We are Short of God, so God works Inwardly and Outwardly to Work Himself into us

Our basic problem is that we are short of God, so He works as the God of resurrection to not only strip us and consume us bu also to work Himself into us so that we may gain God.

This was the need that Job had; he was such a self-righteous person that he did not need God; he was ok by himself with his integrity and perfection, so God came in to show him that he really is nothing and seeing God and touching God is everything.

Many believers are quite puzzled and even perplexed when they encounter sufferings and even long periods of sufferings and difficulties, for they think that, once they believe into the Lord, they would be immune from ills.

We need to realize that suffering is the lot of all the inhabitants of the earth; whether you are a believer or an unbeliever, suffering is our portion, and especially as believers we need to realize that the Lord has a purpose, and He does something in us and with us according to His purpose.

We should not consider it strange when suffering befalls us, neither should we think that we are now immune from ills, now that we believe in Jesus.

Rather, many of the believers in Christ who live in a vital touch with God are in constant suffering, and many suffer daily; we need to realize that the purpose of suffering is for us to gain God, that is, that God would be wrought into our being.

Through suffering, God wants to empty us of everything so that we would receive only Him as our gain.

Even though we believe in God and love God, we are still so full of ourselves, and we may even build up our own culture and person to the extent that we think we’re righteous, good, and upright.

We may be just like Job, ready to “take God to court” because He allows sufferings to come our way, even though we didn’t do anything wrong, that is, we didn’t commit any sin so that we deserve the suffering.

May the Lord enlighten us and cause us to realize that God’s desire is not that we would be good Christians, upright men, and moral people; He wants us to be God-men, human beings who are open vessels to God to gain God, partake of God, possess God, and enjoy God until we become the New Jerusalem!

May we realize what the great answer is to the great question of two parts – “what is God’s purpose in creating man” and “why do we suffer – what’s God’s purpose in our suffering” – which is nothing else but that God would gain us and we would gain God, so that we may be God-men filled with God to express God corporately.

Our Basic Problem is that we are Short of God; in His Dealings with us, God Reduces us and Imparts Himself into us More

Job’s basic problem was not that he sinned or did something wrong; his basic problem was that he was short of God.

So in all His dealings with Job, God’s intention was to reduce him to nothing – yet maintain his existence (Job 2:6) – so that He would have the time and the way to impart Himself into Job.

In all our situations, especially as we go through difficult things and pass through sufferings, we need to realize that we are short of God, so God works through our environment to reduce us to nothing so that He would work Himself into us.

Many times we run out of fuel, and all we give out is “smoke”, for there’s nothing to supply us to live the Christian life; we need more of God – we are so short of God!

Because we are short of God, we cannot face the situation we’re in; because we’re short of God, we lose our temper, we argue with our spouse, and we live our Christian life in a loose way. Oh, Lord Jesus!

We need to open to the Lord in this light and ask Him, Lord, work Yourself into me more today! When we pray in this way, we pray according to what He cares for; God cares for only one thing: for Him to be wrought into us (Eph. 3:16-19).

We need to be strengthened into our inner man so that Christ would spread out from our inner man into all the parts of our heart until we eventually become the fullness of God for His corporate expression, which is God’s glory.

This is God’s purpose, and for this, He works both within us and in our environment to reduce us so to nothing so that He would impart Himself into us more.

Job was self-righteous (Job 6:30; 9:20; 27:5-6; 32:1), and he was contented with what he had become (13:3; 23:3-4; 31:6), yet he was unaware of his miserable situation before God (cf. Rev. 3:16-18).

We may think we are OK, and looking at our situation we may think we’re not sinful or evil but quite good and righteous; we may be like Job, self-righteous and contented with what we have become.

Yet we are unaware of our situation before God; our situation may be like the one in Rev. 3:16-18, miserable and naked, so the Lord counsels us to come to Him and gain the Triune God as our covering, our supply, and our riches.

We should never be contented with what we are; like Paul, we need to forget the things which are behind and stretch forward to the things which are before to gain Christ in a fresh way, in a new way, and in an up-to-date way.

We need to know the present truth (1 Pet. 1:12) and hold to the present truth, which is God’s eternal economy for His divine dispensing, realizing that God does everything for this purpose, that we would gain God and He would be wrought into our being.

Job’s glory was his perfection and uprightness, and his crown was his integrity; so God came in to strip his glory from him and take away the crown from his head (Job 19:9).

Job’s hope had been to build up the “tree” of his integrity, but God wouldn’t allow such a tree to grow within Job; rather, He came in to pluck up this tree, this hope (v. 10), so that Job would be brought into the sphere of gaining God.

What a mercy it is that the Lord would come in to pluck up the tree of knowledge of good and evil from us and bring us into the sphere of gaining God!

God wants us to know that many times we are in the wrong realm: we’re in the realm of building up ourselves as a man in the old creation in our perfection, uprightness, and integrity; these may become our glory and boast, but God considers them as frustrations!

So God is faithful to come into and strip these away so that we may receive God in His nature, life, element, and essence, and thus be metabolically transformed to be a God-man (not merely a good man), a man in the new creation who expresses God and dispenses Him into others (see 2 Cor. 3:18; 1 Pet. 4:10; Eph. 3:2).

What a mercy it is to see this and realize this! What a mercy it is to realize that we are short of God, and to open to Him to work Himself into us more!

Lord Jesus, work Yourself into us more and more each day for You to gain us to be God-men, those who express God and minister God into others. We admit, Lord, that we are short of God; come in and work Yourself into us day by day. May we realize that You are dealing with us to reduce us to nothing – yet maintain our existence – so that You may have the time and the way to work Yourself into us more and more. Amen, Lord, transfer us out of the realm of building up ourselves and bring us into the realm of gaining God, partaking of God, and being filled with God. We open to You, Lord, so that You may work in us and on us until we become God-men constituted with God, men in the new creation who express God and dispense Him into others!

The Spirit Works Within us and Around us to Tear Down our Natural Being and Reconstitute us with God

In an intrinsic way, what we see in the book of Job is that God’s intention was to tear down the natural Job in his perfection and uprightness so that He might build up a renewed Job in God’s nature and attributes.

We can see this because the New Testament reveals the discipline of the Holy Spirit, which is to tear down our natural being so that we may have a new being constituted into us, the new man, to express God (2 Cor. 4:16-18; Rom. 8:28-29).

The work of the Spirit within us is to constitute a new being for us; this is what happens within us, as we open to the Lord and spend time with Him.

The work of the Spirit without is to tear down every aspect of our natural being through our environment.

We are short of God, so God in Christ as the Spirit works both within us and around us to tear down our natural being and constitute a new being in us.

We need to cooperate with the operating Spirit and accept the environment that God has arranged for us (Phil. 4:12; Eph. 3:1; 4:1; 6:20; 1 Cor. 7:24).

May we realize that the Lord works within us to constitute a new being for us, and He works without in the environment to tear down every aspect of our natural being.

However, many times we fight against the environment that He has arranged for us, and we may even pray against it; on one hand, this is not good, but on the other hand, as long as we open to the Lord and pray, He has a way to work Himself into us.

Paul did not like the “thorn in the flesh” which God has allowed, so he prayed three times to God to remove it; God showed him, however, that He would not remove the thorn but rather, increase the level of grace, for His grace is sufficient.

God doesn’t want to remove the painful or difficult environment He has put us in; He wants to increase the level of our enjoyment of Christ until we live in intimacy with Him and He can be wrought into us.

We are short of God, so God works both outwardly and inwardly to tear down every aspect of our natural being and constitute a new being in us, the one new man.

Sometimes it is the enemy who works through our environment to wear us out; so we stand with the Lord against his wearing out tactics, and we seek to enjoy the Lord and pursue Him with the saints.

Many times, however, we simply need to open to the Lord in our fellowship with Him and be honest with HIm, accepting the environment He has arranged for us and allowing Him to work Himself into us.

Paul was such a one; he was not just a prisoner in a Roman prison but a prisoner in the Lord, and he was not just an ambassador but an ambassador in a chain.

He acknowledged the Lord’s restriction through his environment, so he gained more of God.

The primary purpose of suffering in the universe – particularly as it relates to us, the children of God and the believers in Christ – is that through it the very nature of God may be wrought into our human nature, so that we may gain God to the fullest extent (2 Cor. 1:8-9; 4:16).

On one hand, God is the living God working in our environment, but on the other hand, He is the God of resurrection working within us to work His divine life and nature into our human life and nature.

While the living God can perform many acts on our behalf, the life and nature of the living God are not wrought into us; we may see God’s miraculous and marvellous acts and be astonished, but there’s no inward change, no addition of God’s element.

However, when the God of resurrection works, His life and nature are wrought into us.

God is working not only to make His might known in external acts but He is working to impart and work Himself into man; God uses the environment in order to work His life and nature into us (Gal. 4:19; 2 Cor. 4:7-12; 1 Thes. 3:3; John 16:33).

In order to live in resurrection and be constituted with the God of resurrection, we must be conformed to the image of Christ as the firstborn Son of God through “all things” (Rom. 8:28-29; Heb. 12:10; cf. Jer. 48:11).

When we are in the midst of sufferings, we may complain to God, but our complaining may be the best prayer, the most pleasant prayer to God; while we are complaining, God is rejoicing because He is causing all things to work together for good that we may be conformed to the image of His firstborn Son. Amen!

Lord Jesus, we open to Your working within us and in our environment so that You may work Yourself into us more and more. May our being remain open to You as You work within us to constitute a new being for us and around us to tear down every aspect of our natural man. Keep us coming to You, dear Lord, and keep us enjoying You, no matter what happens. May we open to You concerning all things and give You access to our inner being so that You may work Yourself into us. May Your very nature be wrought into our nature, and may we gain more of God day by day. Amen, Lord, we want to know You not only as the living God who does things for us and around us but also as the God of resurrection who works Himself into us. Amen, Lord, we believe that You cause all things to work together for good so that we may be conformed to the image of the Firstborn Son of God!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1957, vol. 3, “The Living God and the God of Resurrection” (ch. 3), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes (2020 winter training), week 1, The Great Question in the Book of Job and the Great Answer.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – It is God’s intent and pleasure / That His Christ be wrought in me; / Nothing outwardly performing, / But His Christ my all to be. / It is God’s intent and pleasure / That His Christ make home in me; / Not just outwardly to serve Him, / But Christ dwelling inwardly. (Hymns #538)
  – He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater, / He sendeth more strength when the labors increase, / To added affliction He addeth His mercy, / To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace. (Hymns #723)
  – So shall we not delight to give / Ourselves in every way, / And let the Lord dispense Himself / Into us more each day; / The grace that we receive each day, / Though hidden oft, and small, / Is God Himself wrought into us, / That day to shine o’er all. (Hymns #1321)