Morning Nourishment Heb. 12:11 Now no discipline at the present time seems to be a matter of joy, but of grief; but afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been exercised by it. Rom. 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. In Jacob, we do not see the aspect of enjoyment; rather, we see the aspect of God’s dealings. Because Jacob supplanted so much, God’s hand was always upon him. Jacob’s supplanting brought in God’s dealings. God might have said, “Jacob, you are able to supplant, but I am able to deal with you. In every step of your supplanting, My dealings will come in.” This was not God’s punishment; it was God’s dealings for the purpose of Jacob’s transformation. (Life-study of Genesis, p. 861) Today’s Reading God sovereignly arranged the environment and circumstances pertaining to Jacob’s life. When Jacob and Esau were in their mother’s womb, they fought over who would be born frst (Gen. 25:22-26)....Jacob was defeated by Esau and was born the second....We all are Jacobs. God has chosen us, and we are under His dealing hand. Jacob suffered from every angle, in every corner, and in every aspect....As we read Genesis 25, 27, and 28, we see that God’s sovereign hand was upon Jacob to transform him. At that time, however, Jacob did not realize that he was under God’s transformation. He only knew his brother’s rudeness and hatred, his mother’s cleverness, and his father’s simpleness. Actually, he was under God’s dealing day after day. Not one day was wasted. Every person he met and everything that happened to him were a dealing. Jacob surely represents the aspect of transformation in our spiritual life. (Life-study of Genesis, pp. 874, 877) Under God’s sovereignty, through the sufferings in his circumstances and through God’s direct dealing, Jacob was transformed and matured so that he became Israel. Therefore, he symbolizes one who has been regenerated and transformed. (Truth Lessons—Level Two, vol. 2, p. 100) Jacob’s history is a type of the discipline of the Holy Spirit. We see a crafty person who was flled with schemes and deceits. But at the same time, we see a person whom the Holy Spirit disciplined step by step....Indeed, he lived a toilsome and hard life. All these experiences were the discipline of the Holy Spirit; they were the trials that a clever man had to go through. Those who can scheme and who are resourceful will see God’s hand upon them. The natural life has to be pressed out. Jacob’s history is a picture of the discipline of the Holy Spirit. (CWWN, vol. 35, “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” p. 12) The discipline of the Holy Spirit refers to what the Holy Spirit is doing in our outward environment; it refers to His arranging of all people, things, and happenings, through which we are being disciplined. The major work of God toward us through the Holy Spirit, aside from the Holy Spirit as the anointing, is in His outward discipline. The end result of the discipline of the Holy Spirit is always that we may be torn down, broken, and reduced to nothing. It is through the discipline of the Holy Spirit that God completely tears down our old creation so that the element of His new creation may be built up in us. (The Experience of Life, pp. 259, 266) We should thank the Lord that everyone in our environment is under God’s sovereign hand for our good. You may think that you have a faithful and trustworthy uncle. But such an uncle will not be very helpful for your transformation....We all need to see this and to know that nothing in our environment is trustworthy. Do not trust anything, any person, or any matter. Everything and everyone in our environment are instruments sovereignly used by God for our transformation. (Life-study of Genesis, p. 946) Further Reading: Life-study of Genesis, msgs. 70-71; The Experience of Life, ch. 12
Posted on: Tue, 09 Sep 2014 23:03:03 +0000
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