Ⅲ
To take, receive, and keep the word of God, we must be absolutely one with Him:
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The case of Gedaliah is the case of a person who was not one with God; although Gedaliah was faithful in caring for Jeremiah, God’s prophet, he did not seek the Lord’s word, because this was not his habit—Jer. 40:5-6, 13-14:
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Gedaliah did not take God as his source to be one with Him and to receive whatever issued from Him; if he had been a person who was one with God, the first thing he would have done would have been to receive the word of God.
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To take, to receive, and to keep the word of God as the expression of His thought, His will, His heart’s desire, and His good pleasure, we must be absolutely one with God, trusting in Him, relying on Him, and not having any opinion that comes from the self—cf. 2 Cor. 1:8-9, and v. 12, footnote 2.
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The principle of the Bible, especially of the New Testament, is that God opens Himself to us so that we may enter into Him, receive Him, and become one with Him; then He will be in us, and we will be in Him, taking Him as everything—John 15:4-5; 1 John 2:28; 3:24.
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The first thing we will take is His word to express His thought, His will, His heart’s desire, and His good pleasure; we will not care for our opinions or preferences; in this way we become His mouthpiece to speak Him forth to others for their supply—Jer. 1:6-9.
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The Lord told Jeremiah, “If you bring out the precious from the worthless, / You will be as My mouth”—15:19; 23:29, cf. v. 16:
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We need the eyes of our heart to be enlightened to see the excellency, the supereminence, the surpassing worth, of Christ as the preciousness to His believers in order to gain Christ, counting all things other than Christ as loss—Phil. 3:7-8; 1 Pet. 2:7, cf. vv. 4, 6.
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We must treasure the Lord’s words more than our apportioned food, tasting the Lord in His word as the reality of the good land flowing with nourishing milk and fresh honey for us to dispense to God’s people for their full salvation—Job 23:12; 1 Pet. 2:2-5; Psa. 119:103; Deut. 8:8; S. S. 4:11a.
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We must treasure the Lord’s words more than all earthly riches so that we can speak oracles of God (God’s speaking, God’s utterance, which conveys divine revelation) to dispense the unsearchable riches of Christ as the varied grace of God to all the saints—Psa. 119:72, 9-16; Eph. 3:8; 2 Cor. 6:10; 1 Pet. 4:10-11.
Morning Nourishment
Jer. 15:19 Therefore thus says Jehovah,…If you bring out the precious from the worthless, you will be as My mouth…Phil. 3:8 But moreover I also count all things to be loss on account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, on account of whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as refuse that I may gain Christ.
To take, receive, and keep the word of God, we must be absolutely one with God. We must trust in Him, rely on Him, and not have any opinion that comes out of ourselves. We should simply enjoy what God has done and what He will do for us. This is the way to fulfill God’s economy, and this is the new covenant. In the new covenant we are one with God and let Him write Himself into us as our life and as our life law with its capacity for us to function. We all need to see this.
The principle of the Bible, especially of the New Testament, is that God opens Himself to us that we may enter into Him, receive Him, and become one with Him. Then He will be in us, and we will be in Him, taking Him as everything. The first thing we will take is His word to express His thought, His will, His heart’s desire, and His good pleasure; we will not care for our opinions or preferences. In this way we become His mouthpiece to speak Him forth to others for their supply. (Life-study of Jeremiah, pp. 218-219)
Today’s Reading
Once a person is saved, his concept of value changes. He no longer cherishes what he once cherished, and he treasures what he once despised. This is a change in his concept of value. Anyone who has not witnessed such a change in concept is not a genuine Christian.Matthew 10:37-38 says, “He who loves father or mother above Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter above Me is not worthy of Me; and he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.” A father, mother, wife, and children are the most precious things to a man. They are the most important things a man has in this life. When these are not compared with the Lord, there is nothing wrong in loving them. But when a situation arises where we have to choose between the two, which one will we choose?…We have to help the brothers and sisters know the real precious thing. We can ask new believers, “Whom will you choose?” If they are not clear about this, they will be lost when they face temptations in the future. The responsibility of providing proper guidance is on our shoulders. We have to tell the new believers, “If, for the Lord’s sake, you have to draw a separation line between yourself and your parents, wife, and children, will you choose Him? For His sake, that is, for the sake of the Lord who died for us, we should choose to be His disciples and follow Him.” Our own kin are precious, but they are no comparison to the Lord. Our Lord is more precious. [According to Philippians 3:7-8], we see that Paul…had a change in his concept of value. What things were gains to him, these he counted as loss on account of Christ. Why was Paul able to reject the things that were gains to him? He was able to consider them as loss on account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus. Paul reckoned the Christ whom God had anointed as Lord, as King, and as the most excellent One. For His sake he suffered the loss of all things and counted them as refuse. This is the kind of change in valuation that happens to a Christian.
Jeremiah 15:19 [says] that if we bring out the precious from the worthless, we will be as God’s mouth. If we cannot tell the proper value of things, God will reject us and cast us aside….We have to see the importance of such a change in concept of value. May the Lord grant us the light to have a thorough change in our concept of value so that we will know to choose the most excellent portion. (CWWN, vol. 60, pp. 387, 390, 395)
Further Reading: CWWN, vol. 60, ch. 45