Chosen for a Purpose

'Remember me, O Lord, with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people: O visit me with thy salvation; that 1 may see the good of thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, that I may glory with thine inherit- ance.' Psa. 106: 4, 5.

I believe the Lord has something to say to us from these words. Read them for yourself on your knees. Read them with faith. Read them again and again. Whatever your need may be, read these words again and again, and you will find a change coming into your heart. God uses many situations and circumstances to awaken in us spiritual desire. Very few of us have naturally a real longing and hunger for God. Many of us think of Him only when we want something, or when we are in trouble, in distress, in sickness or in poverty. Very few of us go to God for His own sake. We go to Him only because we want something earthly or perishing, and alas! with many of us, the desires which we have in our hearts are for perishing things which have no real value.

In the beginning, perhaps, we do not know what we are doing, because we have been so carried away by our own childish ideas. Take a simple illustration. Everyone knows what mushrooms are. They are found mostly in sandy places and generally grow in one night after rain. In fact there is a proverb which speaks of 'growing like mushrooms'. As children we used to go out to gather mushrooms after rain, and we often walked four to five miles searching for them. One morning we found many of the white variety. I was so happy that \ quietly filled my basket and took it home to my mother and said: 'I have found many mushrooms! What a tasty meal we shall have when you have cooked them with onions!' My mother looked in the basket. She took out one piece, looked at it, and threw it away, then a second, and a third! Then she said: 'My son, you have been deceived. These are not mushrooms. They look like mushrooms, but are not. They are of no use.'

We find that those who do not know how to discern the things of God, are, in the same way, being carried away by outward appearances, and alas! do not know it. They are wasting their time, money and energy upon worldly things.

What about you? Have you really a true appreciation of the things of God? Can you truthfully say that your hunger and thirst is far greater for the things of God than for perishing things? Alas! in every heart is some desire, some longing and yielding which drags the heart away from God. We need to pray continually that our loving God may give us that spiritual desire which the Psalmist breathes in these words: 'Remember me, O Lord.' It does not require a very long prayer to express our desire to know God. It requires only simple faith.

Once a small child was learning English in school. He was learning the letters: A B C. Then one day he began to pray. He said: 'Lord, A B C D.' After a moment's silence he prayed again: 'E F G H I J K L M N O P Q... " M y child, what are you doing?' interrupted his mother. 'I am praying,' said the child. 'What are you praying?' 'Mother, I don't know how to spell, but God can spell. You say bat is bat, c a t is cat, f a t is fat. I do not know how to spell even simple words, so I am giving the letters to God and He can do the spelling.' That child had the right attitude. He was praying with faith. Whether or not you know how to use proper words in prayer does not matter.The question is, do you pray in faith? Can you truthfully say: 'Yes, Lord, CHOSEN FOR A PURPOSE 9 I believe you will remember me. Remember mc, O Lord, remember me!' These are only simple words, but let them come from the heart. Do not look at yourself, or your condition, or even at your sins and failures. Look away to Him, your loving and living Saviour who loves you more than anybody else, whether father, mother, wife, brother, sister, child or friend.

The psalmist says in Psa. 27. 10: 'When my father and mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.' It is quite possible for the day to come in your life, when your father, mother, brother, sister or loved ones may turn against you. Many fathers and mothers have turned against their wayward children, but God says that though your parents may leave you, He will never do so. Do not look at yourself It does not matter who you are, or how shameful and great your sins may be, or how much you have failed the Lord after new birth; are you willing to say these words before God: 'Lord, remember me, even me. To whom shall I go? All my hope is only in Thee. O Lord, remember me.' You will find that simple prayer will bring you nearer to God and God to you.

Look again at the same verse from Psa. 106. 4, The psalmist began: 'O Lord, remember me.' Then he adds: 'Remember me with the favour which thou didst shew to thy people.'

In the world men are divided into many groups. Some are carried away by nationality. They say: 'I am an Indian; or Chinese; or Japanese,' and so on. Some are carried away by wealth; some by position; and some by things like language, education, or profession. In the Bible, however, we find only two groups: God's people and the devil's people. In John 8: 40, 41 and 44, the people were saying: 'We belong to God; we have Abraham as our father,' but the Lord Jesus reminded them: 'No, you are not God's people; ye are of your father the devil.' These are very strong words, and such words may offend, but we must remember that they are not the words of man. They were spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ.

To which group do you belong? I do not want to know your nationality or profession or wealth or Bible knowledge or name or fame. Arc you one of God's people, or do you belong to the second group? It is only by receiving the divine life of God that you can become one of the family of God. You cannot make yourself an Englishman or an American merely by putting on a nice suit or shirt or tie!

In the early days Anglo-Indians were given preference with regard to railway jobs, and because of that, many Indians when they applied for jobs, borrowed shoes, hat and tie, and introduced themselves as Mr. Smith, Mr. Henry, or Mr. Matthew. Now the order has changed. Mr Smith takes the name of Guruswamy! However, the point is that merely by changing your name you cannot become a different person.

Are you one of God's people? Be honest with yourself. Let your first prayer be: 'Remember me, O Lord, with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people.' What a privilege, what an honour to be one of God's people! The Lord Jesus Christ came into this world that the sons of the devil might become the sons of God.

Wherever you go in India there are many beggars. The beggar may call you 'father', but will you say: 'Yes, my son'? He may call you 'father' every time you go down the road, but does that make him your son? He only is a son who has received life from the father. Now the question is, can God indeed call us His people? How I thank God that He can call me, 'My son!'; but it is only by receiving the life of God, eternal spiritual life, new and divine life, that you can become a child of God. Then, even without your asking, you will also have His divine favour.

C H O S E N FOR A P U R P O S E I I The psalmist says next: 'O visit me with thy salvation.' His real thought is 'Lord, shew me fully thy salvation.' Now suppose you want to become a doctor, and you go to medical college and walk over the whole college building, and look at the bones of human beings, and the many dead bodies for dissection; suppose also that you visit various hospitals and learn by heart the names of medicines such as penicillin and streptomycin; after one week of such wanderings could you go home and say: 'Mother, I am a doctor now'? Mother would say: 'How soon!' You might say: 'Mother, I have seen all the bones; I have seen dead bodies too; I know what are penicillin and streptomycin; I have also bought a stethoscope; I am a doctor now'; but you cannot become a doctor that way; you have to spend many years studying in order to learn all about diseases and medicines and their effect on the human body.

There are many so-called Christians who think that by learning some Bible verses, they will receive salvation. But this salvation is great and eternal. It cannot be understood within a few days or even years. It will take eternity itself to know Christ fully. The psalmist says: 'O visit me with thy salvation.' He is not saying: 'Lord, teach mc more about the Bible.' He is saying with h u n g e r: L o r d, teach me more fully about thy salvation.'

There was once a Mohammedan king called Shahjahan, who was put in prison by his son. The latter said: 'My father won't die easily and I want to be on the throne,' so he imprisoned his father for many years in the Agra Fort, and gave him only peas to cat every day. Fortunately the father had a very good cook, who could prepare seventyfive different dishes with peas alone. T h e thought here is that it may take many years to gain skill in the use of even ordinary things. How then can you hope to know this great salvation in a short time? It is a far greater salvation than you can imagine.

You must seek to understand the full purpose and thought of God in everything He does. Why is He seeking you? Why should He take so much time and trouble in searching for you and calling you? Take as an illustration the collecting of certain important medicinal herbs that grow on mountains, different ones having different values for the cure of diseases or wounds. Those who know the value of these herbs and leaves search tor them for months and years, and wander many miles in that search. Others will pass by those same herbs without even stopping to look at them. It is the same spiritually. God knows your value better than even your father or mother does. In the eyes of God, the value of one soul is far greater than all the wealth of the world. God is after you, because He knows what He can make of you. He wants to make you His partner and co-worker for eternity. The psalmist's desire for God's salvation is a prayer: 'O God, make mc thy chosen vessel', and in verse 5 he gives the reason: 'that J may see the good of thy chosen'.

I went once to a house and saw there on the mantel-piece many beautifully painted articles, I asked the master of the house: 'What are these things?' He answered that they were only ordinary egg-shells. He had made a tiny hole and removed the contents, and had been collecting shells in this way for many years. Being a good artist, he had painted a beautiful design on each egg-shell. They were only eggshells, useless and fit to be thrown away, but when they came into the hand of the artist, they became something useful and beautiful- If you were to get an egg, what would you do with it? You would break the shell, of course, eat the contents, and then throw the shell away. That shell is of no use to you, but an artist can make something beautiful out of it.

God also has a purpose in choosing and calling you, even though you have been ruined and marred by sin, and men CHOSEN FOR A PURPOSE 13 can see the marks of sin upon your face. In God's Word we are compared to filthy rags, dry grass, faded flowers, and withered leaves. That is what we arc in God's sight, yet He has chosen us. He wants you and me, to make of us chosen heavenly vessels for His honour and glory. Only God can do such a thing. Man cannot do it. Are you willing to be one of God's chosen vessels? He is willing even if you are utterly worthless. God can make you something useful to Himself for Eternity, provided you come and surrender yourself wholly and solely to Him.

"O ye seed of Abraham his servant, ye children of Jacob his chosen,' Psa.105. 6.

Here Jacob is called a chosen vessel, and God chose him knowing all about him. Now how do we choose? Suppose, for example, we want to buy potatoes or tomatoes, we go to the market and choose the best shop. We ask for so many kilos of potatoes and tomatoes and onions and so on, and because we are buying for ourselves we choose carefully. We say this is good; that is no good; this is too big and that is too small; this is too old and that is too crushed. That is how we choose. But God says it does not matter if you are ugly and defiled and ruined by sin. Man may say you are useless, but when you go to God He will ask only; 'Are you willing to be my vessel? Are you willing to surrender yourself to me ?' That is all. He knows how to wash you, cleanse you and transform you, if you leave yourself in His hands.

When you give your clothes to the dhoby, do you say: 'Mr. Dhoby, you must wash like this. You must soak the clothes in water, then apply the soap and rub the clothes, then put them again to soak.'? The dhoby would surely say: 'Leave that to me. That is none of your business, it is my business. I know how to wash the clothes. That is my job. Please do not give me instructions.' T h e dhoby knows ] 2 MY CHOSEN You must seek to understand the full purpose and thought of God in everything He does. Why is He seeking you? Why should He take so much time and trouble in searching for you and calling you? Take as an illustration the collecting of certain important medicinal herbs that grow on mountains, different ones having different values for the cure of diseases or wounds. Those who know the value of these herbs and leaves search for them lor months and years and wander many miles in that search. Others will pass by those same herbs without even stopping to look at them. It is the same spiritually. God knows your value better than even your father or mother does. In the eyes of God, the value of one soul is far greater than all the wealth of the world. God is after you, because He knows what He can make of you. He wants to make you His partner and co-worker for eternity. The psalmist's desire for God's salvation is a prayer: 'O God, make me thy chosen vessel', and in verse 5 he gives the reason: 'that I may see the good of thy chosen'.

I went once to a house and saw there on the mantel-piece many beautifully painted articles. I asked the master of the house: 'What are these things?' He answered that they were only ordinary egg-shells. He had made a tiny hole and removed the contents, and had been collecting shells in this way for many years. Being a good artist, he had painted a beautiful design on each egg-shell. They were only eggshells, useless and fit to be thrown away, but when they came into the hand of the artist, they became something useful and beautiful. If you were to get an egg, what would you do with it? You would break the shell, of course, eat the contents, and then throw the shell away. That shell is of no use to you, but an artist can make something beautiful out of it.

God also has a purpose in choosing and calling you, even though you have been ruined and marred by sin, and men CHOSEN FOR A PURPOSE can see the marks of sin upon your face. In God's Word we are compared to filthy rags, dry grass, faded flowers, and withered leaves. That is what we are in God's sight, yet He has chosen us. He wants you and me, to make of us chosen heavenly vessels for His honour and glory. Only God can do such a thing. Man cannot do it. Are you willing to be one of God's chosen vessels? He is willing even if you are utterly worthless. God can make you something useful to Himself for Eternity, provided you come and surrender yourself wholly and solely to Him.

"O ye seed of Abraham his servant, ye children of Jacob his chosen,' Psa. 105. 6.

Here Jacob is called a chosen vessel, and God chose him knowing all about him. Now how do we choose? Suppose, for example, we want to buy potatoes or tomatoes, we go to the market and choose the best shop. We ask for so many kilos of potatoes and tomatoes and onions and so on, and because we are buying for ourselves we choose carefully, We say this is good; that is no good; this is too big and that is too small; this is too old and that is too crushed. That is how we choose. But God says it does not matter if you are ugly and defiled and ruined by sin. Man may say you are useless, but when you go to God He will ask only: 'Are you wi!ling to be my vessel? Are you willing to surrender yourself to me ?* That is all. He knows how to wash you, cleanse you and transform you, if you leave yourself in His hands.

When you give your clothes to the dhoby, do you say: 'Mr. Dhoby, you must wash like this. You must soak the clothes in water, then apply the soap and rub the clothes, then put them again to soak.'? The dhoby would surely say: 'Leave that to me. That is none of your business, it is my business. I know how to wash the clothes. That is my job. Please do not give me instructions-' The dhoby knows how to wash your clothes, and Christ knows how to cleanse any filthy sinner and transform him into something glorious. For your part you must only be prepared and willing to become His chosen vessel.

God chose Jacob and transformed him into a prince with God even though it rook him twenty years to do so. What would you think were you to take your clothes to the laundry, and get them back only after twenty years? Alas! we are much more dirty than our clothes, and our Lord goes on cleansing us till we become like Him. God will not be satisfied till we are 'conformed to the image of His Son'.

Do you want to be His chosen vessel? Are you willing to be washed and purified till He is satisfied?