If we fail God today, we should not be disappointed, for God is faithful to do it in us; He has a way to deal with us and cause us to be mature and become the New Jerusalem, either as His overcoming bride in the next age or as His wife for eternity.
This week we have seen the matter of the two evils that we as God’s people commit and God’s faithfulness in fulfilling His economy.
On our side, even though we are God’s people and even though God is the fountain of living waters to us, we still forsake the Lord, we still run after other things, and we still allow many things to occupy us and possess us as our idols.
We may not have anything outwardly that we worship or bow down to, but we may have idols in our heart, that is, we may have things or matters that keep us busy and distract us from God and from His purpose.
God’s intention in His economy is that we would come to Him and drink of Him as the fountain of living waters, be satisfied with Him, enjoy Him, and become the church, His enlargement, His corporate expression.
God created us and redeemed us for this purpose, to work Himself into us to be our life and everything.
Apart from God, no matter how much we try, no matter how many other things we try out, and no matter how interesting and sweet other fountains we choose, but nothing can satisfy us or quench our thirst, and nothing can make us God’s increase for His expression.
On His side, Christ has come as a rock and was smitten on the cross by the authority of God’s law, and He was processed to become a life-giving Spirit, a Spirit who gives life.
On our side, we have been redeemed, regenerated, and positioned to drink, and we have been baptized into the Spirit. We simply need to drink; we simply need to open up our mouth and drink of the living water.
The Lord Jesus said that whoever drinks of this water, the water in the world, will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that He gives (and is) will never thirst again.
Idols are any replacements for Christ; anything and any matter that demands our worship, time, and energy is an idol, and we need to beware of the idols.
Everything and anything can become an idol to us; everything and anything can become a replacement for the living and true God, and our heart can stick to something and love a certain thing very easily.
However, God is faithful to His word; He is faithful in His economy to call us into the fellowship of His Son. He is faithful to deal with anything that replaces Him.
God is faithful to remove anything that we rely on more than the Lord; we may trust in our possessions, smartness, peace, or prosperity, and we may not trust in the Lord, so He is faithful to remove anything that replaces Him.
The Lord may even allow suffering, trials, and troubles to come along, and situations that puzzle us and seemingly make no sense, so that He may deal with anything that we rely on and love apart from Him, for us to return to Him as the fountain of living waters and drink of Him.
Even though we fail, we shouldn’t be Disappointed, for Christ can come in to be our Righteousness and Life
The history of the children of Israel is our history today; our history is filled with failure and mistakes.
And when the Lord shines on us, we realize how much we fail, how many idols we have, how much our heart loves other things and matters besides the Lord…and we may feel disappointed or hopeless.
We may think that, because of our failure, we are hopeless; but we need to remember the Lord’s word in Lam. 3:22-23, His compassions never fail! Hallelujah!
The people of Israel must have felt that God had given them up and that they were finished, but God’s compassions to not fail; rather, they are new every morning.
God’s wrath is temporary, He may repent of His anger, but His compassions will never fail but rather, His lovingkindness will always be there, so we can taste His mercies afresh every morning. Hallelujah!
The words in Lam. 3:22-25 were written after the Babylonians had destroyed Jerusalem, burned the temple, and carried many away into captivity.
Surely the people of Israel must have felt that God gave them up and that they were finished. So Jeremiah was weeping, but on the other hand, he touched God’s compassions and mercies, and he wrote about it.
It was of Jehovah’s lovingkindness that they were not consumed; they were still there and God had not given up.
The princes, the prophets, and the priests had failed, but God’s compassions will not fail but rather, they are new every morning.
Hallelujah, God is our portion every morning, we need to hope in Him, and He is good to those who wait on Him. There is hope in Him!
We need to realize that God is our portion and we can hope in Him, for He is good to those who wait on Him (Lam. 3:24-25; Psa. 16:4; 73:25-26).
There is hope in God because with Him there’s no disappointment.
So if we fail, if we look back and realize we are so full of failures, we need to realize that our failure opens the way for Christ to come in to be our righteousness and our redemption and also to dispense Himself into us to be our life and life law with its capacity to know God and live God (see Jer. 23:5-6; 31:33-34; Col. 1:17-18).
We may repent and weep before the Lord for our failures, and under His light we realize how many failures we have, so we just repent and weep…
This is good, for this softens our heart toward the Lord. In His eyes, our failure is negative, but it also prepares and opens the way for Christ to come in so that He may be exalted in and through us to be our centrality and universality.
In His covenant God is being dispensed into us to be our life to work out everything according to His economy, that is, that Christ would be centrality of our being and the universality in our expression.
The Lord will get through in us, and when we fail, we can return to Him and give Him the first place again.
When we fail, we come to the Lord and repent, and our failure opens the way for Christ to be our righteousness (as we apply the precious blood of Christ) and He dispenses Himself into us to be our life and life-law with its capacity.
As we open to the Lord, He washes us, cleanses us, and dispenses Himself into us, with the result that He increases in us, He becomes our centrality and universality.
Thank You Lord that, even though we fail and are full of failures, we are not hopeless; God is not giving us up but rather, His compassions never fail, and His mercies are new every morning. Hallelujah, God is our portion, we hope in Him, and He is good to those who wait on Him. Thank You, Lord, there is hope in God because with God there is no disappointment! We return to You, dear Lord, and we repent for our failure in drinking You as the fountain of living waters. We repent for loving other things. We repent for not taking You as our source and our everything. We return to You and we open to You; we hope in You, and we allow You to dispense Yourself into us for Your purpose!
Our God is Faithful and Patient: He will take the Time to make us Mature, part of the New Jerusalem!
As we come to the Lord to be with Him in the light, enjoy Him, and partake of Him, we are exposed of our fallen condition, and we are convicted of our failures.
As we walk with the Lord every day, we fail so much; we fail to take Him as the fountain of living waters, and we fail to live Christ.
This humbles us and causes us to repent and be so open to the Lord so that He in us may live the Christian life, for we ourselves can’t do this.
We need to realize that, if we fail God today, this is not the end of it; we shouldn’t be disappointed if we fail God today, for God has a way to deal with us and cause us to mature and become the New Jerusalem!
We may fail right now, but we trust in God’s faithfulness; He is a faithful God, and He will deal with us and cause us to mature and become the New Jerusalem either as His overcoming bride in the next age or as His wife for eternity (Heb. 6:1a).
We simply need to remain open to Him and not be disappointed about our mistakes.
The Lord shines on us, convicts us regarding our failures, and we may be so exposed regarding the matter of idolatry.
However, we should not look at ourselves with our failures but at God who is faithful! Our aspiration is to be His overcomers today, but if we fail to make it today, God will take the time to deal with us and cause us to mature and become His New Jerusalem!
And we will be His counterpart for eternity; though we aspire to be His bride in the next age, if we don’t make it then, we will be with Him and one with Him for eternity!
There’s no need to worry or be anxious about our situation, for our God faithful to His word; He is patient, sympathetic, and compassionate, and He will take the time to make us mature.
There’s a process go through to get to maturity, and the Lord is patient with us according to where and who we are, He is sympathetic toward us in our situation and according to our condition, and He is compassionate with us, for He knows what we go through.
In His eyes, we are already the New Jerusalem, and today we are learning to cooperate with the Lord, but if we fail to cooperate with Him, He knows that He has a way to cause us to be perfected and matured to become the New Jerusalem, either in this age or in the next.
Every believer, whether presently weak or strong, will be a constituent of the New Jerusalem, and everyone there will be mature (see Rev. 19:7-9; 21:2).
Our destiny is that we will be idol-free and God-filled for eternity! Our future is to be fully focused on God and drinking Him as living waters, having no replacements for Him in our being.
So we shouldn’t be dismayed or discouraged with our situation and condition today; rather, we should be encouraged and comforted with the God of all comfort and encouragement (2 Cor. 1:3-4; Rom. 15:5).
Amen, thank the Lord that He is the God of all comfort, and He is faithful to finish what He has begun in us and with us.
May we be the true worshippers of God, who is the fountain of living waters, by drinking Him so that He can be the reality within us, which eventually becomes our genuineness and sincerity in which we worship God with the worship that He seeks (John 4:23-24).
Oh, may the Lord speak to us with His Holy Spirit that is in all of us; may the Lord’s hand would follow His word, that is, may His Spirit together with His dealings through the various environments in our lives according to His sovereignty work in us.
His work on us and in us is based on His compassion and faithfulness, so that we would become a people who both individually and collectively have nothing else in our heart and in our being besides Him, but that in every way, in our living, we would be fully His and He is fully ours.
When we leave God and follow after idols, it is not only we who suffer but also God who suffers, for He is deprived of our worship.
On our side, we are dissatisfied with broken cisterns, but He is deprived of our offerings to Him for His joy and satisfaction. May we exercise and be before the Lord concerning this matter, and may we tell Him,
Lord Jesus, we worship You for Your faithfulness. You are faithful to finish in us what You have begun. Thank You that, in spite of our failures and our unfaithfulness, You remain faithful to Your purpose, and You will bring us to maturity and make us the New Jerusalem. Lord, it is our aspiration that we would be Your overcomers today. We do not look at our failures: we look to You, we repent and confess, we apply the blood, and we come to You to drink of You as the fountain of living waters. We do not worry about our situation: we trust in God who is patient, sympathetic, and compassionate, and we know that He will take the time to make us mature! Hallelujah, thank You Lord Jesus!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Jeremiah, msg. 4 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization Study of Jeremiah and Lamentations, week 3, The Two Evils of God’s People and God’s Faithfulness in Fulfilling His Economy.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Lord, I confess my heart’s impure, / So weak in loving Thee. / Thy light upon my heart obscure / Unfaithfulness reveals. / Although my mind with Thine agrees: / My being Thou dost own, / Some parts within would still not yield / To say, “I’m Thine alone.” / Remind me, Lord, of what love is, / How faithfulness should be. / The universe to all declares / Thou lovest faithfully. (Song on, Lord, I confess my heart’s impure)
– It is Jehovah’s lovingkindness / That we are not consumed, / We are not consumed, / For His compassions do not fail; / They are new every morning; / Great is Your faithfulness. (Scripture song)
– Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth, / Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide; / Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, / Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside! / “Great is Thy faithfulness!” “Great is Thy faithfulness!” / Morning by morning new mercies I see. (Hymns #19)
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