Spring 1994

A Call to Faithfulness
Nancy Taylor Warner

"As the people pressed upon him to hear the word
of God, He stood by the lake of Gennesaret. And
saw two ships ... And he sat down, and taught
the people out of the ship. Now when he had left
speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into
the deep" Luke 5:1-4a.

Each of us in various ways, find ourselves pressing, or being pressed, to accomplish one purpose or another. The most important question we could consider is, are we "pressing" toward that which has eternal value, or toward those things that will pass away?

The Apostle Paul said,

"Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended;
but one thing I do, forgetting those things which
are behind, and reaching forward to those things
which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the
prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus"
Phil 3:13-15 NKJ.

Somehow, we all become very "busy." As a result, there are many things that seek to hinder our devotional time with the Lord. We must reject these and determinedly press through them in order to have some quiet time with the Lord.

The Lord notices and responds whenever we rise above all these "things" to seek Him. In Luke 5, as the people pressed to hear, the Lord observed that two ships were close by. There always are - His way, and our way. Thus, there will always be an alternative to our responding to His call.

Jesus entered into one of these and pushed out a little from the shore. The "shore" relates to our everyday activities. He pushed beyond these into the realm of the spirit. The depth to which He will take us is contingent upon the desire of our heart. He will first push us out a little to teach us the principles of the realm of the Spirit. Then He will say, "Launch out into the deep," into the depths of communion with Him in the outworking of His purposes.

The Lord looks beyond our outward appearance and circumstances. When He saw Eliab standing before Samuel, outwardly perfect, He also saw David who was in the sheepfold being faithful. David was hastily brought before Samuel with the smell of the sheepfold still on him. The Lord looked past this and saw him as one who had a heart after Him."
"His lord said unto him, Well done, good and
faithful servant; you were faithful over a
few things, I will make you ruler over many
things. Enter into the joy of your lord"
Matt 25:21 NKJ.

The anointing oil was poured upon David to anoint him King over Israel. A short time later, he was chosen to play a harp to soothe Saul. But as he faithfully stood before him, Saul threw a javelin at him and David fled and hid in the back of a cave.

We might say, "What went wrong?" But a preparation of David's heart was taking place which was not outwardly evident. There was a higher purpose in David's troubles.

Saul also was sovereignly called by God. He was ordained and immediately placed on the Throne. He had experienced none of the "processings" that were taking place in the life of David. Thus, Saul had a difficult time obeying instructions as he did not have a broken and contrite spirit. Samuel wept all night because of Saul's disobedience, but Saul did not weep. When correction came, he defended himself. There had been no corrective dealings in his life.

On the surface, it would appear that the Lord loved David less than Saul. David was going through great difficulties in getting to the Throne, but Saul came directly to the Throne. The casual observer would say, Saul was accepted, but David was rejected. The ways of the Lord are very different from ours.

There was a deep working of the Lord in the spirit of David. The Lord could trust David to go though the difficult things that would prepare him for the Throne. As a result of this, the Lord was able to remove the very root of independence from him.

Our children do not become submissive in one day. We do not lay hands on them and instantly have a wonderfully submitted child. There is a process to which the parent must be committed. If this is not done while our children are young, problems will surface later.

As we face the dealings of God, notice that David did not passively sit and allow a javelin to pierce him. He quickly removed himself and then cried out to the Lord. His reliance was in the Lord, but he had discernment and was able to act according to the circumstances with which he was dealing.

This is not escaping the dealings of God. We have a responsibility as stewards of the call of God on our lives to guard the anointing that has been entrusted to us. We are to discern rightly and move quickly when we come face to face with the enemy.
As we open our hearts to the Lord and press towards Him for more, a seed of the Kingdom will be planted within us. The Lord is faithful to do His part in sowing this seed. Our part is the cultivation of the soil.

In Luke 5, Jesus sat down in the boat and taught the people who stood on the shore, intently listening. Matthew chapter 13 tells us what he said. He dealt with the things within them that would be a hindrance to the development of "The Word of the Kingdom" that had been sown within them.

There are those who have no spiritual capacity. They are in the "wayside" apart from the place where He is working to produce fertile soil. As a result, the birds take away the little they received and they are left with nothing.

There are those who have not been dealt with and many "stones" remain in their garden. The roots begin to go down, but as soon as some persecution or trouble comes, these roots wither and dry.

There are those who hear, but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches become as "thorns" that choke out all spiritual growth. In all these, the Lord had done His part but there was no harvest.

Then there is the "good soil" that has been cultivated. The tools with which we cultivate this soil are our worship and our times of prayer. It is here that the receptivity of our spirit develops and the eyes of our understanding become enlightened.

The more time we spend in his presence, the deeper the seed will go and the stronger the roots will become to withstand the storms of life. There will develop deep within us - spiritual understanding, discernment, and submission to the ways of the Lord.

As He tells us to launch out into the deep, our natural and spiritual lives will begin to function in harmony. Then we will have a testimony of His faithfulness. Joseph was promoted because of his faithfulness. Daniel was promoted due to faithfulness. David was found faithful.

The Lord seeks to do "a new thing" in each of us. This will be seen only when the fruit of the seed that had been planted within us and faithfully cared for, develops into full maturity.

We should never despise the day of small beginnings. As we press to hear, the Lord will begin within us a deep inner work that will take much time to surface. At the time, it may seem we are only suffering and being misunderstood. But if we are patient and do not give up, the reward will come.

There is a becoming on the inside that will be seen on the outside in His time. We are all fed by the Psalms that David wrote as he went through difficult times. Our lives too, will yet become a blessing to many.

Our part is to be faithful; He will do the rest.