Exo 25:2 "Speak to the people of Israel, that
they take for me a contribution. From every man whose heart moves him you shall
receive the contribution for me. Exo
35:5 Take from among you a contribution
to the LORD. Whoever is of a generous heart, let him bring the LORD's
contribution: gold, silver, and bronze;
Exo 35:21 And they came, everyone
whose heart stirred him, and everyone whose spirit moved him, and brought the
LORD's contribution to be used for the tent of meeting, and for all its
service, and for the holy garments.
A couple of articles ago I wrote of the prompting of the
Holy Spirit in our hearts and that his first prompting came through the written
Word and he never prompts us to do something contrary to the Word nor should we
wait for him to move us if he has already told us to do something in the
Word. Another thought came to me as I
was considering the above passage with regard to the inward prompting of the
Holy Spirit.
Now in Exodus 35 it never says that the Holy Spirit moved
them but instead if their own spirit moved them or if they have a generous
heart they were to give. But too often
we attribute to the Holy Spirit what is actually just our own heart moving
us. I hear on a regular basis people
saying that God or the Spirit told them or moved them to do or say something
that clearly is contrary to the Word of God.
So it is clear that in such cases it was just their own minds at
work.
One reason I believe we are way too quick to attribute to
the Spirit what our own hearts have devised is because the Spirit’s work in us
is not easily discernable if they are discernable at all. For the most part we can’t tell the
difference whether it is our mind or the Spirit producing ideas and since the
heart is deceitfully wicked we very easily, and I believe most of the time,
attribute to God thoughts that he did not put there.
Another problem with all this is we have the mindset that it
is the Holy Spirit’s work to plant thoughts in our mind; that this is how he
leads us. I want to point out what I believe
to be a fundamental error in that type of thinking. While the Bible mentions a few times that Jesus
was led or Christians are led by the Spirit, it doesn’t say that this is merely
an impression or thought that comes to us.
God spoke in dreams and visions or outright appearances, but I am not
aware of Paul or someone ever saying that some subjective thought was the Lord
leading them. Unless we read of the Lord
speaking directly to them it seems that for the most part they were just
obeying the revelation they already had the best they knew how. Can the Lord lead us by planting ideas in our
heads? Sure, and I am not saying he never
does but as I hope to show that there is a much better way we are led by the
Spirit.
In the above passage in Exodus I believe what God wanted were
freewill offerings that were given because the people loved the Lord and
understood the importance of the Tabernacle and so gave for those reasons. To me, this is a better motive than the Spirit
planting the idea or prompting one to give.
If I give because God tells me to that is all well and good but is it
not better that I give because my heart stirs me to give because I love the
Lord and I want to help? One can become
mere duty but not necessarily from a desire to honor the Lord. Do you give to the church because it is your
duty or because it is your delight?
Let me try to illustrate this. Often we hear of someone who comes into
contact with another person and they will say something like, “The Lord told me
or led me to speak to that person about Christ”. We all know that what they mean is that the
thought crossed their mind to speak to that person. Since it was in their opinion a good and spiritual
thought they assume it was the Lord leading them. But if this is true then all this encounter
becomes is the Lord being concerned for that person, not the Christian, and so
he prompts him to say what he wouldn’t have on his own; and I see this as a
problem.
Let me give another explanation for such a scenario. Here is a Christian who loves the Lord because
the Lord came down while he was a rebel and gave him a new heart and by grace
forgave his sins and promised eternity in his presence. As he has grown in grace under the power of
the Holy Spirit, his burden for those without Christ has also grown as has his
desire to honor the Lord in every situation.
He is looking for ways to serve the Lord and he “happens” to come across
this person and his spirit moves him out of love to speak to him about his
soul.
Has the Lord been part of getting him to that point, both in
mind and in the encounter itself? Yes,
but is not the Lord more honored by us obeying because our hearts are prompting
us rather than having to be told every move to make? Is there not something
wrong with our minds if the only reason we serve the Lord is because he keeps
having to “prompt” us?
Yes, the Lord leads us because he is orchestrating all
things, he empowers us, he causes us to grow in him, and he puts people in our
paths. But he does this so that we can
freely serve him by coming up with our own ideas. I would like to think that I am capable of
having spiritual thoughts not just because the Spirit has to put them there but
because by the Lord’s grace and strength, I am concerned enough to come up with
my own ideas of how to obey him. Just
read through one of the many passages like 1 Cor. 16 where we see Paul and
others making plans, changing them and making different plans to serve the
Lord. He didn’t need the Holy Spirit
telling him every move to make because the love of God compelled him to serve
the Lord and others.
So just like the Lord didn’t plant feeling in those
Israelites to give whether they really wanted to or not, so I don’t think his
usual work is to give us thoughts but he gave us the Word and works in us “both to will and to work for his good
pleasure.” He gives us new hearts that
we might serve the Lord out of love that arises from our own thinking; he doesn’t
do our thinking for us.
Don’t take any of this as saying that the Lord isn’t perfect
sovereign in every detail. The greatest
mystery in the Bible is his sovereignty and our responsibility and this is my
attempt to see both and not just one or the other.
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