They That Honor God, God Will Honor (continued)
Beloved, that represents something very, very valuable to the Lord and gives the Lord a way. There was never for one moment a hint that it was in themselves to do anything. You read chapter one and you find that those who were brought in before the king, of the children of the captivity, were to be of the royal seed and of those who held high positions among the Jews in their own nation, socially and intellectually; they were to be wise, taught in all the learning and science of their own people and well read, and Daniel and the other three were chosen because they occupied that high position socially and intellectually and were learned in all the wisdom of their people, but never for one moment in the hour of crisis did they hint that any ability of theirs would solve the problem, would give the answer. "There is a God in heaven." They honored God. They gave no honor in the first place to the king's meat. The difficulty with the prince of the eunuchs was that if Daniel carried out his purpose, and his brethren did likewise, their countenances would be poorer and they would look less well nourished than those who received the king's meat. Daniel and his brethren honored God and refused to give any honor to the king's meat or wine. If they looked the same as the others, having partaken of the king's food,s where was the superiority of the spiritual over the natural? And so they determined to refuse the king's meat and they said in effect: "At the end of the time of probation you will find that we are better than the rest, without the meat." They honored God, they were trusting God, they gave no honor to the king's meat. They took no honor to themselves and their own ability. They attributed all to God, and whenever a situation of difficulty arose they went to the Lord about it. In the first instance, the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel having been given a space of time sought out his three brethren and before the Lord they sought guidance. You see it was always honoring God: "For them that honor Me I will honor," and He did (1 Samuel 2:30).
This is perhaps a very simple principle and you may hardly see the force of it but a vessel that is really going to bring God into evidence, and the heavens into evidence so that the forces of hell and earth are going to have to take account of this and say: "There is that here which cannot be accounted for on any human ground whatever this is something beyond the natural, this is something more than man, this is none other than God," a vessel that is going to bring in a testimony like that, a vessel that is going to be instrumental in making every knee to bow to Him, has got to be one which is wholly and utterly relying and dependent upon the Lord, taking nothing to itself, honoring God. It must be a vessel which is empty of everything but the Lord and gives the Lord His place, and in everything it is perfectly clear that it is the Lord; not man or woman, the company, the movement, the organization, not the brain behind the thing, the ability, the acumen, but the Lord; on the human plane there is nothing to account for this; this is the Lord.
That is what the Lord is after, to get that testimony. It was like that in the first days of the Church. "For behold your calling, brethren, that not many wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called; but God chose the foolish things of the world, that He might put to shame them that are wise; and God chose the weak things of the world, that He might put to shame the thing that are strong; and the base things of the world, and the things that are despised, did God choose, yea, and the things that are not, that He might bring to nought the things that are; that no flesh should glory before God" (1 Corinthians 1:26-29). But the thing which governs that strange providence of God in making sure that His vessel is an empty one and in himself a weak one and one which will take no honor to itself, the thing which governs Him in so dealing with His vessel is to make sure that all who see, know, wholly attribute it to Himself. You want God to come in? God will come in in the measure in which you go out! The heavens will come in in so far as we are emptied and stripped of all natural resources, and if we are emptied out to the last drop that may be God's way of making room for a larger manifestation of heaven. It is true to spiritual experience. When you are weak and conscious of personal helplessness, that is not the time to throw up your hands and say: "I am no good for anything and never shall be," that is the time to say there is plenty of room for the Lord, and to exercise faith in the Lord to come in, and the Lord's providences and sovereignty operate along the line of weakening us to make us strong.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 53)
No comments:
Post a Comment