The Closed Door
Gateway to Spiritual Fullness
Gateway to Spiritual Fullness
Great Are Thy Works
“Let Thy work appear to Thy servants, and Thy majesty to their children. And let the
beauty of the Lord our God be upon us; and do confirm for us the work of our
hands; yes, confirm the work of our hands” (Ps. 90:16-17).
“For Thou, O Lord, hast made me glad by what Thou hast done, I will sing for joy at
the works of Thy hands. How great are Thy works, O Lord! Thy thoughts are very
deep” (Ps. 92:4-5).
From these above verses we can see two sets of hands – “the work of our
(men’s) hands,” and “the works of Thy (the Lord’s) hands.” We understand and
agree that the works of the Lord’s hands are everlasting, the works of
man’s hands are for naught. Interestingly though, Ps. 90:17 attempts to secure
permanence to the works of man’s hands. Is this another one of those wonderful
oxymoron in the Bible through which the Lord intends to convey a special
message?
The entire Bible has but one theme, the entire divine thought has but one focus --
the Son of God, Jesus Christ. And God the Father probably spent all of eternity past
in intimate fellowship with His Beloved Son about presenting His dear Son as the
center and totality of God’s economy.
God’s plan, in time, began to unfold, and we started to see Christ in every aspect of
God’s work albeit superficially at first as we received the divine life into our newly
regenerated spirit. With each baby-step we took, we enjoyed Christ as the great
benefactor, One who provided and protected at our hours of need. At this stage of
our Christian life, everything was centered on us; God’s works were all for us. We
saw nothing beyond a God who was there to satisfy our needs and wants, solve
our problems and deliver us from troubles – especially the latter.
Gradually, as we journey along life’s winding roads, mountain tops and deep valleys,
our soul-life frequently gets bumped out of our self-centered orbit whether we like it
or not. With each trial and temptation, affliction and humbling, God meticulously
works to nudge us to the point where we learn to humble and surrender ourselves
and start seeing Christ who is everything, and who is the center of the universe. We
are no longer the center of God’s plan, Christ is. And what a joy it was, the day we
surrendered ourselves and discovered Christ being all and in all!
As each Christian traverses in life’s winding road, there shall be important milestones
along the way. A journey without milestones is a wayward journey. Take Jacob for
instance. His early journey brought him to a place he named “Bethel” for an initial
vision of God and His house. Though immature and a novice in spiritual things, the
firsthand experience at Bethel did leave a deep imprint in his life – this was an
important milestone.
After amassing much livestock, two wives, children, maids and servants, he
journeyed back to the land of his father’s. At Peniel, by the bank of the river, he
wrestled with an angel all night showing no sign of fatigue. By daybreak the angel
had to touch the hollow of his thigh to cripple him. This tough, mighty, cunning and
shrewd Jacob finally surrendered. The hands that used to grasp the world now
grasped the Lord and would not let go. Jacob became “Israel.” Another important
milestone.
At each milestone, a degree of soul life is dealt with. At each milestone, a measure
of Christ is gained. At each milestone, a change in character and perception begins
to take place.
When we look back at all these milestones in our lives, we will see the hand of the
Lord. We will discover that God’s dealings and our subsequent surrenders yielded
golden nuggets of Christ-like character of lowliness, meekness and grace. These
cumulative milestones are becoming testimony of Jesus along life’s narrow ways.
These milestones represent God’s works to impart experiential knowledge of Christ
and produce His Son’s character in us.
A milestone without something of Christ being formed in us is no milestone at all. A
milestone without something of our soul life being dealt with cannot be considered a
milestone either. These milestones testify that the Lord is doing a great work in
each of us.
It takes divine revelation to see what God is doing in us; and God takes great delight
to grant such revelation for it pleased the Father to “reveal His Son in me,” so
declared Paul in Gal. 1:16. It is the goal of God’s work to reveal Christ, form Christ
and make Him preeminent in us. All of God’s works are connected with this aim. In
fact, it would not be belaboring the point to highly stress this blessed fact again and
again.
The disciples of Jesus are often reflections of our experiences. They thought they
knew Him, but they proved over and over to have known Him but scarcely and
superficially. It was usually the lowly, simple, and overlooked brothers and sisters
who won the Lord’s heart and praise. The high-profile brothers seemed to always
clamor over outward issues: power, glamour and jostling for positions, while the
lowly and simple ones quietly and contentedly drew near to His feet.
The same Jesus was seen by all, yet only the lowly and the simple really saw Him.
For three and a half years, Jesus worked on revealing Himself to His disciples, but
their natural and religious concepts kept getting in the way until the cross of Calvary
dealt a final blow to man’s natural mindset. The cross remains to be the best
vantage point today for seeing the full revelation of Christ and entering into the reality
of the works of Christ.
This subjective work of the cross continues, and as long as we surrender to His
works, we shall keep receiving fresher revelations of the beauty of Christ.
When Moses prayed, “Let Thy work appear to Thy servants, and Thy majesty to
their children” in Ps 90:16, he knew that it took far more than merely mental
knowledge or physical perception to see God’s work, it required revelation to see
God’s work. In fact, Moses didn’t just pray this for himself, but for all (“Thy
servants”) to see God’s work resulting in Christ being perceived as the majestic
One.
The Psalmist in Ps. 92:5 also discovered the greatness of God’s works: “How great
are Thy works, O Lord! Thy thoughts are very deep.” All of the Lord’s works around
us, whether they be miracles, healing, provisions, victories…, are great works, but
none greater than that of inwardly conquering us and forming Christ within us. The
ten plagues in the land of pharaoh, the miracles of Israel’s 40-year wandering, the
defeat of Israel’s enemies…all point to the fact that while all works done for us
outwardly are great works, God’s people remain an obstinate and stubborn lot on
the inside. The greatest work requires that the self within be dethroned and brought
under subjection.
Unless man is brought to the place of surrender and brokenness, he has scarcely
seen God’s “great works” yet.
God’s thought of Christ is very deep, and He stops at nothing to usher us into a full
knowledge and experience of this wonderful Christ. The Enemy, on the other hand,
works with all his might to keep God’s people content with a little superficial
knowledge and experience of Christ. Indeed, nothing is quite as damaging to the
people of God as contentment in mediocrity.
Recently, an older brother in Mexico voiced his concern for the younger brethren in
the assemblies there who seemed to be satisfied with mere superficial knowledge
and experiences of Christ. No doubt, this concern came from the Lord. When man
travails before God with this burden for the depth of Christ, the Holy Spirit will begin
to work. There is nothing that invigorates the Lord to answer man’s prayers like a
deep burden for more of Christ to be constituted in His saints.
Ezekiel saw something of the depth of Christ in the form of water flowing from under
the threshold of the house of God. Measurements were taken: first a trickle
reaching the ankles, then the knees, then the loins, finally a deep river that could not
be forded (Ezk. 47:1-5).
As indicated in these verses, the increasing depths come with each measuring. In
the same way, our deepening perception of Christ can only come from the
measuring of the Holy Spirit which implies the dealings of the cross. Such are the
works of God.
On the one side, the Holy Spirit measures us often in the form of corrections and
chastening. On the other side, when the chastening result in Christ being formed in
us, we see milestones. How we need the Holy Spirit to measure us and erect
milestones in our journeys!
As more and more milestones are being erected, we are being transformed “from
glory to glory,” and dear saints, this is how we acquire the “beauty of the Lord” that
the Psalmist prayed for in Ps 90:1.
The other day, I wrote to an older brother in the Lord about a deeply stressful
experience I recently went through, the older brother promptly replied,
“Congratulations,” he declared, “you have just had a back-door revival!”
Well, I am not sure about “back-door revival,” I do know that the Lord carried me
through the dark valley as I desperately held on to Him. In the depth of my agony, I
knew the church was not mine but His to protect, the testimony was not mine but
His to uphold. He did it all. Glory to Him!
May we all learn to pray as Moses did, “And let the beauty of the Lord our God be
upon us; and do confirm (give permanence to) the work of our hands; yes, confirm
(give permanence to) the work of our hands” (Ps. 90:17). The way to acquire the
“beauty of the Lord” is to allow the Holy Spirit to do His works of dealing with the
self and impartation of Christ -- “beauty for ashes” was another way of putting it. .
As the ugly self decreases, the beauty of Christ can then be added, and with each
increase in the measure of the stature of Christ comes the possibility of the works
of the Lord being performed in, through, and out of us thus can there be the
permanence in the “work of our hands.”
How else can the work of men’s hands secure permanence, aside from Christ
Himself doing the work in, through, and out of us?
O, may the precious Lord do His work in us so that, as Paul prayed, “Christ may be
formed” in us (Gal. 4:19)! Just as Paul’s prayer indicates, for Christ to be formed,
travail is needed. No travail, no Christ. As a measurable stature of Christ is formed
in us, His hand begins to work in, through, and out of us thus giving permanence to
“the work of our hands.” It’s still His hand doing all the work.
May the work of the Lord’s hand result in the beauty of Christ being upon us.
May we also echo the sentiment of the Psalmist, “How great are Thy works, O
Lord! Thy thoughts are very deep.”
Oliver Peng
01/25/2006
“Let Thy work appear to Thy servants, and Thy majesty to their children. And let the
beauty of the Lord our God be upon us; and do confirm for us the work of our
hands; yes, confirm the work of our hands” (Ps. 90:16-17).
“For Thou, O Lord, hast made me glad by what Thou hast done, I will sing for joy at
the works of Thy hands. How great are Thy works, O Lord! Thy thoughts are very
deep” (Ps. 92:4-5).
From these above verses we can see two sets of hands – “the work of our
(men’s) hands,” and “the works of Thy (the Lord’s) hands.” We understand and
agree that the works of the Lord’s hands are everlasting, the works of
man’s hands are for naught. Interestingly though, Ps. 90:17 attempts to secure
permanence to the works of man’s hands. Is this another one of those wonderful
oxymoron in the Bible through which the Lord intends to convey a special
message?
The entire Bible has but one theme, the entire divine thought has but one focus --
the Son of God, Jesus Christ. And God the Father probably spent all of eternity past
in intimate fellowship with His Beloved Son about presenting His dear Son as the
center and totality of God’s economy.
God’s plan, in time, began to unfold, and we started to see Christ in every aspect of
God’s work albeit superficially at first as we received the divine life into our newly
regenerated spirit. With each baby-step we took, we enjoyed Christ as the great
benefactor, One who provided and protected at our hours of need. At this stage of
our Christian life, everything was centered on us; God’s works were all for us. We
saw nothing beyond a God who was there to satisfy our needs and wants, solve
our problems and deliver us from troubles – especially the latter.
Gradually, as we journey along life’s winding roads, mountain tops and deep valleys,
our soul-life frequently gets bumped out of our self-centered orbit whether we like it
or not. With each trial and temptation, affliction and humbling, God meticulously
works to nudge us to the point where we learn to humble and surrender ourselves
and start seeing Christ who is everything, and who is the center of the universe. We
are no longer the center of God’s plan, Christ is. And what a joy it was, the day we
surrendered ourselves and discovered Christ being all and in all!
As each Christian traverses in life’s winding road, there shall be important milestones
along the way. A journey without milestones is a wayward journey. Take Jacob for
instance. His early journey brought him to a place he named “Bethel” for an initial
vision of God and His house. Though immature and a novice in spiritual things, the
firsthand experience at Bethel did leave a deep imprint in his life – this was an
important milestone.
After amassing much livestock, two wives, children, maids and servants, he
journeyed back to the land of his father’s. At Peniel, by the bank of the river, he
wrestled with an angel all night showing no sign of fatigue. By daybreak the angel
had to touch the hollow of his thigh to cripple him. This tough, mighty, cunning and
shrewd Jacob finally surrendered. The hands that used to grasp the world now
grasped the Lord and would not let go. Jacob became “Israel.” Another important
milestone.
At each milestone, a degree of soul life is dealt with. At each milestone, a measure
of Christ is gained. At each milestone, a change in character and perception begins
to take place.
When we look back at all these milestones in our lives, we will see the hand of the
Lord. We will discover that God’s dealings and our subsequent surrenders yielded
golden nuggets of Christ-like character of lowliness, meekness and grace. These
cumulative milestones are becoming testimony of Jesus along life’s narrow ways.
These milestones represent God’s works to impart experiential knowledge of Christ
and produce His Son’s character in us.
A milestone without something of Christ being formed in us is no milestone at all. A
milestone without something of our soul life being dealt with cannot be considered a
milestone either. These milestones testify that the Lord is doing a great work in
each of us.
It takes divine revelation to see what God is doing in us; and God takes great delight
to grant such revelation for it pleased the Father to “reveal His Son in me,” so
declared Paul in Gal. 1:16. It is the goal of God’s work to reveal Christ, form Christ
and make Him preeminent in us. All of God’s works are connected with this aim. In
fact, it would not be belaboring the point to highly stress this blessed fact again and
again.
The disciples of Jesus are often reflections of our experiences. They thought they
knew Him, but they proved over and over to have known Him but scarcely and
superficially. It was usually the lowly, simple, and overlooked brothers and sisters
who won the Lord’s heart and praise. The high-profile brothers seemed to always
clamor over outward issues: power, glamour and jostling for positions, while the
lowly and simple ones quietly and contentedly drew near to His feet.
The same Jesus was seen by all, yet only the lowly and the simple really saw Him.
For three and a half years, Jesus worked on revealing Himself to His disciples, but
their natural and religious concepts kept getting in the way until the cross of Calvary
dealt a final blow to man’s natural mindset. The cross remains to be the best
vantage point today for seeing the full revelation of Christ and entering into the reality
of the works of Christ.
This subjective work of the cross continues, and as long as we surrender to His
works, we shall keep receiving fresher revelations of the beauty of Christ.
When Moses prayed, “Let Thy work appear to Thy servants, and Thy majesty to
their children” in Ps 90:16, he knew that it took far more than merely mental
knowledge or physical perception to see God’s work, it required revelation to see
God’s work. In fact, Moses didn’t just pray this for himself, but for all (“Thy
servants”) to see God’s work resulting in Christ being perceived as the majestic
One.
The Psalmist in Ps. 92:5 also discovered the greatness of God’s works: “How great
are Thy works, O Lord! Thy thoughts are very deep.” All of the Lord’s works around
us, whether they be miracles, healing, provisions, victories…, are great works, but
none greater than that of inwardly conquering us and forming Christ within us. The
ten plagues in the land of pharaoh, the miracles of Israel’s 40-year wandering, the
defeat of Israel’s enemies…all point to the fact that while all works done for us
outwardly are great works, God’s people remain an obstinate and stubborn lot on
the inside. The greatest work requires that the self within be dethroned and brought
under subjection.
Unless man is brought to the place of surrender and brokenness, he has scarcely
seen God’s “great works” yet.
God’s thought of Christ is very deep, and He stops at nothing to usher us into a full
knowledge and experience of this wonderful Christ. The Enemy, on the other hand,
works with all his might to keep God’s people content with a little superficial
knowledge and experience of Christ. Indeed, nothing is quite as damaging to the
people of God as contentment in mediocrity.
Recently, an older brother in Mexico voiced his concern for the younger brethren in
the assemblies there who seemed to be satisfied with mere superficial knowledge
and experiences of Christ. No doubt, this concern came from the Lord. When man
travails before God with this burden for the depth of Christ, the Holy Spirit will begin
to work. There is nothing that invigorates the Lord to answer man’s prayers like a
deep burden for more of Christ to be constituted in His saints.
Ezekiel saw something of the depth of Christ in the form of water flowing from under
the threshold of the house of God. Measurements were taken: first a trickle
reaching the ankles, then the knees, then the loins, finally a deep river that could not
be forded (Ezk. 47:1-5).
As indicated in these verses, the increasing depths come with each measuring. In
the same way, our deepening perception of Christ can only come from the
measuring of the Holy Spirit which implies the dealings of the cross. Such are the
works of God.
On the one side, the Holy Spirit measures us often in the form of corrections and
chastening. On the other side, when the chastening result in Christ being formed in
us, we see milestones. How we need the Holy Spirit to measure us and erect
milestones in our journeys!
As more and more milestones are being erected, we are being transformed “from
glory to glory,” and dear saints, this is how we acquire the “beauty of the Lord” that
the Psalmist prayed for in Ps 90:1.
The other day, I wrote to an older brother in the Lord about a deeply stressful
experience I recently went through, the older brother promptly replied,
“Congratulations,” he declared, “you have just had a back-door revival!”
Well, I am not sure about “back-door revival,” I do know that the Lord carried me
through the dark valley as I desperately held on to Him. In the depth of my agony, I
knew the church was not mine but His to protect, the testimony was not mine but
His to uphold. He did it all. Glory to Him!
May we all learn to pray as Moses did, “And let the beauty of the Lord our God be
upon us; and do confirm (give permanence to) the work of our hands; yes, confirm
(give permanence to) the work of our hands” (Ps. 90:17). The way to acquire the
“beauty of the Lord” is to allow the Holy Spirit to do His works of dealing with the
self and impartation of Christ -- “beauty for ashes” was another way of putting it. .
As the ugly self decreases, the beauty of Christ can then be added, and with each
increase in the measure of the stature of Christ comes the possibility of the works
of the Lord being performed in, through, and out of us thus can there be the
permanence in the “work of our hands.”
How else can the work of men’s hands secure permanence, aside from Christ
Himself doing the work in, through, and out of us?
O, may the precious Lord do His work in us so that, as Paul prayed, “Christ may be
formed” in us (Gal. 4:19)! Just as Paul’s prayer indicates, for Christ to be formed,
travail is needed. No travail, no Christ. As a measurable stature of Christ is formed
in us, His hand begins to work in, through, and out of us thus giving permanence to
“the work of our hands.” It’s still His hand doing all the work.
May the work of the Lord’s hand result in the beauty of Christ being upon us.
May we also echo the sentiment of the Psalmist, “How great are Thy works, O
Lord! Thy thoughts are very deep.”
Oliver Peng
01/25/2006
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