HOW DIFFICULT SITUATIONS ARE MET

W. Lamont

Exodus 2: 15–22; 2 Samuel 20: 13–22; Revelation 3: 18; Proverbs 11: 14

What is in mind is to say a little, with the Lord’s help, about difficult situations and how they are met. Of course we all know about difficult situations. Most of us, especially those of us who are older, have passed through very difficult situations; many of them having no apparent human solution. I think we have all had to come to that. If you come to that you are cast back on God. Certain situations arise in our lives and we do not know the answer to them. We have to come to it that the Judge of all the earth will do right (Genesis 18: 25), and then, “For who has known the mind of the Lord ...?”, Romans 11: 34. Certain things we leave with God. Certain things we have to resolve ourselves. Many difficult situations have arisen, very difficult ones. Some attempts have been made to solve them by human means but they only end in disaster, and very often differences of opinion come up. Some suggest this solution, some that, and it only compounds the confusion. So we are often faced with difficult situations in our localities and there seems to be no human answer. Therefore, the only answer is to cast ourselves upon God to seek the solution. There are many instances in Scripture of such things.

In Exodus 2, Moses found himself in a very difficult situation, literally fleeing for his life.

We were speaking in the reading about Moses being baptised. It came to a point when he had to make a choice; either Egypt and its pleasures, the pleasures of sin for a season; or the reproach of the Christ and suffer affliction with the people of God (Hebrews 11: 25, 26).

What is your choice? Have we all here made that choice? It is inevitable that we do so or we may lose our way. As far as Moses was

concerned in Exodus 2, the way to meet the situation he found himself in was to sit by the well. He stationed himself in a place where he could gain the help of the Holy Spirit. I think that is what is necessary for each one of us as individuals, but firstly that we make sure we have the Holy Spirit. The young people amongst us might know the forgiveness of sins. I trust everyone here knows that, knows what it is to be justified, reconciled to God through the death of His Son (Romans 5: 10). I trust every young person, and every old person too, in this room knows the indwelling power of God’s Holy Spirit. It is the power for life for the Christian. Without it we have nothing here except a merely formal position. So Moses sat by the well, he stationed himself where he could get divine help. I wonder if we do that. In our individual lives, in our household matters, and particularly in our local assembly matters, are we all persons who are prepared to station ourselves by the well? That is, are we ready to draw on the vast resources that are available in the power of the Spirit of God today, not yesterday, but today, and, as we have in Revelation, do we keep ourselves with overcomer’s ears so that we are attuned to what the Spirit says to the assemblies? That is how we sit by the well.

Then a difficult situation arose when these daughters came to water their father’s flock. They were filling out their responsibility and opposition came in. You will find that, if you have right exercises in your heart, inevitably the enemy opposes them. He opposes here in this context by shepherds; how subtle! How subtle the matter was, that persons who ought to have cared for the flock opposed Moses and they opposed the exercise of these women to water the flock. It is a feature of Christendom. It has been pointed out as to the matter of Stephen, that he says, “ye do always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers, ye also”, Acts 7: 51. It has been so in the history of the recovery. Every matter of truth that came out, the enemy was right there to oppose it. Take the matter of salvation in the assembly, a very important truth. Dear young people, keep in the environment of the people of God, you are safe here, you are not safe in the world. When that ministry was given at Chicago in 1904–05 (J Taylor N.S. Vol.1, pp.108–152) those who ought to have known better opposed it and used scripture to oppose it by saying salvation was only in Jesus (Acts 4: 12). That is true as to our eternal salvation, but practical salvation is in the assembly.

So these shepherds came and drove them away, but it says, “Moses rose and helped them”, a man standing up, typically, in the power of the Spirit of God. The result was that Moses got Zipporah as a wife. I think the brethren know well this section as typical of Christ in rejection, and even in those circumstances He has a wife. Although not a very great type of the assembly, Zipporah is a type of the assembly as given to Christ in the time of His rejection. What it means to the Lord to have persons who consider for Himself, in the day in which we live, when the world is marked by selfishness and self-consideration. That is all I have to say about Moses; he found himself in a difficult situation but the key to it was that he had the resources to meet it. Beloved brethren, when difficulties arise in our lives and in our local meetings, the resources are there to help us; may we learn to draw upon them.

Now when we come to 2 Samuel 20 there is another very difficult situation. There had been a rebellion by Absalom, who stole the hearts of the men of Israel, typifying a person who would draw away the affections of the saints from Christ. It is interesting that in the type.

Absalom’s rebellion was universal. Bear that in mind. And the rebellion of Sheba the son of Bichri was local because it is related to the city of Abel, that is a local assembly. Beloved brethren, let none of us be rebellious in our local assemblies. Let us learn to be subject to one another, “submitting yourselves to one another in the fear of Christ” (Ephesians 5: 21); that is safe. So when this difficult situation arises we have Joab and his men. They were not David’s men, they were Joab’s men, party men. That has been a bane in the recovery and the history of the testimony right down, persons forming themselves into a party. A beloved servant of the Lord said that he would not belong to a party even if it was right. Let us beware of party feelings. That was one of the dangers at Corinth, forming themselves into parties. Well, this is a difficult situation and Joab is going to meet it by destroying the city. It is like Acts 20, when Paul foresaw the history of the testimony and says, “from among your own selves shall rise up men speaking perverted things to draw away the disciples after them”, Acts 20: 30. So Joab here is prepared to destroy a whole locality because of one man. The one man was not right; he was the cause of the trouble in the place, Sheba the son of Bichri; but Joab would have destroyed the whole city.

How is this difficult situation to be met? It is met by a wise unnamed woman, a mother in Israel, one who was concerned; she says, “thou seekest to destroy a city and a mother in Israel”. I think she grasps the main point when she says, “Why wilt thou swallow up the inheritance of Jehovah?” Beloved brethren, if the enemy is at anything today it is to disrupt and divide and destroy the inheritance of Jehovah. If there are difficulties or disruption in any locality it affects the service of God and robs God of His inheritance. That is Ephesian truth. God’s inheritance in the saints (Ephesians 1: 18). What an inheritance God has in His people. Here is a man who would have destroyed that.

The situation is met by a woman in wisdom. Let us be like this woman. She quotes a proverb, saying, “They were wont to speak in old time saying, Just inquire in Abel; and so they ended”. Things were said and rightly said, she had resorted to first principles. How was this difficult situation going to be met? How is any difficult situation going to be met? Not by precedent because every case stands on its own and must be dealt with on its own; there are guidelines for us in Scripture and in ministry, but every incident in any locality must be dealt with on its own merits. So the woman resorts to first principles. She is a mother in Israel. She is like the fathers that John addresses. He says about the fathers, “ye have known him that is from the beginning”, 1 John 2: 13. Let us lay hold of that, the knowledge of Him that is from the beginning. I think we are on solid ground there and that will help us to act in wisdom in any matters that may arise; and there are many difficult matters that have no human solution. The result is that Sheba’s head is thrown over the wall, and the woman in her wisdom saves the city. Are we persons like that, who are concerned for the city? She says, “thou seekest to destroy a city and a mother in Israel. Why wilt thou swallow up the inheritance of Jehovah?” One mourns, and I am sure the brethren do, over the years, how many localities have been lost all over the world, and some of them through ruthless action. Think of the wisdom of this woman. In Ecclesiastes too it refers to “a poor wise man, who by his wisdom delivered the city”, Ecclesiastes 9: 15. Let us be wise, beloved brethren. Let us resort in all matters that cause difficulty to these first divine principles and maintain them; there we are on sure and certain ground. We may not always save the person, but we can act righteously in the sight of God and maintain His rights in our local meetings.

In Revelation there is a very terrible state of things. Laodicea is one of the last four assemblies the bearing of which runs right on to the end of the dispensation. It is obvious that in it there was a very low state of affection for Christ, “thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot”. I wonder if the Lord had to assess us, in the way He did with those assemblies, what would He find? Could He weigh up what there is in this very room, and speak of the amount of real genuine affection for Himself? Lukewarmness marks the profession. Alas, it may mark us. Let us each challenge our hearts as to the depth of our affection for Christ. Now I love to refer to that woman in Luke 7, “she loved much”, the Lord says, Can

it be said of me? Can it be said of you? It was the Lord’s own commendation. May it be so with all of us. So the answer to this condition of things is, “I counsel thee to buy of me gold purified by fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white garments, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not be made manifest; and eye-salve to anoint thine eyes, that thou mayest see”. How often we have heard it said and probably said, ‘I do not see that what you are saying is the truth’. Often behind that lies our will, we are blind because of our will, we do not want to see sometimes. Where is the answer to that state of things? It is to resort to the One who says, “I counsel thee”. His name is “Wonderful, Counsellor ...”, Isaiah 9: 6. You can resort to Him. He has the resources to answer every question. He is still the same, still the same as when this was written. He has these resources, the gold purified by fire, the white garments, and eye-salve. The vast reservoir of divine supply is as rich and full and available today as ever it was. May we draw upon it. It is the answer, beloved brethren, the only answer. Human efforts and human means only result in disaster. How often we have seen it, how often we have proved it!

Well I just touch on Proverbs, “Where no advice is, the people fall”. What a sad state of affairs. How many have fallen. Of course it may have been, as we have proved in our lives and may have been like it, sometimes we do not want advice. Sometimes, if we are marked by our own will and go astray, we are given good advice and do not take it. What a terrible thing that is. When our wills are active, we are not readily open for advice. Beloved brethren, if we are getting good, solid, substantial, spiritual advice, let us take it. If you do not you will fall. “Where no advice is, the people fall”. But then the proverb goes on, “but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety”. I think that has been referred to as the workings of a local assembly, a “multitude of counsellors”. So as to assembly matters they are not in the hands of a few individuals, the whole local meeting is involved. How often there have been committees, how often there have been parties, how often there have been persons who have sought to solve issues apart from the local brethren. Beloved brethren, “in the multitude of counsellors there is safety”. It is not an official thing. There is no such thing in Scripture as certain persons deciding for the saints generally. There is no such thing as a committee that decides things for the brethren. Matters are decided in the heart of the local assembly where there is a multitude of counsellors; there is safety in that, or, as the footnote says, ‘victory’. I like the note, it says ‘victory’. The church is going through in victory. It may seem small, but because of the presence of the Holy Spirit in persons and in local meetings, the testimony will go through in victory. You may fail and I may fail, but the Spirit of God will ensure that things go through in victory to the end. It might not seem publicly so, but in secret it will be so. It is a great matter to be in the secret of what the Holy Spirit is doing today. Some have said that it is an individual day. How often we have heard that. It was one of the sayings in 1972, ‘it is a day now for the individual’.

That is an insult to the Spirit of God. He will maintain what is collective right to the end of the dispensation; if not in you and me, in some others. In His sovereignty He will ensure that, and that is not presumption. The thing for us is, Are we practically in it? Are we in it in our hearts? Are we in it spirit, soul and body? May we all be in it, for His name’s sake.

Address at Brechin
8 May 1999