LEARNING THE LORD'S MIND
LEARNING THE LORD’S MIND
The moment a conscience is restored or revived, it necessarily must ask, What would the Lord have me to do? and I think I find daily that the more lively my conscience is, the more dependent I am, on His word; for I feel that I have neither counsel nor power of judgment, but as I get it from Him. God as the source and fountain of all wisdom is thus the more and more before me; and as I cultivate the habit of turning to Christ, I find, through His grace, that it is but natural to the new man to do so. What I desire so much for souls, and what I seek to watch for and desire for myself and others, is this applying to the word not merely for guidance about some individual difficulty (I see there is a good deal of this latter, which is often selfishness, in a way), but to seek the Lord’s mind and counsel, for the simple peculiar satisfaction of being in any degree in concert with Him. I do not speak now of any subject in particular, or any scripture in particular; but for the word to be studied so that I may have “wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him” (Ephesians 1: 17). I find if I am not in concert with His mind, I cannot have fellowship with Him in His purposes. “Can two walk together, except they be agreed” (Amos 3: 3)? Nay, more; if I am not in His mind, I shall be reducing His sayings and thoughts, which have reference to a deeper thing and purpose, to the level where I am, and where I can understand them. There were things which the Lord could not communicate, nor could His disciples receive, until the Holy Spirit came.
It is astonishing how saints will listen to the unfolding of high truth which many of them do not understand, and get a measure of good from it; but if you were to catechise each separately, you would find that they had only taken in bits which suited vacancies, so to speak, in their souls, and that they were so far edified; while those who feed on the truth so unfolded, are led by the unfolding, into communion with the Lord with regard to the truth.
One is ready to be distressed at times because there is not more practical christian life now; but there cannot be high practical life if there be not enlarged communion with the Lord. By communion I mean common mind. If I am walking with the Lord, I shall be in concert with His mind, and I shall get some idea of His inner counsels and purposes - those which lie next His heart. Now if I have got hold of these, I have got hold of the truth in the right way. It is not merely the knowledge of the truth, but the place and interest which it holds in the mind of Him who is the object of my heart, and, through His grace, my companion through this evil scene.