September 1956 “Wisdom In the Inner Part” Late Mr. N. Daniel

Psalm 139

“O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.” Psalm 139:1.

This was the Psalmist's experience. This is knowing wisdom in the inner part. “And in the inner part thou wilt make me to know wisdom.” To live with the knowledge that God knows our inner thoughts, our hidden part, is a blessed thing. With this experience, David lived close to God. He was a man who lived according to God's own heart. Having the truth of God in the inner part resulted in such a beautiful life. In his old age he exhorted his son, “And thou., Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the Lord searcheth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever” I Chron.28:9. His prayer for his son was that he might obey all the commandments and statutes of the Lord with a perfect heart. Blessed is the man who has such wisdom in the depths of his being, who gladly and with fear and trembling will obey all the commandments! One can obey the commandments of God joyfully or reluctantly. Those who obey joyfully will find great reward.

“You know my downsitting and my uprising”, says David. “Thou knowest my thoughts afar off.” That is, even before they are born. God knows our heart attitudes, our desires and our longings. God knows the thoughts that are born out of our attitudes. David learnt this truth in his experience. Your attitudes will be born out of the truth you accept. Daniel wanted to keep himself pure for God. Out of this desire was born the taking of a risk to talk to the Prince of eunuchs. Judas Iscariot’s desires were engaged with money. Thus, he chose to sell his Saviour. Jesus knew he had made this choice. God knows your innermost thought. He knows the words before you utter them. He discerns and judges your words before you utter them. This is a very mysterious and blessed wisdom. If you have such understanding, it is a great gain to your soul. As a Christian grows, he moves into this experience. David says, "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high, I cannot attain unto it." The natural man cannot grasp it at all. Such understanding comes to those who are born of the Spirit and are growing. "Thou has compassed me behind and before." The people of Israel experienced this. Jacob also experienced this. The angels of God came forward to meet him. Before his conversion, the angels of God walked behind him. This happened because of the prayers of his father and grandfather. Because of their prayers, Jacob was transformed into Israel. Thereafter, he followed God. He followed the presence of God. The presence of God follows us because of the prayers of our parents. When we begin to pray, the presence of God goes before us. Abraham who followed God and lived in His presence, led his son into the same experience when he laid him on the altar. Isaac heard the voice of the angel speaking to his father.

Absalom did not have such an experience of confidence that God was with him, that God would forsake him, and that he could not flee from His Spirit and from His presence. Cain did not have this experience. Achan did not have this experience. Gehazi did not have this experience. Their end was very sad. But, Daniel had God with him even in the lion’s den. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had Christ with them in the fiery furnace too. Christ entered the boat in which the disciples were being pressed back by contrary wind. Immediately the boat reached its destination. It is very blessed to know that God’s Spirit is round about us. “If I drown in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand will deliver me”, says David. Prophet Jonah was crying to God from the depths of the sea. He could not run away from the presence of God. His prayer reached God, and God commanded the fish to throw him out. "Even before we were formed, we were written in God's book", says David. We who are like small worms surrounded by God's creation and God's power, we should not glory about our life which is as brief as vapour. Do you have the understanding that God knows your innermost being? It is a very precious understanding! Having washed us in His blood, and having given us the status of His sons, Jesus gives us this great understanding. As a child in her mother's arms, or a son in his father's lap feels very secure and unafraid, so will a Christian be. When you have to travel in an aeroplane, you board it confidently knowing that the machine will be air-borne. You will not be afraid of the heat or cold. The plane will rise above the storms. You will not have to fight the storm. How dangerous it would be if you are afraid to enter the plane, but prefer to sit on the wing! Those who get rid of all the negative attitudes in their heart and enter fully into Christ and the path He shows, will have a familiar experience as those who board the plane. Those who gaze upon the pierced side of Jesus, seeking His love and hearing His voice and surrounded by His power, will be blessed people and totally secure in Him!