Shade of the Moriah Tree

“Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” – Matthew 18:3

WE ADORE THE simplicity of a child’s innocent outlook where no inhibitions get in the way of their activity. There is hardly any self conscious awareness – if any at all  – with a child’s spontaneity and wonder at life; their entire focus is consumed with the joyous end result no matter what others may think, or what circumstances surround them. Nothing seems to deter them. How often we have expressed to be a child once again where nothing assails our minds with concern and worry. We can become so intricately complex in our perspective on life to where we lose the wonder and become suspicious of more or less everyone and everything; our defensive guards are up and the ever-pervading pressure to impress others. This is the world we all live in, and much of it is all about image rather than being enamoured with real beauty at its core.

Granted that children are not beset with responsibilities we encounter as adults, and our knowledge and experience of life’s events have been allowed to make us cautious with every decision we make, and of course wisdom is needed to manage a plethora of affairs, but in our ‘wisdom’ we have lost that wonder to where we question everything. Is that why so many are prone to being slow in believing the words of our Lord? Skepticism has become the hierarchical mindset, and even for many professing believers.

We naturally warm to those readings in scripture that can heighten a sense of spirituality while completely missing the point of what those Scriptures are driving at. What is our Lord driving at when He stated “become as children”? As we know, there is a huge difference between being childish and childlike. In our struggles as adults for what seems like surviving, we have developed a self-governing; the seeds were already there when we were born, and circumstances have given them the chance to develop. Once those habits are ingrained it’s virtually impossible to relinquish such autonomy. We love the fact that we are in control, and to strive for what we wish for. That doesn’t negate the fact that when children don’t get their way they throw a tantrum – the seeds are there; we as adults just have a more ‘sophisticated’ way of ‘throwing the toys out of the crib’. But here’s the key: our Lord is not stating we are to have an approach to life where we throw off responsibility, becoming passively acquiescent and where simplicity overthrows wisdom, but rather we are to acknowledge we have lost our child-like simplicity that sin has destroyed, and this is where the spiritual rebirth must take place. Observe Nicodemus’ way of reasoning mentioned in John 3. Here we have a ruler of the Jews who just could not perceive what Jesus was saying. Nicodemus had become so scientifically minded he couldn’t see the wood for the trees. For Nicodemus to grasp what Jesus was saying, he had to be born again; it was going way beyond the natural birth. It’s the same for all of us; we cannot see unless such spiritual rebirth takes place, until we have a new nature birthed by God’s Spirit. It is not so much a restoring before Adam fell; it takes us beyond that. What the power of sin has destroyed, grace has performed what Adam never encountered.       

We love what is ideological, but theology in its true essence bears practicality – a working out that is real in our lives that leads to good fruit bearing. We are prone to adhering to doctrines with our mind but seldom in actuality, and the evidence of that is being autonomous in everyday matters of life but ‘spiritual’ in our ‘devotions’ or quiet times with God. We know it in our minds but when it comes to the pressures of life we can so easily behave as if God is not sovereign. The question remains: devotions to what and to whom? What is it to be truly spiritual? We miss the whole point of thinking our Devotions to God are at a set time; they are to recalibrate our maintaining loyalty to Him. The real spiritual exertion is walking with Him after our devotional ‘time’. “My times are in Your hand” (Psalm 31:15) – is that a conscious realisation in our lives? This is not singular when it comes to time but plurality. We can be obsessed about many things, but seldom are we obsessed with God. For that matter, there is the ever impossibility to be obsessed with God. If we were to be obsessed with God, then that would be a sure indication we are living right. “In Him we live and move and have our being.” – and rightly so. To be obsessed with God is none other than to be taken up with Him. This is different from fanaticism that excludes sound reasoning.

We were created to be consciously sustained by God; we are called unto God to walk with Him to where our lives become an expression of realising Him at every turn and happening in our lives. “Seek first the kingdom of God.” What governs our waking moments from sleep? Our realised need of God will inevitably lie paramount in our minds.

Human weakness in its true essence is being autonomous – I can manage without God; whereas true strength – or rather realised strength (through impartation) is found when anchored into God Who gives us life. It’s easy to admire and gain comfort from Scriptures that give account of little children, but when it bears significance of calling us as adults to the place that we cannot survive, or live aright without the parental guidance of God over our entire lives, it takes  on a completely different picture. It rubs against our natural bias; it is in conflict with a nature that is opposed to God, and the sin that remains within us presents us with a struggle at times even as believers. 

“Life is nought (nothing) without Thee” as the hymnist penned – and that is recognising our imperative need for God in EVERY department of our life. Our dependence upon Him is realising and breathing (living) in actuality that God is the very hub (core reality) of our lives and very existence.

A Child is ever looking to their parents for guidance and security, consciously and subconsciously. When they’re out of view – even just one of them, their ‘world falls apart’. When their parents are in view, no matter what problem lies in front, they are implicitly confident that all is more than just okay; they know without a doubt Mom and Dad will take care of it.

This simplicity of implicit trust in God our Father, that He has everything in hand, even before we ask Him to help – we know, just know He’s always going to show through. There are no doubts that He will; nothing inhibits that; we just trust beyond questioning that our Father knows and He cares infinitely beyond what we can ever fathom.

We’re all familiar with that well known hymn, ‘Trust and Obey’, and there’s a particular verse in there that stands out in relevance to all this:

Not a shadow can rise,
Not a cloud in the skies,
But His smile quickly drives it away;
Not a doubt or a fear,
Not a sigh or a tear,
Can abide while we trust and obey.

It’s the trust part of knowing that my God is infinitely aware, even of things I’m not conscious of and that He is working all things together for my good even when it doesn’t seem like it. Yes, as simple and childlike as it may sound, it is true – not too good to be true. It was the mindset of George Müller who witnessed great wonders of the Lord, and it can be ours too. It is worthy to note one of the testimonies that he encountered:  “When I first came to America, thirty-one years ago. I crossed the Atlantic with the captain of a steamer who was one of the most devoted men I ever knew, and when we were off the banks of Newfoundland be said to me:

“Mr. Inglis, the last time I crossed here, five weeks ago, one of the most extraordinary things happened which, has completely revolutionized the whole of my Christian life. Up to that time I was one of your ordinary Christians. We had a man of God on board, George Müller, of Bristol. I had been on that bridge for twenty-two hours and never left it. I was startled by some one tapping me on the shoulder. It was George Müller:

“‘Captain, he said, ‘I have come to tell you that I must be In Quebec on Saturday afternoon.’ This was Wednesday.

“‘It is impossible,’ I said.

“‘Very well, if your ship can’t take me, God will find some other means of locomotion to take me. I have never broken an engagement in fifty seven years.’

“’I would willingly help you. How can I? I am helpless.’

“‘Let us go down to the chart-room and pray.’

“I looked at that man of God, and I thought to myself, what lunatic asylum could that man have come from? I never heard of such a thing.

“‘Mr. Müller,’ I said, ‘do you know how dense the fog is?’

“‘No,’ he replied, ‘my eye is not on the density of the fog, but on the living God who controls every circumstance of my life.’

“He got down on his knees and prayed one of the most simple prayers. I muttered to myself: ‘That would suit a children’s class where the children were not more than eight or nine years old.’ The burden of his prayer was something like this: ‘O Lord, if it is consistent with Thy will, please remove this fog in five minutes. You know the engagement you made for me in Quebec Saturday. I believe it is your will.’

“When he finished. I was going to pray, but he put his hand on my shoulder and told me not to pray. “First, you do not believe He will; and second. I believe He has. And there is no need whatever for you to pray about it.’ I looked at him, and George Müller said..

“‘Captain. I have known my Lord for forty-seven years, and there has never been a single day that I have failed to gain an audience with the King. Get up, captain, and open the door, and you will find the fog is gone.’ I got up, and the fog was gone!

“You tell that to some people of a scientific turn of mind, and they will say, ‘That is not according to natural laws.’ No, it is according to spiritual laws. The God with whom we have to do is omnipotent. Hold on to God’s omnipotence. Ask believingly. On Saturday afternoon, I may add, George Müller was there on time.”

Simplicity. Taking God at His Word. Believing implicitly!

I vividly remember decades ago when walking through a shopping centre that so was so overcrowded with people, it was almost overwhelming to the eye and the noise of so many shoppers talking, laughing and shouting was hectic to say the least, but one thing drew my attention that is impossible to forget as if it happened only yesterday. I observed a little girl who confidently clasped the hand of her Dad. While both of them walked together I noticed her eyes were closed. Her face looked so serene as she smiled. The immense crowds of people and the accompanying noise did not make her flinch one iota. Emanating from her was absolute trust in her Dad’s leading. Many people could have bumped into her but nothing of the sort happened. Her Dad knew exactly the way to take cutting straight through the crowds with absolute ease. She walked ‘blindly’ knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt her Dad had it perfectly under control. What a sight to behold!

I am persuaded that God showed me that very day in how He wants me to trust Him. It’s how He wants all of us to trust Him with childlike faith and utter dependence upon Him.