WHAT GOD IS DOING AND COMPLETING
Robert Gray
As we face up to moral exercises and the matters that come up from week to week in our individual lives, and as together, the Lord would speak to us, and He would help us to face up to these things and to complete them. He has in mind in His dealings with us that we should be free for His service. That is what we are here for. You say we come here with our needs. Yes, we do we have exercises, and I am not setting that aside at all, for these exercises come from Him. He sends them to the end that we might be strengthened in our faith, and formed by the Spirit through our dealings with divine Persons. But what is in mind is that we should be free for His service. “Let my son go”, the word was to Pharaoh, “that he may serve me”, Exodus 4: 23.
Now Daniel was one such. I believe he was a man who faced moral exercises and kept short accounts. His windows were opened towards Jerusalem, and he prayed three times a day in relation to God’s thoughts. It was mentioned in prayer at the beginning as to the Lord that He loved His own who were in the world and loved them to the end (John 13: 1). We can be restful and confident in the sense that God will see through what He has set on. Scriptures are abundantly plain on that subject. It also says, “he who has begun in you a good work will complete it unto Jesus Christ’s day”, Philippians 1: 6. The simple impression on my spirit in regard of this section is that God is going to complete matters, but He is looking for faithful persons who will be with Him in the completion of what He is doing. We are at the end of the dispensation. We are not in Pauline days nor are we in the Dark Ages when Christianity seemed to be almost overwhelmed. No, we are at the time of the end and, I believe, refinement is going on. Some of the exercises that the saints are carrying in their bodies and in their minds are severe. And what we have had in the previous words, I believe, would stabilize us and steady us in the light of what God is doing in the saints. Now what is in mind is that we should be with God intelligently in what He is doing at the end, because this is where we are.
And so Daniel is praying and he is not forgetting—the whole chapter stands together—he is not forgetting Israel’s history, he is very plain and explicit about the shortcomings. And so we should be as to the history of the testimony. But I would plead for this. Do not let the history of failure—which is undoubted and must be taken account of—do not let that swamp in our minds and spirits the thought of what God is doing, and will complete, in you and in me, and in everyone who loves the Lord. What He would look for is that we should be intelligent. We should be with Him in what He is doing because it greatly facilitates His work. You may say God can do anything. So He can. But we must not forget the scripture that says as to the Lord, “he did not there many works of power, because of their unbelief”, Matthew 13: 58. He could have done whatever He willed, but He chose to work within the limits of what was there. I believe this is a principle with divine Persons.
Daniel then is praying. “We do not present our supplications before thee because of our righteousnesses, but because of thy manifold mercies”. This is an intercessor at work. This is a man who was interceding on behalf of Israel. And this, I believe, is part of what should be our service in prayer, as interceding. Maybe private prayer, or more so perhaps than public, but in any case we would carry on this intercessory line of things. And what he says is interesting. “Lord, hear! Lord, forgive! Lord, hearken and do!” You might say, What was he asking the Lord to do? Jerusalem was in ruins. The house was a ruin. The service of God had ceased. What was he asking God to do? Well, he says, “Lord, hearken and do! defer not, for thine own sake, O my God! for thy city and thy people are called by thy name”. This was a man of faith who had God’s thoughts in his heart, and had not given up one of them. And he was appealing to God to bring into function again, we may say, these thoughts of His at the divine level, not at some lesser level. We know that his prayer was answered. Ezra and Nehemiah would tell us that—Daniel was praying here in the light of Jeremiah’s prophecy as to seventy years.
Well, he says, “Lord, hearken and do! defer not, for thine own sake.” Do you think that God was pleased with that? I am sure He was. I am certain that God was pleased that here was one who was carrying God’s thoughts. Whatever it cost, he was carrying God’s thoughts in his heart and he was appealing to God. Really, we can see something here of the Spirit of Christ in this man as he spoke to his God. “And whilst I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin”, he is given the impression that God is still working. He is not leaving us without a word. He would assure us that He is still in control. He has given us, already this evening, the sense of this. Daniel, in appealing to God, is given the sense that God is working. And He has His thoughts still fully in view. Then it says in verse 23, “At the beginning of thy supplications the word went forth, and I am come to declare it; for thou art one greatly beloved”. What a word of approval! Well, I would raise this question. Do we have the consciousness, not only that divine Persons approve of us, but that we are loved? We sometimes sing,
‘Now that changeless love enfolds us,
All its wealth on us bestows’. (Hymn 2)
That is you and me, and that comes to us by way of strengthening and power, that we might go on and be with God in what He is doing at the end of this dispensation.
I trust these few words will help. It goes on to say, “Therefore consider the word, and have understanding in the vision”. Brethren, we are not intended to go on blindly. It is intended that we go on obediently. We cannot always see how things are going to work out, but I believe the Lord would have us to go on dependently, subject and confidently, in the sense that God has things in control and will complete them to His own glory. Perhaps that is enough to convey the thought. I trust we may be encouraged.
Word in meeting for ministry, Grangemouth
16 August 2011