God's Servant Must Not Strive
He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. (Isaiah 42:2)
He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets. (Matthew 12:19)
The meaning here is not that Christ never raises His voice because we know from the record that He did:
And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. (John 11:43)
In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. (John 7:37)
The concept of not striving or crying has to do with the gentle, kindly ways of the Servant of the Lord and with the enormous authority and power of the Word of God spoken by the Servant. The power of the Holy Spirit performs the work if we are in the will of God and are announcing the Word of God that the Spirit of God is directing toward the specific occasion.
We are not to "smite the rock" but merely to speak to it (Numbers 20:8). The Servant of the Lord is a prophet. He prophesies according to the burden of the Spirit of the Lord. When we behold the "valley of dry bones" we do not rush forth and attempt to make something of the bones by sticking them together. We "prophesy to these bones" (Ezekiel 37:4).
The concept of not striving but rather speaking the Lord's Word often is ignored. Each Christian church organization sets out to build the Kingdom of God by its own efforts. The result has been the employment of every kind of human force available, ranging from begging for money to the torture of heretics.
To the present hour the great whore, Babylon (man-directed Christianity) stands in the marketplace and heralds the things of God, offering them for a price. "Money, money, money," she cries. "Give me your money and I will sing and dance for you. I will give you the graces of God."
Soon the true Bride of the Lamb will depart from the whore, the religious enterprises, and will embrace Him who comes skipping on the mountains of spices.
The work of the Kingdom of God is accomplished by means of the wisdom and power of the Spirit of God, not by the ambition and striving of the will and flesh of men.
And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will. (II Timothy 2:24-26)
We Christians are not to be constructing the Kingdom of God in our own strength. Our task is to gently teach all people, waiting patiently for them to cease opposing themselves so God may enable them to recover themselves out of the snare of the devil. If we will do our part God will do His part, and many souls will be turned to righteousness according to the will of God.
If anything permanent and of value in the Kingdom is to be accomplished the Lord Himself must be working with us, confirming His Word with signs following.
Nothing built by adamic wisdom and energy will endure in the Kingdom of God.
Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. (Psalms 127:1)
Every man's work shall be made for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. (I Corinthians 3:13)
How much of the work of the Church of Christ has been put together by man and how much is of God? We shall know in the Day of the Lord because the works of men will perish. What has been wrought in God will abide eternally (I John 2:17).
Those of us who feel the desire in our heart to accomplish the works of the Kingdom of God have to learn this great lesson: "the Servant of the Lord must not strive." We must learn to wait for the Lord. We must follow Him in all things, doing as He does, speaking as He speaks, walking as He walks.
To commit every aspect of our life to God requires faith and experience. We must labor to enter the rest of abiding in Christ. Our reward is that "as he is, so are we in the world."
The Spirit of God performs the work of the Kingdom of God. Sometimes we who are laborers in the Kingdom must work hard, extending and overextending ourselves as necessary. But when we are moving in the Spirit of God there is renewal.
The "water comes out of the jawbone" (Judges 15:19). God raises us from the dead, as it were. We live and work in His strength. We renew our failing mortal strength from His eternal strength. We are given the "hidden manna."
We never attempt to force the will of God on anyone nor do we run ahead of God. We do not argue, fret, or become upset when matters are not proceeding as quickly as we wish or in the manner we think they should.
We do not "try" to bear witness. Our efforts are to be directed toward serving the Lord to the best of our ability. The witness comes as an indirect result of our serving the Lord. To try to bear witness in the conventional sense is just one more of the fruitless duties put on the believers by men who are seeking their own glory, not the Glory of God. It often is an attempt to proselyte, not to bear witness.
Noah, Abraham, and Job did not "try" to bear witness of God. But because of their trust in God they are ranked among the eternal witnesses of God. The same is to be true of us.
We are the Lord's ambassadors and we are to go before Him announcing His coming as He directs and empowers us to do so. We declare the will of the Lord with the confidence that springs from the certain knowledge that He who has called us and is directing us is the Lord and Master of all men and every situation. He possesses all authority and power in Heaven and on the earth.