Helping With Trials and Failure: March 2015
Table of Contents
Helping With Trials and Failure
May the Lord help each of us to have the spirit of Barzillai in seeking to help each other when passing through trials and failures in life. David had sinned grievously in the matter of Uriah’s wife and the cold-blooded murder of his faithful soldier. Through Absalom, God was chastising him and at the same time testing the fidelity of all the children of Israel to His anointed. What was the result? At this juncture, when the fortunes of David were at the lowest ebb, Barzillai met him and ministered to his needs. He did not concern himself with what others might do. Had not David dishonored the throne and perverted the fountain of justice? But He was the Lord’s anointed, and so he ministered to his need. It was a right act, for it was in accordance with God’s thoughts. He and others “brought beds, and basins, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and flour, and parched corn, and beans, and lentils, and parched pulse, and honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of kine, for David, and for the people that were with him, to eat: for they said, The people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty.” David was to be chastised, but his needs were not to be ignored. Barzillai’s age did not hinder him from helping, and he acted without any thought of reward. He only thought of the king in his need and did what he could to succor him.
Christian Truth (adapted)
The Advocate or the Accuser?
Whose Side Do You Take?
This is a practical question for Christians today — do we take sides with the Advocate or with the accuser of the brethren? The advocacy of Christ is founded on His righteous person and His perfect work (1 John 2:1-2). His work clears us from all the guilt of our sins, and in His Person we have entire deliverance from our Adam state. It is on this ground that He intercedes and does the work of an Advocate. If we sin after our relationship with the Father, as children, has been settled, then the advocacy of Christ applies. “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we [children] have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He is the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 2:1-2).
Relationship and Fellowship
The office of the Advocate, then, is not to get righteousness for us, nor to put away our sins, or to make us God’s children. This is all settled, in virtue of Christ’s death and resurrection, by faith in Him. He is Advocate to maintain us as children before the Father without sin, in face of the accuser of the brethren (see Rev. 12:10). When a child of God sins, communion is interrupted; the relationship remains, but the Father has no fellowship with the sin of His child. The Advocate then pleads against Satan who accuses. The Father hears the pleadings of the Advocate, who applies the Word to our walk (John 13:4-5) and brings us to the confession of the sin. Upon confession, the Father is faithful to the righteous Advocate and just to Him who made propitiation, to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). Thus communion is restored, and the child of God walks in the joy and light of his Father’s countenance. In this way the Advocate is literally the manager of our affairs in our Father’s court and has reference to His government of His children in this world. It reconciles the fact of a naughty child and a holy Father.
The Two Services
The Advocate does two things. He pleads with the Father for us, and He applies the Word to us. The one maintains our cause against the accuser; the other brings our practical state up to our standing, which is always maintained without sin by the righteous Advocate who has made propitiation. The failure in our practical state is from the fact of our having the flesh still in us. Our actual state is that of having two natures in one person. “With the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin” (Rom. 7:25). By faith, and in Spirit, we are no longer in the flesh, yet actually flesh is in us (though by faith we reckon ourselves dead); hence there is failure when we are careless and let the flesh act. This will not do for the Father’s presence. What does the Advocate then? He applies the Word to us, washing our feet; the Word judges us, leading us to confession and self-judgment. The remembrance of our Advocate who made propitiation brings us back on our knees to our Father who forgives us and cleanses us from all unrighteousness. Thus the blessed work of the Advocate is, on the one hand, to plead for the children before the Father, if they sin; on the other hand, to wash their feet with the Word, bringing their practical walk and state up to their standing before Him.
The Accuser
Satan, on the other hand, is the accuser of the brethren. He accuses them before God day and night (Rev. 12:10). He is the author of divisions between the children of God, by accusing them one to the other (Rom. 16:17-20). He would hire Balaam to curse the people of God, and, failing in that, he would use the same prophet to teach Balak to mix them up with the nations around and partake of their sinful practices. He would excite Jehovah to try Job, speaking bad things of him before Jehovah’s face (Job 1-2). He would tempt David to sin in numbering the people of Israel (1 Chron. 21:1) and move Jehovah against Israel to destroy them (2 Sam. 24:1). He would resist Joshua the high priest and seek to prevent his filthy rags being taken from him and his being clothed in new raiment (Zech. 3:1). This is the accuser’s wretched work. Those that follow him are called false accusers and slanderers.
Whose Side?
I would solemnly ask every child of God who reads this paper, “On whose side are you working?” When some slander is uttered about a child of God, do you plead for him and go home and pray for him? If you know he has failed, do you go in love and humility, take the Word to him, and wash his feet (John 13:14)? This is the blessed work of the Advocate. Or do you listen to the story and go and spread it lightly to someone else, without knowing whether it is a fact or not? And if you are hurt by some brother, do you intercede with God against him or pray in anger at him at prayer meetings (1 Tim. 2:8) and so accuse him? This is to do the devil’s work.
But how happy is it for us to be associated with the blessed Advocate — on the one hand, pleading for our brethren if they sin and, on the other, carrying the Word to them and washing their feet! May the Lord grant His people increasingly this grace, so that the saints may see their blessed privilege of love to cover sins (Prov. 10:12)! May they act in faithfulness to their brethren if they sin, so that they might be cleansed from their defilement!
A. P. Cecil (adapted)
Counseling Those in Failure and Trial
When we see others in difficulty in their lives, whether from their own mistakes or from outside forces, it is a wonderful privilege to be of help. We know, of course, that none of us can take the place of our Lord Himself, whose sympathy is perfect, for in His pathway through this world, He experienced every kind of suffering that a sinless man could go through. As such, “He is able to succor them that are tempted” (Heb. 2:18). However, the Lord has also given believers in this world the opportunity and responsibility of being of help to one another, and we are told, “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal. 6:1-2). In these two verses we are instructed to help both in restoration from failure and in bearing an intolerable and heavy burden. The latter includes not only material burdens, but spiritual ones as well. Yet often, perhaps, while sincerely wanting to help, we may go about it in the wrong way and perhaps do more harm than good. As always, we find that the Word of God gives us guidelines as to helping one another, so that we can do so according to the mind of God.
To Help Is of God
First of all, let us remember that seeking to help one another is of God. We may be tempted to shirk our responsibility in this for several reasons. First, helping those in failure or bearing burdens for others entails work. It takes time and energy, and sometimes money. We may feel that we have enough problems of our own with which to deal, taking the attitude of Scrooge in Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” when he said, “It’s enough for a man to understand his own business and not to interfere with other people’s.” We may also hesitate from fear of doing it in the wrong way, or perhaps from fear of being rebuffed by the one whom we want to help. Also, as we see so much in the realm of “Christian counseling” that is not of God, we may shy away from becoming involved in it. But there are scriptural ways to approach helping in this way, so let us not abdicate our responsibility, in trying to avoid mistakes. The gift of a pastor is sorely needed today and is rather rare; we may well feel that “it is not my gift.” But like Timothy, who was told to “do the work of an evangelist” (2 Tim. 4:5), we too, in these last days, can seek grace from the Lord to do the work of a pastor, even if we are not specially gifted in that way.
The Age of Deception
We must remember several important entities in our desire to be of help to others. Among these things, one of the most important is to be aware that we live in an age of deception. People are becoming more and more dishonest about themselves, and especially about their problems and their sin. Many people (including children of God!) see themselves as they wish they were, not as they actually are. It is so easy in today’s world to lie to ourselves and to avoid facing reality. Instead of scriptural patterns of thinking, men’s minds are governed by worldly attitudes. Because Satan is now the god and prince of this world, these attitudes are characterized by dishonesty, for “he is a liar, and the father of it” (John 8:44). The result is that there is no real dealing with the root of the problem, and thus no resolution. It is not merely that the individual may have sinned; his very thought patterns are often sinful. The one who seeks to help must focus, among other things, on getting the individual to see things in God’s presence and in the light of His Word. The person must begin to think scripturally, not in deceptive thought patterns that only perpetuate his difficulties.
Biblical Answers
In keeping with this dealing with deception, we must remember that the only real answers to the problems of today are Biblical answers. There is a wealth of bad counseling available today, much of it masquerading under the guise of Christianity. Our hearts need to be turned to Christ and to God’s Word. “His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Father of eternity, Prince of Peace” (Isa. 9:6 JND). Our real help to souls is to bring them to the One whose name, among other names, is Counsellor. The real work of a believer who is seeking to be of help to another believer is to minister Christ to him and to bring him back, if necessary, into the presence of God.
In bringing souls, especially believers, face to face with the Word of God, we must realize that this may not, at least for the moment, make them very comfortable. We need to offer sympathy and understanding; this should come through clearly, and we will speak about it more later on. But just as no surgery is pleasant when it is actually done, so the cutting edge of God’s Word is not initially comfortable, and especially to a believer who may be away from the Lord. But God’s Word must be brought before him, for it has been the neglect of the Scriptures (in the case of a believer) that has brought him into difficulty. Now that he wants help, he must be given a solid basis on which to rest. God never gives “Band-Aid” treatments; the root must be probed and dealt with.
External Factors
Another most important aspect of help is the clear recognition that while a believer has a new life in Christ that wants to please Him, he also has a sinful nature. Modern counseling often works on the premise that man is basically good, while Scripture tells us just the opposite. To tell a man that he is basically good allows him to blame his sin and state of soul on environment, upbringing, and other exterior factors. Sad to say, this unscriptural view is spilling over into Christianity; it is a common ploy for the blame for failure to be placed on others. While all these external forces may surely aggravate the problem, they are not the root cause and must not be allowed to cloud the real issue. We, and we alone, must take responsibility for the motives, actions and consequences of our behavior.
Patience
All this takes time, and we must be patient. Roots are not pulled out right away, and while we may point the individual in the right direction, it is eventually his choice to deal with the core of the problem. As an unbeliever, he must be willing to come to Christ. As a believer, he must be willing to be restored in his soul and to undergo the necessary repentance and confession that are entailed in the process. There are no shortcuts to this, and there is no solution that does not involve the cross. The individual must be given time for us to gain his confidence and for him to open the inner recesses of his heart. Part of giving people confidence to open up in this way must be the assurance that we will keep that confidence and not divulge such information to others.
Compassion and Love
Finally, real help requires real compassion and love. It has often been remarked that “what comes from the heart goes to the heart.” Paul could remind the Corinthians that no amount of gift, knowledge, faith or power was of any use unless accompanied by love. It is probably for this reason that in Ephesians 4:11 we find “pastors and teachers” linked together. To be an effective teacher, the individual must know something, but to be an effective pastor, one must have a shepherd’s heart.
Two things will give us compassion. First of all, compassion is the heart of Christ, who looked on this world with its misery and wept over it. He had not caused the sorrow and heartache; it was a result of sin, which man brought into the world by his disobedience. Yet our blessed Master came right down into this sea of misery and had compassion.
Second, our sympathy will flow out to the degree that we obey the instruction in Galatians 6:1: “Considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.” If we somehow think we are superior to the failure around us and flatter ourselves, like the Pharisee in Luke 18:11, that we are “not as other men are,” then our help will not come from the heart. But the believer who is most conscious of his own failure will show the most sympathy to another who has failed, while not condoning the sin.
The Spheres of Authority
Finally, those who counsel must recognize, respect and work together with the spheres of authority that God has set up. These include particularly the Christian home and the Christian assembly. When a believer has failed seriously, the authority of both the home and the assembly may need to be involved. It is easy for one seeking to give pastoral care to disregard and override the authority of parents in the home and that of the local assembly. This is very damaging to the individual needing help, and ultimately it will do harm rather than good. To be sure, the authorities God has set up may not always understand situations within their midst and may fail in their responsibility. Such things can be discussed with them, in an atmosphere of respect and confidence. But we must never disregard such authority, unless it behaves in such an evil way that obedience would be a dishonor to the Lord. This is rather rare.
In summary, then, we can seek the Lord’s guidance in being of help to others in trouble, whether it is because of their own failure or because of circumstances in their lives. He will give the grace and resources to do it, and to do it according to His mind. “And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away” (1 Peter 5:4).
W. J. Prost
Fatherly Watchfulness and Care
(Galatians 6:1; Acts 20:28-31; 1 Thessalonians 2:11-12; 1 Timothy 5:19; 2 Timothy 4:2; 1 John 2:13-14.)
An important kind of Christian discipline is that of fatherly watchfulness and pastoral care, for it has a personal character. The church, as such, has nothing to do with it; such care helps to prevent the need for church discipline.
This kind of care requires spiritual experience, wisdom and grace on the part of the one who is to exercise it. He is to speak as a father to his children, not only because of age and greater experience, but also because of grace and a godly walk. “Ye are witnesses, and God also,” the Apostle could say, “how holily, and justly, and unblamably we behaved ourselves among you that believe.” Then he continues, “As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children, that ye should walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto His kingdom and glory” (1 Thess. 2:10-12). We find the same in Galatians; the Apostle first exhorts them, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another” (Gal. 5:25-26). He then continues, “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted” (Gal. 6:1).
The Real Father
Not everyone who assumes the air of a father is a father. The real father behaves and acts as a father simply because he is one. True spiritual superiority does not assert itself but rather makes itself felt. It does not look out for acknowledgment, but it is acknowledged because of its reality. Fatherly authority in the church should be coupled with motherly tenderness, as was the case with Paul. He not only exhorted the Thessalonians as his children, but he also knew how to comfort them. He wrote to them, “We were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children” (1 Thess. 2:7).
“Fathers” are those who “have known Him that is from the beginning” (1 John 2:13), to whom not only all power in heaven and on earth is given, but who is also meek and lowly in heart. They have learned Christ, whose yoke is easy and His burden light. As such, they are able, with a father’s authority, tenderness and care, to restore those that have been overtaken in a fault “in the spirit of meekness” and to “bear ... one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal. 6:1-2). This latter quality especially constitutes true pastors, who not only feed the flock, but also before God take upon themselves, as their own, all the cares and sorrows, the sin and misery, of an erring brother, and from God bring the remedy to the failing one.
Loving Gentleness
Words of truth, thus spoken to an erring brother in loving gentleness, will always find a good place with him, even when not received well at the beginning. In these last days, when pride and self-will are so evident, not only in the world, but also in the church of God, the Christian service of washing one another’s feet must frequently expect an unkind reception. There are men whose skin is so thin that a slight scratch causes bleeding difficult to be stilled. And so there are nowadays not a few Christians with such a slender spiritual constitution that at the slightest accidental scratch, so to speak, they start up as if they had been pierced by a dagger. They only prove how little their hearts have been established through grace and how little they have learned of Him who is meek and lowly in heart. But this ought not to deter us from our duty, under grace, to wash one another’s feet, as did our gracious and lowly Master. Christian meekness and humility, so closely connected with Christian love, are most essential requisites in the service of feet-washing.
The Example
When our Lord said, “I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done to you,” He certainly did not mean the mere preparations for that service, such as the girding with the towel and the pouring water into the basin. Many show great aptitude for such preparations, but break down in the act of feet-washing, because they fail to kneel down to get at the brother’s feet. They enter into his presence with an air which says, I have come to wash your feet. Such preparations resemble rather those of a barber than the humble service of a Christian feet-washing, and they generally do more harm than good. A well-known servant of Christ has truly observed, “If I do not judge first in myself the flesh I see active in my brother (for the same exists in myself), I am not fit to wash his feet.” If, before going to a brother to wash his feet, I have been in the dust before the Lord, I shall appear little before my brother and thus be able gently to remove the defilement.
Humility and Love
How much humility ought I to have towards a brother? Enough to supply his lack of it. If he will not bow his knees, let me bow mine and he will soon follow. Did not Gideon do it before the Ephraimites (Judg. 8:1-3)? How much love should I have for my brother? Enough to make up for his lack. Paul also set us the example when he said, “I will very gladly spend and be spent for you” (2 Cor. 12:15). Thus it should be among all the members of Christ; one member ought to supply the others.
The important service of Christian feet-washing forms an integral part of the wider range of fatherly watchfulness and pastoral care, and especially amid the increasing difficulties that beset the “house of the living God” in these last days.
J. A. von Poseck (adapted)
Miserable Comforters
Perhaps we each feel our lack of being able to truly comfort others. If so, it is well, for a man full of self-confidence and pride will never be able to render the sympathy of the meek and lowly Jesus.
Edward Dennett poignantly wrote that “sympathy is the rarest of all ministries, as it is also the sweetest; it makes no show in the world, but it leaves its mark.”
Although well-meaning, we may, in seeking to be of comfort to others who are suffering, make the mistake of telling them of someone worse off than themselves. While (at least as the saying goes) “misery loves company,” we must recognize that there is little real relief in knowing of the “worse” problems of others.
We are exhorted to “weep with them that weep” (Rom. 12:15). Attempts to distract or make light of others’ despondency will only increase their misery and agitation. “As he that taketh away a garment in cold weather, and as vinegar upon nitre, so is he that singeth songs to an heavy heart” (Prov. 25:20).
Scripture gives us examples of those who were comforted of God. It also teaches us by contrast; thus there are examples in Scripture of those who inflamed the grief of others through insensitive and thoughtless remarks.
Job’s Friends
Job knew grief, perhaps as none other, except the Son of God, when He came into the world. In one day he lost his extensive possessions, his servants, his livelihood, means of travel, and all of his children (for whom he had prayed continually) in death. One reported disaster followed another until, bowed in grief, he uttered some of the most sublime words in human history: “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” And God’s eternal record declares, “In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly” (Job 1:21-22).
Following this, Job was stricken with intense bodily pain. But remaining steadfast in his integrity, even to the point of reproving his wife who wished for his suffering to end but by wrong means (cursing God), he uttered those memorable words: “What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” Again the Scripture records, “In all this did not Job sin with his lips” (Job 2:10).
But then his three friends, who initially came to sympathize with him, turned against him, and understanding neither Job nor the heart of God, began to accuse this righteous man of hidden sins and hypocrisy. It was in answer to this relentless barrage of false accusations that Job burst forth with his complaint that they were all “miserable comforters.”
“Then Job answered and said, I have heard many such things: miserable comforters are ye all. Shall vain words have an end? ... I also could speak as ye do: if your soul were in my soul’s stead, I could heap up words against you, and shake mine head at you. But I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the moving of my lips should assuage your grief” (Job 16:1-5).
Verbally attacking or insinuating evil to someone going through deep trial is at best poor judgment and poor timing. More candidly, such conduct is unconscionable from anyone who has learned anything of the heart of God. Even when He must afflict one of His own because of unchecked willfulness, it is for the blessing of that child.
Jonadab
David likewise experienced unspeakable sorrow and loss in his immediate family. Distressed over the report of the death of all his sons at the hand of his son Absalom, David tore his clothes in anguish and prostrated himself in grief (2 Sam. 13:30-34).
At this delicate moment, Jonadab (who had devised and recommended the plan of wickedness Amnon perpetuated against his half sister Tamar, for which Absalom exacted revenge) then approached David, rationalizing the tragedy. He downplayed the report, in effect exhorting David to “calm down; the situation isn’t as bad as you are making it out to be. After all, only Amnon is dead — not all of your sons as we first heard. So don’t take this unfortunate situation so hard.”
Such callousness is hard to understand. But a man who would brazenly encourage wickedness of a man’s son towards that same man’s daughter had already demonstrated he was “past feeling” (Eph. 4:19).
While we shrink from such effrontery, we may unconsciously compound the grief of others by minimizing the trial they are enduring.
Joab
As Absalom slew Amnon in subtlety, so Absalom came to his end by the shrewd and ruthless hand of Joab.
Not surprisingly, Joab, in a similar vein of not entering into David’s sorrow at Absalom’s tragic death, sought to shame him out of his sorrow with cruel and biting words.
“The king covered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice, O my son Absalom, O Absalom, my son, my son! And Joab came into the house to the king, and said, Thou hast shamed this day the faces of all thy servants, which this day have saved thy life, and the lives of thy sons and of thy daughters, and the lives of thy wives, and the lives of thy concubines; in that thou lovest thine enemies, and hatest thy friends. For thou hast declared this day, that thou regardest neither princes nor servants: for this day I perceive, that if Absalom had lived, and all we had died this day, then it had pleased thee well. ... Then the king arose, and sat in the gate” (2 Sam. 19:4-6,8).
Read this portion with a father’s heart and its devastating heartlessness will be felt.
Shaming someone because of their sorrow is, to quote the human proverb, “rubbing salt in the wound.”
These are not the only portions in Scripture that illustrate “miserable comforters,” but these three gripping incidents teach us not to level accusations against those who are suffering, nor to minimize their suffering or to shame their tears, but rather, to be as Ezekiel, who took knowledge of his brethren who had been taken captive and “sat where they sat” (Ezek. 3:15).
W. J. Brockmeier
Power to Restore
There is little power among us to restore because there is lack of spirituality and of that love which cares for the members of Christ. There is righteousness, and evil is not allowed. I have not observed any particular defect as to that, but I think the failure is the lack of love to the members of Christ and looking after such. The effect at Corinth is given in 2 Corinthians 7:11: “Behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.” And when that was so, then he is anxious they should care for this man [the man they were instructed to put away in 1 Corinthians 5]. He has been down himself, but he was a member of Christ and washed in His blood, and they are to take care of him. If the body of Christ and the love of Christ were there, the person, if a Christian, would be miserable until he had been received in again.
In this case it was a man broken down with overmuch sorrow. There is no restoration properly and they were in no state to restore until they hated themselves for their own part in all this. And it is so with us all as principle, though we may have a clearer judgment than another as to how to act. I have no gift myself, I avow, in discipline. I see another thing, that where the general state of any gathering is weak, a person may be left out [under discipline] as a proof of their weakness, for if there had been more spiritual power, he would have been humbled and brought in. At Corinth, Paul had no occasion to write this until the man was broken down about it himself, nor is it any good to attempt to restore a man until his own soul is really restored. And as to putting out, that may be done as mere bold righteousness. This man, when Paul writes this, was grieving over his sin, and you may say restored in soul, but he was not officially restored. To know when a soul is restored requires spiritual power.
What we need to do is to take the sin of another upon ourselves (like the priest eating the sin offering). If there were power, though we cannot always hinder sins, yet they would be checked. The Corinthians would not act as priests until Paul forced them to it. The assembly should make the sin their own before God, and that is where I have seen a real pastor — wherever there was an evil he would lay it on himself, because he had not looked after such a one enough, or else not rightly.
J. N. Darby
Bearing Burdens
In other articles in this issue, we have been considering the role of those who seek to help those in difficulty, whether as a result of their own failure or because of adverse circumstances. As we have pointed out, it is a privilege to be able to reach out and be a help in this way. Along this line, we find an exhortation in Galatians 6:2, where we read, “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” If a fellow believer, or even an unbeliever, finds himself under the weight of something that is hard to bear, we are to help him bear that burden. However, it might seem confusing at first glance, when we read just three verses farther down in the chapter, “Every man shall bear his own burden” (Gal. 6:5). How are we to reconcile these seemingly contradictory statements?
As in every other subject spoken about in the Word of God, we find that Scripture is perfectly balanced, and it addresses every situation we may encounter. In order to apply it properly, we must read the Word carefully and seek the guidance of the Spirit of God. The Word of God does not contradict itself, but rather gives us light from God that does not go to extremes in either direction. Although it is not clear in our English translations, the original [Greek] words used for “burden” in both cases are quite different. I am not a Greek scholar, but anyone can look these words up and learn the difference in their meanings.
The Burdens of Others
The word used for “burden” in verse 2, where we are told to bear one another’s burdens, is a word that signifies that which is heavy, oppressive, and hard to bear. It is used elsewhere in the New Testament with this same connotation. It is used in Matthew 20:12, where the workers in the vineyard complained that they had “borne the burden and heat of the day.” It is also used in 1 Thessalonians 2:6, where Paul says that “we might have been burdensome,” referring to his practice of supporting himself rather than forcing his needs on the hospitality of others. In a wonderful way, it is used in 2 Corinthians 4:17, referring to our “exceeding and eternal weight of glory” in a coming day. It always suggests that which is difficult to bear and is very heavy.
Thus, when we are told to bear one another’s burdens, it is with the thought of helping our brother with that which is unusual and weighing him down to the point of exhaustion. It is helping him with that which is out of the ordinary and causing a great deal of difficulty. Paul referred to this very thing when he encouraged the Corinthians to take up a collection for the believers in Judea, who were going through an unusual time of persecution and hardship. But he made it clear that this was to be temporary help, for he says, “That now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want” (2 Cor. 8:14). So it is of God to help one another in such severe situations.
Our Own Burden
When the Scripture says, “Every man shall bear his own burden,” the word is different and signifies simply something that is carried, without reference to its weight. This word too is used elsewhere in Scripture, particularly by the Lord Jesus, when He said, “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matt. 11:30). It can be used for a heavy burden, but it requires the adjective to make it so. Thus the Lord Jesus said of the Pharisees that “they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders” (Matt. 23:4). The sense of the word, in the context in which it is used here in Galatians 6:5, is that of the normal, proper and everyday duties that God has given each one of us. It refers to our responsibility in looking after our own affairs in an orderly and suitable way.
Wisdom From the Lord
In helping others, it takes wisdom from the Lord to know when to apply verse 2 and when to apply verse 5. On the one hand, it is easy to ignore the troubles of another, especially when he may have gotten into them through his own carelessness and failure. The world has a saying, “Lack of proper planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.” But if the Lord Jesus had acted in this way, all the world would have come under judgment. The spirit of Christ would have us act in compassion, for “we then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves” (Rom. 15:1). There are believers who, by virtue of their walk with the Lord and diligence in spiritual things, are strong and spiritually wealthy. Some believers are also materially wealthy. Knowing that we have received it all in grace, we ought to be willing to use that spiritual and material wealth for the blessing and help of others.
Those Not Working at All
On the other hand, it is wrong to encourage other believers to be like leeches, either in natural things or spiritual things. It is well-known that there are those in this world who seldom do a good day’s work and who do not manage their time, energy and affairs in a godly and proper way. Referring to such the Lord Jesus could say, “The poor always ye have with you” (John 12:8). Sad to say, even believers may act like this, and Paul had to rebuke some in Thessalonica, who were “disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies” (2 Thess. 3:11). Generally, one who fails to manage his natural affairs properly will often be spiritually poor as well and may well lean on others in the spiritual as well as the natural realm. This is not to imply that a poor man in material things is necessarily poor in spiritual things, for often “the poor of this world” are “rich in faith” (James 2:5). Likewise, a man may be poor all his life, yet “bear his own burden.” But whether we are rich or poor, we are to manage our affairs and bear our own burden in an orderly and responsible way.
In seeking to help those who are poor, we must be careful not to make them dependent on us instead of on the Lord. We can be thankful for the relatively modern “safety net” of social benefits that exists in most Western countries, but sometimes this has tended to foster an attitude of entitlement and an expectation that “the world owes me a living.” We never find such a thing in the Word of God. If someone was to be looked after over the long term (such as a widow in the assembly), it was to be done only under certain circumstances and within scriptural guidelines.
If we look to the Lord, surely He by His Spirit will give us wisdom to balance compassion with responsibility, to use what we have with compassion for others, yet seeking their ultimate good by preserving their responsibility for themselves before God.
W. J. Prost
God Shall Send Them Strong Delusion
It has always been the proper hope of the church to expect the Lord to come at any moment and call His people home to be with Himself. This was presented by the Apostle Paul everywhere he preached; it was an integral part of what he calls “my gospel.” Sad to say, shortly after the apostles were called home in death, this precious truth was lost to believers, and lost for centuries. But about 180 years ago, God in His grace raised up those who revived, among many other truths, the important fact of the Lord’s coming for His church before the time of tribulation begins for this world. As a result, since that time, this truth has become rather generally known in Christendom, among believers and unbelievers alike.
Satan has done his best to try and blunt the edge of this uplifting and encouraging truth and to dull this hope among believers. For many years men have mocked at those who believe in this promise the Lord made before He left this world, and which was reinforced and expanded by the revelations made to the Apostle Paul. The Lord Jesus predicted such behavior, speaking about those who would say, “My lord delayeth his coming” (Luke 12:45), and then begin to live in a sinful way. Peter predicted that there would be “scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation” (2 Peter 3:3-4). So unbelief and mockery about the Lord’s coming for us is nothing new, and we should not be surprised at it.
Satan’s Counterattack
However, in these last days, it seems that Satan, sensing the imminence of the Lord’s return for His own, is making an all-out effort to subvert this truth, and so to fill men’s minds with doubt, that they scarcely know what they believe. The Internet, television and the video industry have all been available to aid this onslaught of the devil. My interest was piqued by a recent article in Time magazine.
Apparently, more than thirty years ago a movie called The Day After detailed the repercussions about a nuclear war and its aftermath, and it caused quite a sensation. Today, as one commentator said, “The world ends several times a day.” Many videos and TV series depict mass killings and depletion of the human race by such entities as plague and infertility, or even more imaginative and ridiculous things such as a civil war among angels or an invasion of aliens. Most recently, a TV series entitled The Leftovers has built on the truth of the Lord’s coming for us, but has corrupted the truth so seriously that the viewer is left in a moral vacuum with no answers.
The Deception
Some comments by a woman who was raised in a fundamental Christian home and who later abandoned it all are quite revealing:
“The world’s organized religions find themselves unable to satisfactorily explain the event. ... The world of ‘The Leftovers’ is defined by doubt. ... There is no certainty here; the manual no longer applies. Viewers are given no evidence that God has interfered or that science can solve the problem. ...
“The number of Americans who describe themselves as religiously unaffiliated is rising at an unprecedented rate, particularly among young people. These unaffiliated Americans aren’t necessarily atheists; most report having some supernatural beliefs. But they’re also less reliant on the moral certainty that’s driven the so-called culture for the past several decades. ...
“This is an Armageddon for a generation making peace with its doubt.”
The Way to Delusion
The result of all this is to pave the way for the strong delusion Paul spoke about in 2 Thessalonians 2:11, a delusion that will affect all who now reject the gospel of God’s grace and who will indeed be left behind when the Lord comes. If Satan can cast a large measure of doubt on God’s divine revelation and fill men’s minds with fables and imaginations of every kind, he will have succeeded in laying the groundwork for a massive delusion when the Lord Jesus actually does come. The world will have become so inured to falsehood that they will not take it seriously when the rapture really happens. They will be ready to say, in the words of 1 Thessalonians 5:3, “Peace and safety,” but then “sudden destruction cometh upon them ... and they shall not escape.”
What peace it gives the believer to be able to rest on the clarion truth of God’s Word, which tells us plainly what will take place and how it will all happen. Paul could say, “We are bound to give thanks for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth” (2 Thess. 2:13). “Therefore, brethren, stand fast” (2 Thess. 2:15).
W. J. Prost
Only an Empty Vessel
The Master stood in His garden
Among the lilies fair,
Which His own right hand had planted
And trained with tenderest care.
“My lilies need to be watered,”
The heavenly Master said;
“Wherein shall I draw it for them,
And raise each drooping head?”
Close to His feet on the pathway,
Empty and frail and small,
An earthen vessel was lying
Which seemed of no use at all.
But the Master saw and raised it
From the dust in which it lay,
And smiled as He gently whispered:
“This shall do My work today.”
So to the fountain He took it
And filled it to the brim;
How glad was the earthen vessel
To be of some use to Him.
He watered the droopy lilies
Until they revived again;
And the Master saw with pleasure
That His labor had not been in vain.
To itself the vessel whispered,
As He laid it aside once more:
“Still will I lie in His pathway,
Just where I did before.
“Close would I keep to the Master;
Empty would I remain;
And perhaps someday He may use me
To water His flowers again.”
Author Unknown