Everything related to God’s redemption depends upon man; hence, without man, God cannot do anything. All the work in His redemption is carried out through man, by means of man, and in the mingling with man, and He saves us so that we may serve Him. Our problem, however, is that we cannot rise up. We want to take care of our wives, children, parents, families, careers, futures, fame, and wealth. We have so much to take care of that we cannot rise up. We are unable to be quick and decisive. We do not have the courage and are not ready to take risks. We merely want to be a secure Christian. A Christian who is up to the standard, however, takes risks. Answering the Lord’s call requires us to take risks. Some Christians seem to rise up, but because they have not been sufficiently broken and dealt with, they cannot endure and collapse after a short time. Hence, we must see that among so many Christians, it is not easy for the Lord to find some who can meet His need. Such people are rare.
A person who rises up for God needs to have the boldness to take risks and have a strong and indomitable will. A person who is timid and cowardly cannot rise up. Very often, of a hundred people whom the Lord saves, fewer than five are willing to rise up for Him. Most Christians are timid, weak in will, cowardly, and indifferent. Such ones have difficulty in rising up and are not of much use even if they do rise up. Those who rise up must have a certain amount of courage and talent. Everyone who is useful for the Lord must have a strong will, boldness, and some capability at the very least.
However, when a person rises up to meet God’s need, there is another risk. Because those who rise up have some resolve and boldness, there is the risk that they will not rely on God or look to God but would rather do things in themselves. Even though they disregard many dangers and difficulties and rise up for the Lord in the face of repeated frustrations, there is a danger that they will charge ahead to do a work regardless of what the Lord is doing. They can work independently by themselves and apart from the Lord. They can put Him aside, not fellowship with Him, not abide in Him, and not be in union with Him.
In today’s Christianity there are many activities and works which have fallen into this category. As long as someone has the resolve, capability, responsibility, and boldness to take risks, he can do some work. This is the reason so many works in Christianity have lost the Lord’s presence. This is truly frightening. Many things can be done without abiding in the Lord.
No matter how strong we are and how much we can rise up for the Lord, we should all be weak in every step of our work. We must say to Him, “O Lord, although I have risen up, I am still a weak person. Like the children of Israel, I need to be borne on Your wings to serve You. In people’s eyes, I may be bold, I may have ideas, and I may have a strong will, but Lord, You know that I am as weak as water. If You do not uphold me and bear me on Your shoulders, I cannot walk an inch. O Lord, apart from You I can do nothing. Inwardly, I am weak in prayer. I am weak in fellowship. I am weak even in my feeling for the work.” No matter how people evaluate us outwardly, thinking that we are strong, capable, and steadfast in our will, we must be weak and trembling in our inward being. We must tell the Lord, “Apart from You I can do nothing. Though You need me, I need You; I need You not only inwardly but also outwardly. Lord, in my spirit, I need Your Spirit; in my environment, I need Your hand. I need You.”
A person who works and serves the Lord in administrating the church should never be political like unbelievers in the community and in society. In serving the Lord and administrating the church, we should never use tricks or play politics. At one time of fellowship, a brother suggested that we do things a certain way. I immediately said, “Brother, this is playing politics; this is using tricks.” At another time, I heard that a brother intended to come and give me a difficult time. Someone suggested that we ask a sister to visit this brother’s wife to ask her to exert some influence on him and change his mind. This is a good way for unbelievers; it can be compared to using a back door when the front door is locked. But this is altogether unacceptable in the service of the Lord and in the administration of the church.
Using tricks is a proof that we are apart from the Lord and that we have not relied on Him. Unbelievers use tricks because they do not have the Lord, but one who serves the Lord should never do this. One who serves the Lord is in the Lord. When such a one encounters difficulties, he should never turn to politics but to the Lord and tell Him, “I have no work of my own; all the work is Yours. If You permit this problem, I will accept it, but if this will cause Your work to suffer, please hinder it.”
When we administrate the church, we should never use our great thoughts and excellent skills. A problem that arises in the church will become worse the more we try to avoid it. The church does not need to ask for trouble, nor does the church need to shun trouble. Whenever the children of Israel rose up to create trouble, oppose, or rebel, neither Moses nor Aaron did anything for themselves; they simply withdrew and prostrated themselves before God (Exo. 15:24-25; Num. 14:1-5; 16:1-4, 19-24, 41-45). When Moses heard the murmurings of the people, he said to Jehovah, “Why have You treated Your servant badly...that You have put the burden of all this people upon me?...From where should I get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me, saying, Give us meat, so that we may eat! I am not able to bear all this people alone, for it is too heavy for me” (11:11-14). This is a prayer of one who knew God. Moses was a great politician, a great military leader, and a great educator; he was a man of great capability who knew how to play politics. However, if we carefully read the four books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, we will see that he never used tricks in leading the children of Israel.
Moses was an elderly man (Exo. 7:7); he was not inexperienced. He had lived in the Egyptian palace (2:10), and he had led the children of Israel to come out of Egypt and cross the Red Sea, and they obeyed him (14:31). But whenever he dealt with a problem, he never assumed a high position before men. Instead, he always fell immediately on his face before God (Num. 14:5; 16:4, 22, 45; 20:6). When the Israelites worshipped the golden calf at the foot of Mount Sinai, God told Moses, “Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves...My anger may burn against them” (Exo. 32:7, 10). Moses immediately spoke to God of His people, saying, “Your people, whom You brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand...to whom You swore by Yourself and said to them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of I will give to your seed” (vv. 11, 13). Moses was saying, “O God, You must forgive them; even if You do not want to forgive them, You still must forgive them.” Moses negotiated with God, and eventually “Jehovah repented of the evil which He said He would do to His people” (v. 14), and Moses was given rest (33:14).
This means that he was a man who stood up for God, but he did not serve the Lord in himself. He stood up by trusting in the Lord for his service. The Lord was his support, his surrounding wall, his shield, his banner, and his fortress. He served the Lord by being in the Lord. In the Old Testament there was Moses, and in the New Testament there was Paul, who said, “Of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God which was given to me according to the operation of His power” (Eph. 3:7). Paul did not rely on his own knowledge or outward tricks but on God’s inward power and outward hand.