NO COMMUNION WITHOUT DEPENDENCE
[p. 257] NO COMMUNION WITHOUT DEPENDENCE
To any one interested in the state of the saints in general, nothing will possibly strike him more forcibly, and, according as he has heart for Christ, more painfully, than the contentedness and ease in which the saints are, while they have so little communion with the mind of God.
All through Scripture there is a marked contrast between the saint who is eager and intent on knowing the mind of the Lord, and the one who is satisfied with the measure of light and truth which suits himself. We see in the Old Testament times, before the word of God was completed, that light was communicated as there was dependence on God, and when the dependence declined there was no more communication; so that dependence on God precedes the communication or the knowledge of His mind, and prepares for it.
The great result to be attained by all the exercises of the wilderness is that man should “not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live”, that is, he should be entirely dependent on God and His word; and hence our blessed Lord utters this sentence when He enters on His path of service here. He begins His course where at best we only end it. He was fully and entirely the dependent One, and hence He was always heard, and He did always the things which pleased the Father. His communion was unbroken. To live in unbroken communion, you must continue in absolute dependence. It is not merely dependence on God for some particular necessity, but a dependence that can waive the righteous claims of nature because so entirely dependent on His word and will. And it is to the one thus absolutely dependent that He reveals and confides His mind. He could not, as it were, commit it to any one else. If I am not absolutely dependent on Him, I am dependent [p. 258] on something else; and if He were to confide His mind to me, it would not find me ready to accept it and observe it. To be unequivocally for God, I must deny myself, or the will in me which is against Him. And hence it is the thing that I naturally most desire to preserve that must go first, for there my will is most engaged. But it is plain that if I am not wholly dependent on God, I am not in a state to be made acquainted with His mind. He will not impart His mind to one who is not implicitly cast on Him, because such a one would allow other things to come in and warp his mind. In a word, God has not wholly at His command that man who is not entirely dependent on Him for things which one could not procure or provide for oneself. For such things every true saint is dependent on God. If I have need of support, or if my child is ill, or if I am in any other such trying circumstance, I may be assured that no one can help me but God, and that I can count on Him. And this is properly called faith, but it is not the absolute dependence which precedes, prepares for, and ensures the revelation of the mind of God. Many true in heart know what faith is in some particular thing; but though so far they are greatly blessed and have a certain knowledge of God, yet, though highly favoured, they do not obtain or possess any distinct or full knowledge of the mind of God at the time, as they are not in communion with Him. And I believe the only way to account for the little communion with the Lord, and consequently the little knowledge of His mind that exists touching the church, the earth, and souls individually, is that there is not unqualified dependence on Him. By this I mean a dependence that neither sees nor rests in anything but Himself, everything here having lost its power to sway or to interest one, and the heart having found in measure, like our blessed Lord, that the only hope is in God.
We shall find in Scripture that, in the case of every saint, the prelude or preparation for the communication of the Lord’s mind as to things at the time was this absolute dependence. When Abram’s father was dead, when he was simply dependent, not knowing whither he went, he was led of God into the land of Canaan, the place that was in accordance with the mind of God. It is said, “Get thee out of thy country ... unto a land that I will shew thee”. The reason why any saint nowadays does not enter into the mind of God as to the place where God would have him be is simply this, that he is not dependent enough to be led of God and to be instructed in the good pleasure of His will respecting him. Abram had heard the word of God and had in part attended to it; but not until his father was dead was he so at God’s disposal, because of dependence on Him, that He could lead him as He wished. Again, when Abram risks all that he had, his own life and the lives of his servants, to rescue Lot — when he is thus absolutely cast on God — Melchisedec meets him as he returns from the slaughter of the kings; Christ’s position as priest and king is typically presented to him, and he is blessed by him. All the trouble and suffering had been occasioned by and endured for Lot. As to favours on earth Lot commands all attention; yet it is not to him, but to the dependent and suffering one, that the mind of the Lord as touching the kingdom of the Son of God is revealed.
Again, when Abraham offers up Isaac, when he consents at the command of God to strip himself of that which his heart rested on here, when he depends on God alone who raiseth the dead, then, consequent on this exercise of dependence, he receives from God the fullest blessing connected with his own seed on earth. In the former instance, when he risks everything to rescue Lot, when he is fighting God’s battles, he is met and blessed by Melchisedec; Christ’s royal position is made known to him. But now, when it is more peculiarly his own interests, the greatest and fullest blessing of his own people is revealed to him.
[p. 260] Dependence prepares the heart for the mind of God. When I depend entirely on God, His mind is the only thing to interest or occupy me, and it is only then that I am in a state to appreciate it. Instances and examples of this principle abound in Scripture. Moses, though he had known more than any man the mind and ways of God, which were disclosed to him as he was dependent, does not rise to the unreserved and full revelation of His mind until, in despair of everything here because of the failure of Israel, he cries out, “I beseech thee, shew me thy glory”. All hope here is gone; his eye turns simply and entirely to God, and then is made known to him the fullest revelation of His purpose ever revealed; and his own face shines because of his proximity to the glory. In like manner in another day, Saul of Tarsus, the chief of sinners, is met in the fulness of grace, and is so entirely absorbed with the glory of that light, and left without any resource but the Saviour who is revealed by God’s mighty power in him, that he has no confidence in the flesh, and is fully led into the mind and counsels of God. Our enquiry is simply, what is the state which prepares for the reception of the mind of the Lord and obtains it?
Is it not sad, the few saints in the present day who appear to be in communion with the mind of the Lord? I refer not now to their private histories, but how few are assured in heart and conscience as to the Lord’s mind concerning His people and His interests on earth. They enjoy themselves in their religious exercises. They consider their meetings happy and satisfactory, because they can in common rejoice that they are saved and that they seek to save others; but what the Lord’s mind is as to the whole church of God, and how it is viewed by Him, and how cared for, or thought of, or even what it is, seems to have no place in their minds, as it certainly has no place in their utterances or speeches. I ask, is it not sad that saints, devoted saints, should sit contented, and enjoy the benefits of salvation, and [p. 261] yet never bow their hearts before God in true anxiety to know and be in communion with His mind? Scripture, as I have said, abounds with examples of how the absolutely dependent one was always met and enlightened with a knowledge of His mind suitable for the time. Even a Jacob, homeless and friendless through his own waywardness, when asleep on a pillow of stones, and with nothing but God, is not forgotten of Him; but as he is in a state to receive it, the blessing is conferred, the mind of God is revealed to him. Though one may be ignorant as Mary Magdalene, yet if there be an entire consecration of heart to Him, like hers, that one is rewarded with the manifestation of Himself, and the communication of His mind, which imparts the intelligence which He wishes His own to have at the time.
It is very cheering, though it imposes on us unremitting self-abnegation, to know that if we are in a state to receive the mind of the Lord, He in His grace will communicate it to us. To “the meek he will teach his way”, and it will be remarked that any who are ignorant or uninstructed in the Lord’s mind are always those who have other confidences, though they may, as I have said, trust God and have confidence in Him as to particular needs. But the tone and bearing of one absolutely dependent on God, without any other resource, is very peculiar and very uncommon; and hence there are so few who are happily assured that they are in concert with His mind, as He would have them to be, with reference to His concerns on earth. There are many happy as to their own state and useful to others to a certain point, who are not in communion with the Lord, having no one but God to rest on, like the gourdless Jonah.
May the Lord touch our hearts with such true devotedness to Himself, that cleaving only to Him we may be in concert with Him touching His interests at this time.