Streams in the Desert - Jun 24

Concerning the work of my hands command ye me. (Isaiah 45: 11 KJV)

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The Lord Jesus took this very approach with God when He said, “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me” (John 17: 24). Joshua used it during the moment of his greatest victory, when he lifted his spear toward the setting sun and cried aloud, “O sun, stand still” (Josh. 10: 12). Elijah employed it when he stopped the rain from heaven and started it again after three and a half years. Martin Luther followed it when, kneeling by his dying colleague, Philipp Melanchthon, he forbid death to take its victim.

This is a wonderful relationship that God invites us to enter. We are certainly familiar with passages of Scripture like the one that follows the above verse: “My own hands stretched out the heavens; I marshaled their starry hosts” (Isa. 45: 12). But knowing that God invites us to command Him to act reveals a surprising change in our normal relationship!

What a distinction there is between this attitude and the hesitancy and uncertainty of our prayers of unbelief, to which we have become so accustomed! The constant repetition of our prayers has also caused them to lose their sharp cutting edge.

Think how often Jesus, during His earthly ministry, put others in a position to command Him. “As Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho,” Jesus stopped and responded to two blind men who had called out to Him. “What do you want me to do for you?” (Matt. 20: 29, 32). It was as though He said, “I am yours to command.”

Could we ever forget how Jesus yielded the key to His resources to the Greek woman from Syrian Phoenicia because of her reply to Him?

In effect, He told her to help herself to all that she needed. (See Mark 7: 24– 30.)

What human mind can fully realize the total significance of the lofty position to which God lovingly raises His little children? He seems to be saying, “All my resources are at your command.” “And I will do whatever you ask in my name” (John 14: 13).
~F. B. Meyer

Say to this mountain, “Go,
Be cast into the sea”;
And doubt not in your heart
That it will be to thee.
It will be done, doubt not His Word,
Challenge your mountain in the Lord!
Claim your redemption right,
Purchased by precious blood;
The Trinity unite
To make it true and good.
It will be done, obey the Word,
Challenge your mountain in the Lord!
Self, sickness, sorrow, sin,
The Lord did meet that day
On His beloved One,
And you are freed away.
It has been done, rest on His Word,
Challenge your mountain in the Lord!
Surround the rival’s wall
With silent prayer, then raise—
Before its ramparts fall—
The victor’s shout of praise.
It will be done, faith rests assured,
Challenge your mountain in the Lord!
The massive gates of brass,
The bars of iron yield,
To let the faithful pass,
Conquerors in every field.
It will be done, the foe ignored,
Challenge your mountain in the Lord!
Take then the faith of God,
Free from the taint of doubt;
The miracle-working rod
That casts all reasoning out.
It will be done, stand on the Word,
Challenge your mountain in the Lord!
~selected

Reference

Cowman, L. B. E.; Reimann, Jim (2008-09-09). Streams in the Desert: 366 Daily Devotional Readings (p. 247). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

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