THE USE OF OUR TIME

J. G. Chalmers

Matthew 6: 6; Ezekiel 42: 14; 2 Samuel 7: 18–24

It is in mind to say a word as to the use of our time. We often hear remarks as to the scarcity of time and as we get older time seems to pass more quickly. Job must have felt that way when he said that his days were “swifter than a weaver’s shuttle” (Job 7: 6)—Moses, too, when he spoke of spending our years as “a passing thought”, Psalm 90: 9. As we look back over our responsible histories most, if not all, of us would be humbled as we take account of the time that we have wasted. Well, dear brethren, that time is gone and cannot be recalled.

What we do have is the rest of our time and the Lord would encourage us on this occasion to use it rightly and wisely. God made time and He has used time. Genesis 1 brings out how God used each day and brought to pass a condition of things that He could pronounce very good. He has also divided time into dispensations and out of each dispensation He is going to secure a result for His pleasure and glory eternally. The greatest result will be from this dispensation, and that will be seen in the assembly. Then as we read the gospels we can see how the Lord Jesus used His time—He used it in the will of God. He said prophetically, “Lo, I come to do thy will”. As a Man here the will of God was His food (John 4: 34), and nothing could divert Him from it, not all the wiles and onslaughts of Satan, not all the pressure of Gethsemane.

Peter would encourage us to use the rest of our time for the will of God (1 Peter 4: 2), and what

a Model we have in this in the Lord Jesus! Of all the gospel writers Luke gives us the most extensive view of our Lord’s humanity and he often presents Him as praying. The Holy Spirit would impress upon us that the Lord Jesus, in the blessedness of His humanity here, was characteristically a praying Man. Luke tells us that He was baptised and praying (Luke 3: 21). Such a Man was attractive to heaven—“Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I have found my delight”. Ah, dear brethren, a person who prays is attractive to heaven. We can see that in the case of Saul of Tarsus. He would not have been attractive to heaven when he was breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, but after that transaction with the Lord on the Damascus road we can sense the pleasure of the Lord Jesus when he said to Ananias regarding Saul, “Behold, he is praying”. No doubt, as a good Pharisee, Saul had often said his prayers but now it was the real thing, “Behold, he is praying”, and from that day forward he was characteristically a praying man. Indeed, he says,

“making mention of you at my prayers” (Ephesians 1: 16), which would show that he set aside time each day for prayer. Epaphras, a brother local at Colosse, was a praying man, he was always combating earnestly for the saints in prayer (Colossians 4: 12). Daniel was a praying man. That crisis in Daniel’s history did not make him a praying man—it simply brought out that he was such (Daniel 6: 10). Persons who pray will be prospered spiritually;

“This Daniel prospered”, Daniel 6: 28.

Well, the Lord Jesus would encourage us to use a portion of our time each day in prayer. As He addresses Himself to His own in Matthew 6: 6 the language He uses is so simple that each one of us can understand it, “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy chamber, and having shut thy door, pray to thy Father who is in secret”. In fatherly affection I would ask the dear young brethren to

look back over this week and see if you started out on each day by entering into your chamber and praying. Just be honest about it, for many of us know what it is to be young, lying in bed as long as possible in the morning and getting up and rushing off to school or work without praying or reading the Scriptures. The desire of the Lord Jesus is that we should cultivate our personal links with the Father and secret history with God; you will experience that the more you have to do with the Father, the more you get to know Him, so your confidence in Him will increase. So we would counsel you to rise a little earlier in the day and to use your time in prayer, and not only in the morning but as often as you can, enter into your chamber, shut the door, and pray to your Father in secret. It is important that you shut the door. That is not just the material door. It means that you ask the Spirit’s help to abstract yourself from all that would hinder your prayers. Satan gets very active when we get down on our knees and he would hinder our praying by crowding our minds with other thoughts, hence the need for shutting the door when you go in to pour out your soul exercises to your Father.

He knows what you need before you ask anything of Him, but it gives Him great pleasure to see one of His children drawing near to Him to make his requests known. He takes account sympathetically of your exercises and problems and He will bless you; “thy Father who sees in secret will render it to thee”. It is a comfort to hear of young brothers exercised to take part in the prayer meeting and in the service of God but I would impress upon you the importance, first of all, of cultivating your own secret links with your Father, then He will help you as you take part publicly among the brethren. As having to do with your Father in secret you will realize that you are in

the sanctuary, in the presence of God, and He would say to you, as it were, ‘I have helped you in your soul exercises, now I want you to share with Me in My interests’. He will extend your outlook in regard to what is precious to Him. Then you, like Daniel, will open your windows towards the interests of God—you begin to pray for your local brethren, and for all the saints, and for all men, for it is the desire of our Saviour God that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. I just commend to the brethren this matter of using time each day in praying to our Father in secret. It has a sobering and sanctifying effect upon our spirits.

I also feel constrained to speak about the importance of using time each day to meditate. I know that there is much pressure upon the time of the brethren but it is really important that we use time each day to sit restfully and meditate on the things of God, the most holy things.

I feel the edge of the word in my own soul as I challenge myself as to how much time I use in sitting restfully and letting my mind and affections dwell on the most holy things. These north cells and south cells in Ezekiel 42: 13 were holy cells where the priests that came near to God were to eat the most holy things. Eating, in Scripture, is largely a matter of what we give our minds and affections to, and God has in mind that His priests should feed on the most holy things in view of being built up constitutionally in view of ministering to Himself for His pleasure. There are north cells and south cells. Some of us might be in favourable circumstances, with good health, and remunerative work that is the south side—but beware of settling down in favourable circumstances and neglecting this matter of using time each day in meditating on the most holy things. The north side is the side of adversity and many of the dear brethren are currently

experiencing this side, indeed in all my history among the brethren I have never known such a time of suffering. Some are suffering in their bodies, some in their circumstances, some are having deep sorrows in their families, and other matters. Suffering and sorrows tend to cast us down and, at times, to overwhelm us, but, thank God, we can draw upon the grace of Christ and the power of the Spirit to rise above them and enter into these holy cells where we can, in restfulness of spirit, dwell upon the most holy things.

Aaron felt the bitterness of the north when he lost two sons in one day. To lose one son is a great sorrow, but Aaron lost two sons—what a sorrow for a father! and he felt it, he really did, for he said, “Such things have befallen me”, Leviticus 10: 19. Yet in the midst of his sorrow Moses said to Aaron and his two sons that were left, “Take the oblation that is left of Jehovah’s offerings by fire, and eat it with unleavened bread beside the altar; for it is most holy. And ye shall eat it in a holy place, because it is thy due, and thy sons’ due”. God turns Aaron’s thoughts from his sorrow to the oblation. So these holy cells have been provided so that we can repair there, whether our circumstances are favourable or adverse, and engage our thoughts with what is most holy. The oblation and the sin and trespass offerings are specifically mentioned in this verse in Ezekiel, and in the law of the offerings in Leviticus 6

and 7 each of these offerings is said to be “most holy”. The oblation speaks of the moral excellence and perfection of the humanity of Jesus. He was altogether different morally from all other men. He did not please Himself. He always did the things that pleased the Father. He glorified God in all His movements. Indeed, all that God ever desired from man He found in Jesus, and that is why God could open the heavens and declare His delight

in Him, His beloved Son. Part of the oblation was offered to God and part of it was to be eaten by the priests. It is really wonderful that God would share with us His appreciation of the deep perfection and moral excellence of Jesus. What food for the soul the oblation is!—

and there is an infinite supply of it. Feeding on the oblation brings about in us moral correspondence to Jesus.

We may think that there is not much difference between the sin and trespass offerings, but they are distinguished. Sin is an affront to God’s holy nature whilst trespass relates to His rights being challenged and infringed. Sin and trespass are serious things in the sight of God.

As the priests fed on these two offerings they would, typically, deepen in their knowledge of what it cost the Lord Jesus to deal with sin and with trespass, and in their appreciation of the greatness and worth of Him as the One who alone could put away sin by His own sacrifice.

And so it is that as we feed upon these two offerings our souls become enriched in the knowledge of Christ and of His sacrificial work and He becomes increasingly endeared to our affections. Also, as we take account of what it cost the Lord Jesus to deal with sin, the very thought of sin becomes abhorrent to us. So I commend to the brethren this matter too, of using time each day to meditate upon the most holy things.

The scripture read in 2 Samuel 7 brings before us how David’s soul became enlarged in the knowledge of God when he went in and sat before Him. This is seen in the various names of God that he uses in this section. Earlier in the chapter he had experienced the bitterness of the north when God sent Nathan the prophet to tell him that another was to build the house. That must have been a bitter blow to David for his heart was fully set on building the house and he had prepared abundantly for it.

How did he take it? He took it as a man—it brought out his mettle. He did not quarrel with God or complain but, in the dignity and liberty of sonship, he went in and sat before Jehovah.

This would not have been the first time that he had done so. I believe it was characteristic of him, it was his custom, for he says, “I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thy glory dwelleth”, Psalm 26: 8. What impressions David got as he went in and sat there! He says, “Is this the manner of man?” What is he thinking about when he says that?

Typically, he is engaged with Christ as the One of whom the prophet said in verse 14, “I will be his father, and he shall be my son”. O, dear brethren, what a matter that is to be engaged with—what the Father is to Christ and what Christ is to the Father, the mutual glory known between the Father and the Son. “Is this the manner of man?”—the Man that is going to give character to God’s universe is filling David’s soul at this point.

Then He says, “Wherefore thou art great, Jehovah Elohim; for there is none like thee”. David is not the least bit occupied with his disappointment; he is occupied with Christ and with God, the incomparable God. What a God we have, dear brethren, as Paul says, “The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blest us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ”, Ephesians 1: 3. Then as we tarry in the presence of God we get impressions as to the greatness of the saints, as David says here, “Who is like thy people, like Israel?” We can so easily get occupied with each other’s failures and short-comings, but there is no food in that. Let us then, beloved, enter more often into God’s presence and let our souls absorb the greatness of the saints in what they are to God. He has redeemed us to Himself and—Oh the grace of it!—He chose

us in Christ before the world’s foundation and marked us out beforehand for adoption through Jesus Christ to Himself. How great the saints are! As we learn this in the presence of God we respect and love them more.

Well, dear brethren, that is what was laid upon me, that we may be encouraged to use our time rightly and wisely, especially in prayer, in meditation, and in sitting restfully in the presence of God, all in view of God being served acceptably, and also being rightly represented in the sphere of testimony. May the Lord help us in the practical working out of these matters, for His name’s sake.

Address at Cullen
28 March 1987