DAILY NEED
Luke 12:22–34; Proverbs 30:1–9
You will notice, dear brethren, that in both of these passages there is a reference to circumstances of daily need. We might have been only casually interested in what the Scriptures have to say about daily need; but the Lord has been pleased to put His governmental hand on this world and to bring about a very great change of circumstances for many of His people. The result is that our attention has been drawn to scriptures such as these, which now become of intense practical value to us.
I do not doubt that God will get much out of what is commonly called the ‘famine’. Famine time is a time of peculiar exercise, but where God is pleased, in His wisdom, to put special exercises upon us, He also provides special grace in relation to those exercises. One thing that I discern as being much lacking in my own soul, and perhaps it is in the souls of others, is the element of confidence in God – a most valuable feature of piety, one that becomes very real to us in a time of poverty and distress. If we do not have confidence in God, we shall be in anxiety when men of the world are in anxiety: in other words, the waves of feeling that pass over the world that knows not God are not to move the people of God as men of the world are moved. In times such as these, saints are to be preserved in quietness of spirit and in freedom from anxiety, and thus to be marked off as different and apart from the world.
You will notice in Luke's gospel that the matter of daily need is connected with the kingdom, whereas in Proverbs 30 it is related to sonship. I would speak first of the kingdom in Luke 12 where things are presented in a comforting kind of way. Special attention is drawn to the knowledge which the Father has of our daily need, and to His care and His pleasure, all of which is most comforting. It has in view that the people of God are to be entirely different from the men of the world. Our dignity is that of having to do with God in the matter of daily maintenance. Men generally look to their own resources, but we recognise that God is the giver of all good. Perhaps one of the greatest thoughts as to God as known to men is that He is the Giver, and in His kingdom, God would set up His people so that they shall be marked by the same feature – that of giving. To give like God, it is not only material wealth that is needed. A man of the world might give out of his abundance, but he would not give as God does. To give like God involves some sacrifice, for God's giving was based on sacrifice – He gave His only-begotten Son, in which connection there would be deep feelings in the heart of God. That was a mighty transaction that deeply moved the heart of God, and He would set His people up here in the kingdom in the dignity of givers – not only givers of interest and of income, but givers of capital. Saints are exhorted to “Sell what ye possess and give alms”. The dignity of divine giving even as it is expressed in the saints is to be on the basis of sacrifice. We are to hold what we have in this dignity and to be marked as men and women who are prepared to sell in order to give, in view of which, the element of confidence in God has to be formed in us.
The passage in Luke draws attention to two spheres of man’s labour. One is the agricultural sphere, where men sow and reap and have storehouses and barns; the other is the manufacturing sphere, where men toil and spin. In contrast to that, our attention is drawn to God’s achievements in creation; we are invited to consider the ravens and the lilies, to take note that although they have been in existence for a long time, they are not extinct. In the history of Scripture, both the ravens and the lilies go back a long way, but they are still here with us. The ravens have neither sown nor reaped, nor have they had storehouses or barns, but God has fed them. The lilies have neither toiled nor spun, but God has clothed them. What a faithful God! And if He is faithful to that which is small, how much more should we be able to count upon Him to be faithful to that which is most valuable in His eyes – His people! I am bold to say that God’s people are the most valuable of the divine possessions today; they are of immense value to God. Not only have they been bought by the blood of Christ, but they have been the subjects of divine care, and the Spirit of God is carrying on in them a divine work that has eternity in view. These are valuable things of great moment to God, and yet they are joined up with a mortal body – with a frail condition of manhood absolutely dependent upon God – needing food and clothing. The care of God, though expressed in the lower creation, is in Christianity expressed to us by that most precious name of Father! While the ravens and the lilies have a Creator God, the saints have a Father, “and your Father knows that ye have need of these things”. There is much comfort in that, and I think the present circumstances in the world would be used by the Spirit to draw our attention to these scriptures in order that we might learn something about God which we could not learn in any other circumstances. The idea is that we should be free from anxiety with regard to material things in order to seek the kingdom – the kingdom that it is the Father's good pleasure to give to the little flock.
Now, dear brethren, let me speak simply and practically. If we look back over the past years, do we not have to confess how little we have sought the kingdom? We have sought land, and houses, and money; and, like the man referred to in this same chapter as “Fool”, some have acquired certain possessions. But that man was not rich toward God; not only was there no treasure for him in heaven, but even what he left behind was in a muddle, so that at the end the question was raised: “And whose shall be what thou hast prepared?” (v.20). Nothing to further the Lord's interests was left behind; nothing had gone before, and nothing had been left behind that would help the saints. Now, the Lord would free us from that. He would give us grace to return thanks for the famine, and for His movements in bringing to naught this great system which some of us were diligently building – a system of storehouses and barns, in pulling down to build greater. God has blown upon all that, and He would have His people to be in all the happy security of confidence in His care the Father.
You all will notice the different setting in the passage in Proverbs which is the book of sonship. In that passage there are two prophetic words, and the fact that they are prophetic is to be noted as indicating that a day would come in the history of the testimony when these words would take on a definite meaning. Here, the question is raised, “What is his name, and what is his son's name, if thou knowest?”. The Spirit of God has thus prophetically indicated that in the last days – in the days when the truth of sonship would be definitely before the saints – a question would be raised as to divine names, and I hope to show you, I trust on the authority of Scripture, that this matter of daily need is interwoven with this prophetic utterance; it is there in the wisdom and forethought of God. The man Agur in the passage in Proverbs himself expresses the desire to have his circumstances regulated. Agur desires it – a notable matter, for, generally speaking, we view our circumstances in a loose, indefinite way as something which God Himself orders apart from us, and without much regard to our prayers and our feelings. But this man, in the middle of this prophetic utterance which is of the deepest import at the present moment, turns to prayer – a most remarkable prayer. He says, “Two things do I ask of thee; deny me them not before I die: Remove far from me vanity and lies; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the bread of my daily need: lest I be full and deny thee, and say, Who is Jehovah? or lest I be poor and steal, and outrage the name of my God”.
I believe, dear brethren, that we stand today at a parting of the ways. On the one hand, the Lord is giving us the most precious unfolding of divine light – the last touches, l believe, of divine grace before the assembly is translated. He is giving us to understand the truth as to His Person, as a result of which God has become very great to us, and the Father too. But, if I interpret this prophetic utterance rightly, there is to be from our side some answer – some definite desire for regulation, given expression to by prayer. It ought to be clear that we are not to go in for houses and lands and possessions, we are not to be on the line of acquiring and of making ourselves great, and independent of God. But we are to be prepared to pray that we might have neither poverty nor riches. Now, can we pray that? It is a testing question. Some of us are sitting amidst the wreckage of years of effort and labour. If the way were opened, would we start to rebuild, would we go on the same lines as in the past? Or are we prepared to be content with the dignity and the joy that attaches to the saints of God, and to say, “give me neither poverty nor riches”? That is a very searching question, and I think I am not straining the scripture in pointing out that it is interwoven with the understanding of the great movements of the Lord in the present day.
Before I speak of these movements, let me also point out that Agur prays that vanity and lies are to be far removed from him. If our histories were examined at this moment in the presence of God, I wonder how much there would be of vanity and lies. They are to be put far away. What a divine balance there is in that word “neither poverty not riches”, for poverty brings in anxiety and always the terrible danger that we should steal and outrage the name of our God; whereas riches bring in the dreadful danger of saying, “Who is Jehovah?”.
I would refer now, briefly, to the great features of this dispensation, indicated in verse 4; “Who hath ascended up into the heavens, and descended?”. The point where Christ disappeared from man's sight was in His death and burial. He disappeared out of the sight of man, and His further movements are entirely unknown to the world. The death and burial of Christ form the last bit of history in relation to Him that could be taken account of by the world. Believers are to understand that through His ascension, a glorious era has been opened up, in which divine movements are to be marked by these two directions, ascending and descending, which are the first features of God's house (Gen.28:12). We should be conscious of these movements up and down. In the day to come, the glory of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea, but at the present moment. there are movements ascending and descending – marvellous divine movements in which divine Persons are engaged. It is in this way that saints are to be conscious of what is connected with the glorious dispensation in which they live.
Other features are worth noting are indicated here. It says, “Who hath gathered the wind in his fists?”. That, I believe, is a reference to the activities of the Spirit of God at the present moment that are not taking a general form. The work of God is going on in certain places according to the pleasure of the Lord. It is not everywhere, for it is sovereign. It is conveyed in the idea of being gathered in His fists – a concentrated, controlled activity. How we prove that! The Lord is pleased to work in certain places and in certain cases, and if you lose your way or get out of touch with the Lord, you will miss these great divine operations; you will not be conscious of them. There is plenty of power, and it is the same power that was there at the beginning of the dispensation, but it is concentrated today, like the wind gathered in His fists. And then the binding of “the waters in a mantle” clearly has reference to ministry – ministry that is controlled, for the mantle is suggestive of leadership. I take that from the history of Elijah and Elisha. Elijah was the distinctive vessel of the moment in connection with what pertained to heaven. He was taken up in a whirlwind, and the mantle descended to another distinctive vessel, Elisha, whose mission was connected with what was on earth. It had become known that Elijah was going up, and it was a matter of common knowledge that he had to do with heaven, but later it was learned that Elisha had to do with the maintenance of things down here, for the mantle of Elijah had fallen on Elisha. Now, today, the Lord is giving the most precious ministry – living ministry. It is bound in a mantle. The Lord Himself is controlling and regulating the channels through which this precious ministry flows.
The understanding of all this is wrapped up in the question, “What is his name, and what is his son’s name, if thou knowest?” This clearly shows that there will be questions and doubt about the matter. There would be some who could not tell. The understanding of divine Names – the names of God, of Christ, the Holy Spirit – is all bound up with these marvellous movements about which we know but little. Some think of Christianity as looking back to the death of Christ, and then looking on to the coming of Christ, but they miss the teaching and value of the present interval. The present dispensation is a most glorious one in which those blessed movements referred to are going on and can be understood, and it is in connection with this that the test seems to come.
Well, what are we going in for? Are we going to rebuild as soon as we can the things that the Lord has brought down, or are we prepared to go forward on the basis of being neither poor nor rich – content to get through, as long as these precious spiritual realities can be known to our hearts? I think, dear brethren – and I suggest it as something for consideration – that when we are prepared to pray this prayer of Agur's, the famine may cease. God's end in it will be accomplished, for we must have His saints in view first. It may be that He is weakening the nations of this world as He is preparing for other things, but I am sure that His first thought is for the saints. Having that in view, His people are adjusted when they are prepared to be no more than He would have them to be down here, prepared to go on day by day having to do with God about their daily need – their daily bread. Then, too, some fresh touch is put into the soul each day that gives an added confidence in God. When we reach that, I think the famine may cease.
A.E. Myles
From Notes of Readings in New York and Other Ministry 1933 reprinted by Kingston Bible Trust in
‘Selected Addresses’ Vol.3