June 5

“The test Christ gave by which the reality of His oneness with the Father was to be known, was that He did the work of the Father; and I know no other test for us now.”  Hannah Whitall Smith, God is Enough, 6/5

“Take time to look past your actions to what lies behind them.  Ask God to show you what He sees when He examines your motives.”  H. Blackaby, Experiencing God Day-by-Day, 6/5

I see these two quotes as going hand-in-hand because, outwardly, we could appear to be doing the work of the Father.  It’s too easy to become “religious”--to be “faithful” in our service to God’s cause--in our own strength.  The real test comes when things don’t go the way we thought they should.  At least, this is my test.  I’ll seemingly start out working for the Lord and only find out later I was working for myself.  I find this out when I suffer disappointment, anger, frustration, hopelessness.  So when Hannah reminds us that Christ did the work of the Father she was referring to His completed work--work He’d seen to the end according to God’s plan.  Too often I do not finish well because my hidden motive of serving self has been the driving force.  I am learning now that in order for my motive to be pure and for my work to be of the Father, I must let my only desire be the desire to do God’s Will.  He will do the rest.

“I delight to do thy will, O my God; thy law is within my heart.”  Psalm 40:8

April 21

“Obedience may be said to be simply a matter of self-interest.  It is not a demand made of us, but a privilege offered.  Like yielding and trusting, it is simply a way of bringing divine wisdom and power to bear upon our affairs.”  Hannah Whitall Smith, Daily Secrets, 4/21

A privilege?  Why is it we never think of obedience in this light?  Why is it thought to be something against what we want?  I’m far more obedient than I realize, though.  I just don’t label the things I do as “obedience”.  To me they are things I want to do.  Some things I’ve learned to “want” to do because of the unpleasant consequences if I don’t, but others are because I like the sense of security they bring.  I think this reveals why we often have a hard time “delighting to do God’s will”.  We haven’t come to realize that God is our security.  We’ve relied too much on the world’s definition of security and when our reality doesn’t match the world’s definition we question God’s provision for us.  If we do not fully trust Him we are not going to obey Him.  As a parent I learned this early on.  If my children didn’t trust that my request was for their own good they would not comply.  They had radar about anything that smacked of self-interest on my part.  Of course, sometimes they could not understand why a nap was in their best interest and would resist.  Likewise, we do not always trust God because we are ignorant of the consequences of getting our way.  But as we mature as children of God, like children do who are held responsible for their behavior, we begin to trust our Father’s judgment because He’s shown Himself to be trustworthy.

“I delight to do they will, O my God; thy law is within my heart.”  Psalm 40:8