As believers and Lovers of Christ, we need to Seek the Counsel of Jehovah in all Things

As those who love the Lord and practice living in His presence daily, we realize that He is our Husband and we are His bride, His wife; as such, we should not forget our Husband but rather, seek the Lord’s counsel and check with Him concerning everything.

This is an important lesson to learn, and we usually learn it by making many mistakes. The history of Israel is a type of our experience and history in the Christian life and church life today.

When we look at their history and experience in crossing the river Jordan and entering the good land, there are many spiritual lessons that we can learn.

In particular, the fact that Achan took some of the things that were for destruction and hid them, points to a valuable spiritual lesson.

What he took and hid was not just some gold and some silver, but also a garment from Shinar, a beautiful garment, that would have given him a nicer appearance.

If we look in the New Testament, after the beginning of the church life, we see that the first sin was of Ananias and Sapphira, who pretended to be someone they are not.

It is a great danger for us in the church life to put on a mask, to dress in a garment that is not ours, and to show others a certain appearance that doesn’t match what we are on the inside.

We may even have a false consecration and a false spirituality, with no reality behind this. Oh, Lord!

We need the Lord to shine on us and expose the principle of Babylon, which is hypocrisy, so that we may refuse to pretend what we are not, and we would worship Him in spirit and in truthfulness!

The Father is looking for worshippers who worship Him in spirit and in truthfulness; we want to be such ones, those who do not pretend that we are something we’re not, we don’t put on a mask, and we don’t have a different appearance in the meeting than when we’re at home.

We want to be those who treasure the word of God in our heart and allow Christ to make His home in our hearts.

When Christ makes His home in our heart and becomes the good treasure of our heart, we will be filled to overflowing with this good treasure, and what comes out of us – both in work and in word – will be Christ, the One who has been wrought into us.

May we all be delivered from hypocrisy, and may we be those who seek the counsel of Jehovah in all things!

May we learn from the lessons in the Bible by mainly praying over them before God so that He would make them real to us.

Being those who Ask for the Counsel of Jehovah and Not leave Him as our Husband

In Josh. 7 we see that the people of Israel dealt with the sin of Achan, which became the sin of the whole congregation, hindering them from conquering a small city as Ai.

Then, they were victorious over Ai (Josh. 8:1-35), and God was with them.

However, in 9:1-27 we see that the Gibeonites, who were Hivites (vv. 3, 7; 11:18-19), one of the nations of Canaan that had to be exterminated by Israel because they were devilish and mingled with demons (Deut. 7:2; 9:4-5; 18:9-14), came and deceived them.

They pretended to be a people from far away who heard of the many amazing things God has done for His people, so they came to join themselves to the people of Israel.

Their story was very convincing, so the inhabitants of Gibeon deceived Israel with their craftiness (Josh. 9:3-14) and the leaders of the people made a covenant with them.

They said that, because they heard of Israel’s defeating both Jericho and Ai, they wanted to make peace and a covenant with Israel so that Israel would let them live; they went out as though they were envois, and they pretended to have come from afar.

They were neighbours, one of the cities that were to be destroyed, but they deceived Joshua and the leaders of the people.

Joshua 9:14 is a very powerful portion of the Scriptures that shows us why the children of Israel were deceived by the Gibeonites: “they did not ask for the counsel of Jehovah”; therefore, Joshua and the leaders of the people made a covenant with them to let them live (v. 15).

Earlier, they trusted in themselves to defeat the small city of Ai, and they did not deal with their hidden sin; now, they were deceived by the enemy and let them live, even though they were commanded to destroy them.

The children of Israel were the wife of Jehovah, and they should have depended on Him for everything; in all things, they should have asked for the counsel of Jehovah, but they did not.

This is similar to what we see in the garden of Eden, where Eve left her position as a wife and took it upon herself to engage into a conversation with the serpent.

Instead of taking her husband as her covering and head, she talked to the serpent, and she got deceived.

May the Lord save us from not seeking the counsel of Jehovah in all things. In big things and in small things, in things that we understand and things we don’t understand, in all things we need to seek the counsel of Jehovah.

He is our Husband, we depend on Him, and as His wife, we should contact Him and seek His counsel, His opinion, His feeling.

The people of Israel were deceived because they were like a wife who forgot her husband; many times we are the same, making decisions on our own and not checking with the Lord concerning things.

Some opportunities seem to arise, some good things may seem to be just around the corner, and we may simply go ahead and do this or choose that because we don’t check with the Lord.

May we learn not to forget the Lord as our Husband but rather, pay attention to Him, seek the counsel of Jehovah, and be one with Him in everything.

When we are in trouble, we may seek His counsel, but what about when things seem to go our way?

When we have a test or a problem, we may seek the Lord’s counsel, but what about when things may be smooth, we may have many offers and opportunities, and things seem to go the way we want them to go?

May we come to the Lord again and again and tell Him,

Lord Jesus, keep us one spirit with You today. We depend on You, dear Lord; we don’t want to do anything apart from You. You are our Husband and we are Your wife; we come to You, again and again, to enquire of You. Save us from not seeking Your counsel. Save us from doing things in our own way and according to our own desire and opinion. Save us from being deceived by the enemy with his schemes and stratagems. Oh Lord, we seek the counsel of Jehovah. We love You and we open to You. We want to bring to You all the things that come our way, all the enemy’s enticements and deceits, and even all the opportunities and positive situations that seem to come our way. Keep us in the index of Your eyes. Keep us one spirit with You in all things.

Seeking the Counsel of Jehovah in all things as the Bride, the Wife of Christ in the Divine Romance

The Bible doesn’t just speak of God’s intention to save man and not let him perish; the Bible is a record of a romance between God and man.

In the most pure and holy sense, the Bible shows us a universal couple, God and man; God is the male, the Husband, and man is the female, the bride, the wife.

God created man in His image and according to His likeness, and He Himself came to be a man to court man and make man His bride.

In the Old Testament, we see that many times God calls His people as His wife and Him to be their Husband (Isa. 54:5).

In the New Testament, Christ came to be the Bridegroom; through His death He redeemed man and in His resurrection, He imparts Himself into man to regenerate man and bring man into the process of making man the same as He is to match Him in every possible way.

The universe is a wedding place, the place where the Husband (the processed and consummated Triune God) is being joined in marriage to the wife (the redeemed, regenerated, sanctified, transformed, and glorified tripartite man).

The Triune God went through a process and was consummated to be the Spirit, the Husband, and man goes through a process to be transformed and glorified to be the bride, the wife of the Lamb (Rev. 21:9-10).

At the end of the Bible in the book of Revelation we see the New Jerusalem as the consummation of God’s elect in the new heaven and new earth, as the universal wife of the processed and consummated Triune God for eternity. Hallelujah!

In the Old Testament, God courted and drew a particular people to Him; He called Abraham, who followed God and believed Him, and he was given many descendants by faith.

The earthly descendants of Abraham are the people of Israel, and after He delivered them through Moses, they followed Him in the wilderness and had “bridal days” (Jer. 2:2).

God courted Israel in the wilderness, being the wonderful Husband who was their God, their Man, their Husband, and their Hero.

Whatever they needed, He took care of it, for He had the wisdom, the capacity, the strength, the might, the power, and the authority to do everything.

When they arrived at Mount Sinai, He gave them the law, the engagement contract, for them to be married to Him for eternity.

When the children of Israel arrived at the border of the good land, they were there as the fighting bride of God, His counterpart.

He was with them, He gave them the land, and He led them into battle.

However, when they did not ask for the counsel of Jehovah, they left Him as their Husband, and they were deceived by the enemy.

We need to realize that there’s such a divine romance in the Bible, and we as God’s spiritual people need to enquire of Him and seek His counsel, for He is our Husband.

God is courting us, His people, to make us His bride, and He will eventually marry us (see Gen. 2:21-24; S. S. 1:2-4; Isa. 54:5; 62:5; Jer. 2:2; 3:1, 14; 31:32; Ezek. 16:8; 23:5; Hosea 2:7, 19; Matt. 9:15; John 3:29; 2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:25-32; Rev. 19:7; 21:2, 9-10; 22:17a).

Through the ministry of the apostles, we are betrothed to Christ to be presented to Him as a pure virgin to Christ.

So we should come to the Lord again and again, for the enemy tries to deceive us and distract us from Christ and His courting, His drawing, and His transforming.

We should not presume that we are the Husband, especially when temptation comes.

We need to remember our place, our status, and our position – we are the wife to Christ, and He is our Husband.

By reading the Bible, being before the Lord in our time with Him, and living one spirit with Him, we are being betrothed to the Lord; He is our Husband, we are His bride, and we will spend eternity in mutual love in the new heaven and new earth.

Therefore, as the wife of the processed and consummated Triune God, we should never leave our Husband; rather, we should seek the counsel of Jehovah, always relying on Him and being one with Him.

We need to learn to check with Him about everything we do. We should never leave our Husband, Christ, not even momentarily, for the enemy is right there, ready to deceive us.

Lord Jesus, we love You. You are our dear Husband, our beloved Bridegroom. We come to You, dear Lord, and we want to spend time with You in Your word. We open to You concerning our situation and all the things that happen to us. Oh Lord, we cleave to You, for You are our dear Husband. We don’t want to do anything apart from You. Keep us checking with You concerning all things. Keep us enjoying You and abiding in You. We rely on You, dear Lord, and we refuse to deal with the enemy’s temptations apart from You. Oh Lord, how much we need You. How much we depend on You. We love being joined to You as one spirit. We come to You again and again, and we want to be in Your presence all the time.

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Joshua (pp. 53-55), by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth (2021 summer training), week 4, The Need for God’s People to Seek the Lord’s Direction and Have the Lord’s Presence to Display His Victory for the Building Up of His Body and the Spreading of His Kingdom.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Yes, all our strength of independence died, / For we with Christ were fully crucified. / Now we’re so glad to be His proper wife, / Dependently enjoying Him as life / Forevermore. (Hymns #1140)
  – Will you be an overcomer? / On His life depend! / Dare to suffer persecution, / Faithful to the end. (Hymns #894)
  – Waiting on Thee, Lord, waiting on Thee; / Let me now rest in Thee; / Make Thy will clear to me, / This is my earnest plea- / Waiting on Thee, waiting on Thee. (Hymns #792)