by Os Hillman
God sometimes allows you to get into a place of testing where your own welfare would be the right and proper thing to consider if you were not living a life of faith; but if you are, you will joyfully waive your right and leave God to choose for you. This is the discipline by means of which the natural is transformed into the spiritual by obedience to the voice of God.
Whenever “right” is made the guidance in the life, it will blunt the spiritual insight. The great enemy of the life of faith in God is not sin, but the good which is not good enough. The good is always the enemy of the best. It would seem the wisest thing in the world for Abraham to choose and the people around would consider him a fool for not choosing. Many of us do not go on spiritually because we prefer to choose what is right instead of relying on God to choose for us. We have to learn to walk according to the standard which has its eye on God.2
A Modern-Day Example
In the late 1980s, I owned a home on a golf course. This house was a sanctuary to me, and I used to enjoy taking walks around the course in the evenings after the golfers had gone home. I willingly gave up this property in the divorce settlement, even though it was very difficult, because I knew that the Lord was telling me to do so.
Some time later, when Angie and I were looking for a new home, we saw a house for sale on this same golf course where I used to live. We knocked on the door to see if we could take a look at it, and much to our surprise, the owner let us in to check it out. We loved the house, even though the price was a little more than what we wanted to pay. I really felt this was God’s house for us and I told Angie that, but she told me that she did not have a peace about the house, though she could not explain why.
I was sure her peace would come. A few weeks later the owner dropped the price by $20,000. My peace was getting better and better! I knew this was our house. I wanted it so badly. It had the greatest view on the entire course. Yet when I asked Angie about it, she said that she still had no peace. However, I was so convinced that it would come that I decided to put a contract on the house. At that point, Angie asked if she could present our dilemma to our marriage accountability group to get their feedback, and I agreed. We each presented our viewpoints to the group and put it to a vote. To my surprise, they voted 100 percent in Angie’s favor. I was devastated and dropped the contract.
Strangely, I got a call the following week from the owner of the golf course, who was a personal friend. He asked me if I was still interested in a home on the golf course. Apparently, a woman who just lost her husband was ready to sell. I cynically thought to myself, If Angie didn’t have peace about the other house, why would she have peace about this one? Nevertheless, I went to see the house.
The home was beautiful. It had a finished basement for our offices and it was perfect for our needs. I knew that Angie would love it, so I brought her back with me the next day. As I had expected, Angie also loved the house, and we decided to make an offer on it. The offer was accepted, and by the end of the transaction we had saved nearly $50,000 in purchasing this house over the other one. We were also able to get to know the widow who sold us the home, and during one of our visits she prayed to receive Christ into her life.
From the experience, I learned that God often returns to us the very thing that we have given up for His sake. He was showing me that He does take us through hard places, but that He also loves to give to His children. The first house was a good house; the second house was God’s house for us. God received glory from the entire process, and this home has been a great blessing to us. It has allowed us to receive many visitors and has been a place of hospitality and ministry ever since.
Sitting at Jesus’ Feet
The biblical story of Ruth and Boaz provides an excellent illustration of the connection between spending time in the presence of God and receiving physical provision.
Ruth and her mother-in-law, Naomi, both widowed and destitute, had returned to Bethlehem, which was Naomi’s hometown. As was the custom of the day, Ruth went to gather the leftover grain the harvesters had left behind in the fields. She found herself in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of her husband’s father. After laboring in the fields all day, she had collected about an ephah (approximately 22 liters) of barley.
Naomi, realizing that Boaz could provide for them as “kinsman-redeemer,” advised Ruth to go to him at the threshing floor, where he would be working and sleeping that night, and to lie at his feet in submission. She did so. As a sign of his blessing, Boaz said to Ruth, “Bring the shawl that is on you and hold it.” When she held it out to Boaz, “he measured six ephahs of barley, and laid it on her” (Ruth 3:15, NKJV).
Notice that when Ruth worked in the field for a day, she got one ephah of barley. When she laid at her kinsman-redeemer’s feet, he gave her six ephahs. The analogy here is that when we, like Ruth, spend time at the feet of Jesus, who is our kinsman-redeemer, He will give us much more than what we could ever produce or gather by our own efforts.
The Temptation to Take Matters Into Our Own Hands
In the process of waiting on God’s provision for us, the temptation will be to take matters into our own hands to achieve our desired outcomes. I call this the horizontal versus vertical method of problem solving. When we seek to solve problems by relying on our own efforts, we are going horizontal, or the way of the flesh. However, when we go vertical, we take the matter to God, saying, “Lord, I don’t understand why I am not getting a breakthrough here, but I know you do. I am going to seek your direction and your timing until I get the breakthrough I need.”
There are many examples in the Bible of men and women of faith who took matters into their own hands to get what they wanted. In many cases, these individuals were successful in receiving what they wanted. However, since they did not rely upon God or follow His plan, the Lord brought a penalty or judgment upon them.
Take Moses, for example. In Numbers 20, we read that Moses and the Israelites had been traveling for days without water. The Israelites were angry and quarreled with Moses, saying “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!” (v. 5). So Moses sought the Lord for wisdom about how to handle the situation, and the Lord instructed him, “Take the staff, and… speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water” (v. 8, emphasis added). This would show that God was still in control, that Moses was still the leader and that God was their provider.
So Moses took the staff from the Lord’s presence, just as he commanded him. He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank (vv. 9-11, emphasis added).
Moses’ disgust with the people became so great that when it came time to speak to the rock, he angrily addressed the people and instead struck the rock twice. The water came out in spite of Moses’ disobedience, but the Lord was not pleased with him. As a consequence, the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them” (v. 12).
Moses made the mistake many of us make in both our personal lives and in our employment. He used his staff (which, as you remember, represents his vocation and his authority from God) with force to accomplish something. Like Moses, you and I have abilities that allow us to make things happen. We can orchestrate events and even use our abilities to accomplish good things. The problem is that if we do not use our abilities out of obedience, these accomplishments are not from God.
God does not want leaders in the workplace who resort to human power and manipulation. Instead, he wants leaders who follow the example of His Son Jesus, who did not lead through His natural strength, but rather by depending on the Father. He came as a lowly servant. He didn’t receive through His nat
ural abilities; He received from obedience to the Father. He was a vessel through whom the Father channeled resources and mighty acts.
These are the kind of men and women that God is raising up today in the workplace. They are not high-profile personalities, but faceless, nameless and humble individuals who seek to follow Jesus completely. They have learned the proper balance between the natural and the spiritual. With this kind of leader, God can transform a workplace or city.
Inquiring of the Lord
In Joshua 9, we read how Joshua and the people of Israel were in the Promised Land, receiving their inheritance from God. No longer in the wasteland of the desert, they were at last enjoying the land of milk and honey that God had promised them. They were winning battles and feeling good about their progress.
God had instructed the Israelites to wipe out all of the inhabitants of the land, for their protection. Everything was going well until one day a band of Gibeonites—one of the groups of people that God had commanded the Israelites to destroy—came by dressed as travelers. They had put worn and patched sandals on their feet and stocked their bags with dry and moldy bread, and they successfully convinced Joshua and his men that they were from a distant country. “The men of Israel sampled their provisions but did not inquire of the Lord. Then Joshua made a treaty of peace with them to let them live, and the leaders of the assembly ratified it by oath” (Josh. 9:14-15, emphasis added). Because Joshua did not inquire of the Lord about the Gibeonites, Israel was forced to uphold the peace treaty with their enemy, even though it had been made under false pretenses.
We must be careful as we begin to receive our inheritance from God. We can become lazy when we prosper and begin to operate independently of God. We must keep in mind that God has created us to have a relationship with Him and that He wants us to come to Him for guidance—not because He wants to control us, but because He loves us.
The Promised Land is representative of achievement through obedience versus sweat and toil. Joshua 24:13 describes this: “So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.” If you are a parent, you know how wonderful it is when your children come to you for advice and they really want it. God is no different. Beware of acting independently in your promised land. God will always want to be involved in your life, and if you rely on Him, He will keep you on track.
How About You?
1. Can you summarize from your own experience the key principle of what it means to receive from God out of obedience versus sweat and toil?
2. What adjustments might be needed for you to begin to walk out this principle?
CHAPTER 11
DO NOT REACH FOR THE POWER
For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh.
PHILIPPIANS 3 : 3
A few years ago, I was asked by a large organization to meet with them about doing some cooperative projects in the Faith at Work area. I visited their headquarters and had some initial discussions. We concluded that we would proceed on a joint conference.
During my visit, I stayed overnight at the headquarters of this ministry, where I was awakened at 5 A.M. and led by the Lord to read Exodus 33:15, which describes Moses’ complaint to God about the rebellious Israelites, who had just worshiped the golden calf. Moses said he could not go any further if God did not promise that His presence would go with him. I sensed this was to be our theme for the conference.
Later that morning, I shared that I had received this leading from the Lord regarding the theme of the conference with some of the people in the organization. However, when I shared this with the leader of the organization, he did not take it seriously. I was a bit irritated and my pride was hurt, but I decided to follow a principle that I had been walking in for a few years: act like you have the authority, but do not reach for the power. I realized that if God had truly spoken His words into my heart, I would not have to exercise my authority to make it happen. God would orchestrate it.
More discussion was given to the theme, but nothing was resolved. A few hours later, the conference theme came up again. I turned to a friend and read Exodus 33:15 aloud, and he got excited about using that verse as the possible theme of the event. The leader, to my amazement, chimed in as well and said, “Yes, that should be the theme of the conference.” It was a big lesson for me.
A few weeks later, I was picking up an intercessor friend from the airport. The moment he got into my car, he said, “The Lord has been speaking to me about the theme of the conference. He gave me Exodus 33:15: ‘Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.”’”
A Paradox
The man or woman who does not perform well on the job is left behind in today’s competitive world. Not only is this typical of the world at large, but even many Christians promote the importance of identifying our strengths and encourage us to move in them to accomplish God’s will. Yet, throughout the Bible, we are discouraged from depending upon our own strengths. Instead, we are urged to rely totally upon the Lord.
This is a paradox. In Philippians 3:3, Paul tells us that we should not put our confidence in the flesh. Psalm 33:16-17 tells us not to put our confidence in things the world considers to be our protection, defense or strength. “No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength. A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save.”
So, if we’re not supposed to look to the world or to ourselves, who or what are we supposed to depend on? Psalm 33:18-19 continues, “But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.” This is echoed in Ephesians 6:10, where Paul states, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.”
God wants us to depend upon Him, and He demonstrates this throughout Scripture. For example, in Judges 7, God wouldn’t let Gideon fight against another army until he reduced his own from 22,000 soldiers to a mere 300, so that Gideon could not boast about his army’s strength. In Joshua 6, God told Joshua to walk around Jericho seven times and blow trumpets instead of relying upon his mighty army to overpower his enemy. In 2 Samuel 24, God judged David when he counted his troops to determine the size of his army’s strength, apparently because David took the census out of pride or overconfidence in the strength of his army.
On the other hand, Jesus instructed the disciples in due diligence through the parable of the builder, who is cautioned to consider the cost before beginning to build. “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish’” (Luke 14:28-30).
So how do we balance these seeming contradictions?
Withholding Your Natural Gifting
One day I asked my friend and mentor Gunnar Olson, “How in the world do you balance dependence and trust in the Lord while using your God-given talents for His glory?”
“Well, you have asked a very difficult question,” he replied. “I have learned one way of checking myself in this area. I almost have to withhold my natural gifting in certain areas to insure that God is in it.” His comment was one of those lightning bolts of truth for me.
In the work world, we are trained to press through, no matter the cost. However, perseverance that is not directed by the Holy Spirit is only sweat and toil. We must learn to walk the fine line between these two concepts. On this subject of relying on our human strength, Watchman Nee wrote:
I believe many people are so rich and strong that they give no ground for God to work. I frequently recall the words, “helpless and hopeless.” I must tell God, “all that I have is yours, I my
self have nothing. Apart from you I am truly helpless and hopeless.” We need to have such a dependent attitude toward God that it is as if we cannot inhale or exhale without Him. In this way we shall see that our power as well as our holiness all come from Him. Oh how God delights in seeing us coming hopeless and helpless to Him. A brother once asked me, “What is the condition for the working of the Spirit?” To which I replied that… the Holy Spirit must first bring us to a place where we can do nothing by ourselves.1
Of course, God gives us our natural skills and He will use them, although it can be hard at times to tell whether it is God working through us or if it is our natural skill alone making things happen. We need to try to distinguish the difference even as we resist over-analyzing (which can result in paralysis by analysis).
However, the principle is clear in Scripture. The apostle Paul understood that it was not his ability to deliver eloquent sermons that changed people. It was the power of God working through him. In 1 Corinthians 2:3-5, he states, “I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.” If God’s power comes through our work, that brings glory to the Father.
Oswald Chambers understood how God’s strength can be expressed through human skills:
If we do not resolutely cast out the natural, the supernatural can never become natural in us. There are some Christians in whom the supernatural and the natural seem one and the same, and you say, “Well, they are not one with me. I find the natural at loggerheads with the spiritual.” This is because you have not gone through the fanatical stage of cutting off the right arm, gone through the discipline of maiming the natural, completely casting it out. It is not a question of praying, but performing. For those who have, God has brought the natural back into its right relationship, with the spiritual on top; the spiritual manifests itself in a life which knows no division into sacred and secular.2