The Secret to the Secret Counsel of Yahweh

What has always intrigued me in the Scriptures has been the deep friendship that a few Bible characters have had with God.

Adam and Eve had the pleasure of “walking with God” in the Garden (Gen. 3:8). This was arguably the closest any human has been to God since then. Adam and Eve had unhindered intimacy with God before the Fall.

Then we have Abraham’s friendship with God. God made a massive promise with him stating that he would make descendants for him that were uncountable (Gen. 12:2). God chose to hide nothing from him (Gen. 18:17), even seemingly conceding His will to the intercession of Abraham for Sodom (See Gen. 18:22-33).

Next, is Moses’ friendship with God which is described uniquely as speaking “face to face, as a man speaks to his friend” (Ex. 33:11). God even revealed His goodness to Him - no one else in the Old Testament was granted this special opportunity! The author of Deuteronomy says, “There has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, none like him for all the signs and the wonders that the LORD sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel” (Deut. 34:10-12). Certainly, Moses was a special guy.

One of my personal favourites is Samuel who, from a young age, grew up in the presence of the Lord (1 Sam. 2:21), was one of the only people in his time to hear God’s voice (1 Sam. 3:1) and had the assurance and presence of the LORD in his life (1 Sam. 3:19).

There is also Elijah who was graciously spared death and was taken up in a flaming chariot into the heavens (2 Kings 2:11). He, too, had very personal and intimate encounters with the Living God (See 1 Kings 19:1-13).

I should not forget to mention David, a “man after God’s own heart” (1 Sam. 13:14), who loved God and the law of God deeply and had a remarkable and extraordinary hatred for sin. Cultivated by his discipline of prayer as we see in the Psalms, David’s close friendship with God allowed him to be honest with God about everything often saying things you would not often hear in the prayers of today's average Christian (See David’s Psalms of lament). His life was definitely marked out by what biblical authors called the “fear of the LORD”.

I do not have the time to talk about other holy and blameless men and women who knew God like this too, let alone the saints that come after Jesus Himself.

But of all the saints in all of history from Adam to Ravi Zacharias, Jesus stands far above them as the One who had the deepest and most intimate relationship with God. How precious and intimate was Jesus with his heavenly Father! Jesus loved spending time with Father God. (I mean, that's what he's been doing since eternity! (John 1:2, 17:5)) I want the relationship with God that Jesus had!

The Secret Counsel of the LORD

There is something special about growing close to someone that you really like or look up to. You keep learning stuff about them and your jaw keeps dropping. Relationships are fun. I’ve gotten the honour of getting close to some legends in my life that I love deeply and look up to in a lot of ways. There is an enjoyment and a sense of meaning that comes from growing close to one of those people.

How much more awesome would it be to cultivate a deep relationship with your Creator and Saviour? Every time I think about this possibility, I get so excited!

This is the verse that has been lodged in my mind for a couple of weeks now. The Psalmist says, “The secret counsel [or friendship] of the LORD is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant” (Ps. 25:14).

In a later Psalm, David teaches us how to "fear the LORD".

Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it (Ps. 34:13-14).

A lot of people say that the fear of the LORD is high respect for God and His glory. Let's just go with that definition for now. The teaching of David seems to fit nicely into that definition. David presents us with a lifestyle that will honour God.

I think if David were to give us a concise definition of the fear of the LORD it would sound something like this: Love deeply what God loves and especially God Himself; hate deeply what God hates.

Jesus would later teach that this means love God and love people deeply; hate all sin deeply.

Let's Bring Tozer into This

I am a huge fan of A.W. Tozer. Through his life and his writings, I have been encouraged and motivated to develop a friendship with God that is very personal. In his hard-hitting and unflinchingly honest book How to be Filled with the Holy Spirit, he asks his readers, Are you sure you want the Holy Spirit? For our purposes, he's asking, Are you sure you want a deep friendship with God?

“No tolerance of evil, no smiling at crooked jokes, no laughing off things that God hates. The Spirit of God, if He takes over, will bring you into opposition to the world just as Jesus was brought into opposition to it” (Tozer, How to Be Filled with the Holy Spirit).

That’s pretty hardcore!

You must be ready to “forsake the world and desire heavenly things” (Tozer, ibid.). To have the same desires as God is to walk with God; to have contrary desires is to walk in the opposite direction. Furthermore, opposition and suffering is part of being friends with God.

So yes, to have a deep and flourishing intimacy with God is amazing and I’m stepping deeper into that as I grow in my faith, but it does come with a cost. Paul makes that very clear in his letter to the Philippians:

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead (Phil. 3:8-11).

We talk a lot about growing in our ‘relationship with God’ in church, but in our 'own matters', when left to our own devices, many of us befriend sins, casting them off as "not all that bad". We commit 'small sins' and think its nothing - 'white lies', silent anger, ignorance of God (and can I go a little extreme and say littering?). Have we grown so numb as to casually discard the matters of which our friend, God, cares about most? Brothers and sisters, this cannot be!!!

Let me challenge you as Tozer and other biblical authors have challenged me. Are you sure you want a relationship with God? "Are you sure that you want your personality to be taken over by One who will expect obedience to the written and living Word (Tozer, ibid.)?"

Your worldly toys need to go. Sin needs to be forsaken. Your flesh needs to be mortified.

Introducing Your New Diet

In John 6 there is an interesting story where Jesus finds himself among a multitude of followers in a synagogue. He is teaching that he is the Bread of Life that comes from heaven. He lands this banger on the crowds: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you” (John 6:53).

(Insert awkward silence cricket audio track here)

Peter nudges Jesus. "Umm, Jesus, why don't you just quickly clarify what that means. I think that was kinda toooo mysterious".

Jesus continues, "Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink" (John 6:54-55).

"That's not what I meant by clarification. I was thinking, maybe you could cut out the metaphors and parable talk and tell them what exactly they need to do to get eternal life".

Jesus expands, "Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me" (John 6:56-57).

"So much for gathering a following," Peter mumbles in disappointment.

Jokes aside, what Jesus presents here is something all people must deeply look into (Yes, even those of you who identify as followers of Jesus). There were two crowds after Jesus preached this “hard message”. One crowd turned back to their own way and one crowd stuck with Jesus. Tozer says, “The crowd that wouldn’t turn back was the crowd that was there when the Holy Ghost came…”.

What a beautiful connection! We must faithfully feed on Jesus' flesh if we want a relationship (let alone a growing relationship) with God. Our diet needs to change. We must sit with Jesus at the dinner table of holiness and share food with him. We must leave the other tables of idolatry and join him in an on-going conversation over his grub, not ours. Bread and wine must become our favourite foods.

My prayer is that all who read this share in Peter's striking words, "...to whom shall we go? You [Jesus] have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God" (John 6:68). Let's realize this, leave our fishing boats behind and follow him.

Practice #5

This practice is for those who want the "secret counsel of the LORD". It is for those who desire to feed on Jesus' flesh and blood. It is for those that want to join the likes of Moses, David and other God-fearing saints. It is for those who want a friendship with God so deep and personal that nothing can shake it.

We posture on our knees and cry out these words: "Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name" (Ps.86:11).

We say "teach me" because we do not know how much it will truly cost. We do not know where it will take us. We do not know the suffering we will have to endure. We do not truly know what it means to eat the flesh of Jesus and drink his blood. We pray "teach me" as humbly and as openly as we know how because we desperately want to know the Way.

Next, we pray "unite my heart to fear your name" because we know that the fear of the LORD is the prerequisite to friendship with God. We consciously confess sin and anything that hinders us from a relationship with Him so that we can finally be on the same page. We beg that the Holy Spirit be forever with us and vocal - to grant us strength in our weakness and passion for the gospel. We ask for a deep love of what God loves and a deep hate of what God hates.

Then, we listen to Jesus as he asks, "Do you love me (John 21:16)?" We look inwardly and analyze our loves. "Lord, examine my heart. Are you my first Love?" Have we broken ties with sin and evil desires? Have we moved from a place of double-mindedness to undivided love for Jesus?

Finally, we obey. We hear Jesus' call, "Follow me" with clear and discerning ears. We know what it will cost and that there is a cross to bear, but we understand that it is a small cost for the great friendship we have in Jesus.

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Next month's (June's) topic is A.W. Tozer! YES!