The Old Testament causes man to see his inability, while the New Testament is the way God opens His grace to man. Whenever man realizes that he is poor, he will be open to receive the supply of God’s abundant grace. In short, every commandment and demand of God is to prove man’s inability and incapability. Whenever we bring all these commandments and demands to God, He immediately opens the way to transmit His supply to us continually.
There was once a wife who felt that she should confess to her husband. This was very hard for her to do because she was used to being a domineering wife. Her will was very strong and she was very proud. Usually it is the wife who fears the husband, but in this case it was her husband who feared her. One day, however, she felt that she was wrong and that she should confess to her husband. Yet when she considered doing it, she encountered a few problems. First, she did not have much strength; second, she was afraid of losing her face; and third, because she had oppressed her husband in the past, she was afraid that her husband would turn around and oppress her. At that point she felt that she could no longer be a Christian. She knew that being a Christian meant that she had to be enlightened by the Lord. She also knew that after she was enlightened by the Lord, she would have to deal with all the unpeaceful feelings within her conscience; if she did not, she would feel even more unpeaceful. So she decided, “I will just be a casual Christian; I will just be what I am.” This kind of Christian is a typical Christian. Their heart is very sincere, their words are true, and they feel sorrowful within.
How can we help people like this? We have to help them to know that all the commandments of the New Testament open the way to the grace of God. Whenever we receive a command from God, we should bring it back to Him and tell Him, “O God, I cannot do it; I give You this command just as the disciples gave You the five loaves and two fish. I am always incapable. I give Your command and myself to You. Lord, do whatever you think is good. I cannot do anything at all.” Those who practice coming to the Lord in such a way will be blessed and will receive the bountiful supply from the Lord. This can be compared to the disciples bringing the five loaves and two fish to the Lord. As soon as they did this, the riches were manifested.
Do not think that the miracle of five loaves and two fish is the only miracle. Every time that God leads us to obey His command, it is also a miracle. If the Lord does not perform a miracle in us, we cannot do anything and we do not have anything. We may be at our end, yet the Lord causes the dead to be resurrected. Every time that we keep the Lord’s command, He definitely is performing a great miracle in us.
We should always believe God, because He would never wrong us. If we feel that we have wronged our husband, we should confess our sins to him. If we cannot do it, we have to give ourselves to the Lord. The Lord will absolutely take care of the result. We do not need to be anxious or to doubt anything. The Lord’s grace is wonderful! We are not able to do many things, but after we pray, consecrate ourselves to the Lord, and put ourselves into the Lord’s gracious hands, there will be an indescribable force welling up within us urging us to confess. We may not even utter anything, but our tears will flow down. As this is happening, we will not feel ashamed at all. We will only feel that we are filled with God and that we are full of strength. Perhaps for this reason the person that we are confessing to may be saved.
All the commandments of the New Testament are the same as the laws of the Old Testament—they are God’s demand on man, requiring man to do something. God’s demands in the New Testament, however, are not meant to be fulfilled by man alone but are meant to be fulfilled by God Himself. How can we ask a patient with tuberculosis to walk to Kaohsiung? If he wants to go to Kaohsiung, we have to let him fly or at least go by train. We should not allow him to exert any energy. Today many children of God do not understand that God’s New Testament commandments and grace are altogether not a matter of our ability, but a matter of our willingness. If we are willing, we will bring all our inability and incapability to God. As long as we are willing, God is able. When we place ourselves into the hands of God, He will have a way to perform “signs and wonders” in us.
If we find it burdensome to confess our sins, to deal with our sins and conscience, and to consecrate ourselves to the Lord, we should not lose heart. In the New Testament, as long as we are willing to obey God’s demand and put ourselves in the hands of God, God will enable us in the midst of our inability. Then we will be able to see God’s presence, God’s grace, and God’s eternal glory.