SPIRITUAL GROWTH

T.N.Pye

Psalm 132: 1-7; 1 Samuel 17: 34-36; 22: 1,2; 2 Samuel 1: 1,2; 2: 1; 5: 1-3; 6: 12-15

I would like to say something, dear brethren, about growth in divine things, and to use David as an illustration. Psalm 132, I think, relates to David's beginnings; it is a very interesting Psalm, a very encouraging Psalm. It is one of the Songs of degrees, the going-up Psalms, all very interesting to follow up. But this one brings out David's beginnings. He says "Jehovah, remember for David all his affliction; How he swore" - how he did it - "swore unto Jehovah, vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob". I am going to ask, Have you desires for Christ? I think David here expresses a man with desires for Christ. Christianity is given to us for desire. I think we miss a good deal because we do not seek after things, we do not desire them. Paul refers to "all indeed who desire to live piously in Christ Jesus" (2 Tim 3: 12); that desire will bring about something. It will involve suffering of course, but I am not speaking about that at the moment but just to bring out the point that the force of the word is, Have you the desire for it? David had the desire for it; that was a good beginning. Who creates that desire? The Spirit of God; He works in us to create desires for Christ. He stirs up the feelings that you want to have Christ and nobody else. Is that not wonderful, when you find that and have had some experience of it, a time when you just wanted to get more of Jesus? David was like that; these desires came out and he committed himself to them. I call attention to these things because I would like to encourage all of us, from the very youngest; if you have a longing after Jesus the Spirit of God will promote something in you. So have a desire for it and then commit yourself to these desires. A good many of us can say from sad experience that we did not commit ourselves to these right desires; there has been a lot of time lost and we would not want anybody to lose any more time. Commit yourself to your desires for Christ. That is what David did. He says "I will not come" - I will not! - "I will not come into the tent of my house, I will not go up to the couch of my bed; I will not give sleep to mine eyes, slumber to mine eyelids". I think it is to bring out the ardency of affection for Christ. One feels how small one's measure; love for Christ is our measure. What is going through into eternity is just what is formed of Him, and it all starts this way. I would like to encourage young ones because it is so simple; things begin simply; it is not outside the range of anybody, it is within your range.

I understand that David was about seventeen when he wrote this Psalm - you may be about seventeen. I never forget Mr.H.F.Nunnerley saying in meetings in Edinburgh (in 1950 I think it was) that Mr Taylor said that he was conscious of having the Spirit when he was eight years old. Nobody is excluded; even at that age, there was a lad who was conscious of having the Spirit. You do not have the Spirit if you have not a link with Christ. Your affection comes out as David's affection for the ark comes out. Another thing you need if you are going to grow is affection for Christ, desires after Him. Commit yourself to such desires.

David says he will not do certain things. It is a good resolve to make, that you are not going to go this way, that you are not going to go that way, you are going to go straight forward: that was David. He had in mind to find out a habitation. At seventeen years old he was thinking of a house for God to dwell in, a dwelling place for God. Yes, you can think about that no matter how young you are. So he says, we heard of it: "we heard of it at Ephratah". I understand that is Bethlehem-Judah; that would be just the local meeting. We heard about it at Ephratah. Oh, you say, Yes, I remember the meeting when a certain thing was said in Dundee, just a local meeting - Kirkcaldy, Edinburgh, wherever you come from - we heard of it at Ephratah. I think in the local meeting you get an impression of Christ that stimulates desires to seek after Him and to find Him; they heard about the ark there. I suppose he heard about it in his father's house too; that would be in Bethlehem-Judah as well. What is spoken about in our houses is a very important thing, that we talk about Jesus. They heard about it; as the brethren speak about Christ it stirs up desires, stirs up longings. Then, "we found it in the fields of the wood". I suppose this would be a reference to Abinadab's house, but "we found it in the fields of the wood" an obscure place but we found it. It is not that he was looking for something and never found it. How many people are longing for something and they cannot find it. David says "we found it". O! have you found Christ for yourself?

I never think of this scripture without I think of the ark coming back. Who was concerned about the ark? It had been given up into captivity, it had been in the Philistines' land, but the ark comes back, not because somebody brought it but because the Lord is able to see Himself through. I think He comes Himself into your life; that is how you find Him; in His own glory He projects Himself. In the fields of the wood; the milch kine, lowing as they went (see 1 Sam 6: 12), represent persons who are not thinking about their own things but thinking about the rights of Christ and the rights of God. So the ark is brought into its own place. It had a place in David's heart. I would say, has Christ a place in your heart? How much place does He have? How much room have you given Him? Could you give Him more? Could we today stir up desires that Christ, being so attractive, so well worth having, you want to give Him more room? That is what David is doing here, and as he is doing it he is growing in his longings for God; he says "we found it in the fields of the wood. Let us go into his habitations". This is a wonderful theme; it goes, you might say, from initial impressions to final conditions - worship. I know it refers to his footstool, but it is the idea of going right through, into the whole thoughts of God. You get Christ, shall I say the Babe in Simeon's arms, and you have everything secured for God and everything settled. I think that is wonderful. We have found it. I think Simeon found it, the Babe in his arms; he found it in the fields of the wood.

I referred to the historical side just to call attention to some of the things that come out in David's life and experience. Where I read in 1 Samuel 17 it is another thing in spiritual growth, the question of our secret links with Christ which are vital to our spiritual formation. Nobody would ever have known about this experience if David had not told us himself. Now I do not think there would be one here who has not had some experience with God that he has never old anybody about, at least maybe not for a long time. He was a young man, feeding the sheep; his father had given him a job to do and he got on with it. He says a lion came up. If you are exercised about Christ, the enemy will be busy; if you are trying to protect the rights of Christ, what belongs to Him, the enemy will be at you. That is what David found; he had this desire to find a resting place, to find a place for the flock and a lion was there, was in the way, a lion in the street. How many of us have been turned aside because there was a lion in the street! Not David! It says it came and took one of the lambs, but it says, Thy servant smote both the lion and the bear - smote them both - "And I went after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth; and when he arose against me, I seized him by the beard and smote him and slew him”. In your experience it is simple exercise but you meet opposition and what do you do. David says he went after it. Why? because here was something at stake, there was a lamb going to be lost; and so David goes after this lion and smote it, and when it turned round on him he just took it by the beard; he seized him by his beard. You think of the power of God that is for you when you take up things for Christ! Well, to be very simple, you are helped to confess His name and you find that somebody is against you, you find there is opposition. The name of the Lord is a strong tower; all the power of the enemy represented in a lion is nothing for David. You confess His name and you will find that power comes in to meet it; the lion has no power against the King of kings; he may be the king of beasts, but there is the King of kings! I only contrast the two expressions so that we go in wholeheartedly, committed to things; just make way yourself, as you are working out your exercises day by day, to protect what is of pleasure to Christ - a lamb is always a pleasure. Someone says something about the brethren; how do you react? David met it here and he says he seized him and slew him, he slew both the lion and the bear. Secret history with God is most important. Another thing I would like to suggest is that after a victory get to God because it is a moment of danger. I think you and I would have come home and said, A lion came today and I slew it - a tremendous sense of triumph; but not David, he kept it to himself. Your secret links with God are vital to your spiritual growth.

In chapter 22 reference is made to the stronghold. This scripture is very often used of David as a type of Christ and all gathering to Him. But what I want to call attention to as to the stronghold is that you have loyalty for Christ. The persons that came to David were in debt and distress and so on, but they were loyal, they gathered round him. David was a great gatherer. In Chronicles you get the three gathering points: Ziklag, the stronghold and Hebron. He did not gather in Jerusalem, but he gathers in these places. Christ is the great gathering centre. Here David is in the wilderness; it was the time of his rejection, and persons are coming up in loyalty. O! take your place in loyalty to Christ; come under His authority. You say, That is going to be a test. It will mean you cannot have your own will. "And he became a captain over them"; it is like the lordship of Christ. The first book of Samuel is a very interesting section to follow through. I think it involves the teaching of Romans. When you come to the end of 1 Samuel you get the going up line, going up in the light of Colossians, but this is Roman teaching and it is the lordship of Christ; you come under His sway, you come under His authority. This is vital to your growth. If you resist the authority of Christ where will you land? Is anybody seeking to go outside the bounds? Salvation is with David. With Christ is the only safe place. That is another thing you will find, that there is salvation in the company. So it says ''.and he became a captain over them". O to submit! If we would only submit! My will is always the problem; it is always the difficulty; the assertion of my will hinders my growth. I think what is represented here is that growth comes through the rights of Christ being upheld and the power of God comes in on your behalf.

I come to 2 Samuel because in the passage we read there it says "that David abode two days in Ziklag". This is another highlight in our experience. Chapter 30 of the first book was a very sore time; David and his men had been away and the Amalekites had come up and had taken away everything, but David recovered all: that is Romans, I think, Christ coming in and recovering all, and persons wholeheartedly committed to Him. But "David abode two days in Ziklag": consolidation of the truth in our souls is vital to our growth. We said in the reading that we often want to get everything at once; but we need to wait in Ziklag. It says two days. I think what has come out in chapter 30 is that evil has been overcome by good: Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good", Rom 12: 21. Now you have to stand and consolidate that ground. I think we sometimes pass over exercises very quickly, we do not get the gain that the Lord has in mind for us. So David remained two days in Ziklag. What is going to happen in these two days? Are the Amalekites going to come back again? No, it is not that. It is just that the victory won is consolidated in my soul. In any victory, as I said, get to God and have the thing consolidated in your soul in His presence, wait in His presence. The Lord was saying that in the reading; David sat in His presence, he waited. Sometimes I find I am in too big a hurry. You go in to God and go out again; in the morning perhaps particularly you are thinking about getting off to work, and there is not much time and you are in and out again. Do make time to stop, to spend time; that is how things get consolidated. That is how things become real and vital in me.

Now, as things had been consolidated, along comes a man with some news. You see, it is one exercise after another; the Christian's pathway is full of one exercise after another. If you are not having exercises I would suggest you have a look to see what is wrong. Here a man comes along and says, Saul is slain. If that had been you or me we might have said, Aha, he has been pursuing me all my life. But what did David say? He is Jehovah's anointed. I think this is the spirit of Christ coming out. As a man has been formed, as he is growing, what is coming out is not his character, not his personality, but Christ, Christ over again. So you get this beautiful song of the bow. It is very attractive to see the spirit of Christ in David as he sets out divine feelings. To get God's feelings and to understand just what He is wanting is what David represents here. The Lord is looking for that spirit in us. Do we feel for our brethren? Many of them we cannot walk with, but do we feel after them? I think these feelings are coming out here.

But then David is going up; Hebron is in view. I just refer to that in chapter 2 because he is anointed first. I think it is a wonderful movement when we get, shall I say, on the up line. After Romans, what is next? I think it is Hebron and that is Colossians. It was a wonderful time at Hebron; some knew that David should be king so they crowned him king. It says "and they dwelt in the cities of Hebron. And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah". I think it links a good deal with the present time - when Christ is enshrined in our hearts. Colossians has beautiful touches, has it not? It is where you get the personal glories of Christ in all His attractiveness, in all His greatness. I love these verses, to see the glory of one who holds the very heart of Hebron; but be on your guard, you have not gone the whole way yet. Hebron in a certain sense is a testing place because it is all up and down. Of course in an epistle where there is a call for prayer and combat, things are not easy. Hebron is a wonderful place because there is something opening out there that was built before Zoan in Egypt (see Num 13: 22).

The purposes of God relate to Hebron and things are beginning to open out to us but it is a dangerous place because at this stage all are not united. It is in Colossians that it says "For I would have you know what combat" (chap 2: 1) - combat; that is what is needed this constant prayer, prayer without ceasing. You have a man in Colosse who is representative of that (see chap 4: 12). Paul speaks about combat and then says, "to the end that their hearts may be encouraged. But then alongside of that it says "being united together". That is a great rallying thing; when the saints are united together they will all come up and crown Christ King - like all the tribes of Israel crowning David. In Hebron as it is repeated in chapter 2 exercises are going on - philosophy, vain deceit, it is all around; somebody might divert you from the objective, the glory of Christ might be eclipsed with something else; be on your guard, but make full use of all that is available. That is something worth thinking about: make use of what there is at Hebron but be on your guard, working at constant prayer, combating that the enemy does not get in; do not give him a chance; if you give him a chance he will be in. If you let down the defences for one minute the enemy has an advantage. Is that not true? Just a careless moment and the enemy has got in. I want to encourage you, dear brethren. Read through the epistle to the Colossians and then go on to Ephesians, get the light of the whole thoughts of God opening out to you. I think that is in mind when David went up.

It says finally, in chapter 5, that they all came to David saying, "Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh". Here we are coming up united together. When there is unity among the saints there is an atmosphere in which Ephesian things can be enjoyed; that is Jerusalem. So the king and his men go up and they take the stronghold. And then it says "And David built round about from the Millo and inward" (v 9). Are you on the constructive line? Paul's commission was for building up not for overthrowing (see 2 Cor 13: 10). Do not let us be on the overthrowing line. That does not mean that there is not exhortation; we need exhortation, dear brethren, and we will till the end, but building up, putting the saints together, binding them together, that is the Colossian exercise - that we reach out to the height of God's thoughts for us. It says "the king and his men went to Jerusalem" (v 6) and there is the very element there that would keep them out: "the lame and the blind hated of David's soul". Persons like that would stop you from getting the best, but David took the citadel, he built inward. Well, it is a good thing to get on to a building line.

I refer to chapter 6 to get a touch as to the ark coming up because I think it is another thing that is most essential. If you start building inwards you want Christ in His place. The ark had been long unrecognised, but David says I am going to bring it up. He had exercises to learn and, dear brethren, we have exercises to learn until the end. There is always something fresh, there is always another test. I think that is what this scripture would mean: you arrive at Jerusalem but there is constant conflict. Paul says "our struggle is not against flesh and blood" (Eph 6: 12), that is the Ephesian conflict, that Christ is to be enshrined. David had attempted to bring up the ark but not according to the due order. You may say he has taken the citadel, he has arrived at Jerusalem and he is building inwards, everything is secured. O! be on your guard, the conflict must go on all the time, there is constant exercise, there is constant growth. We will never be, as long as we are here, beyond the area of growing. Paul himself says, I stretch out, not that he had already obtained (see Phil 3: 12, 13); he was still reaching out. Growth will always be necessary as long as we are here; and then, of course, there will be no more growth, we shall be with Him, and what we are as here will be as we will be known then: no more, no less.

So David brings up the ark. It says "And David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom". Somebody told David that a house was being blessed. In your exercises it is amazing the hints we get and let slip. Somebody drops a word and we fail to catch it. The Lord is very gracious and He gives us the same word over again, and the same again, and then finally you catch it - the Lord is blessing this house. David had been so disappointed that things had not worked the way he wanted them. It shows how we can drop so quickly, He even used a Philistine idea - a cart. Verse 6 is interesting: it says, "And when they came to Nachon's threshing floor, Uzzah reached after the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen had stumbled". Oxen! even the Philistines did not use oxen. It shows how we can deteriorate so quickly, taking on a Philistine idea and then adding our own ideas to it. But David had a lesson to learn, and I think we all have lessons to learn, and so the ground is gained, David says, according to 1 Chronicles, "None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites", chap 15: 2. He has come to something now. So he is bringing up the ark, and it says, "And it was so, that when they that bore the ark of Jehovah had gone six paces". He did not wait any longer than six paces, and then he sacrificed. Not there yet, he says, six, it is not a complete number, but almost there, one step and I think it will be the rapture. That is when it will be complete, finished. But six steps and he offers sacrifices, an ox and a fatted beast, and he danced with all his might. I think that is the present time; we are in the sixth day, things are almost completed, dear brethren, we are almost there, the journey is soon to be over and we shall be with Him and enjoy things with Him then. But in the present time am I committed just to carry things through for Him in the time of His rejection, to be here for Him and committed to Him and to be for His pleasure, so that there is a response and joy in my heart for Him? May it be so, dear brethren, for His Name's sake.

 

DUNDEE

16 August 1980