When do you enjoy grace more—when you feel that you are spiritual and good in the eyes of God, or when you are down and feel that you are absolutely unworthy? I have enjoyed grace the most when I have been down. But we should not say, "Let us be down that we may enjoy grace the most." If you try to do this, it will not work. Again I say that it does not depend upon us but upon God's ordination. I hope that my word will encourage you neither to be spiritual nor to be unspiritual. Rather, I hope that it will encourage you to be nothing. But do not try to be nothing, for your trying is still something. If you could say, "I'll go home and forget everything," that would be wonderful.

In the record of Isaac's life we see a person who enjoyed God's grace in every way. Do you believe that a man who had such an enjoyment of God's grace could still have the natural weakness of lying in a substantial way? He lied in the way of sacrificing his wife. Perhaps we would say, "If I were such a person, I would never lie in that way." Do not say this. We may enjoy even more grace and then lie more substantially than Isaac did.

Consider your experience. Although you have never lied in sacrificing your wife, you have lied substantially to your wife. In my early years, I was much affected by religious concepts, believing that Christians, especially the so-called spiritual Christians, would never lie. Eventually, I discovered that Christians, including the so-called spiritual ones, also lie. Not only the worldly people lie; the Christians and the spiritual people also lie. This is the condition of the fallen race. What then shall we do? We should not do anything. God has selected us out of this fallen race, and His ordination has come to us. This does not mean that when we behave ourselves or become spiritual in the eyes of God, we shall then receive more grace. Although Isaac never tried to behave himself or to be spiritual, he continually enjoyed grace. I do not encourage you to be religious or to be unreligious. I do not encourage you to be anything, for the enjoyment of God's grace does not depend upon our being spiritual.

Isaac wanted to bless his son Esau. However, he mixed the blessing with his natural taste. In 27:3 and 4, Isaac said to Esau, "Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison; and make me savoury meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die." Isaac seemed to be saying, "Esau, before I die, I would like to eat venison one more time. If you get some venison for me, then I shall bless you." Here we see that Isaac mixed up God's blessing with his natural taste. Although we may wonder how such a person could bless others, Isaac did bless.

Isaac, who was not religious like we are, was not conscious of being unspiritual. Suppose you are a father who wants to give a blessing to one of his sons. I believe that you would be very cautious and alert, praying, fasting, and daring not to speak in the flesh nor according to your natural taste. If you were a Chinese brother, you certainly would not say to the son whom you are about to bless, "Son, go to Chinatown and get some Chinese food for me and then I'll bless you." No Chinese brother would dare to do this, because we are all so religiously conscious of being spiritual. We all would say, "Now that I am about to bless my son I must be with the Lord and not have my natural taste." Isaac, however, was bold, telling Esau, "Before I die I would like to eat venison once more. Get me the venison that I love and I'll bless you." Isaac was honest, saying, "My soul may bless thee" (27:4). What a mixture! Isaac, who continually enjoyed the grace of God, blessed blindly. But he blessed in faith, and his blessing was honored by God (Heb. 11:20).

When I read this portion of the Word as a young man, I was unable to understand how there could be so much mixture here. I said, "Isaac, what are you doing? If you want to eat venison, then don't talk about blessing. You shouldn't mix your natural taste with God's blessing. How can God honor a blessing that is mixed with your natural taste?" When Isaac plainly told Esau that if he would prepare venison for him he would bless him, he was not conscious of being religious. He was altogether outside of religion. There was no religion in his concept. If we had been there, we would have said, "Isaac, don't talk this way. If you want to have your natural taste, don't talk about God's blessing. God will never honor your blessing. Isaac, you are absolutely wrong." But Isaac would have said, "What are you talking about? I have never heard such religious talk. I don't have this concept. I have no religious consciousness whatsoever. I only know two things—that I want to satisfy my taste and that I want to bless my son. After I eat some meat, I shall bless my son. I don't know what it means to be spiritual or religious. I only know that I am the father, that he is my son, and that the greater always blesses the lesser." When I was young, I was much troubled about this, being unable to understand how Isaac, who enjoyed so much of God's grace, could still have the same natural weakness as Abraham and the same natural life as Jacob.

We need to see two points very clearly. Firstly, grace is not based upon what we are. Whether we are good or bad, spiritual or unspiritual, means nothing. Because God has ordained us to be the object of His grace, grace comes to us, and we cannot reject it. Secondly, as we have mentioned several times, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are not three separate persons in the experience of life but represent three aspects of the experience of one complete person. This is why in Isaac we can see both Abraham and Jacob. Isaac had the natural weakness of Abraham and the natural life of Jacob.