointed. When others would have murmured, David did not murmur. When the child died, his servants were afraid to break the news to him. They thought that if David had been so overwhelmed with anxiety when the child fell sick, his grief would be insupportable when he learned of the child's death. What happened? "Then David rose up from the ground and washed and anointed himself and changed his clothes. And he went to the house of Jehovah and worshipped. Then he went to his house; and when he requested it, they set food before him, and he ate" (v. 20). Worship is bowing to the ways of God. When we submit to the ways of God, this is worship. It is refraining from disappointment and murmuring. It is, henceforth, not being negative, nor arguing with God. Instead, it is saying, "God, You are right in this." This is worshipping God's ways.
It is often necessary for God to do many things to us to vindicate Himself. Do we understand the meaning of this? God often has to vindicate Himself by making it clear to the angels, to the devil, to the world, and to all His children that He has no part in our sin. When we fail, fall, and do certain things, God's governing hand must come in to vindicate Himself by showing all the angels, demons, worldly people, and the church that He has no part in our action. For this reason, God places us in the fire, and His governing hand is upon us; He does not let us off. How do we react at such times? Those who know and love God, those who have a revelation of Him and have seen His appearing, will bow before God and say, "If my suffering vindicates Your holiness, then I say, `Amen.' If You can make known Your righteousness by my tribulations, then I acknowledge that You do all things well. If Your nature can be vindicated in this way, I gladly accept the sufferings You give me." This is the way to worship God.
Please note that David acted as a normal human being in this experience. I often feel that God's Word shows us people's inner feelings. David was not devoid of love for his child, nor was he lacking in prayer for the boy. He loved his son and prayed for him. He was not devoid of human affections; he was like all other people in the world. Many spiritual people seem to live in an ethereal realm; they do not seem to be living on earth. They do not act like normal human beings but do things in a peculiar manner. In contrast, David was a normal person with human emotions and love. However, when He saw God's ordination in this, he bowed before Him in worship.
May God deliver us from our controversies with Him! We often do not get what we hope, expect, or ask for. If we have the vision, we will say, "God, this is Your way; I bow before You in worship! I know that You are never wrong." Brothers and sisters, let me say again that no one can worship God without submitting to His ways. In order to worship Him, revelation is a basic requirement. In order to worship His ways, subjection is a basic requirement. Apart from revelation, we cannot worship God Himself; apart from subjection we cannot worship His ways. We need to be brought to the point where we say, "God, I submit to You even if You take away what I hold most dear and precious. My submission is worship. You are God; You are never wrong. Your ways are never wrong. I praise You."
I count it as the greatest blessing of my life to have known Miss Barber. Scores of times, perhaps even hundreds of times, I heard her pray, "Lord, I worship You for Your ways." I know these were her deepest, strongest prayers. Scores of times in prayer she said, "God, I praise Your ways." Please remember that God's ways do not always mean a prospering of our ways, nor are they always beneficial to us. God does not always hear our prayer. We may have prayed with fasting, but the child still dies. At this point, we must say, "God I worship you." At such times, we must still worship the ways of God.
Finally, we need to see that God sometimes refuses prayer because He wants to break us, like breaking David, or wants to vindicate Himself and His holiness. In the following illustration, Job was a righteous man who had herds of cattle, flocks of sheep, and children. One day a servant came to tell him that the Sabeans had stolen all his cattle. Then another servant told him that fire from heaven had burned up all his flocks; nothing was left. Yet another servant told him that he had been robbed and nothing was left. Finally, another servant then came and told him that a great wind from beyond the desert had destroyed his house and killed all his children. Four different servants came and told him that nothing was left (Job 1:13-18). Then Job, whom the Lord said knew of His endurance, rose up, tore his clothes, shaved his head, and fell to the earth and worshipped (v. 20). This was the first thing he did. He not only worshipped God Himself but also His ways. Please remember that there was no element of vindication in this instance as there was in the case of David. It was purely a matter of God doing as He pleased. Nothing was going the right way; there was only suffering. In one day he lost everything; in a matter of minutes he was bereft of everything. Job was a man who submitted to the ways of God. He was able to say, "God, You have done right."
Brothers and sisters, I do not know what you have gone through, but I do know that God is doing a stripping work on many people, causing them to lose much and blocking their ways. I would like to find out how they are reacting. Many people disqualify themselves from blessing because they keep kicking, fighting, and questioning. They murmur, "Why do others not have such difficulties? Why am I the only one with problems? Everyone else turns mud into gold, but I turn gold into mud. Everything I touch goes wrong." They do not understand why it goes well with others while they have problems. It is easy for others to be Christians, but with them it is not so easy. Perhaps they can do things better than others, but they meet with so many difficult situations. Let me say that it does not matter what we say. We still must learn to obey God and submit before Him. We must learn to receive God's ways. God is in our business, among our friends, and in our environment. The ways He has ordained for us are all good. They are good both in suffering and in happiness. When we submit to God's ways, we will worship.
A true worshipper cannot complain. Job 1:20 tells us that we must accept the Lord's ways without question. It does not matter whether the circumstances are good or bad. Practicing this is true worship. I do not know what God's ways are with us. It does not matter whether or not God provides a reason for our suffering; God is always good. God had a reason in David's case; it was his sin. We are able to explain this suffering. However, often there is no reason, no sin. We are not worse than other Christians; we may even be somewhat better than others. So then why do we meet with these difficulties? We should only praise God from the bottom of our hearts and submit to His ways. We must say, "God, what You have done is best. I bow before You in worship because what You have done is best."
May God grant us grace from this day forth to offer Him not only the worship that is borne out of revelation but also the worship that expresses itself in submission and consecration. There are two aspects to our worship; one comes through revelation, and it is the worship of God Himself. The other is to worship the ways of God through our submission. We must say that whatever God does to us is right. Whatever God does is always right.
O God, our God, we want to bow down and worship You. Everything that You have ordained is good. We often choose our own way, but You hinder us and do not prosper us. You seem to cause us to run into a wall. We would like to say that this is best if it pleases You. We cannot ask why You have done this. We cannot ask why You have treated our brothers and sisters in one way and us in another way. We cannot ask why You have given grace to some brothers and sisters but do not give grace to us. We want to accept Your ways. We want to accept them when they are reasonable and when they are not. We want to accept them when they prosper us and when they do not. Teach us to see our ways, and teach us to see Your ways. You do not need to give us a reason for what You have done. Whatever You do is right. Stop us from arguing and reasoning about every matter. Save us from all the "whys." Save us from all the questionings. We look to You to save us. Bring our hearts to the point where we become the footstool to Your throne for You to step. Enable us to submit and to worship. Bless our brothers and sisters. We look to You to give grace to us. In the name of the Lord Jesus, amen.
Watchman Nee
"For we walk by faith, not by appearance" (2 Cor. 5:7).
"Behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, conversing with Him" (Matt. 17:3).
"When they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus Himself alone" (v. 8).
"Hear Him!" (v. 5b).
"But to me it is a very small thing that I should be examined by you or by man's day; rather I do not even examine myself. For I am conscious of nothing against myself; but I am not justified by this, but He who examines me is the Lord" (1 Cor. 4:3-4).
"The tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil" (Gen. 2:9b).
"And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (vv. 16-17). (The tree of the knowledge of good and evil can also be translated "the tree of the knowledge of right and wrong.")
After God created man, He considered the problem of man's food. The act of giving life is the beginning of life, but food is for the maintenance of life. God created a living man and therefore needed to consider how man should live. Man should not just live; man also needs a living. God wanted man to depend on Him for his living in the same way that he was dependent upon food for his living. "For in Him we live and move and are" (Acts 17:28). Thus, God uses two trees to speak to us in a parable. The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil are a kind of parable. They show us that man has two different kinds of food and can live either by life or by the knowledge of good and evil, that is, the knowledge of right and wrong. Many people have read about the two trees in Genesis 2, but we would like to emphasize that the two trees were put there to show us that man, especially a Christian, can live on earth according to two different principles. Man can live according to the principle of right and wrong or according to the principle of life. Some Christians take the principle of right and wrong as the standard for their living, while other Christians take the principle of life as their standard for living.
Today we would like to spend some time before God to see these two principles for living. What does it mean when a person lives according to right and wrong? What does it mean when a person lives according to life? Many people only have the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in their lives. Other people have the tree of life in their lives. Some have both trees. The Word of God tells us, however, that he who eats of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil shall surely die, while he who eats of the tree of life shall live. God also shows us that whoever lives by the knowledge of good and evil will lose his position before God. If man wants to constantly live before God, then he must know what it means to eat the fruit of the tree of life.
Here, I would like to add another principle for living: the principle of sin. You could say that everyone in the world can live according to at least three principles: they can live by sin, or they can live by right and wrong, or they can live by life.
What does this mean? It is very simple. Many people live on earth by following the lusts of their flesh. They are sons of wrath who are bound by the fashions of the world. They live and act according to the operation of the evil spirits in their hearts. Their principle for living is that they live by sin (Eph. 2:1-3). This morning I do not want to speak about this principle. I believe that many among us have already left the principle of sin. What we will consider this morning is apart from the principle of sin. These two trees represent two principles of living. After becoming Christians, some people live by the principle of right and wrong, while others live by the principle of life.
In speaking about this matter, I am making the assumption that we have already left the principle of sin and are walking before God. If we would consider a little, we would see that some people live according to the principle of right and wrong or good and evil. Please remember that the principle of right and wrong, the principle of good and evil, is not Christianity. Christianity is a matter of life, not of being according to a standard. Christianity speaks of life, not of good and evil. Christianity teaches life, not right and wrong. There are many young brothers and sisters here this morning. I would like to tell you that after you received the Lord Jesus and gained a new life, you gained something marvelous inwardly. You obtained another principle of living. But if you do not know about it, you will set the principle of life aside and begin to follow the principle of right and wrong.
What is the principle of right and wrong? If our conduct is controlled by the principle of right and wrong, then we ask if something is right or wrong whenever we have to make a decision. Would it be good to do this, or would it be evil? When we ask whether it is good, we are, in effect, asking ourselves, "Am I right to do this or not?" Many people consider much whether something is good or evil. They consider whether they can or cannot do a certain thing. They ask, "Is this right or wrong?" As they carefully consider a certain matter, being Christians, they determine whether it is good and right to do that thing. By taking care to decide whether or not something is good and right, they consider themselves to be good Christians.
God's Word says, "The tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Gen. 2:17). At the most, this practice is only a discerning of good from evil. At best, it is merely choosing and rejecting — choosing good and rejecting evil. This is not Christianity. Christianity does not have an outward good and an outward evil. It does not have a definite standard in place. I may choose something good and reject something evil today, but this is not Christianity. It is the Old Testament, the law, worldly religions, human morality, and human ethics, but it is not Christianity.
What is Christianity? Christianity is life. Christianity is not a matter of asking whether something is right or wrong. Christianity is a matter of checking with the life inside us whenever we do something. What does the new life which God has given us tell us inwardly about this matter? It is very strange that many people have only seen an outward standard, the standard of good and evil. But God has not given us an outward standard. Christianity is not a new set of Ten Commandments. In Christianity we have not been brought to a new Sinai, nor has God given us a new set of rules and regulations with "Thou shalt" and "Thou shalt not." Christianity does not require that we ask whether something is right or wrong, good or evil. On the contrary, whenever we do anything, there is a life within us which rises up to speak with us. When we feel right inwardly, when we feel the life inside of us moving, when we are strong within and sense the anointing, we know that we have life. Many times something is right and good in the eyes of man, but strangely the inner life has no response and grows cold and retreats.
Please remember, God's Word tells us that our Christian living is based on an inner life, not an outward standard of right and wrong. Many worldly people, who are not saved, live according to the best standard of living they can attain: the principle of right and wrong. If you or I also live by the principle of right or wrong, we are the same as worldly people. Christians are different from non-Christians because we do not live by an outward standard or law. Our subject is not human morality or concepts. We do not determine whether something is right or wrong by subjecting it to human criticism or opinion. Today we have only one question: What does our inner life say? If the life is strong and active within us, we can do this; if the life is cold and retreating within us, we should not. Our principle for living is inward instead of outward. This is the only real principle of living; the others are false. People may say that many things are right to do, and I may feel that to do them is right, but what does the sense of the inner life tell us? The inner life does not agree. If we were to do them, we would not be rewarded, and if we were not to do them, there should be no shame, because they are outside of us. We can only see what is really right when the Spirit of God operates within us. If we feel that there is life inwardly, then that matter is right. If we do not feel the inward life, then the matter is wrong. Right and wrong are not decided by an outward standard but by the inner life.
Once this matter is resolved, we can see that we must not only avoid all that is evil but also all that is merely good. Christians can only do that which comes out of life. We can see that there are evil things, good things, and things of life. We are not saying that Christians should only do things that are good and things that are of life. Rather, we are saying that Christians must not do good things or evil things. God said, "Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Note that "good and evil" are put together here as one way, while "life" is another way. Christians should not just refuse evil, they should even refuse good. There is a standard that is higher than the standard of good; it is the standard of life.
I have spoken about this matter with many young brothers, but I would like to repeat my story again today. When I first began to serve the Lord, I sought to avoid all that was evil and deliberately set myself to do what was good. According to the human point of view, I seemed to be making splendid progress in avoiding evil and doing good. There was a problem, however. Since I was pursuing right and wrong, I wanted to be clear about what was right and what was wrong in each matter before I did anything. At that time I had a co-worker who was two years older than I, and we were always disagreeing. The differences that arose between us did not concern our own personal affairs. Our disagreements were about public matters, and our disputes were public too. I used to say to myself: That is wrong; if he wants to do things that way, I will protest. But no matter how much I protested, he would never give way. His only excuse was that he was two years older than I. I could argue with any other reason, but I could not argue with the fact that he was two years older than I. I could not get around this argument, but inwardly I did not agree with him. I told this story to an elderly sister, who had a wealth of spiritual experience, and I asked her to arbitrate. Was he right or was I? She did not say he was right, nor did she say he was wrong. She simply stared at me and said, "You should do as he says." I was unhappy inwardly and thought, "If I am right, tell me so; if I am wrong, then say it. Why do you say that I should do as he says?" I asked her to give me a reason for her answer. She said, "In the Lord the younger should submit to the older." "But," I retorted, "in the Lord, if the younger is right and the older wrong, must the younger still submit?" At that time I was in secondary school and had learned nothing of discipline, so I gave free vent to my anger. She still smiled and said, "You had better do as he says."
Once some people were going to be baptized, and there were three of us caring for the matter. I was the youngest, then the brother two years older than I, and finally there was a Brother Wu, who was seven years older than he. I thought, "You are two years older than I, so I have to submit to you in everything. He is even older; let us see whether or not you will submit." We got together to discuss this matter, but he refused to accept anything from Brother Wu. At every point he insisted on having his own way. Finally, he said, "Just leave things to me; I will do it alone." I thought, "What kind of logic is this? You insist that I always obey you because you are my senior, but you never need to obey your senior." Immediately I sought out this sister to ask her about this matter. I was upset that she did not pay attention to right or wrong. She stood up and asked, "Have you not seen what the life of Christ is? Over the past few months, you have continually come to say that you are right and this brother is wrong. Do you not know what the cross is? You are insisting on the rightness of the matter, but I insist upon the life of the cross." I had been insisting upon right and wrong. I had not seen the matter of life, nor the cross. So she asked me, "Do you think you are right in doing this? Do you think you are right to say these things? Do you think it is right for you to tell me these things? They are all right according to reason, but I would ask how you feel inwardly. What is your inner sense?" I could only confess that I had been right according to reason but wrong according to the inner life.
The standard of Christian living does not only deal with evil things but also with good and right things. Many matters are right according to human standards, but the divine standard pronounces them wrong because they lack the divine life. On the day to which I just referred, I saw this light for the first time. From then on I began to ask myself if the life I lived before God was according to the principle of life or the principle of what I considered right and wrong. I would check, "Am I doing this just because it is right?" The key to everything is this point: Others may say something is right. We also may say that it is right, but does the Lord's life rise up within us or does it recede when we begin to do something? When we begin to do something, do we sense the anointing or do we feel weighed down? As we are doing that thing, do we have an increasing sense that we are on the right track, or is something telling us that we are off? Please remember that life does not make decisions according to outward standards of right and wrong. Matters should be decided according to the sense of God's life or the sense of death. Decisions should be made according to God's life as it rises up or recedes within us. No Christian should say that he can do something because it is good or right. We must ask the Lord within us. What is the inner feeling that the Lord gives? Do we feel joyful inwardly about this matter? Do we have spiritual happiness and peace? These are the matters that decide our spiritual path.
When I was visiting Honor Oak, there was another brother who was also a guest there. He had many criticisms of the place. He had been a pastor and was a good preacher, and he knew that Honor Oak had much to offer spiritually. Still, he disapproved of many things. Whenever we ran into each other, he would tell me how much better his place was than Honor Oak. During the two or three months we were together, his criticism exceeded that of everyone else. One day he went too far, so I asked him, "You say Honor Oak is bad, so would it not be best if you left? Why do you remain here?" He answered, pointing to his heart, "The reason lies here; it wants to stay. Every time I pack my things to leave, my peace of heart leaves. Once I even left for two weeks, but I had to write and ask to return." I said, "Brother, have you seen these two ways: the way of life and the way of what you consider to be right or wrong?" He said, "Some days I go to my room to pack my bags as many as three times. But each time I want to leave, there is an inward forbidding. Inwardly, I feel that they are doing things wrong, but I also feel that it would be wrong for me to go." God had shown him that if he could receive spiritual help there, he should stay there to meet God. We all can see that this is not a matter of what we conceive as right or wrong. God uses His life to control His children.
The greatest error among God's children is that many people determine right and wrong by what they see. Many people determine right and wrong according to their backgrounds and based upon their years of experience. Therefore, they do not know what is really right and what is really wrong. Please remember that Christian living is based upon the inward life. Many people only have externalities before God. Many people decide what is right or wrong according to outward things. Life, however, is a different matter. Those with life know what it is.
I hope we all would see this before God: No Christian can determine anything apart from life. Whatever increases the inner life is right, and whatever decreases the inner life is wrong. No one should determine whether a matter is right or wrong by some outward standard.
I recall going to a certain place where the brothers were working with real effect. God was truly using them. If you were to ask me whether or not their work was perfect, I would have to say that there was room for improvement. In great humility they asked me to point out anything I saw that could be corrected, so I pointed out this and that. They asked me several times, but they did not change anything. Was I annoyed? No! A foolish person would become annoyed, but one who knows God could not be upset. I could only indicate external matters that needed adjustment, but I could not see what God was doing within them. I had no way to tell God what He should do within them.
In another place I visited, the brothers were not preaching the gospel. They discussed the matter with me and asked if I thought that they should be doing so. I answered, "Doctrinally speaking, we certainly should preach the gospel." They said they realized this as well, but that surprisingly God did not give them the life to do so. Those who know God can only stand aside in silence, for our pathway is His life, not right and wrong. The difference between these two principles is immense. Brothers and sisters, the contrast here is too great. So many people only think whether it is right or wrong for them to do something. But today we should not act according to what is right and what is wrong. The one question we must ask today is whether the divine life within us rises or falls. This is what must determine the path we take. Everything is decided in our hearts.
On the Mount of Transfiguration, Moses was present, representing the outward, moral standard, and Elijah was present, representing the outward, human standard (Matt. 17:3). We all know that Moses stands for the law, and Elijah stands for the prophets. The standard of the law was present, and the standard of the prophets was present. In the Old Testament the law and the prophets were most qualified to speak, but God silenced them here. God told Peter, "This is My Son, the Beloved...Hear Him!" (v. 5). Today the standard for Christian living is no longer the law, nor is it the prophets. The standard for Christian living is now Christ Himself; it is the indwelling Christ within us. Therefore, it is not a question of whether we are right or wrong but of whether or not the divine life in us agrees with something. Often, to our surprise, we find that the life within us disapproves of what we approve. When this happens, we cannot insist on what we think is right.
I recall a story of two brothers, both Christians, who had a rice paddy. Rice paddies need to be irrigated. Their paddy was halfway up a hill; others were lower down. In the great heat of the day they drew water and filled their paddy. In the evening they went to sleep. But while they were sleeping, the farmer lower down the hill dug a hole in the irrigation channel surrounding the brothers' field and let all the water flow into his field. The next morning the brothers saw what had happened, but they said nothing. Again they filled the channels with water. The following day they saw that their field had been emptied again, but they still did not say anything. They were Christians and felt that they should endure in silence. This happened every day for a week. Some people suggested that they stand guard in their field at night to catch the thief and beat him. They did not say a word in response; they just endured because they were Christians.
According to the human concept, they should have been walking joyfully, happily, and victoriously because they were enduring in silence, even after drawing water daily and having it stolen so many times. But strangely enough, even though they drew water every day and remained silent while others stole it, they did not have peace in their hearts. They then went to see a brother with some experience in the Lord's work and said, "We do not understand why we have no peace after enduring for seven or eight days. Christians should endure and allow others to steal from them, but we do not have peace in our hearts." This brother was very experienced. He said, "You have not done enough, nor have you endured enough. You should first fill the field of the person who has stolen your water. Then you can fill your own field. Go and try this, then see whether you will have peace within." They both agreed. The next day they got up earlier than usual and filled the field of the person who had stolen their water, before filling their own field. Strangely enough, they became more and more joyful as they filled that person's field. When they came to fill their own field, they had peace in their hearts. They were at peace with the thought of allowing that person to steal their water. After two or three days of doing this, the person who had stolen their water came to apologize, saying, "If this is Christianity, I want to hear about it."
This shows us that in the realm of right and wrong, enduring is right. What more can we ask one to do? These ones had spent an entire day drawing water, and not in ordinary weather, but in hot weather. They were not educated people; they were farmers. They had done the right and good thing. What else could one ask of them? Yet they had no peace inwardly. This illustrates the way of life. This is the way we take. The way of right and wrong is another way. Man says that right is good enough, but God says that only life is sufficient. We must do things to the point that joy and peace are produced inwardly. This is the difference between the way of life and the way of right and wrong. It seems as if right and wrong are sufficient and that nothing else is needed. But God is not satisfied with being right. He requires us to satisfy the divine life.
What does the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5—7 teach us? It teaches us nothing less than that being right is not enough. We must do things in a way which satisfies the life God has given us. This is the content of Matthew 5—7, the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount does not say that everything is all right as long as things are done according to what is right. Man asks why he has to turn the other cheek when someone hits him. Is it not good enough if we do not say anything when someone strikes us? Is it not wonderful that we have not rebuked him and have shown great restraint? But God says that it is not even enough to just lower our heads and leave when we are struck. This does not satisfy the inner life. We must turn our other cheek for that person to strike as well. This means that we have no hate in our hearts. We are not angry and can endure this treatment a second time. Life is humble. Life can turn the other cheek for another blow. This is the way of life.
Many people say that Matthew 5—7 is too difficult for them. I admit that it is. It is impossible for us to carry out Matthew 5—7. If we try, we will die because we cannot do it. However, we have another life within us. It tells us that we will not be happy if we do not do this. It does not matter how much we have been offended by a brother or sister. If we do not kneel down to pray for him or her, we will not have inward joy. It is good to endure in silence, but if we do not follow the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount, we will not have inward joy. The Sermon on the Mount teaches that we must satisfy the life of God within us. In doing these things, the divine life is satisfied, released, at peace, and happy. This is the whole matter: Are we walking in the way of life or in the way of right and wrong? If we read God's Word clearly, we will see that it is wrong to decide matters by the principle of right and wrong or to live, act, and have our being according to our self-life.
Sometimes we come across a brother who has acted very foolishly. According to what is proper, we should strongly exhort or rebuke him. We tell ourselves that he requires a serious, thorough dealing. We prepare ourselves to face the situation because we know he will be around for a few days. We go to his home and knock on the door, but then we ask ourselves whether we are right or wrong. He acted foolishly, so what can we do but exhort him? We have gone to his door and raised our hand to knock, but inwardly there is a problem. Our raised hand drops to our side. Even though we have convinced ourselves that we are right, this is not a matter of right or wrong. This is a matter of whether or not the life of God allows us. Many times when we go to exhort a brother, he will receive our exhortation with courtesy and promise to do what God says. Yet the more we preach to him, the more our inward being wilts. When we return home, we have to admit that we have been wrong in exhorting the brother! Therefore, it is not a matter of good or bad but a matter of being full of life inwardly.
I will give you another example. I met a needy brother a few days ago. He was extremely poor and needed some help. I thought that I certainly should do something for him because there was no prospect of help coming to him from any direction. Just at that point I had no surplus, so it was a great sacrifice to come to his aid. I seemed to be exceeding the limits of my strength to help him. According to what is proper, I was right. I should have been happy as I gave him some money. Yet for some unknown reason, I wilted inwardly as I gave him the money which I had promised to give him. A voice within said, "You are just acting on charity. That was not an act of life; it was merely human chivalry and natural kindness. It was not done in life but in yourself." God did not want me to do this. I have suffered concerning that matter for two or three weeks. Even though I had given the brother money, I had to bow before God, confess my sin, and ask His forgiveness when I reached home.
Brothers and sisters, as we live before God, our actions must not be determined by good and evil, but by the life within. Whatever life wants us to do is worthwhile. Anything that we do without life, no matter how good it may be, will bring us nothing but inward condemnation. A Christian should not only repent before God for the sins he has committed; often, he must repent before God for the good things he has done. The principle of our living is not one that differentiates between good and evil. We must come before God to determine what is of life and what is of death. When we have life within and feel life rising up, we are doing the proper thing. When the life does not rise up and we cannot sense the anointing in our being, we should not care whether we are acting according to right or wrong. Instead, we must confess before God and ask His forgiveness.
Paul said that he judged nothing by himself, but that only God judged him (1 Cor. 4:3-4). Many people do not understand this passage in 1 Corinthians. This sentence is very simple, but if we do not know life, it is very difficult. If we have an outward standard of good and evil, it is very easy to judge when we are wrong and right. Paul did not act according to an outward standard of right and wrong, so he could only say, "I do not even examine myself. For I am conscious of nothing against myself; but I am not justified in this, but He who examines me is the Lord." The one who examines us before the judgment seat is the Lord. In addition, we have a life within us that leads us on. That is the reason 2 Corinthians 5:7 says, "We walk by faith, not by appearance." We do not determine things by an outward, visible law. We live according to the leading which the Lord gives us inwardly.
We must learn the lesson before God that we should never act merely according to the standard of right and wrong. The standard of right and wrong is not bad; it is a good standard, but it is not good enough for a Christian. The Christian's standard surpasses right and wrong. The things which are wrong are wrong, but the things which are right are not always right. If we act according to God's life, He will show us that His demands are higher than those of human law. This being the case, it becomes very easy to live the Christian life. In every matter when we seek God's speaking within us, spontaneously there will be the shining of inward light. Please remember that our regeneration is a fact. It is also a fact that God is living in us through the Lord Jesus. The Lord is constantly expressing Himself within us. We hope that each of us would be able to say to God, "Grace me so that I live by the tree of life, not by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. I want to constantly pay attention to life. I want to ask, `What is the sense of life?'" If we live by this principle, we will see a great change in our Christian life.
Many problems arise because we only have a standard of right and wrong. Many mistakes are made because we do not have the standard of life. If we have the standard of life, many problems will be resolved.
O Lord, we stand before You beseeching You to speak again. Man is empty and cannot do anything. We can only ask for Your grace to open our eyes. Every time we open our mouths or make decisions, cause us to come before You and ask if our decision is according to right and wrong or according to the inward leading of life. Lord, cause us to see the difference between what is spiritual and what is fleshly. Cause us to really see the difference between inward light and outward law. Lord, save us from the way of death. Lord, it is wrong for us to live by discerning right from wrong. May we see that discerning right from wrong is sin and death, because only those who live in death can do this. Those who live in life must be led by life. It must be the life that takes the lead. Lord, be among us so that we would see this clearly. We have said this many times, and we want to say it again: May Your Word not be spoken in vain. Cause us to know what life is and what law is. Bless these scattered utterances. Have mercy on us, and grace us. Lead us in the way before us. In the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.
Watchman Nee
THEME: Messages specifically on life.
CONTENTS: The contents describe the light we received before God and the lessons we learned in order to help God's children have practical growth in the aspect of life.
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Periodical Subscription DepartmentShanghai Gospel Book RoomJanuary 1, 1951
