Spring
1991
Food for Thought
Wade E Taylor
"O my dove ... LET ME SEE thy countenance, LET ME HEAR
thy voice" Song of Solomon 2:14a.
The Lord looks to see if I have determinedly set my spirit
in an upward poise towards Him. Then He listens deep within
the inner most part of my being to see if He can hear an abiding,
unqualified "yes" to His desire to take me further
towards spiritual maturity. My heart's desire towards Him
-("Let Me See,") and the expression of my willingness
to obey - ("Let Me Hear") determines the action
that the Lord will take concerning me.
"If ye be WILLING and OBEDIENT, ye shall eat the good
of the land" Isaiah1:19. For me to become genuinely "willing"
means that I have, in the totality of my being, established
the fact that my self-life shall no longer be in control my
desires and actions. Therefore, I have unconditionally committed
all that is less than His best to the cross. This has released
me so I will be able, with a single eye, to respond to His
perfect will for my life.
Therefore, I will (willingly) actively "wait" upon
the Lord for His enabling" grace for obedience"
so this desire may become a reality in my spiritual life and
walk. "By whom we have received GRACE and apostleship,
FOROBEDIENCE to the faith among all nations, for His Name"
Romans 1:5.
Grace is the essential ingredient of the New Covenant. "A
new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put
within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your
flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put
my spirit within you, and CAUSE (grace) you to walk in my
statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them"
Ezekiel 36:26-27.
Grace is the "Divine Empowering" (Acts 1:8) that
activates my ability to obey. My being able to abide constantly
in a state of obedience means that I am continually exchanging
my weaknesses for His strength through the impartation to
me of His Grace (Isaiah 40:29-31). This will result in my
having the ability to be willingly-obedient to Him.
When these qualities, "heart-willingness" (my part)
and "grace-for-obedience" (His part) abide within
me and work together in harmony, they will produce rich spiritual
fruit within my life. "If ye be willing and obedient,
ye shall eat the good of the land" Isaiah 1:19. This
"good of the land" that the Lord is speaking of
is the total "area" of my being and life experience
that came under His authority when I relinquished all self-control
and made Him Lord.
This "relinquishment" means that I have, from within
the depths of my being acknowledged His total authority and
rule over my life and over all of my circumstances. I must
recognize and understand that this may, and probably will,
have a drastic affect on the desires of my self-life.
However, once I have tasted "the good of the land,"
I know that I will never want to go back to my old ways, but
ever, further onward into His highest and best.
"O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the
man that trusteth in him" Psalm 34:8.