LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
The Loss of Freedom (2)
It's so hard for us to be still! We presume by thinking that if we do not do or say, God's work will experience great loss; that much will remain undone if we do not do what we think we are doing so excellently. But all that is vanity.
Ephesians tells us that God prepared in advance the works in which we should walk (2:10). Without a doubt, they are not our works, but the works of God prepared for us to carry out. Not what we can think of, but what God has prepared. And this may be something much simpler and more modest than what we attributed to ourselves.
Whoever does his own work usually carries great nervousness. His anxious and restless heart does not allow him to have peace. He may even fight with his brothers, because of his jealousy. Pretending to do the best, he falls for the worst. Instead of doing God's work, he hurts God's loved ones, and destroys God's work.
Therefore, Hebrews calls us to rest from our works, and to enter into the rest of God. "For he that has entered into his rest, he also has rested from his works, as God from his" (Heb. 4:10). If we are aware that we are doing God's work and not our own, we can rest. God has everything ordered for his glory. And what remains for us is to align ourselves with that order; unite our will to his.
We are not free to do or say what we want. The Lord said: "He who speaks on his own account seeks his own glory; but whoever seeks the glory of him who sent him, this one is true, and there is no injustice in him" (John 7:18). We have done a lot for ourselves, on our own, and to achieve the glory of men. It is necessary to stop for once and wait for God's guidance.
The Lord did not call us primarily to do things, but to be with him, to listen to him, and receive his instructions. All true service to God begins in the stillness of his silence, in the intimacy of his secrecy. By saying, "Here I am, send me", we are not fulfilling a requirement to stampede, but we are making ourselves available for him to send us.
Paul said, "I would rather speak five words with my understanding... than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue" (1 Cor. 14:19). Paraphrasing, we could say: "I prefer to speak five words of God, in God's time, to the people chosen by God, than ten thousand words of mine, said at my whim, and to whomever I come up with". The work of God does not consist in quantity, but in quality. God endorses only that which originated from him. Only what comes from Him has life. What is ours is dead, it has no virtue, it does not save or edify anyone. Only what comes from God works.