GOD’S WORK IN PERSONS
I was impressed with the hymn we had at the beginning and what our brother said in prayer about the work of God – not in a general sense, he said, but in detail. The way in which God works with each one of us has been in my mind. God would, I speak reverently, assure us that He has a link with each one of us. You may think, ‘That is obvious. We know that from the gospel’. The thing is to be clear about it in our hearts and our minds, because when our faith is tested, we sometimes wonder about God’s dealings with us: these questions can rise in our minds.
It says here in Psalm 147 “He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds”. That would point to the sympathy and the interest that God has in His saints. But then it says, and you would wonder at the connection, “He counteth the number of the stars”. What is the point of that? Well, my own impression – and it has grown with me – is that it would tell us that God is interested in His creation. “He counteth the number of the stars”. Then it says, “he giveth names to them all”. That is a most remarkable thing. How many stars are there? How many galaxies are there? We have no idea – billions. God knows every one of them. Every single one. And He gives names to them and that is really the burden of my thought; “he giveth names to them all”.
It is a remarkable thing that God, who dwells in light unapproachable, whom no man has seen nor is able to see, who has come out in revelation and made Himself known in Christ, that God knows about you and me. He is not only aware of our existence, which would come into counting the stars, the number. He knows about us all, He knows about each one of us. That is something that becomes very precious to us. When we are young and busy and life is full of interest, we perhaps might not think of that. I would say to you, those who are still young, “remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth”, Eccles.12:1. Think about God even when you are young. And remember, He is interested. He is not just aware of your existence, He has a direct interest in you. That God, where He is in heaven – He is interested in you and in me. So much so that He gives us names.
There are many instances in Scripture of persons to whom God gave names, and in some cases He re-named them. Abraham comes to mind, Sarah too, Jacob and others. God sent and named Solomon; He called him Jedidiah (2 Sam.12:25). These things would suggest God’s personal interest but not just personal interest. It would emphasise the fact that He had in mind to form something that was suited to Himself. That applies to Jacob; he was the supplanter but God says ‘No, I will call that man “prince”’ (Gen.32:28). He was called Israel, he was princely. That man, who was so devious in his ways, became dignified, he became a prince. He became a man who blessed the greatest man alive on the earth – that was Pharaoh. Jacob blessed him and went out from his presence. God gave Jacob a name and then brought him into the meaning of it.
I would like to leave the impression that God’s interest in us involves the detail of a personal link and a personal interest. And remember this, young folk and all of us, that if God names the stars and knows every single one of them, He knows every saint. Saints in China? Yes. In America? He knows about them. In Britain, in Scotland, in Grangemouth? Yes. Not only does He know about them in the aggregate, He knows each one of us. As we go about our lives, as we go about our affairs here, He has His eye on us.
‘A Holy Father’s constant care
Keeps watch, with an unwearying eye’ (Hymn 138).
What is He looking for? He is looking for features of Christ. He is looking not just in a hopeful way – and I speak reverently of the blessed God – but He is looking at us purposefully. That is, He is going to form Christ in you and in me. Now that gives a real impetus to the lives that we lead. If God is interested in me, and He is, how interested is He? “He who, yea, has not spared his own Son”, Rom.8:32. That is how interested He is in you and in me. “He who, yea, has not spared his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him grant us all things?”. That is the God who has taken an interest in us.
I have been impressed recently with the fact that in the opening verses of Ephesians, we read that we were chosen in him (chap.1:4). Who did that? God did that. That God of whom we are speaking – who did He choose? He chose you in Christ “before the world’s foundation”. What did He do? He has taken us into favour in the Beloved. The very best and most precious thing that He had, His own beloved Son – He has taken us into favour in that blessed One. “In Christ Jesus” (v.1): what is that? Oh, you say, ‘It is a blessing’. It is a position of wonderful grandeur and majesty; “in Christ Jesus”. God would salute His own work, I say reverently, as He sees it in the saints, as He sees Christ appearing in each one. What else? Is that not enough? No, “blessed us with every spiritual blessing …”. That is the God who has taken an interest in us; “blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ” (v:3).
Well, you say, these are wonderful things. But then we have to see that if God names us, He has also entrusted His name to us. The Lord Jesus, when He was here, said “go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God”, John 20:17. What a name! God has entrusted His name to us as persons who have the Spirit. What that involves is that we are set here not only as supremely blessed – we are that – but we are set here for His pleasure, we are set here in the assembly. You may say, Well, we know about the assembly and there is ministry about it. But beloved brethren, it is here. The assembly is represented here. The Holy Spirit is here. He is in the saints and He is in the assembly. We may at times lose sight of it, and perhaps become overwhelmed by the difficulties and the tests. They are real, because the Lord Jesus said “… I will build my assembly, and hades’ gates shall not prevail against it” (Matt.16:18), so hades’ gates would be active even at this time to spoil what is in the assembly and of the assembly for Christ. But it will not succeed. I would rather stress this side, that we form part of the assembly, that we are here for a purpose. Indeed, we are here as the result of divine purpose, so that we might be pleasing to God.
He has called us by name, and what a favour it is. Think of what the Lord Jesus said to His own, “When ye pray, say, Father”, Luke 11:2. What a favour to address the blessed God by such a name – a name of relationship, a name of blessing, a name of eternal value. Now these are things that God has called us to, these are the things that He has named us in relation to, so that we might have a distinct impression that not only has He taken us up, but He has taken us up for a purpose, for His own praise and the satisfaction of His own heart now and eternally.
What a God He is! Our brother spoke about being filled. He can fill us, He does fill us. There is a verse in one of the songs of degrees, “Then was our mouth filled with laughter”, Ps.126:2. God can fill your heart, He can fill your soul, He can fill everything that is worthwhile in us. He can bless us and He has blessed us. His desire is that we should go in for these things more fully, so that when the time comes, when our formation as vessels is completed and the Lord takes us to be with Himself, we will be ready. We will be full vessels, ready to praise Him and bless Him.
May the Lord encourage us.
Given at a meeting for ministry, Grangemouth
23 August 2016
Robert Gray
Edited and published monthly by John Brown and Paul Martin
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