| The Divine
Disturber
Wade Taylor
Deep
calls to deep. At the noise of Your waterspouts, all Your waves
and Your billows are gone over me. Psalm 42:7
There
is within each of us a created deep (spiritual capacity and ability) that is capable
of responding to an eternal desire that is within our Creator. If we will become quiet and listen, we will
hear this deep that
ever calls to the deep
that is within us, seeking a satisfaction that can be found in no
other way.
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear
My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup
with him, and he with Me. Revelation 3:20
As
the one who takes the initiative in seeking times of communion with
us, Jesus ever seeks to draw to Himself all those whose hearts are
toward Him, that they might commune with Him in personal intimate
fellowship, and walk in a cooperative relationship with Him for
the outworking of His purposes.
As
we respond to His beckoning knock upon the door of our spirit, not
only will we experience a deep inner satisfaction, but every aspect
of our spiritual life and calling will be enhanced by these times
of personal communion with Jesus.
Only then will we be able to impart His life to others.
We cannot give what we do not have.
Once
we have unconditionally placed the totality of our being in His
hands, a particularly important result of our spending quality time
with Jesus is that He not only will take a singular interest in
us (His approbation
resting upon us), but He will convict us when we begin
to stray, that He might draw us yet closer to Himself.
For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every
son whom He receives. Hebrews
12:6
It
is of utmost importance for us to understand that this convicting presence will always lead us
upward
toward a spiritually active and perceptive relationship with Jesus. In contrast, condemnation is from the enemy
and will always lead us away from the Lord, downward
toward death. We cannot lose
if we will respond and submit ourselves to His dealings.
There
have been times when I felt this convicting disturbance and misread
it. Finally, I became aware
of what was happening and turned to the Lord, and there He was,
the Divine Disturber,
waiting for my response.
For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me ... I acknowledged
my sin to You, and my iniquity have I not hidden. I said, I will confess my transgressions to
the Lord; and You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Psalm 32:4a, 5
When
David recognized the source of the convicting presence that he was
experiencing and repented, the Lord met him in a profound way. The ultimate goal of this convicting work of
the Lord is to turn our hearts singularly toward Him, so he is in
control of the totality of our being and all that pertains to us.
All Your waves and Your billows are gone over me. Psalm 42:7b
Thus,
the result of the chastening of the Divine Disturber is the blessing of Divine Favor manifestly resting upon our
lives. This speaks of the
Lords singular attention toward us, as though we were the only
person in the universe. This
is difficult to understand, but marvelous to experience.
You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble;
You shall compass me about with songs of deliverance. I will instruct
you and teach you in the way which you shall go: I will guide you
with My eye. Psalm 32;7-8
This
open reward - His approbation
and presence resting upon us with divine activity in our behalf,
is the result of our repentance and cooperation with His chastening
hand upon us, which is intended to turn us toward the door that will lead us into the place of His abiding presence.
But you, when you pray, enter into your closet, and
when you have shut your door, pray to your Father which is in secret;
and your Father which sees in secret shall reward you openly.
Matthew 6:6
This
experience of His approbation
(divine
favor) resting upon us, is available to each one of us,
if we will turn aside to spend quality time with Him, waiting
upon Him. In the passage
above, the word closet
is carefully chosen, for we all have closets in our homes that are
usually full. This means that an effort is required on our
part to make room, so we might be alone with the Lord.
When
a young man falls in love,
the object of his love becomes singular. All other women take on a lesser role in his
interest. He has a single eye toward one young
lady.
I love them that love Me; and those that seek Me early
shall find Me ... that I may cause those that love Me to inherit
substance; and I will fill their treasures. Proverbs 8:17, 21
This
level of relationship is further cultivated and developed as they
come to personally know each other. Notice that the Lord has committed Himself to
respond to the expression of our love toward Him. On the human level, our ability to love is limited
and fickle. But no matter
how many reasons we may have as to why Jesus might not be interested
in us, if we will consistently express to Him our love for Him,
He will respond and take the initiative in bringing about changes
within us. There are no exceptions
to this experience of His approbation resting upon us; it simply
requires of us a repentant heart and the continuing expression of
our love for Him.
Although
these roles of God as being a disturber, and as being One who can be cultivated to become our personal friend may seem to be opposites,
they are parallels which are very closely related. We all relate to, or depend on things that hinder
this higher level of relationship to the Lord, which things must be either dealt with or removed
by the Lord. Concerning these,
the Lord does not harshly deal with us.
Rather, He corrects or chastens us only to the extent that
is necessary to lift our attention from the earthly to the heavenly.
Does the plowman plow all day to sow? Does he open and
break the clods of his ground? When he has made plain the face thereof,
does he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cumin, and
cast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rye
in their place? Isaiah 28:24-25
The
plowman only does that which is necessary to prepare the soil to
receive the seed, so the harvest might be abundant. So also, the Lords interest is in the quality of our relationship to Him. Therefore, His chastening is limited to this
purpose, and His corrective action only continues until the desired
response is obtained.
There
are those whom the Lord would like to chasten, but He is unable
to do so because they are unwilling to unconditionally place themselves
in His hand, in order to allow His correction to be fully accomplished.
During
the time when I was a first year student in Bible School, I became
so discouraged that I decided to leave school. I felt that the Lord had little interest in
me, and that He had something special for everyone but me.
There
was a group of married students who met once a week for a time of
fellowship and prayer, and I came for what I felt was the last time.
They were excited, sharing all that the Lord was doing in
their lives. I sat there
feeling sorry for myself, consoling myself with the fact that I
was quitting the next day. Then,
I noticed an aquarium and began to observe the fish contentedly
moving about within their environment.
As I continued to watch, an intense presence of the Lord
settled upon me, and suddenly I felt as if I were one of these fish,
profoundly enveloped within the presence of the Lord.
As
I sat there, immersed in His presence, it felt as if His approbation,
or favor, was singularly upon me.
I had placed myself in the corner of the room withdrawn from
the others, so I could better feel sorry for myself.
But now I was experiencing an unusual presence of the Lord,
and it seemed that no one else was aware of this.
Instead
of being preoccupied with quitting, I was now judging them for their
lack of spiritual sensitivity, and the fact that they were not meeting
the Lord as I was. Suddenly,
one of these students left the table and handed me a book that was
opened to a particular page.
It
related a vision of three people standing before the Lord.
He came to the first and made a big fuss over this person.
He nodded at the second, and walked by the third.
A bystander said, I
understand this. The Lord is very interested in the first person,
slightly interested in the second, and not at all interested in
the third.
To
this the Lord replied, You have it backwards. The first
is weak and needs much attention.
The second needs only to be reminded of My love from time
to time, but the third is a trusted servant who knows Me and one
whom I can implicitly trust.
I
then felt His chastening presence and realized that I was the one
who was weak, needing all the attention I was receiving, and the
others were as the third. I
had made a wrong judgment. I
deeply repented and recommitted myself to finish school.
Within
each of us, there are different situations and circumstances that
the Lord uses to disturb, or provoke us, that our self-centeredness
and our self-righteous attitudes might be dealt with. Our part is to give the Divine Disturber permission to do so, and then to cooperate with
Him as He does. Those things
that are buried within us cannot be dealt with, until they are first
exposed.
Chapter
six of Isaiah records the experience of Isaiah, when he turned his
interest away from the throne of a human king and lifted his eyes
to the eternal throne of the King of all kings.
This resulted in his life and ministry being transformed. For Isaiah to experience this higher identity
with the Lord, he had to be led into a time of darkness (in the year that King Uzziah died)
in order to be released from all that he had previously relied
upon.
Uzziah
had been a good King and showed favor to Isaiah, but the Lord was
seeking to bring Isaiah to a higher throne. Many of us are satisfied with the good, when the Lord would have us seek
the best. Therefore, as being the divine disturber, the Lord will cause a situation, as He did with Isaiah in the year that King Uzziah died, to call our
attention to the fact that we have a need.
If
we have fully committed ourselves to the Lord, there are no accidents.
Now, the totality of our being is in His hands, and He is
actively at work in our behalf. Thus, above the Throne (the place where we are seated with Jesus) were Seraphim,
each having six wings. These
three sets of wings speak of divine
activity in our behalf. With
the first set of wings (the Word and the Spirit in balance), they
covered their head (unconditional submission to His headship);
with the second set, they covered their feet (walk where He would have us walk).
To
rightly function in this relationship, our head must be covered that His head might be in control. Our feet must be covered so we can walk only
as He directs. Now, we are
ready to function in the heavenly realm.
With the third set of wings, we are to fly
at His command (lifted into the realms of the Spirit). Thus, in Isaiah 40:31, we are to mount up with wings as eagles. This speaks of divine activity in every aspect
of our being.
And one cried to another, and said, Holy, holy, holy,
is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory. Isaiah 6:3
The
Lord not only receives our worship, He works through our worship.
And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him
that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Isaiah 6:4
This
smoke is His revealed
glory - His approbation resting singularly upon us. The smoke is also like a mirror, in the reflection
of which we see ourselves. It
is only in His presence that we are able to see ourselves as we
are, and become capable of a deep inner repentance.
Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean
lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for
my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.
Isaiah 6:5
Although
Isaiah had been ministering for some time, now in the reflection
of the glory of the heavenly Throne, he saw the deeper level of
his need, and he repented.
Sin
is an action - a coming short; but iniquity is the principle that underlies the action.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus went beyond the act
to the intent behind the act. Our sin can be forgiven, but it takes an intervention
with live coals from
the altar to deal with the sin principle
that is resident within us, which provokes and allows the sin action.
I indeed baptize you with water to repentance: but He
that comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy
to bear: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: Whose fan is in His hand,
and He will thoroughly purge His floor, and gather His wheat into
the garner; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Matthew
3:11-12
At
this present time, the Lord is moving upon those whose sin, along
with the underlying iniquity, has been dealt with that He might
have overcomers whom
He can fully trust for His end-time purposes.
Then flew one of the seraphim to me, having a live coal
in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this has
touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin
purged. Isaiah 6:6-7
The
Lord will yet have a people from whom He has burned out the very root of iniquity.
The Divine Disturber is about to move in a visitation of fire in which all the dross that is yet
within us will be burned away. We
will be refined to the extent that the image of Jesus will be seen
in the reflection of the gold
that we have become (not possess).
The
Lord is beginning to get our attention. He is a Disturber
who is seeking something higher.
Pontius Pilot, looking upon Jesus said, I
find no fault in Him.
So
also in our day, when we are judged, may that same report again
be spoken of us.
|
