Peace be upon Israel.
—Psalm 125:5b
After such a manifestation of what is upright and what is crooked within us (vv. 4-5), the psalm ends, “Peace be upon Israel” (v. 5b). Only when our self-life is exposed and dealt with can we have the reality of peace among us. The more we see who we are and deal with ourselves, the more peace there is in the church life. We all should pray this way. “Lord, whatever is of You, let it grow and develop. Whatever is of me, let it be exposed and dealt with.” This prayer is not for ourselves, but for the church life as the Lord’s testimony. “Peace be upon Israel.” The feeling of this psalm is so single and pure. We are not here for ourselves, but for His testimony. We deal with our self-life so that the church can be built up in peace.
As we trust ourselves to the Lord, we learn that He is able both to care for us and to expose us. Within each of us there are two completely different parts. The first part is upright and comes from the Lord’s dispensing, and the second part is full of iniquity and comes from our fallen nature. Concerning the first part, we can trust the Lord to bring it out in full and cause it to prevail. Concerning the second part, we can trust the Lord to expose it in full so that it can be judged and dealt with. This is the healthy desire of a consecrated person.
Adapted from The Journey of Life, pages 54-55.
Monday: “Digging into the Riches and Living Before the Lord”