0
0
By Watchman Nee
EXPECTING THE LORD’S BLESSING
Of late a thought has been constantly with me that all the work is dependent on God’s blessing. Often we are faithful, but despite our faithfulness there is no blessing and no fruit. Often we are diligent, but despite our diligence there is no blessing and no fruit. Often we exercise our faith; we truly believe God can do something. We also pray that He would work, but everything is in vain when God does not bless us. Sooner or later, we who serve God must be brought to the point of expecting God’s blessing. Without God’s blessing, our faithfulness, diligence, faith, and prayers will be to no avail. However, if we have God’s blessing, there will be fruit even if we seem to be wrong or hopeless. Therefore, all problems are a matter of God’s blessing.
Do we truly treasure God’s blessing?
Many times we do not have the capacity to do something. The outward environment is difficult, even impossible. If our eyes are fixed on the circumstances, we will not have any way to deal with them. However, the Lord repeatedly brings us through. These times are the Lord’s blessing. When we have blessing, everything goes well and nothing is difficult. Without the Lord’s blessing, everything goes wrong and nothing is easy. The Lord wants to bring us to a point where His blessing takes the first place, a point where we have never been. When the Lord brings us to such a point, He will have a way to go on. If the Lord does not bring us to this point, we will have to say that even two hundred denarii worth of bread is not enough. Today the problem is that we cannot meet the need in ourselves. All of our money combined is not enough. All of us combined is insufficient, but the Lord has a way. In the Lord’s work, the basic problem is the Lord’s blessing; nothing else matters.
If God brings us to the point of seeing that everything in God’s work depends upon His blessing, it will bring about a basic change in our labor for God. Methods, considerations, human wisdom, and clever words are all useless. In God’s work we should believe in and expect His blessing. If the Lord gives us a small blessing, we can get through any problem.
We truly hope that we would not make mistakes or speak and act loosely in the work. When we have the Lord’s blessing, however, it seems that we cannot fail even when we are imperfect. Sometimes it seems that we have made a serious mistake, but with God’s blessing the result is not really an error.
Getting Blessed
We must learn to live in a way that does not hinder God’s blessing. Some habits force God to withhold His blessing, and these must be eliminated. Some temperaments keep God from blessing, and these must be done away with. We must learn to believe in God’s blessing, rely on it, and eliminate the barriers which prevent us from receiving it.
We must see that the Lord withholds no good thing from us. If the work is not going well, if the brothers and sisters are in a poor condition, or if the number of saved ones is not increasing, we should not use the environment or certain people as an excuse. We cannot blame the brothers. I am afraid that the real reason lies with our harboring of some frustrations to the blessing. If the Lord can get through in us, the Lord’s blessing will be greater than our capacity.
The normal life of a Christian is a life of blessing, and the normal work of a Christian is a work of blessing. If we do not receive blessing, we should say, “Lord, perhaps I am the problem.”
Some are Blessed
With the passing years it becomes more and more evident that some brothers receive God’s blessing while others do not. Of ourselves, we are not able to form any judgment about this matter, but over the years this fact has become so evident that we know beforehand that there will be fruit if one brother goes out but none if another brother goes out. We seemingly can forecast the result.
Requirements
There are definite requirements for receiving the Lord’s blessing. It does not come by accident or luck. God has His ways and works according to His principles. God likes certain conditions and does not like others. Esau was very good, but God did not like him. Jacob was not good, but God liked him. God has His own reasons. If a person does not receive God’s blessing, there is a reason for it. If we do not receive God’s blessing, we should not push the responsibility for it onto the situation or environment. There is always a reason for not being blessed. If we could be brought to the point in which we wholeheartedly hope for His blessing and wholeheartedly ask Him to show us the reason for not being blessed, God’s work would have a great future. I really hope that we could live on the earth by expecting the Lord’s blessing. Nothing is as important as God’s blessing. The results of the work are in the blessing.
Personal Weaknesses
We all have our own particular weaknesses. God seems to overlook some of these, but He will not tolerate other ones. Where these exist His blessing cannot rest. It seems that God does not care about some weaknesses. It does not bother Him if you make these mistakes over and over again, but God cares about other weaknesses very much. Therefore, we must be very careful about the weaknesses which might cause us to lose God’s blessing.
We may be unable to eliminate all our weaknesses, but we must ask God to have mercy on us so that we would be those who are able to receive His blessing. We should say to the Lord, “This vessel is weak, but forbid that it should be too shallow or too small to contain Your blessing.” Even though we are shallow and small, we are still able to contain His blessing. God’s blessing and gifts are His work. Thus, we hope God would have mercy on us.
Right & Wrong is less than Blessing
I wonder if we feel the seriousness of this. We absolutely must not argue about the right way to do things. Being right is of no use. We must pay attention to whether or not God blesses us. Often we are very right, yet God does not bless us. It is right to fish all night, yet God does not bless us. We do not live on earth by doing what is right; we live to experience God’s blessing. David and Abraham both made mistakes, Isaac was not very useful, and Jacob was crafty, but God blessed them all. It is not a matter of being right or wrong, but of being blessed by God. Perhaps we who are here today are much better than Jacob, but if God does not bless us, nothing will avail. We must be those who can be blessed by God. We can argue and be right, but it is useless if God does not bless us.
The entire future of the work depends on God’s blessing, not on being right. If God blesses, then many sinners will be saved. If God blesses, we will be able to send people out to the remote regions.
- If there is no blessing, people will not get saved.
- If there is no blessing, workers will not be produced.
- If there is no blessing, no one will offer anything.
- If there is no blessing, no one will migrate.
When the blessing is here, even things that seem wrong are right. When God blesses, we cannot go wrong even if we try. One time there was a meeting in which it seemed that we sang the wrong hymn, but we had a good result because we had God’s blessing. Sometimes when we preach, it seems that we are speaking the wrong word to the wrong audience, but God still blesses some in the audience. When we speak again, we still may speak the wrong word, but God blesses another group of people. I am not saying that we can be loose intentionally. I am saying that we cannot go wrong when we have God’s blessing. It seems that our mistakes should be a frustration, but He cannot be hindered. God said, “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated” (Rom. 9:13). God blesses whom He likes. This is a very serious matter. We should not think that the blessing is a small thing. The blessing is souls and consecrated people. Behind the word blessing perhaps there are fifty souls or one hundred consecrations. The words, attitudes, and opinions of certain people can stop the Lord’s blessing. We must ask the Lord to prick us inwardly until we obtain His blessing. If we do not do this, our sin of losing the Lord’s blessing will be greater than any other sin. The blessing could be hundreds or thousands of souls. We must look to God for the blessing and not let it escape. We must beg God to give us grace.
