DRAWING, CALLING, DOING

J. Earl

Judges 4: 5; 5: 6, 7, 9, 11, 15–18; 15: 14–19; Ezra 7: 10; 8: 21, 22, 31

I had three thoughts in mind in this meeting, drawing, calling and doing. Deborah is introduced to us in chapter 4 of Judges as a prophetess, one who brought in the current mind of God for the people, and she was the means of great encouragement for them, strengthening them as they came to her for judgment. So the Lord is helping, I am sure, in the prophetic meeting and how we need to make way for Him and for the Spirit through the Scriptures. The next thing that is said about her is that she is the wife of Lapidoth; that would imply that she was subject to headship, an important matter in the ordering of God both in creation and in the assembly. Paul says to Timothy, “I do not suffer a woman to teach nor to exercise authority over man, but to be in quietness”, 1 Timothy 2: 12. We need to regard that scripture. I do not intend to say any more, but just make this comment that at times it seems that that matter is suffered. But then she speaks of herself as a mother in Israel. It seems as though she had got the victory over herself, the palm tree would imply that. It was her palm tree. What lessons there are in that for us.

She says in chapter 5 verse 6, in the days of Shamgar the roads were unused and the travellers on highways went on crooked paths. I want to say a word on that, because a good many of us were found on crooked paths, there is not any question about that; and you know a crooked path may lead to a cul-de-sac, a dead end. When you reach a dead end on a crooked path, you either stay there where you

are, without any change, without any outlet, or you turn around and return. God grant that we might all return. What a moment it was for the prodigal in Luke 15, when coming to himself he discovered he was in a dead end of a crooked path, and he thought about his father, and his father’s house, and the plenty; so he turned right round, and started off home. The remarkable part about it is when a person does this, the path seems to straighten out. On the basis of repentance he went as direct as he could, I am sure, to his father’s house. He did not lag on the way. I think that is what the Spirit of God is wanting from each of us. We can thank God for recovery. If the Lord in His mercy had not recovered us we would still be in that dead end. We never want to be caught up in those crooked ways again. What we need is to remain in God’s highways, “In whose heart are the highways”, Psalm 84: 5. That is beautiful, is it not? I think the returning prodigal found the way of repentance and faith. That is what Paul preached to the saints at Ephesus, repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ. What a highway that is; that highway is to be in our heart. And so Deborah speaks of this, the roads were unused, the travellers on highways going on crooked paths and the villages ceased, and we know something of that. The Lord means to encourage us in our local gatherings on the line of travelling on divine highways. I have spoken of one of them. What a highway 2 Timothy 2 is. If we are on it let us stay there; let us keep on it and pursue the line.

It is a straight line, there is nothing crooked about 2 Timothy 2, it, is as clear and precise as possible. The Lord means us not only to see it but to tread that highway with diligent haste.

And so, it is at this point that Deborah arises. The villages ceased until Deborah arose a mother in Israel. I want to say a word as to maternal

qualities in our localities. They are very much needed. Pauls says not many fathers, and we still have to say that, and we would have to say too, I think, not many mothers. I am not wanting to draw attention to any particular persons in this; I am thinking of what is to mark a locality. We surely need fatherhood in function. I think in measure we have it, but perhaps we have lacked a little bit in motherhood. I think the Spirit of God would say something as to that. A mother passes through travail; she would not be a mother otherwise. A mother is marked by tenderness of feeling, sympathy, she has a watchful caring eye, she is prepared for unselfish service. How many things come to mind when you think of a mother. Oh dear brethren, we need the maternal feature in function in our localities! Another thing said about a mother is that she is free. Do you understand that? “But the Jerusalem above is free”. Paul says, “which is our mother”, Gal: 4: 26. He is writing to the Galatians when he said that, so I assume he is thinking of legality. This is something to pray about that the Lord may help us, in the maternal side of the truth in our localities.

Now I come to other things. This chapter has been likened to the judgment seat of Christ, in that things are gone over, it is a review of what has happened. Some have been marked by this, and some have been marked by that. I want to speak of the matter that is referred to in verse 11, but before that, she says, “My heart is toward the governors of Israel, who offered themselves willingly among the people”. That is open to every one of us, to offer ourselves willingly in service to the Lord and His people. She comes to this verse which really led me to this chapter. “Because of the voice of those who divide the spoil in the midst of the places of drawing water” (v.11). That is something to aim at in our localities, dividing the spoil. You remember when David came back from the destruction of the Amalekites, he set certain of the flock out in front, and he said, “This is David’s spoil”, 1 Samuel 30: 20. It is spoil for Christ that we want in our localities.

Then she says in that verse, “Because of the voice of those who divide the spoil in the midst of the places of drawing water”. We are here today in a place where water is drawn. We are not to stand out in front of our local brethren nor to lag behind them. We are in the midst of them. I think that this would link with what we were saying today that there is no need to assert things dogmatically; we should be ready to mutually draw together. What a depth of wealth and resource lies in the Spirit of God. “Things which eye has not seen, and ear not heard, and which have not come into man’s heart, which God has prepared for them that love him”, 1 Corinthians 2: 9. Just think of that. God has given us the Spirit to reveal these things to us. It says the Spirit searches the depths of God. What an opportunity when we come together in a reading just to sit and draw water. It need not be a question of outstanding gift; that, of course, comes into it, we need a lead, but we do need to operate mutually so that all the brethren are refreshed by the drawing of water.

Then it says that there they rehearsed the righteous acts of Jehovah. How we can go over that ground. How faithful God has been to us. Most of us have been through a great deal of shame too, we have had to repent and be recovered. God has been faithful in all these things and the Spirit of God has remained among us. It is good to go over these things in the testimony. I wonder how much we do; things that have happened in our lifetime in relation to the truth.

Battles have had to be fought, there have had to be conquests and there has been suffering. We are here today with the opportunity of being committed loyally to the truth. Oh may the Lord hold us in that highway! His righteous acts towards His villages in Israel. That is another thing. Is not the Lord faithful in the way He holds two or three together in a place? How could they do it otherwise? The Lord means to encourage the local meetings, even though the numbers be few. If it pleases Him we would like to see additions. There is nothing wrong with that. The fact is that there has had to be reduction, It is the Lord’s matter sovereignly whether He adds to numbers or not, but it is for us to be committed to what is right, and stand together in the truth, and not be entangled in any crooked path. May the Lord save us from it. The Lord is for these villages in Israel. He is indeed; I am sure of that. The Lord means these small gatherings to be strengthened and encouraged and held. He does not want anyone going away.

I read about Samson in Judges 15. It is not the Midianites now, but the Philistines, and that brings it very near home, there is something Philistinic in each one of us; it relates to the flesh. It is one of the things that we have to guard against personally. We were talking about it today, the tendency to store knowledge and then relay it. That does not give the Spirit of God much room, does it? The word of God is living and who like the Spirit can use it? Let the oil flow, let the Spirit have His way. What we have gathered in the way of knowledge, what we have acquired, will not be lost; it is a question of what we make of it or attempt to make of it. And so it is good to see these Philistines being knocked over, to see Samson swinging this jawbone, and they are not intended to come up again. You know what David did to the Philistine, even after he had brought him

down with a stone, he severed his head with Goliath’s own sword. There is to be no return with David of the Philistinic idea. He comes away from the scene with the Philistine’s head in his hand. It tells us that he carried it up to Jerusalem. I think we can see the bearing of that.

It was to make way for the headship of Christ in type. But then it says also that he put his armour in his tent. I think, dear brethren, that we need that armour in our local tents. That armour speaks of the Philistine being disarmed, and we do not want to give him any ground.

He was a big man that David slew, about ten feet high, big in every way. David brought him down with one small stone, and the Lord means that man to be brought down in each one of us. Let us have a judgment of what is Philistinic and keep it under, and that will help to make way for the Spirit of God.

So when Samson had finished this slaughter he was very thirsty. Thirst relates to what is inward with us. The slaughter of the Philistines did not exactly minister to his inward longings. What does God do? He makes provision for him, not by cleaving the jawbone, but by cleaving the hollow rock. The jawbone had its place; one of the remarkable weapons used in the book of Judges. Shamgar used an ox-goad, Samson used a jawbone of an ass, Jael used a carpenter’s hammer and a tent-pin. These are the weapons that God helps people to use in order that the enemy’s attack may fail. So now after the Philistines are down, Samson needs to be revived in soul, and so do you and I. How is that to come about? What will meet that, dear brethren, is the caller’s spring. What reserves are there; what wealth is there, what depth is there; I am alluding to the Spirit of God. This is a beautiful type of Him, the ‘caller’s spring’. It means you can call at any time and the answer

will be there immediately. Oh let us learn to call on the Spirit and He will meet our inward needs. This is something that the Philistine knows nothing about. So we need to keep the Philistine in his place, keep him under, not give him any room at all. Oh we need to make more and more room for the Spirit as the ‘caller’s spring’. And what happened? he was revived, and, dear brethren, the Lord means us to be revived. We are in a time of revival, it has not finished yet, this period of church revival. Some of us have heard about that most of our lives. I can go back a fair way and I can remember this being said, ‘We are in a time of church revival’. It is as true today as ever. We are near the end of it. The Spirit is about to complete His work and the dispensation will close. Then from the responsible point of view we will have to face the judgment seat, and it will come out just where we were in the time of responsibility. What will help us more than anything now is the matter of calling on the Spirit.

I refer to Ezra just simply because he sets out this idea of doing. Paul said to the Corinthians at the end of his second letter to them, “We pray to God that ye may do nothing evil; not that we may appear approved, but that ye may do what is right, and we be as reprobates”, 2

Corinthians 13: 7. I think that was a beautifully encouraging thing for him to say to them.

They had done things that were not right. How simple it is; that is the highway to go on. We quoted it today, the Lord said, “If ye know these things, blessed are ye if ye do them”, John 13: 17. Well, we come together and the truth is before us, we support it, but do we go away and leave it at that? Other things come in you know, I meant to refer to it when I was speaking about Reuben.

I might go back to it, as it links with this.

It speaks of Asher sitting on the seashore. You might say there is nothing wrong with that.

The seashore is not a prohibited area in that sense. The seashore is a creature of God. But I can say this that it is no place to be when a war is on, when as fight is being fought. The fight was from heaven that is what is said. “From heaven was the fight”. And if heaven is involved in any matter, is not that where we would want to be? And so it is a question of the use we make of these things. We have to be clear that there are not any prohibitions in Christianity in relation to the creatures of God. “Every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, being received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by God’s word and freely addressing, him”, Paul says (1 Timothy 4: 4, 5). The danger lies in the use we make of these things. So there was Asher sitting on the seashore when he should have been in the fight and it says, “In his creeks”. I had to read that a second time, but that is what it says, “his creeks”. I think we can over emphasize the idea of what is local. If you had gone up one of those creeks you might have been told you were trespassing, ‘This is our territory’. How does a creek become local? Water has to come from somewhere in the first place and has to run somewhere afterwards. So how can you make a creek local? Then I think the matter is balanced by the priesthood, and a priest has a moral right to go up any creek. He has right of way everywhere, provided he goes as a priest.

It says here, “For Ezra had directed his heart to seek the law of Jehovah and to do it, and to teach in Israel the statutes and the ordinances”. What a priest he was! He is dedicated to doing this thing. That really embodies my message today. Then it says in the other verses we read they were freed from Babylon, all they had to do was go home,

go back. Of course they carried a lot of wealth with them, there was a danger of highwaymen besetting them, and they might have asked the king for a guard to protect them. It says they were ashamed to do that. Legitimately they could have done it, but what they did was to trust in God. They fasted and prayed and asked God to open up a way for them. “I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before, our God, to seek of him a right way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance”. Is not that a happy end to these local exercises? Has not the right way been opened up to us? It is as clear as can be, all we have to do is to take it. It says they were ashamed to ask for protection because they had told the king that if they did what was right that their God would protect them. That is a beautiful touch I think. So they did not ask, and after the prayer and fasting they went on their way. They followed the highway through; the way back to Jerusalem. That is what it was, and God has opened up a way for us. Oh let the young people take that way! It is a clear way, a straight way, nothing crooked about it, and God will bless you if you take it. His Spirit will furnish the strength to hold you in it until the end of your testimony here. I was touched as I read this verse a few days ago, that they were ashamed to ask the king for support. They met the matter morally and dependently, in fasting and prayer, and God opened the way up and nobody attacked them as they went to Jerusalem to have part in the great work of God. They were prospered, and God will prosper us locally and generally, as we commit ourselves to Him in dependence on these lines. May it be so for His glory.

Address at Bendigo
24 February 1990