The Closed Door
Gateway to Spiritual Fullness
Gateway to Spiritual Fullness
No Poor Among You
Gleanings From Deut. 15
“At the end of every seven years you shall grant a remission of debts”
(Deut. 15:1).
“There shall be no poor among you, since the Lord will surely bless you
in the Land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to
possess” (Deut. 15:4).
“For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf, and
for those at Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen
my face, that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together
in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full
assurance of understanding, resulting in the true knowledge of God’s
mystery, that is, Christ Himself in whom are hidden all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:1-3).
Chapter 15 of Deut. deals with the matter of poverty.
In God’s mind there should be no poverty among His people. The land of Canaan
has such an overflowing abundance that God’s people should never ever suffer
lack of anything. Chapter 8:7-10 and chapter 11:9-15 give an amazingly detailed
and impressive description of the fullness and riches of the land. It should leave
no doubt in anyone’s mind with regard to God’s wonderful intention and generous
provision for His people.
In typology, the Land of Canaan signifies the overflowing riches and all-inclusive
fullness of Christ as each believer’s full inheritance and enjoyment.
In light of such fullness and riches, chapter 15:4 reveals God’s view of believers’
inheritance in Christ: “However, there shall be no poor among you, since the Lord
will surely bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an
inheritance to possess.” Since every believer has been allotted a portion of
Christ, there should never be spiritual poverty if everyone maintains a normal and
loving relationship with the Lord.
However, when we become complacent in our pursuit of and relationship with
Christ, our heart will begin to grow cold and get distracted by the love of the
world. It’s only a matter of time before we take on distorted views of Christ and
are swayed by the winds of teaching. In God’s eye, we have now become
“poor.”
Chapter 15 shows perhaps two kinds of poverty: 1) Specific poverty, our
“neighbor” becomes our debtor (v. 2). 2) General poverty, “If there is a poor man
with you” (v. 7a).
The first case deals with our relationship with our brothers and sisters. When we
offend or hold a grudge against a brother, we become a “debtor,” because it is an
indicator of our abnormal spiritual condition which exposes our shortage of Christ
within. If our spiritual condition is proper, there cannot be any jealousy, backbiting,
gossiping or offenses done against our brothers and sisters with whom we are
closely related. Our normal experience of the fullness of Christ makes us rich in
Christ and will prevent us from incurring any “debt” of offenses against our
brethren.
Contrarily, our backbiting, gossip and offenses against the brethren are giveaways
of our own poor inward condition. By not experiencing the riches and fullness of
the Lord we inevitably offend each other and incur spiritual debts. It doesn’t take
much to agitate and offend a brother who is not walking with the Lord. Even an
innocent look can set him off. In such a condition, the most pressing need is the
forgiveness of “debt.” Christians need to learn to free each other from their
“debts.”
It has been said that it is not easy to forget what aught our brethren have against
us, let alone forgive. Why is it so difficult to forget and forgive? Could it be due to
our own spiritual poverty – lack of Christ within? If we have not possessed our
inheritance of the fullness of Christ, we have no resources with which to free our
brethren from his “debt.”
I suppose some highly moral people can resort to their ethics and morality to
squeeze out some forgiveness; but our natural resources in God's eyes are
nothing but refuse and filthy rags! The only resource that computes is what has
been wrought and constituted into our being through the dealings of the Holy
Spirit.
That’s why this chapter begins with “seven years” (“At the end of every seven
years you shall grant a remission of debts”). As “seven” being the number of
completion, it implies that there must be a full period of time in terms of our
learning to enter into the experience of the inexhaustible Christ. It takes time to
learn and possess the riches of Christ in reality. Much of what we know of Christ
is merely head knowledge. After years of being dealt with and coming to our
senses, we are often shocked to find out how little we really know and how little
of His character we really possess.
So, our ability to set our brethren free from their debts actually hinges upon our
having a season of coming into possessing the reality of Christ as our resources.
This “seven-year” season then becomes a wealth of resources out of which we
can dispense forgiveness, among other blessings, to our spiritually impoverished
brothers and sisters.
The second case of general poverty deals with our less than normal relationship
with the Lord. Since verse 4 says, “there shall be no poor among you,” it shows
that in our normal Christian walk, each has been given a rich portion of Christ to
experience and enjoy, there should be therefore “no poor” among the saints.
So the “poor man” in verse 7 is one whose relationship with the Lord is sub-
normal either due to lukewarmness of his heart, loss of first love, love of the
world, distorted religious concept or wrong teachings, etc. It should be noted that
whatever the case may be, the remedy is the same: “make a release” for the
“debtor,” the spiritually poor.
Whether we slacked off in our walk with the Lord and resulted in owing a “debt” to
our neighbors, or our sub-normal relationship with the Lord resulted in our spiritual
poverty, the remedy is the same, “make a release” for the “debtor.” This should
deeply impress us: the Christian life that we live is not an individualistic life. Early
on in Adam’s family, his children were taught to be their “brother’s keeper.” Here
in Deuteronomy 15, we are told to “make a release” for the debtor, the spiritually
poor brothers and sisters.
Clearly, the Lord wants His people to relate to each other and be sensitive to each
other’s plight. When one member of the family falls into indebtedness or spiritual
poverty, the other members should have the sensitivity of such plight and seek to
“make release” for their stricken brethren. The Lord can never be pleased with
monastic Christians, no matter how holy and loving they may appear! He is after a
corporate testimony, let there be no doubt.
This is the reason we are burdened for our brothers and sisters who, for one
reason or another, fall into either indebtedness due to improper relationship with
the saints, or poverty due to improper relationship with the Lord, or a combination
of both. This is the reason we reach out, pray for and seek to undo their spiritual
poverty.
We see two important themes running throughout the Bible: Relationship with God,
and relationship with the brethren. When Israel’s relationship with God suffered,
they suffered defeat in the hand of the enemy, and poverty ensued. When Israel’s
relationship with each other suffered, i.e. when their rivalry split them into two
kingdoms, the corporate testimony suffered, and indebtedness resulted.
In the New Testament, the same two themes continue: the kingdom became the
Church, the Bride of Christ, with whom the Lord courts a love relationship. The
Church is also the family of God in which there is no Greek or Jew, no bond or
free, no class distinction, no divisions. We are all one body and are commanded
to love one another and practice family life, not forsaking the assembling
together.
Out of these two important themes, i.e. relationship with God and relationship with
the brethren, emerge the apple of His eye – the Church. And, lest we forget, when
we merge our vertical relationship with God and horizontal relationship with men,
what do we have? A cross!
Where the cross is not a reality, neither is the church, no matter how authentic the
pattern may be.
Let us never forget, we have been commanded to release our brethren who are in
the bondage of “indebtedness” or the chokehold of “poverty.” The question is,
how do we do it? By our zeal? Ability? Gifts? Natural resources?
By “seven years.” We need the Lord to lead us into a thorough dealing of our
flesh, so that there can be a gaining of the fullness of Christ within, which then
becomes our spiritual resources with which we “make release” for our brothers
and sisters who are in spiritual poverty.
We need to pray. Pray that the Lord grant us mercy so that we would come out
of our own indebtedness and poverty, and that we would be vessels which the
Lord can use to deliver others from bondage with.
Perhaps now we begin to understand why Paul told the Colossian saints, “For I
want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf, and for those at
Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face, that their
hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all
the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in the
true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself in whom are hidden all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:1-3).
Incidentally, did you see the emergence of a cross in these verses? Look again.
Look for the vertical and the horizontal aspects of Paul's burden.
It takes a tremendous struggle in spirit to be burdened for our brethren who are
mired in deep spiritual poverty just as Paul burdened for the Colossians who were
in danger of being taken captive by heresies, philosophies and traditions which
sent them to Christ-less poverty. It takes the travails of the cross to usher the
impoverished saints back to the wealth in Christ.
Deut. 15:6 says, “…you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow; and
you shall reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over you.” One of the
amazing things about the scriptures is its many-fold applications and spiritual
significance.
For the Old Testament dispensation, the required application is merely physical and
outward and by the letters. It falls short without the reality in Christ. For the New
Testament age, the required application is spiritual and inward and consummating
in Christ. Our present concern, therefore, is not to seek physical and outward
applications by the letters, but to extract for inward spiritual reality hidden in Old
Testament letters.
Take verse 6, for instance, the old dispensation merely requires Israel not to
borrow but to lend and to physically reign over many nations. The present day
application, however, is that we become so filled and enriched with Christ as our
spiritual wealth that Christians would never suffer spiritual poverty (having to
“borrow”), but should have surplus of Christ to share with others (“lend”).
And our present day “reigning” is certainly not in the form of manifested reality as
will be in the Kingdom to come, but in the form of hidden spiritual reality. No
Christian in his sound and Christ-filled mind would ever tell the IRS to “get lost,” or
his boss to “take a hike” because God’s people are supposed to “reign.” We are
still subjected to many physical, governmental and social restraints, but in our
spirit we soar above all earthly and angelic powers.
Verse 14 gives the best clue as to what we can do to release our brethren from
spiritual poverty: “You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your
threshing floor, and out of your winepress….”
Three things are singled out as being helpful to our “poor” brothers and sisters:
flock, threshing floor and winepress. Put it another way, what qualifies us to
render aid to our needy brethren are our surplus of these three things: flock,
threshing floor and winepress. It behooves us then to find out what these three
things signify.
1) The flock. The increase of the flock comes from daily feeding, and from the
animals undergoing travail to give birth. Spiritually, our increase of the stature in
Christ comes from daily feeding on Christ as life and from travailing in prayer.
Without feeding, we remain spiritual midgets; without prayer, we become fruitless
and insensitive to God’s burdens.
2) The threshing floor. It is the place where grain is sifted to remove stones,
and where chaff is separated from grain. This is the place where the Holy Spirit
takes us through the “fiery furnace” of the cross to remove our “stones” and
“chaff,” and as a result, a “fourth man” – Christ, is gained. Here not only the flesh
gets dealt with, the soulish elements are separated from the spiritual elements.
Our soul is the biggest hindrance to genuine spirituality because it has an uncanny
ability to mimic the spirit. To be able to help our brothers and sisters in need, our
soulish elements must be separated from the spirit. May the Holy Spirit take us to
the threshing floor.
3) The winepress. A mere mention of the word instills a hush of reverence.
The suffering of Jesus in the hands of the ungodly and the religious. The lonely
road of rejection and misunderstanding He traversed. The bloodstained cross in
Golgotha; and the ultimate rejection by the Father, though but for an hour….
What more shall we say? O, but the benefit and the blessings we derived from it!
He took the cup of wrath that we might hoist the cup of blessing! He bore our
curse of death that we might reap His triumph of life. Hallelujah for the cross! If
we want to bestow fullness of blessing to our brethren, we must not shrink back
from the winepress.
Now we begin to understand the magnitude of our commanded burden and
service that could lead to the release of our brethren from spiritual indebtedness
and poverty. Now we begin to understand why verse 1 says, “At the end of seven
years you shall make a release.” It takes nothing less than a full period of time for
the Lord to bring our natural zeal and ability to an end and to produce the “flock,”
the “threshing floor” and the “winepress” in us which enable us to service our
brethren and furnish them with the blessings they really need. Unfortunately, many
brothers and sisters think they can deliver the help that the “poor” brethren need
by their raw talents, natural abilities and zeal without the required “seven years.”
The disciples were always quick to focus on their service to the physically poor
and needy, but only one little humble sister knew how to service the Lord’s need
by her broken alabaster jar. Brokenness. How we all need the Holy Spirit’s “seven
years” of labor to produce a powerful fragrance of Christ that can only emanate
from broken jars!
I am afraid we all are more like the disciples than Mary; and we are far more
inclined to render physical help to the “poor” brethren at their first sound of
despair.
When Lazarus fell ill, his two sisters (and disciples) wanted Jesus to immediately
do something about it. But He waited for days until death firmly took hold before
He went to him. Don’t get me wrong, please. I am all for rendering “practical” and
“timely” help to our brethren. There is definitely a place for practical and timely
help. But what is their (our) real problem? What is their (our) real need? I am
afraid our problem is the proclivity to circumvent the “seven years” required to
produce the “flock,” the “threshing floor” and the “winepress.”
May the Lord grant us patience – and seven years!
Oliver
Gleanings From Deut. 15
“At the end of every seven years you shall grant a remission of debts”
(Deut. 15:1).
“There shall be no poor among you, since the Lord will surely bless you
in the Land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to
possess” (Deut. 15:4).
“For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf, and
for those at Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen
my face, that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together
in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full
assurance of understanding, resulting in the true knowledge of God’s
mystery, that is, Christ Himself in whom are hidden all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:1-3).
Chapter 15 of Deut. deals with the matter of poverty.
In God’s mind there should be no poverty among His people. The land of Canaan
has such an overflowing abundance that God’s people should never ever suffer
lack of anything. Chapter 8:7-10 and chapter 11:9-15 give an amazingly detailed
and impressive description of the fullness and riches of the land. It should leave
no doubt in anyone’s mind with regard to God’s wonderful intention and generous
provision for His people.
In typology, the Land of Canaan signifies the overflowing riches and all-inclusive
fullness of Christ as each believer’s full inheritance and enjoyment.
In light of such fullness and riches, chapter 15:4 reveals God’s view of believers’
inheritance in Christ: “However, there shall be no poor among you, since the Lord
will surely bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an
inheritance to possess.” Since every believer has been allotted a portion of
Christ, there should never be spiritual poverty if everyone maintains a normal and
loving relationship with the Lord.
However, when we become complacent in our pursuit of and relationship with
Christ, our heart will begin to grow cold and get distracted by the love of the
world. It’s only a matter of time before we take on distorted views of Christ and
are swayed by the winds of teaching. In God’s eye, we have now become
“poor.”
Chapter 15 shows perhaps two kinds of poverty: 1) Specific poverty, our
“neighbor” becomes our debtor (v. 2). 2) General poverty, “If there is a poor man
with you” (v. 7a).
The first case deals with our relationship with our brothers and sisters. When we
offend or hold a grudge against a brother, we become a “debtor,” because it is an
indicator of our abnormal spiritual condition which exposes our shortage of Christ
within. If our spiritual condition is proper, there cannot be any jealousy, backbiting,
gossiping or offenses done against our brothers and sisters with whom we are
closely related. Our normal experience of the fullness of Christ makes us rich in
Christ and will prevent us from incurring any “debt” of offenses against our
brethren.
Contrarily, our backbiting, gossip and offenses against the brethren are giveaways
of our own poor inward condition. By not experiencing the riches and fullness of
the Lord we inevitably offend each other and incur spiritual debts. It doesn’t take
much to agitate and offend a brother who is not walking with the Lord. Even an
innocent look can set him off. In such a condition, the most pressing need is the
forgiveness of “debt.” Christians need to learn to free each other from their
“debts.”
It has been said that it is not easy to forget what aught our brethren have against
us, let alone forgive. Why is it so difficult to forget and forgive? Could it be due to
our own spiritual poverty – lack of Christ within? If we have not possessed our
inheritance of the fullness of Christ, we have no resources with which to free our
brethren from his “debt.”
I suppose some highly moral people can resort to their ethics and morality to
squeeze out some forgiveness; but our natural resources in God's eyes are
nothing but refuse and filthy rags! The only resource that computes is what has
been wrought and constituted into our being through the dealings of the Holy
Spirit.
That’s why this chapter begins with “seven years” (“At the end of every seven
years you shall grant a remission of debts”). As “seven” being the number of
completion, it implies that there must be a full period of time in terms of our
learning to enter into the experience of the inexhaustible Christ. It takes time to
learn and possess the riches of Christ in reality. Much of what we know of Christ
is merely head knowledge. After years of being dealt with and coming to our
senses, we are often shocked to find out how little we really know and how little
of His character we really possess.
So, our ability to set our brethren free from their debts actually hinges upon our
having a season of coming into possessing the reality of Christ as our resources.
This “seven-year” season then becomes a wealth of resources out of which we
can dispense forgiveness, among other blessings, to our spiritually impoverished
brothers and sisters.
The second case of general poverty deals with our less than normal relationship
with the Lord. Since verse 4 says, “there shall be no poor among you,” it shows
that in our normal Christian walk, each has been given a rich portion of Christ to
experience and enjoy, there should be therefore “no poor” among the saints.
So the “poor man” in verse 7 is one whose relationship with the Lord is sub-
normal either due to lukewarmness of his heart, loss of first love, love of the
world, distorted religious concept or wrong teachings, etc. It should be noted that
whatever the case may be, the remedy is the same: “make a release” for the
“debtor,” the spiritually poor.
Whether we slacked off in our walk with the Lord and resulted in owing a “debt” to
our neighbors, or our sub-normal relationship with the Lord resulted in our spiritual
poverty, the remedy is the same, “make a release” for the “debtor.” This should
deeply impress us: the Christian life that we live is not an individualistic life. Early
on in Adam’s family, his children were taught to be their “brother’s keeper.” Here
in Deuteronomy 15, we are told to “make a release” for the debtor, the spiritually
poor brothers and sisters.
Clearly, the Lord wants His people to relate to each other and be sensitive to each
other’s plight. When one member of the family falls into indebtedness or spiritual
poverty, the other members should have the sensitivity of such plight and seek to
“make release” for their stricken brethren. The Lord can never be pleased with
monastic Christians, no matter how holy and loving they may appear! He is after a
corporate testimony, let there be no doubt.
This is the reason we are burdened for our brothers and sisters who, for one
reason or another, fall into either indebtedness due to improper relationship with
the saints, or poverty due to improper relationship with the Lord, or a combination
of both. This is the reason we reach out, pray for and seek to undo their spiritual
poverty.
We see two important themes running throughout the Bible: Relationship with God,
and relationship with the brethren. When Israel’s relationship with God suffered,
they suffered defeat in the hand of the enemy, and poverty ensued. When Israel’s
relationship with each other suffered, i.e. when their rivalry split them into two
kingdoms, the corporate testimony suffered, and indebtedness resulted.
In the New Testament, the same two themes continue: the kingdom became the
Church, the Bride of Christ, with whom the Lord courts a love relationship. The
Church is also the family of God in which there is no Greek or Jew, no bond or
free, no class distinction, no divisions. We are all one body and are commanded
to love one another and practice family life, not forsaking the assembling
together.
Out of these two important themes, i.e. relationship with God and relationship with
the brethren, emerge the apple of His eye – the Church. And, lest we forget, when
we merge our vertical relationship with God and horizontal relationship with men,
what do we have? A cross!
Where the cross is not a reality, neither is the church, no matter how authentic the
pattern may be.
Let us never forget, we have been commanded to release our brethren who are in
the bondage of “indebtedness” or the chokehold of “poverty.” The question is,
how do we do it? By our zeal? Ability? Gifts? Natural resources?
By “seven years.” We need the Lord to lead us into a thorough dealing of our
flesh, so that there can be a gaining of the fullness of Christ within, which then
becomes our spiritual resources with which we “make release” for our brothers
and sisters who are in spiritual poverty.
We need to pray. Pray that the Lord grant us mercy so that we would come out
of our own indebtedness and poverty, and that we would be vessels which the
Lord can use to deliver others from bondage with.
Perhaps now we begin to understand why Paul told the Colossian saints, “For I
want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf, and for those at
Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face, that their
hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all
the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in the
true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself in whom are hidden all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:1-3).
Incidentally, did you see the emergence of a cross in these verses? Look again.
Look for the vertical and the horizontal aspects of Paul's burden.
It takes a tremendous struggle in spirit to be burdened for our brethren who are
mired in deep spiritual poverty just as Paul burdened for the Colossians who were
in danger of being taken captive by heresies, philosophies and traditions which
sent them to Christ-less poverty. It takes the travails of the cross to usher the
impoverished saints back to the wealth in Christ.
Deut. 15:6 says, “…you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow; and
you shall reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over you.” One of the
amazing things about the scriptures is its many-fold applications and spiritual
significance.
For the Old Testament dispensation, the required application is merely physical and
outward and by the letters. It falls short without the reality in Christ. For the New
Testament age, the required application is spiritual and inward and consummating
in Christ. Our present concern, therefore, is not to seek physical and outward
applications by the letters, but to extract for inward spiritual reality hidden in Old
Testament letters.
Take verse 6, for instance, the old dispensation merely requires Israel not to
borrow but to lend and to physically reign over many nations. The present day
application, however, is that we become so filled and enriched with Christ as our
spiritual wealth that Christians would never suffer spiritual poverty (having to
“borrow”), but should have surplus of Christ to share with others (“lend”).
And our present day “reigning” is certainly not in the form of manifested reality as
will be in the Kingdom to come, but in the form of hidden spiritual reality. No
Christian in his sound and Christ-filled mind would ever tell the IRS to “get lost,” or
his boss to “take a hike” because God’s people are supposed to “reign.” We are
still subjected to many physical, governmental and social restraints, but in our
spirit we soar above all earthly and angelic powers.
Verse 14 gives the best clue as to what we can do to release our brethren from
spiritual poverty: “You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your
threshing floor, and out of your winepress….”
Three things are singled out as being helpful to our “poor” brothers and sisters:
flock, threshing floor and winepress. Put it another way, what qualifies us to
render aid to our needy brethren are our surplus of these three things: flock,
threshing floor and winepress. It behooves us then to find out what these three
things signify.
1) The flock. The increase of the flock comes from daily feeding, and from the
animals undergoing travail to give birth. Spiritually, our increase of the stature in
Christ comes from daily feeding on Christ as life and from travailing in prayer.
Without feeding, we remain spiritual midgets; without prayer, we become fruitless
and insensitive to God’s burdens.
2) The threshing floor. It is the place where grain is sifted to remove stones,
and where chaff is separated from grain. This is the place where the Holy Spirit
takes us through the “fiery furnace” of the cross to remove our “stones” and
“chaff,” and as a result, a “fourth man” – Christ, is gained. Here not only the flesh
gets dealt with, the soulish elements are separated from the spiritual elements.
Our soul is the biggest hindrance to genuine spirituality because it has an uncanny
ability to mimic the spirit. To be able to help our brothers and sisters in need, our
soulish elements must be separated from the spirit. May the Holy Spirit take us to
the threshing floor.
3) The winepress. A mere mention of the word instills a hush of reverence.
The suffering of Jesus in the hands of the ungodly and the religious. The lonely
road of rejection and misunderstanding He traversed. The bloodstained cross in
Golgotha; and the ultimate rejection by the Father, though but for an hour….
What more shall we say? O, but the benefit and the blessings we derived from it!
He took the cup of wrath that we might hoist the cup of blessing! He bore our
curse of death that we might reap His triumph of life. Hallelujah for the cross! If
we want to bestow fullness of blessing to our brethren, we must not shrink back
from the winepress.
Now we begin to understand the magnitude of our commanded burden and
service that could lead to the release of our brethren from spiritual indebtedness
and poverty. Now we begin to understand why verse 1 says, “At the end of seven
years you shall make a release.” It takes nothing less than a full period of time for
the Lord to bring our natural zeal and ability to an end and to produce the “flock,”
the “threshing floor” and the “winepress” in us which enable us to service our
brethren and furnish them with the blessings they really need. Unfortunately, many
brothers and sisters think they can deliver the help that the “poor” brethren need
by their raw talents, natural abilities and zeal without the required “seven years.”
The disciples were always quick to focus on their service to the physically poor
and needy, but only one little humble sister knew how to service the Lord’s need
by her broken alabaster jar. Brokenness. How we all need the Holy Spirit’s “seven
years” of labor to produce a powerful fragrance of Christ that can only emanate
from broken jars!
I am afraid we all are more like the disciples than Mary; and we are far more
inclined to render physical help to the “poor” brethren at their first sound of
despair.
When Lazarus fell ill, his two sisters (and disciples) wanted Jesus to immediately
do something about it. But He waited for days until death firmly took hold before
He went to him. Don’t get me wrong, please. I am all for rendering “practical” and
“timely” help to our brethren. There is definitely a place for practical and timely
help. But what is their (our) real problem? What is their (our) real need? I am
afraid our problem is the proclivity to circumvent the “seven years” required to
produce the “flock,” the “threshing floor” and the “winepress.”
May the Lord grant us patience – and seven years!
Oliver
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