The leading actions of the Spring Council appear in the columns of the Review, together with a general report of the proceedings by the Secretary of the General Conference. But in this and succeeding issues of the Ministry, we shall seek to open to our workers a bird's-eye view of the momentous problems confronting our assembled leadership, together with the spirit with which these questions were approached. This can best be discovered through the daily devotional exercises wherein our leaders spoke most earnestly under these sobering conditions. These presentations were reported, and a digest will appear in the Ministry.
In this issue Elder Watson's opening study is given, condensed by his own hand in the midst of the council, with its distracting pressure and cares. The actual presentation to the delegates was a fitting introduction to the council, sounding a note of faith in the midst of tremendous obstacles, and of advance in spite of adversity. Elder Evans gives on page one a view of the council proceedings as a whole, and our individual relation thereto.
Surely every man will stand shoulder to shoulder with his brethren in this hour of test. How steadying and potent the fact that this is God's movement, and He will see it through to triumph!
L. E. F.
"Fear Thou Not; For I Am With Thee"
By C.H. Watson
A wonderful message of appeal and promise in the forty-first chapter of Isaiah is climaxed by the following words: "I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together." Isa. 41:19. This statement will mean more to us, and will immediately reveal more of its importance to us, if we but recall that it has to do with the work of preparing the way of the Lord. (See Isaiah 40:3.)
Let us observe the assurance given in this nineteenth verse. When the outlook is forbidding, God yet plans for growth; though the conditions are discouraging, He will bring to pass that which He has purposed. In Isaiah 40:1-3 we are told that the Lord expects His way to be prepared in the face of great difficulty. But the succeeding verses give assurance that by the valleys being exalted and the mountains and hills being made low, by the crooked places being made straight and the rough places made plain, His glory shall be revealed, and all flesh shall be reached by the power of His message.
We are encouraged to take hold of this assurance, for while "all flesh is grass," failure of the promise of God is impossible. Other things are very undependable. "The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: . . but the word of our God shall stand forever."
"O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain." Isa. 40:9. That, surely, is the experience that we need just now —to come up into the high mountain and let God speak to our hearts. Faced by seemingly insurmountable difficulties, and perplexed beyond measure by the problems facing this council, we need to come "up into the high mountain," and there discover afresh the divine pattern for the great work that we have been given to do.
Note the marginal reading of this verse, which indicates that God is speaking still more directly to the leaders of His people: "O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion, get thee up into the high mountain." It seems that this is a very direct message of appeal to us here, and to our ministers everywhere, and I am convinced that it marks the way for us to meet the present situation successfully. It is not the way of human might; but rather the way of trustful, prayerful dependence upon God. No merely formal service can now be accepted, and certainly it should not here be planned. The prophet's next words forbid it: "0 thou that tellest good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!"
The work we do here should be done in view of the speedy coming of our Lord. We meet and labor in full assurance that God is with us and will maintain His own good cause. Observe the rendering which Moffatt gives to the tenth verse: "Here is the Eternal coming in power, maintaining mightily His cause." It still is true that God's people renew their strength by waiting on Him. By our getting up into the high mountain with God the strength of His arm will become ours, and we shall find Him ruler of all conditions.
But let us not fail to observe that in the leadership of our Lord the arm that rules also gathers the lambs, presses them tenderly to His bosom, and leads with gentleness those who greatly need care. "He shall feed His flock like a shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young." Verse 11.
This same gentleness should strongly characterize our work at this time. Our people are sorely pressed. Their hearts are wonderfully loyal to this message and movement, but just now they need the sympathy of their ministers and leaders as never before. May God teach us how to be strong in His service, but at the same time pitiful and kind, and full of tender sympathy for the sheep of His pasture.
In this chapter we are given a very wonderful description of the Lord's great power. (See verses 12-27.) I believe this is given us that we may be assured that we have a God who changes not. As He was, so He is; as He is, so He will be. He created all things by the might of His power. He still upholds all those things by the same power. He still is everlasting. He fainteth not. His strength is not spent. His understanding still is beyond our searching. And because of all this we can look up to Him and trust Him. "He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increaseth strength." Verse 29.
Strong young men faint and are weary and utterly fall, but they that get themselves up into the high mountain and there "wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." Verse 31.
"Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness." Isa. 41:10. What a wonderful promise this is for us just now! I have gathered much courage from these words during recent weeks.
"They that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of naught. For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee. Fear not, . . . ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff. Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel." Isa. 41:12-16.
By helping us the Lord makes us able to meet the difficulties. He makes of us a "sharp threshing instrument having teeth." And though the difficulties are as mountains, we shall "beat them small;" though they are as the hills, we shall make them "as chaff." And when they are scattered and gone, we shall rejoice in the Lord and "glory in the Holy One of Israel." We thank God that a time is coming when the difficulties will all be over. But when that time does come, we will ascribe to God the glory, and in Him shall be our rejoicing.
And this help is for us all. "When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them. I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water." Verses 17, 18.
"Thus saith the Lord: Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited." Jer. 17:5, 6.
Trusting in man creates a hopeless outlook. It brings its own curse. Making flesh our arm produces a pitiable situation. These things associate with a backslidden heart, and make us "like the heath in the desert." I have seen heath in many countries, but never yet have I seen it in surroundings of prosperity. The barrenness of the wilderness and the fruitlessness of a salt land are the sure result of man and leaning on the arm of flesh. And still worse, they make us incapable of recognizing good when it comes. God pity us in our need, and lift us far away from such things, and from such a destiny.
Compared with that is the blessedness of those who trust in the Lord. "Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drouth, neither shall cease from yielding fruit." Verses 7, 8.
Trusting in God establishes us in hope. It brings its own abundant blessings. As an attitude in God's work, it assures us of prosperity. It brings expansion and growth. It is unchecked by hindrances, and it is abundantly fruitful. May God greatly multiply His grace to us in this council and in all our work, and keep us trustful of Him. It is with this spirit that we approach our problems.
Washington, D. C.
