PERSONS WHO ARE BLESSED
Certain persons throughout Scripture are said to be blessed. The Lord Himself in Matthew 5 spoke of such, beginning with “Blessed are the poor in spirit”. Persons who are blessed would be those whom the Lord is pleased with, who have His approval; we would desire to be among them. Psalm 2 says, “Blessed are all who have their trust in him”, v 12. That is very simple, but very blessed, consistently to have our trust in Him. We were noticing recently that the Ephesians began by trusting in the Lord Jesus (Eph 1: 13), which is a sound foundation in the soul on which to rest and grow in the knowledge of God. The last verse of Psalm 2 says, “Kiss the Son”, which refers to the time when every nation will have to pay tribute to the Lord Jesus in His pre-eminence in the world to come, but the last words are, “Blessed are all who have their trust in him”, which has its application at the present moment, a time of faith. It will not be a time of faith when the Lord establishes the kingdom publicly, it will be a time of sight and of universal recognition of His lordship; but now is the time of faith, so that young people here, and all of us, can begin and be consistent in our trust in Him, not trusting in man, but just trusting in the Lord Jesus. In Isaiah 30 it says, “blessed are all they that wait for him”. This is a very fine section of Isaiah which begins in chapter 30 and ends in chapter 32. It is spoken to a rebellious people but the prophet commends waiting for Him. We are in a waiting time, waiting for the Lord Jesus to come, and the waiting time is very valuable because it is a time in which we grow, a time in which we gain knowledge of God. The Lord is waiting Himself. Paul speaks about the patience of the Christ, 2 Thess 3: 5. The Lord is patiently waiting and it becomes us to wait for Him; wait expectantly, every day looking for Him. That would adjust our committals and our dealings on this earth. Then we need to wait for Him to come into matters which cause concern and difficulty. This attitude is very pleasing to the Lord. It is a blessed attitude. Paul refers in Romans 4: 6 to David describing the blessedness of a man. There is a blessedness attached to certain attitudes on our part.
It says in verse 15 of Isaiah 30, “For thus saith the Lord Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel—In returning and rest shall ye be saved”. We would like to preach that gospel to persons who need to return to honour the Lord, to return to those who desire to walk in the truth. “In quietness and confidence shall be your strength”. May every one of us desire to have this attitude. We tend to be agitated, but this is the blessed state described here of those who trust in Him. Verse 18 says, “And therefore will Jehovah wait, that he may be gracious unto you”. The Lord is waiting to be gracious to us, just to show His grace to any one who is returning and is in rest and quietness and confidence. “And therefore will Jehovah wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he lift himself up, that he may have mercy upon you”. We can experience something of this in returning and resting. This is a fine expression— “therefore will he lift himself up, that he may have mercy upon you ... blessed are all they that wait for him”.
This verse in Isaiah 32 comes in at the very end of this section. Isaiah 32: 1 brings in “a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment”, which describes the blessedness of the world to come about to be introduced, but the last verse says, “Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters”.
Our brother has spoken of the importance of sowing. We are all sowing some kind of seed which will have its fruit. Perhaps in years hence we may regret what we sowed, because we will be sure to reap a crop according to what we have sown. Sow what is good beside all waters. Take advantage of every suitable opportunity. Galatians speaks of sowing to the Spirit (Gal 6: 8), that would mean sowing in such a way that there would be a spiritual result. The fruit of the Spirit is spoken of in that epistle. Let us take advantage of every opportunity, whether it be in the glad tidings, the reading of the Scriptures, reading ministry, or taking time to consider the things of God—“Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth the feet of the ox and the ass”. The ox has a steady, patient, reliable and consistent tread. In undertaking any labour, the ox is dependable. How much that is needed in our local settings—dependability, steadiness, stability—the feet of the ox. Then the ass is the burden bearer. There are burdens to bear in our localities. The ass is the willing burden bearer, a domesticated, noble, useful animal. We need both the steadiness and reliability of the ox, and the willingness to carry and take responsibility in burdens that need to be carried. This has a blessedness attached to it.
May we be encouraged to take on this blessed occupation that the Lord would approve of and that God could find pleasure in, that there may be fruit for God, and we would thus have our own happy, satisfying portion. May it be so for His Name’s sake.
MELBOURNE
19th June 1984
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