The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe
"The Two Questions"
"And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? And he said, Who art Thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he, trembling and astonished, said 'Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?' " (Acts 9:4-6).
Upon first meeting the Lord Jesus Christ, Saul of Tarsus asked the two most important questions of his life, and the life of every human being. "Who are You, Lord? What will You have me do?"
"This is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent" (John 17:3).
"For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding" (Colossians 1:9).
We can surmise that Paul continued to ask these questions throughout the remainder of his earthly lifetime. Moreover, since God is infinite in His being, character, and nature, and since believers will be doers for eternity, the Apostle will doubtless address his Lord accordingly forevermore.
"Who are You?" Born again believers in the Lord Jesus have set forth on an eternal journey of discovery regarding the wonder of our God. We know Him to one degree or another right now. We would not be believers if we didn't. However, by definition, an infinite, eternal Lord can never be completely known by limited beings such as ourselves, even in our future glorified state. Certainly, we will "know as also I am known" in the sense of a perfectly adequate and effectual knowledge of God and reality (I Corinthians 13:12). Full knowledge of the Infinite and the Eternal, however? Not possible. Thus, both now and forever, we properly ask the greatest question of our existence - "Who are You, Lord?" - with the joy that new answers and enhanced old answers ever await. "Then said He unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of Heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old" (Matthew 13:52).
"What would You have me to do?" The corollary question following our inquiry concerning God's person always results as we discover a Lord of vibrant activity and doing. "Be ye doers of the Word and not hearers only" (James 1:22). Indeed, a heart that finds rest in God ever leads to a mind, voice, hands, and feet that seek to "work the works of God" (John 6:28). Behavior follows in the wake of belief. Doing flows from devotion. Love not only rejoices, commits, and feels. It also walks, works, and sacrifices. To know God rightly always results in the yearning to act and the ongoing inquiry, "Teach me Thy way, o Lord; I will walk in Thy truth" (Psalm 86:11).
Today serves as blessed opportunity to yet again address our Heavenly Father: "Who are You, Lord? What will You have me to do?" Tomorrow will offer the same, as will all the days of this life and the timeless glories of the next. He will rejoice in our desire to know Him, and He will respond in leading us by His Spirit and His Word to do His will. Let us join Paul in the wisdom of his first inquiries addressed to the Lord Jesus, which our brother doubtless still asks. "Who are You, Lord? What will You have me to do?"
"As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God."
(Psalm 42:1)
"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."
(Ephesians 2:10)
Weekly Memory Verses
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
(Philippians 2:9-11)
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