Obedience

Written by Andrew Murray

'Jesus said: My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work.' 'John 4:34. 'I have meat to eat that ye know not of.' Jesus had a hidden manna that He received from the Father, and that was the secret of His wonderful power. The nourishment of His life He received from God in heaven. No one could have discovered what it was; but when He tells it to us, it appears so simple that many a one gets puzzled over it. 'My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work.'

Food is the meeting of need, satisfaction. The hunger of Jesus, the yearning of Jesus, extended only to one thing: to please God. Without that He could not rest; in that one thing, He had all He required. And when He found the will of God, He did it, and thereby at once fed His soul with its appropriate food, and was satisfied. Food involves appropriation, the exercise of fellowship. The weak soul, who truly surrenders himself to do the will of God, becomes thereby wonderfully strengthened.

Obedience to God, instead of exhausting the energies, only renews them. The doing of God's will was the food that Jesus had. Food involves quickening and joy. Eating is not only necessary as medicine for strength, but is also in itself something that is acceptable, and imparts pleasure. To observe a feast in the spirit is itself equivalent to food. Obedience to the will of God was Jesus' highest joy.

As One who did the will of God, Jesus became our Saviour (Heb. 10:9, 10). He therefore that trusts in Him, receives Him as the fulfiller of the will of God, and with Him receives also the will of God as his life. Now, then, Jesus has become my meat; and He Himself dwells in me as the power of my life. And now I know the means by which this life must be fed and strengthened within me.

The doing of God's will is my meat. The doing of God's will was for Jesus the bread of heaven; and since I have now received Jesus Himself as my heavenly bread, He teaches me to eat what He Himself ate: He teaches me to do the will of God. That is the meat of my soul. I received the same Spirit that was in Him, and it became truth for me, as for Him. My meat, the highest satisfaction of my soul, fellowship with God, renewal of my energies, an unbroken feast of joy, is 'to do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish His work.' Thus the feast of the Supper is prolonged in the continued life of obedience to the will of God