Good evening, brothers and sisters.
It is wonderful to gather over the years and, once again, to find ourselves together at Harvey Cedars for such a weekend. We have been coming here for a number of years, and as you know, every year the theme is spiritual something. In keeping with that, we feel like it is a law. This year, it is spiritual travail.
I just wonder how you feel about that term. The fact of the matter is, there has been some travail just for us coming together here this weekend. But the term itself seems very deep—maybe the deepest of the deep. Maybe you feel a little bit of intrepidation at this thought of spiritual travail.
I get to introduce it this evening, and I hope I do not take you down into such depths of despair that you never get out again. Indeed, we have the Word of God to encourage us, and we find that spiritual travail is so, so important in these last days.
I would like for us to read some Scriptures, first of all, for our encouragement: Romans 15:3-6. In the end, we will find that the process of spiritual travail has a lot to do with endurance and perseverance.
For even Christ did not please Himself;
but, as it is written,
“The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me.”For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction,
so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus,
so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
If you remember the very first words, what Paul is talking about is coming to a place where we no longer please ourselves, even as Jesus did.
Then we want to turn to Isaiah 53 and read verses 10 through 12.
But the Lord was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief;
if He would render Himself as a guilt offering,
He will see His offspring,
He will prolong His days,
and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.As a result of the travail of His soul,
He will see it and be satisfied;
by His knowledge, the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many,
as He will bear their iniquities.Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great,
and He will divide the booty with the strong;
because He poured out Himself to death
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
and interceded for the transgressors.
Then we want to turn to one verse in Colossians 1:24.
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake,
and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church,
in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.
Finally, Galatians 4:19, which is the verse written on the brochure for this weekend:
My children, with whom I am again in travail until Christ is formed in you.
We will be speaking this weekend on this matter of spiritual travail—a very important matter, a matter of some maturity and depth, to be sure. We have to acknowledge right at the start that I do not know that there is anybody who is really qualified to speak on something like this.
Spiritual travail is something that the Lord lays upon certain ones when He finds a heart that corresponds with Him. It is a great mystery. This whole matter of travail has a mystery about it that goes right through creation, as Paul talks about all of creation joining in this travail. Certainly, there is travail in the heavenlies as well as here among His church.
We are talking about something that can only be explained by the process of a woman giving childbirth—this travail process. There is something that the Lord does: He plants a seed, and that seed is nurtured in a hidden place in the womb. It is nurtured for a period of time. There is a travail in waiting and a travail for a fullness to develop. Then, finally, there is anguish and pain in the actual birth.
That is the only word that can be used to describe what Paul was feeling as he spoke to the Galatians and said, in effect, “Even as I bore you with the gospel and you were born again, I find myself again in some kind of travail. There is something in me that is groaning and waiting and praying and in anguish until Christ is fully formed in you.”
Now, this is not something that man can manufacture. We may try, but it does not last very long. This is something the Lord indeed has to do, and it goes right back to what we read in Isaiah 53.
The travail of travails was that of the Servant of the Lord, even Jesus Himself. This comes to the very heart of the whole matter of travail. It is because of the Lord Jesus and His travail that we have been born again.
What a tremendous birthing this was. What a tremendous travail this was. He bore us in His heart. He carried us all the way to Calvary. He died on our behalf. By His stripes, we were healed. There was such a travail, and now, as a result, look at the life—the life that issues out because of this travail of our Lord Jesus.
We see this as an extreme travail, and this redemptive travail nobody else can do. Who else can do that? Who else is a perfect Man? Who else understands the heart of God? Who else could lay down their lives in such a way? Only our Lord Jesus. There is no other one who travailed for us unto redemption and eternal life.
But now, in a wonderful mystery of cooperation as His body, we are invited to participate—to cooperate—in a travail that is beyond us. It is not a travail as if we could redeem people; this we cannot do.
When Paul says, “I do my part in filling up that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ,” he is not talking about anything redemptive that he can do. He is talking specifically to the Colossians, whom he knows have found the Lord and are Christians. But now he is burdened for those Colossians, agonizing and groaning and cooperating for the effect of Jesus’ finished work on Calvary to be completed.
In this matter, we are asked to join in: to travail for the completion, to travail for sonship, to travail for the preparation of the bride. These are matters of filling up that which the Lord Jesus did when He died and rose again in the gospel. We see these things and the fact that we can cooperate, and so we are coming and speaking this weekend about spiritual travail.
I want to introduce this topic this evening not by definition, or anything like that—which I am sure we will hear plenty of—but by looking at travail in the lives of the Old Testament prophets. I especially want to note three very positive things that come out of spiritual travail.
I say that because sometimes I can almost sense a heaviness fall upon us as you just mention the words “spiritual travail.” “Have you, brother, entered into spiritual travail?” There is a real heaviness there, maybe even a slightly negative sense of reluctance.
So this evening, I want to share what I consider three tremendous and positive effects of this matter of spiritual travail:
I hope there will be a positive encouragement to you as we begin tonight.
Now we want to start with Isaiah. Ernie always goes to the book of Ephesians; I always go to the book of Isaiah. So I want us to turn to Isaiah 66 and see a reference made to travail in its positive aspects.
For those of you who have known a measure of travail and spiritual travail, you know that there is much groaning and much waiting before the Lord, and much that is difficult to bear at times. But let us look at these positive things and encourage our hearts tonight by the Scriptures.
In Isaiah 66, we see the positive nature of spiritual travail. I would like for us to look at Isaiah 66:7-10.
Before she travailed, she brought forth;
before her pain came, she gave birth to a boy.
Who has heard such a thing?
Who has seen such a thing?
Can a land be born in one day?
Can a nation be brought forth all at once?
As soon as Zion travailed, she also brought forth her sons.Shall I bring to the point of birth and not give delivery? says the Lord.
Or shall I, who gives delivery, shut the womb? says your God.Be joyful with Jerusalem and rejoice for her, all you who love her;
be exceedingly glad with her, all you who mourn over her.
This is where I would like for us to start. Here we see a joyful statement in verse 10. Look at that again: “Be joyful with Jerusalem, and rejoice for her, all you who love her. Be exceedingly glad with her, all you who mourn over her.” All you who mourn over her, now be exceedingly glad.
When we see Isaiah 66 in the context of what Isaiah is sharing, we find Isaiah in his final position before the Lord took him. He is up on the wall of Zion as one of those watchmen who gives the Lord no peace night and day. He is reminding the Lord, and he is giving the Lord no rest until Zion is made a praise and a glory in the earth.
He has a burden in him. He is travailing over this thing up on the walls. That is in Isaiah 62. Then Isaiah 64 opens with that tremendous Scripture: “Rend the heavens and come down.” Isaiah and those who are travailing and praying are asking that God would come down and reveal His glory throughout the earth.
These are tremendous prayers of intercession and travail, asking God to fulfill His promises to Zion. Here are some brethren in the midst of travail, and yet we read these words: “Be joyful with Jerusalem.”
How is it that Isaiah, in the midst of his travail there on the wall—watching day and night, praying day and night, perhaps with his own sons joining him—can at the same time be joyful? Well, of course, you see the first answer: spiritual travail has a glorious end.
Spiritual travail has a glorious end, and the end is Zion. Rejoice, you who mourn, because God will comfort Jerusalem, and God will come again to Zion. Knowing this, they are able to pray. What a positive thing. What a wonderful thing—these watchmen on the hill.
You see, spiritual travail is fueled by the hope of glory. As Christians, we live by faith, hope, and love. As we go on as Christians, hope becomes a more real part of us as we understand that the Lord is coming back. This hope of glory fuels our spiritual travail as we wait for our Lord to come back.
Paul speaks this way in Colossians. He is talking about filling up that which is lacking, and at the beginning of Colossians 2 he says, “I am agonizing. I am struggling to present you complete in Christ and to reveal to you the mystery of mysteries: Christ, the mystery of God.”
Paul is agonizing. Why? We see it in the same context: Christ in you, the hope of glory. This is what is fueling Paul’s agonizing and travail for those dear saints in Colossae.
Or consider that wonderful passage in Romans 5, where Paul talks about being saved by grace and having peace with God. Then he says, “We rejoice in our tribulations.” Do you remember that? It is a very strange passage as it first hits our ear.
We rejoice in our tribulations because we know tribulation works patience, patience works character, and hope does not disappoint us. As we exercise in this process of glory to glory, the Holy Spirit pours the love of God into our hearts.
What tremendous energy is found for those engaged in spiritual travail. The hope of glory only becomes stronger the more we exercise these promises before the Lord. So we see how wonderful and how positive spiritual travail is. It is wonderful because there is a glorious end.
Reason number two: spiritual travail is very positive because it has a glorious beginning. As we turn back to Isaiah 42, we read this wonderful verse, Isaiah 42:14.
I have kept silent for a long time,
I have kept still and restrained Myself.
But now, like a woman in labor, I will groan;
I will both gasp and pant.
Now, what is the Lord talking about? Here we see something so amazing in this mystery of travail: all real spiritual travail starts in the travail of God. Who is travailing in this passage? God Himself.
Many times, I think we have an idea of God that He just set up everything, salvation is done and over with, the Holy Spirit is working away, and so God has kind of washed His hands of the whole thing and is just watching it transpire.
But the record of the Bible shows a God who is intensely involved, intercessorily and by giving aid to all those who want God’s way. We see that there is one side of God who groans: “I have been waiting. I have been groaning. But now, like labor, I am about to give birth to something. I cannot hold it in any longer,” God says.
Whenever we find something taking our hearts in travail, it is something that has come from the heart of God. Is that not wonderful? Somehow, in our relationship with the Lord, through His Word and through prayer, the Lord has planted a seed of something that He has desired.
He plants it into our heart and says, “Do you feel it? Do you desire it?” Now it is for us to take that up and bring it back, wait before the Lord, wrestle before the Lord, until that seed gives birth. But it is marvelous: it began in the heart of God.
In one sense, the prophets who came at the end of the Old Testament economy represent a revealing of the heart of God. God revealed His law in the first five books. Then the Lord raised up judges, priests, and kings. But after all the law, all the services and sacrifices, and all that the priests and kings could do, Israel began to fail.
Israel continually broke the covenant over and over again. God could not be silent, and He expressed His heart—even sometimes His broken heart—that His own children had forsaken Him. It was the prophets who had this unpopular ministry of sharing the Lord’s heart with His people.
The prophets were not received well because they shared God’s heart. The people had an idea that God loved them because they were His covenant children, chosen by God. Well, He did love them, but that was not the point.
When the prophets came along, they said, “Do you not understand what the Lord is saying? I am jealous for you.” The prophets presented a very living God who has strong feelings.
Now, I pause for just a moment. Do we think the Lord has strong feelings? We look around at our situation today and see that it is pretty shabby sometimes, pretty compromised. Do we think the Lord says, “Ah, well, they are doing the best they can”? Or do we understand that there is a Lord who has intense feelings—travail?
This travail in the prophets comes out in two ways. Here in Isaiah 42, what is He talking about? What is this labor, this gasping and panting like a woman in labor? What is He waiting to do? He is waiting to bring judgment on Babylon.
If you read the context, you will understand what this is all about. Babylon has abused and misused the captive children. Babylon has spoken its pride and stood against the Lord, and now God is saying, “I am in travail, and I cannot wait any longer. I am going to send My judgment upon Babylon for her evil and corrupt ways.”
Our God—the God of righteousness, holiness, and love—is travailing, waiting to bring judgment to the earth. Now again, does that sound negative? In the Lord’s eyes, He is saying, “Can I please come down to earth and clean things up? I want them the way I made them. I want My Son to be King of all. I want a kingdom of righteousness, love, and light. It is time to come and fix it up. I want to come.”
Somehow God is restrained and holding back in order to show mercy for another person and another situation before His judgment comes. Do you believe the Lord is travailing right now, desiring to reveal His glory?
Do you think He likes it when people curse and use His name all the time in vain? Do you think He likes it when people talk about Jesus in such an underhand, disgraceful way? I sense in the prophets that God is travailing, holding back the judgments that are sure to come.
But there is another aspect to it as well. He is travailing, desiring to completely overwhelm His children with love. He is restrained by our rejections, our independence, and our refusings.
In Isaiah 49:14-16, we again see this sense of the Lord groaning and travailing:
But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me,
and the Lord has forgotten me.”Can a woman forget her nursing child
and have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget, but I will not forget you.
Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;
your walls are continually before Me.
There is an agonizing God waiting to pour out His life. How much He wants to be with His children. How much He wants to establish Zion, a glory in the earth. But He is held back. Yet you sense His travail and His groaning.
It is very wonderful to me. It is very positive. Look at the heart of God. He wants to love. He wants to reveal more of His Son to us. He wants to set things up in righteousness and blessing. He is travailing on that, and it must be a wonderful thing when the Lord plants that in your heart and we see His jealous love for His children.
When we enter into spiritual travail, it means we have found God’s heart in some matter. A seed has been planted into us. He is sharing with us His intentions.
Immediately, you think of Abraham and how the Lord came to Abraham before He would destroy Sodom and said, in effect, “I have to talk to Abraham about what I am going to do. I want to share with Abraham what I want to do.”
How wonderful the Lord is to want to share His travail with us, that we could enter in and even pray and intercede, as Abraham tried to do for Lot and the city of Sodom.
When the Lord travails with a divine travailing, we know that life will issue in the end. When the Lord travails, He does not travail in vain. When He desires something, He will bring it to pass.
Just knowing that, when we enter into spiritual travail, should give us great encouragement. The Lord keeps His promises. When the Lord bears something, He brings it to birth and to fullness.
So we see the positive side. Why do I say that spiritual travail is a positive thing? First, because its end is glorious and wonderful. Secondly, because its beginning begins in the heart of God. How wonderful that is. What could be a purer motive than the heart of God? We get to participate in this great mystery.
The second thing I want to share through the prophets is the higher ground of spiritual travail. One thing that we experience in our lives is that, if we take up these burdens, if we are faithful and lay them before the Lord, He brings us to higher ground.
The one I want to use to share this with you is Daniel. There is so much in all these wonderful books, but let us turn to Daniel 8:27 and Daniel 9.
Then I, Daniel, was exhausted and sick for days.
Then I got up again and carried on the king’s business;
but I was astounded at the vision, and there was none to explain it.
In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans—in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.
So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed.
Having read this Scripture, this promise that after seventy years of captivity the children would return to Jerusalem and rebuild the house, Daniel set his heart to pray and travail in this matter.
This prayer is long and very involved, so we are just trying to pick out some points. Let us go to the end of the prayer in Daniel 9:16-21.
O Lord, in accordance with all Your righteous acts, let now Your anger and Your wrath turn away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people have become a reproach to all those around us.
So now, our God, listen to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplications, and for Your sake, O Lord, let Your face shine on Your desolate sanctuary.
O my God, incline Your ear and hear! Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by Your name; for we are not presenting our supplications before You on account of any merits of our own, but on account of Your great compassion.
O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! For Your own sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name.
Now while I was speaking and praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God in behalf of the holy mountain of my God, while I was still speaking in prayer, then the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision previously, came to me in my extreme weariness about the time of the evening offering. And he gave me instruction and talked with me.
We do not want to go into all the things Daniel was shown at that time, but we see Daniel here in tremendous travail. The Lord had laid hold of his heart in regard to the promise of the return to Jerusalem, and he was praying.
But what I want to emphasize is this: how can someone pray with such travail? He was exhausted, he says.
When someone enters into spiritual travail, he is enabled by the resurrection life of the Lord Jesus. A person—a Christian—cannot travail in his own strength. This is something that must be done on resurrection ground.
Daniel, as it were, came to the end of himself. Then an angel came and revived him. I see the angel restoring and spirit-quickening again.
If you read Daniel, it is interesting how often Daniel speaks this way. I was reading through the book yesterday, and I saw how often Daniel refers to the night visions.
If you notice the reference to the calendar in Daniel 9:1, I want to make a point. It was in the first year of Darius. If you go back to Daniel 5:31 and Daniel 6:1-3, we read:
So Darius the Mede received the kingdom at about the age of sixty-two. It seemed good to Darius to appoint one hundred and twenty satraps over the kingdom, that they would be in charge of the whole kingdom, and over them three commissioners, of whom Daniel was one, that these satraps might be accountable to them and that the king might not suffer loss.
Then this Daniel began distinguishing himself among the commissioners and satraps because he possessed an extraordinary spirit, and the king planned to appoint him over the entire kingdom.
The reason I want to bring Daniel 6 and Daniel 9 together is this: this is the same period of time. At the same time that Daniel is virtually the prime minister of the empire of the Chaldeans, he is on his knees in anguish in prayer regarding the return to Jerusalem.
How can a person live this seemingly contradictory life? Certainly, one might say, “Daniel, you have to quit your job in order to travail before the Lord.” But here was Daniel, with a face anointed by the Spirit as he stood before the heads of state and did his job—whatever he was: an exchequer, defense minister, or diplomat—and oversaw the various governors and satraps.
What an amazing job this man had. He was enabled by God, with an extraordinary spirit, to be a prime minister by day and a travailer by night. Nobody can do that except by the life of the Lord Himself. This is resurrection ground.
When we think of this matter of travail—of a woman about to give childbirth, with all the groaning and everything—it all has to do with life. Travail issues from life, and it issues life.
When somebody comes into a measure of travail that is truly from the Lord, it is an amazing thing. You find yourself happy in Jesus and able to do the things we are called on to do.
Now, not many of us does the Lord say, “Okay, I want you to leave the world, get you a little cottage in western Pennsylvania, and just seek My face.” No, most of us He says, “Take that job. Be responsible. Do your work. Not only that, be the light of the world while you are at work. Then come on home, because we have some night visions to talk about.”
It is not that Daniel said, “I was asleep, and the angel woke me up and said, ‘Okay, time for travail,’” and Daniel said, “Oh no, not more.” By the evening, he found his heart pursuing: “What do You mean, Lord, in these visions? What is it that You are trying to say?”
Daniel received such spiritual intelligence regarding the end of time, the kingdoms of this world, and the soon coming of the Son of Man. What a wonderful intelligence that is. But it was gained as he travailed before the Lord.
When the Lord leads us into something, we need to do this and live this on resurrection ground, living by His life as He speaks to us, helps us, and opens the door.
Spiritual travail is on higher ground. He gives us the life to wait before Him and to bring up these issues.
Daniel, of course, was an exceptional, exceptional man; there is no doubt about it. But even us, in our own little ways and in whatever jobs we have, there is a morning and there is an evening. There is a life of grace and overcoming life during the daytime as we are out there working on a job, and there is the overcoming life at night in our spiritual travail for God’s full purpose to come in.
Is it not wonderful that Daniel sees the Son of Man coming on the clouds at night, and then in the daytime he goes to the so-called king over the empire? It is quite a strange twofold life. But the point is that spiritual travail is on higher ground.
The last point, I hope these things encourage, is that spiritual travail also seeks out broader ground—not just higher ground, but broader ground. Let us see what I mean by that as we turn to Numbers 11.
We see Moses in a bit of a pickle. He has taken the children of Israel just about as far as you can take them. We read in Numbers 11:10-15:
Now Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, each man at the doorway of his tent; and the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly, and Moses was displeased as well.
So Moses said to the Lord, “Why have You been so hard on Your servant? And why have I not found favor in Your sight, that You have laid the burden of all this people on me? Was it I who conceived all this people? Was it I who brought them forth, that You should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom as a nurse carries a nursing infant, to the land which You swore to their fathers’?
Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me, saying, ‘Give us meat that we may eat!’ I alone am not able to carry all this people, because it is too burdensome for me. So if You are going to deal thus with me, please kill me, if I have found favor in Your sight, and do not let me see my wretchedness.”
It is not that real travail cannot cause us to be weary. Moses bore all those children of Israel—the whole motley crew—in his bosom. All those carnal ones, the complaining ones: he carried them all and led them patiently. Do you not know he was tempted to hit the rock?
He had to bear with these children, even as the Lord bore with them. The Lord has great patience, but the Lord was bearing with them too. He was asking Moses to join in this travail and bear with Him. But Moses said, “Lord, I cannot do it anymore.”
What is the Lord’s response? It is there in Numbers 11:16: “Gather for Me seventy men from the elders.” In effect: “Let us choose them up. You need help.”
When I say that spiritual travail tends to lead us toward broader ground, dear brothers and sisters, I mean that if we are going to enter into travail over tremendous issues, we need brothers and sisters to pray along with us.
Many times, a seed is planted in our hearts in the secret place, in the closet. But it is God’s way for those seeds to come to birth in the house of prayer. You may sense a burden and bring it to others, but in the end, we must pray about these things together.
What large issues we are talking about: the recovery of the Lord’s testimony, the preparation of the bride, God’s eternal purpose. All wonderful, tremendous things—but we cannot bear them alone.
Sometimes we make a mistake and think that spiritual travail is depression. But there is really a great difference.
Depression is a matter of body, soul, and spirit going down under something. I leave it to those who understand depression more to talk about all that is involved. But spiritual travail is different in this way: you find that your relationship to the Lord is fine. You may find yourself, perhaps even, could I say, happy in Jesus, yet under great spiritual travail.
That is not depression. There is a process of taking all those cares and bringing them to the Lord and leaving them with Him. Then He gives them back to you, and you wrestle with them and give them back to Him. There is a process here.
So do not mistake spiritual travail for depression, or allow spiritual travail to bring you into depression, which could happen if you do it alone.
In this same light, the last person I will bring up is Elijah. In 1 Kings 19, we see Elijah under the juniper tree, wanting the Lord to take his life.
Sometimes, when we are travailing over those things the Lord has placed in our lives, we lose our way in the midst of the process. What was Elijah’s great burden? The restoration of the kingdom: all twelve tribes restored in the kingdom, one pile of stones of testimony. That was Elijah’s burden.
But along the way, with the prophets of Baal and then Jezebel chasing after him, he lost his way in it, became discouraged, and got under the tree. We note there in 1 Kings 19:4:
But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree; and he requested for himself that he might die, and said, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take my life, for I am not better than my fathers.”
Of course, the Lord knew what he needed and fixed him up a real nice soup, which always does the trick. An angel came and gave him some soup.
Perhaps Elijah lost the fact that you can only do spiritual travail on resurrection ground. His travail came out of what? The very first thing we read about Elijah was, “The Lord, before whom I stand, has sent me to tell you it will not rain.” He lived his life before the Lord. There is resurrection life right there.
But out there under the tree, he lost it all. The Lord helped him, and he got up and ran some more. Then he got to a cave, and now he was in the cave mood—hiding in the cave and brooding in the cave.
When the great actions of an almighty God came and shook with wind, earthquake, and fire, he was not impressed anymore. He was so weary. But what did he really need? What did he really need? He needed a broader ground.
The Lord said to him, “Now, Elijah, there are seven thousand just like you. You are not alone.”
There is a good chance that some dear brother or sister is here, and you come from someplace I probably do not even know, and you have been travailing alone. The first thing the Lord would say to you is, “You are not alone.”
There are seven thousand who are praying regarding these very things: for the reviving of His people and for the recovery of His testimony. You are not alone in it.
Elijah had to hear that. He was so zealous for the Lord, but he thought he was all alone. The Lord said, “No, no, there is this wider ground.”
But the Lord was not satisfied just to give him the knowledge that there were seven thousand faceless people out there. “Now, Elijah, I want you to do something else.” God gave him three orders.
First, there were the seven thousand. Second, “Go down and meet Elisha, and let him walk along with you, talk with you, pray with you, and carry the burden with you.” That is what he needed.
Then one more thing: “Your burden is about the kingdom and a king. I want you to anoint Jehu. He will be a good, zealous king.” He was all right. But it gave Elijah something to do, some outlet for the burden he felt for the kingdom. So the Lord does with us.
When I say these things are very positive, they are very positive. But, of course, I do not want to convey at all that spiritual travail does not have agony about it. In the lives of all these people we have touched, there was agony, there was travail, and there was a bringing to birth.
I hope, as we consider this matter of spiritual travail this weekend, that some of you who have been so faithful through the years will know that the Lord truly has given you hearts to travail over things beyond yourselves. It is wonderful that the Lord has so many saints in many different places.
But if you are one of the younger ones here, or one of the newer ones in the Lord, and spiritual travail sounds a little frightening to you, I just wanted to encourage you.
The Lord gets to His goal as we gather in travail. He could do it all by Himself, but He wants us to be involved.
Will you hear the call? Will you rise up to higher ground? Will you broaden out in spiritual travail? May the Lord help us.
He really is wanting to express His heart to all His children and to make us feel and understand what He feels and plans. So may we enter in.
Let us just have a word of prayer.
We are so thankful, Lord, that the prophets give us great encouragement because they were faithful, having heard Your heart, to go and speak to a people who did not want to listen.
We think of Isaiah saying, “Here am I, send me,” and then the Lord saying, “Okay, I am going to send you to a people who will not listen.” So he entered into a lifelong travail for people that God had on His heart.
Lord, we thank You for all the blessings that You have given us in our lives. We believe, as we come toward the end of time, that there are some things that You desire to bring to fullness, to bring to birth.
You need some people to travail on these lines.
Lord, we ask for Your help, that we may see how wonderful it is to bring things to life. We thank You that Your will comes from a heart that is anxious and longing.
We understand in just some small way that what our Lord did on Calvary, He now longs to complete with a bride.
We pray, Lord, that You will help us to enter in, to sense the groan of Your heart, and to say, “Amen, Lord. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”
Lord, grant us all, reluctant as we might be, to see that we are doing something that measures in life and measures in glory. Help us, Lord, to be faithful in these last days.
For Jesus’ sake, we pray. Amen.