A Man In Whom There Is No Guile

A Man In Whom There Is No Guile

Psalms 32: 7-11
“You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye. Do not be like the horse or like the mule, Which have no understanding, Which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, Else they will not come near you. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked; But he who trusts in the Lord, mercy shall surround him. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous; And shout for joy, all you upright in heart!”

The “upright in heart” are not always those who appear to have it altogether or those who occupy a place of esteem. They are those “in whose spirit there is no deceit”. Jesus recognized Nathan under the fig tree before Phillip ever went to retrieve him. When Jesus saw him coming He said to Nathanael: “Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!”. Nathan understood that about himself. He replied to Jesus’ comment: “Whence knowest thou me?”. Jesus, then, went on to explain that he knew Nathanael even before Phillip called him to come to Him while he was under the fig tree. I can only imagine what Nathan was doing under that fig tree. He was probably contemplating the deep mysteries of life. I see Nathan as a man that was probably somewhat introspective and had spent much time in his life trying to understand himself and how he was to relate to God and the world. He was somewhat brutally honest about himself and about others. He must have been heavily burdened down with the care of it all and the judgment of it all. Jesus saw him; called him through Phillip; Jesus validated the authenticity of Nathan’s search by His Word, brought him to repentance, and then Jesus unconditionally received him. Nathan was primed for repentance before he even met Jesus because of the truthfulness with which he approached life. Nathan’s next words are very telling: “Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel”. Nathan recognized in his mind and in his spirit that Jesus Himself was the answer to his queries and hopes and dreams. Even with his limited understanding Nathaniel knew The Truth when he finally found Him.

Is this the beginning of the search for Nathan or the end? Does his quest end here? Did Nathan receive all of the answers to his questions and have all of the longings of his searching heart satisfied at this one meeting? We tend to want it this way, do we not? “I need to get this thing resolved so I can get on with my life” we may hear our own inner voice whisper. Yet, a meeting of this sort with Jesus causes such a radical transformation in our life that we cannot return to the old patterns of our life comfortably. We may try our old life back on but we are so radically transformed that it won’t fit any more. We may try to mix the old and the new but just like oil and water we become divided and ineffectual in either paradigm. Everything has changed so, almost as in a dream we view our old methods of relating (to ourselves, God and to the world) spilled upon the ground, lost and ruined, by the brittle, ruptured wine skin of self realization.
We are told in, Jeremiah 17:7, that our hearts are desperately wicked, who can know them?

What, then, is our greatest quest as people of no guile: To know our own heart, to know how we relate to God; To know how we should relate to God, To gain an understanding of how to have our heart changed and thus make our actions and works pleasing to God? No, these are among some of the things that we tend to set up almost as images of God in order to mask the worship of our own intellect and efforts. No, our greatest quest should be to know the Heart of God and to: Seek to be changed from Glory to Glory by His overwhelming and overcoming presence and power; Seek to let Him search our heart; Seek to spend time in His presence and learn to walk in the light of His presence. The things of this life that crowd in around us are one of the greatest enemies of the mystery of this miraculous process. Paul warns us about these enemies, (both permitted things and absolutely disapproved things), in I Corinthians 6:12...”All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any”.....What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?”. Earlier, in the same context, Paul mentions these things: “Know ye not that unrighteousness shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God”. If the good things of this life or the things mentioned above in I Corinthians 6 crowd out this special inward sanctification process we become like ships without a rudder; we become like dogs returning to vomit; we become like those around us that live as if they have no hope. Thus, we choose to be ruled again by the law, unable to approach even the base of the Holy mountain lest we be consumed by a Holy God and die. In effect, it is only within the Holy sanctification process of relationship (relationship, not perfection, I say) that there is no law. Only here can we experience the “wide places” or true joy that is our birthright as born again Christians... Or, we can choose the “tight places” of sin and the constant gnawing of the law wherein is constant looking to of judgment or chastisement. (that is if we are God’s own true children) As His children, if God did not treat us in this manner, the very Blood of Christ would be crying out from the ground and if God did not treat us in this manner the truth that dwells within us, would be echoing Jesus’ Words: “Yes, Father, why did You forsake Him?” God forsook Jesus so that He would not have to forsake us. He pursues us to perfect us and He has promised to do so until the day of Christ Jesus.
So, in our quest to be that person that God calls “Nathan”, let us lay aside the weight that so easily besets us...idolatry...the sin of hiding behind our mask of nathanielesc musings and mental panderings as an attempt to cover up our own darkness. God owns the darkness. He retains the right to enlighten and cleanse our hidden dark places. The darkness is His secret place. We walk in denial, not knowing that neither God nor man are phased by the projections of ourselves that we attempt to “shine” into the heavenlies, into our self and into our relationships. These projections are like a spotlight shining up into the night sky as we advertise the great event of who we are...only to be swallowed up by the blackness and the darkness of night.

There is Good News, though. The Father retains the deed to His property in spite of our slothful neglect and shameful idolatry. But, He is a gentleman. He is waiting for our heart’s cry before He will come running. His heart aches for that moment of time when reality strikes, when truth comes caving into our vacuum crushing all that we think we are. He is waiting for us to realize that, just because we have wasted the resources that He has given to us up to this point, He is not stymied in any way. There are no ends to any of His resources. Neither the passing of time, repeated failings, public opinion, nor principalities nor powers, nor things present, nor life nor death nor principalities nor powers nor any other creation have depleted any of His capacity to heal and restore. The locusts cannot eat enough, fast enough, to keep up with the flow of His mercy to those who call out to Him with a true heart of repentance. Because of the Precious Blood that he poured out willingly on the Cross, we can reveal who we are to Him. He will not cast us aside, be disappointed in us, or ask why we did not come to Him sooner. Will the God that tells us to “draw close to me and I will draw close to you” turn His face away even as we are responding? No, instead there will be rejoicing and the killing of the fatted calf and a new ring placed on our finger and we will be restored to full sonship and to first love.

Wow, I don’t really know all that it means even as I write it, but, this is where I want to live...in His presence! In His presence there is fullness of joy. In His presence we learn who He has recreated us to be. In His presence we are free from the strife of tongues; those nagging, wagging, demonic darts and self talk that we allow to torment us and the attacks of Satan himself . We are free from the curses of the past because of the Blood of Jesus and the Cross, but, it is in His presence that we become free to walk in the reality of that liberty. In His presence, God calls us by our real name, a name that only He has known and an identity which we can only come to a knowledge of...in His presence. That is why I relate so readily to Nathan. When Jesus called, he was honest enough to realize who he was and realistic enough to realize that the ability to obtain the truth was beyond himself. No denial here. I can imagine that, more than once he had been called and more than once he had been disappointed by those who “had all the answers”. But still he searched. When He called, Nathan got up from where he was and went to Jesus.

Years ago God called me Nathan. I heard it in my spirit just as loudly and clearly as a train whistle or a trumpet blast yet it was quiet and still. I didn’t know what to do with it. I had no idea that God spoke in such intimate terms to someone like me, so, this Word laid dormant within me for many years. Then, I heard Jesus calling once again...”come and see”. I said yes, Lord. And as I turned I sensed the Lord running; I heard Him calling my name and I was overwhelmed by His presence... that began baptizing and cleansing and recreating. As I listened ravenously to His words I was awash in the liquid Love of His presence. I am reminded of a Dennis Jernigan song, “I don’t want to move, from this Holy, Holy place”. And so it is. There is nothing else that can satisfy. I am ruined to the world and the world to me. It’s tough to be a perpetual pilgrim in a distant land, but so it is and so I will be until my Savior comes and takes me to himself. By death or by rapture... no matter.

Here is my one attempt at evangelism in this piece...Come and see!

Larry Grizzle
02/12/03

As a post script: The Lord has also called me Caleb. I can’t wait to see what He does with that... What is God calling you? Not... what is He calling you to do?... What is His special name for You? It’s worth a ‘look see’.