by Arthur W. Pink
by Arthur W. Pink
Philologos Religious Online Books
Philologos.org
by Arthur W. Pink
December, 1934
Divine Guidance
“Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is” (Eph. 5:17). It is clear from this verse that it is both the right and the duty of the Christian to have a knowledge of the Lord's will for him. God can neither be pleased nor glorified by His children walking in ignorance or proceeding blindly. Did not Christ say to His beloved disciples, “Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of My Father I have made known unto you” (John 15:15). If, then, we are in the dark as to how we ought to proceed in any thing, it is clear that we are living far below our privileges. No doubt the majority of our readers will give their hearty assent to these statements, but the question which concerns most of them is, how are we to ascertain the Lord's will concerning the varied details of our daily lives?
First, let it be duly observed this exhortation, that we should be understanding “what the will of the Lord is,” is preceded by “Wherefore be ye not unwise.” That word “unwise” does not here signify bare ignorance or lack of knowledge, otherwise the two halves of the verse would merely express the same thought in its negative and positive forms. No, the word “unwise” there means “lacking in common sense,” or as the R.V. renders it “be not ye foolish.” Nor does the word “foolish” signify no more than it now does in common speech: in Scripture the “fool” is not simply one who is mentally deficient, but is the man who leaves God out of his life, who acts independently of Him. This must be duly borne in mind as we seek to arrive at the meaning of the second half of Ephesians 5:17.
Let it also be carefully observed that Ephesians 5:17 opens with the word “Wherefore,” which points us back to what immediately precedes. There we read “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (vv. 15, 16). Unless those exhortations are prayerfully and diligently heeded, it is impossible that we should be “understanding WHAT the will of the Lord is.” Unless our walk be right there can be no spiritual discernment of God's will for us. And this brings us back to the central thought of the preceding article. Our daily walk is to be ordered by God's Word, and in proportion as it is so shall we be kept in His will and preserved from folly and sin.
“A good understanding have all they that do his commandments” (Psa. 111:10). A “good understanding” may be defined as spiritual instinct. We all know what is meant by that “instinct” with which the Creator has endowed animals and birds: that inward faculty which prompts them to avoid danger and moves them to seek that which makes for their well being. Now man was, originally, endowed with a similar instinct, though of a far superior order to that possessed by the lower creatures. But at the Fall, he, to a large extent, lost it, and, as one generation of depraved beings has followed another, their “instinct” has become more and more weakened, until now we see the vast majority of our fellows conducting themselves with far less intelligence than do the beasts of the field—rushing madly to destruction, which the instinct of the brutes would avoid: acting foolishly, yea, madly, contrary even to “common sense,” conducting their affairs and concerns without discretion.
Now at regeneration God gives to His elect “the spirit . . . of a sound mind” (2 Tim. 1:7), but that “spirit” has to be cultivated, it needs training and directing. The necessary instruction for this is found in the Word. From that Word we may learn what are the things which will prove beneficial to us, and what be injurious; what things are to be sought after, and what avoided. As the precepts of Scripture are reduced to practice by us, and as its prohibitions and warnings are heeded, we are enabled to judge things in their true light, we are delivered from being deceived by false appearances, we are kept from making foolish “mistakes.” The closer we walk by the Word, the more fully will this prove to be the case with us: a “good judgment” or spiritual instinct will be formed within us, so that we shall conduct our affairs discreetly and adorn the doctrine we profess.
So highly does the saint prize this spiritual instinct or sound mind, that he prays “Teach me good judgment and knowledge: for I have believed Thy commandments” (Psa. 119:66). He realizes that it can only be increased as he is Divinely “taught,” that is, by the Spirit applying the Word to his heart, opening to him its meaning, bringing it to his remembrance when needed, and enabling him to make a proper use of the same. But let it be duly noted that in this prayer the petition is backed up with a plea: “for I have believed Thy commandments”: “believed,” not merely by an intellectual assent, but approved with the affections. Only when that be truly the case is such a petition sincere. There is an inseparable connection between the two things: where God's commandments are loved by us, we can count upon Him teaching us “good judgment.”
As we have said above, the “fool” is not the mentally deficient, but the one who leaves God out of his thoughts and plans, who cares not whether his conduct pleases or displeases Him: the “fool” is a Godless person. Contrariwise, the “wise” (in Scripture) are not the highly intellectual or the brilliantly educated, but those who honestly seek to put God first in their hearts and lives. And God “honours” those who honour Him (1 Sam. 2:30): He gives them “good judgment.” True, it is not acquired all in a day: it is “here a little and there a little.” Yet the more completely we are surrendered to God, the more the principles of His Word regulate our conduct, the swifter is our growth in spiritual wisdom. In saying that this “good judgment” is not acquired all at once, we do not mean that a whole lifetime has to be lived before it becomes ours—though, alas, this is often the case with many. No indeed; some who have been converted but two or three years are often more spiritual, godly, and possess more spiritual wisdom than those who have been converted years before them.
By treasuring up in his mind the doctrines, precepts, promises, exhortations, and warnings of Scripture, and by diligently comparing himself with the Rule by which he is to walk, the Christian grows into a habitual frame of spiritual wisdom, and acquires a gracious “taste” which enables him to judge of right and wrong with a degree of readiness and certainty as a musical ear judges sounds, so that he is rarely mistaken. He who has the Word ruling in his heart is influenced thereby in all his actions, and because the glory of God is the great aim which he has before him, he is not suffered to go far wrong. Moreover, God has promised to show Himself strong on the behalf of the one whose heart is perfect toward Him, and this He does by regulating His providences and causing all things to work together for his good.
“The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light” (Matt. 6:22). This language is of course figurative, yet its meaning is not difficult to ascertain: what the eye is to the body, the heart is to the soul, for out of the heart are “the issues of life” (Prov. 4:23). The actions of the body are directed by the light received from the eye: if the eye be “single,” that is, sound and clear, perceiving objects as they really are, then the whole body has light for the directing of its members, and the man moves with safety and comfort. In like manner, if the heart be undivided, set on pleasing God in all things, then the soul has clear vision, discerning the true nature of things, forming a sound judgment of their worth, choosing wisely, and directing itself prudently. While the heart is right with God, the soul is endowed with spiritual wisdom so that there is full light for our path.
“But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matt. 6:23). Here is the solemn contrast. If the vision of our bodily eye be defective, a cataract dimming it, then nothing is seen clearly, all is confusion, and the man stumbles as if in the dark, being continually liable to lose his way and run into danger. In like manner, where the heart be not right with God, where sin and self dominate, the whole soul is under the reigning power of darkness—native depravity; and in consequence, the judgment is blinded so that it cannot rightly discern between good and evil, cannot see through the gild of Satan's baits, and so is fatally deceived by them. The very “light” which is in fallen man, namely, his “reason,” is controlled by his lusts, so, great is his “darkness.”
It is to be noted that the verses we have just been considering were spoken by Christ immediately after what He had been saying in Matthew 6:19-21 concerning the right and wise laying up of treasures. It was as though He now anticipated and answered a question from His disciples: If it be so important and essential for us not to lay up treasures in earth, but to lay up for ourselves treasures in Heaven, then why is it that those men who are commonly regarded as the “shrewdest” and are considered by their fellows to be the most “successful,” seek after earthly treasures, rather than after Heavenly? To this Christ replied: marvel not at this—they cannot see what they are doing: they are like blind men gathering pebbles supposing that they are valuable diamonds.
Much light does Christ here cast on what we now behold going on on every side. They who have set their hearts upon the things of time and sense, are but spending their energies for that which will stand them in no stead when they come to their deathbed, labouring for that which satisfieth not (Isa. 55:2); and the reason why they conduct themselves so insanely—pursuing so eagerly the pleasures of this world, which will bear nothing but bitter regrets in the world to come—is because their hearts are evil. God has no real place in their thoughts, and in consequence He gives them up to the spirit of madness. There must be the “single eye”—the heart set upon pleasing God—if the soul is to be filled with heavenly wisdom, which loves, seeks, and lays up heavenly things. That wisdom is something which no college or university can impart: it is “from above” (James 3:17).
It is also to be carefully observed that our Lord's teaching upon the “single eye” with the whole body “full of light,” and the “evil eye” with the whole body “full of darkness,” is immediately followed with, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matt. 6:24). This at once establishes the meaning of the preceding verses. Christ had been speaking (under a figure) of setting the Lord supremely before the heart, which necessarily involves the casting out of worldly things and fleshly considerations. Men think to compound with God and their lusts, God and mammon, God and worldly pleasures. No, says Christ: God will have all or nothing: he that serveth Him must serve Him only and supremely. Ah, my reader, are you willing to pay the necessary price to have Divine light on your path?
It is quite likely that not a few readers are disappointed at our method of treating this subject, that which has been said being very different from what the title led them to expect. Neither in the preceding article nor in this one have we attempted to enter into specific details and state how a person is to act when some difficult or sudden emergency confronts him; rather have we sought to treat of basic principles and thoroughly establish them. Though it might satisfy his curiosity, it would serve no good purpose for a teacher to explain an intricate problem in higher mathematics to a student who had not already mastered the elementary rules of arithmetic. So it would be out of place for us to have explained how particular cases and circumstances are to be dealt with before we have pressed those rules which must guide our general walk.
Thus far we have dealt with two chief things: the absolute necessity of being controlled by the Word of God without us, and the having a heart within which is single to God's glory and set upon pleasing Him, if we are to have the light of Heaven shining upon our earthly path. A third consideration must now engage our attention: the help of the Holy Spirit. But it is at this point we most need to be upon our guard, lest we lapse into a vague mysticism on the one hand, or become guilty of wild fanaticism on the other. Many have plunged into the most foolish and evil courses under the plea they were “prompted by the Spirit.” No doubt they were “prompted” by some “spirit,” but most certainly not by the Holy Spirit. HE never prompts to anything contrary to the Word. Our only safety is to impartially bring our inward impulses or promptings to the test of Holy Writ.
“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the children of God” (Rom. 8:14). This Divine Guide is perfectly acquainted with the path which God has ordained for each celestial traveler: He is fully conversant with all its windings and narrowness, its intricacies and dangers. To be led by the Spirit is to be under His government. He perceives our temptations and weakness, knows our aspirations, hears our groans, and marks our strugglings after holiness. He knows when to supply a check, administer a rebuke, apply a promise, sympathize with a sorrow, strengthen a wavering purpose, confirm a fluctuating hope. The sure promise is, “He will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13): this He does by regulating our thoughts, affections and conduct; by opening our understandings to perceive the meaning of Scripture, applying it in power to the heart, enabling us to appropriate and reduce it to practice. Then let us each time we open the Sacred Volume, humbly and earnestly seek the aid of Him who inspired it.
It is to be noted that Romans 8:14 opens with the word “For,” the Apostle introducing a confirmation of what he had been affirming in the previous verses. They who “walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (v. 4), they who “mind the things of the Spirit” (v. 5), they who “through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body” (v. 13), are the ones who are “led by the Spirit.” As the “Spirit of holiness,” it is His aim to deepen the impress of the restored image of God in the soul, to increase our happiness by making us more holy. Thus He “leads” to nothing but what is sanctifying. The “Spirit guides” by subduing the power of indwelling sin, by weaning us from the world, by maintaining a tender conscience in us, by drawing out the heart to Christ, by causing us to live for Eternity.—A.W.P.
(Completed, God willing, in the January issue).
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