A devious heart will be far
from me;
I will not be involved
with evil.
I will destroy anyone
who secretly slanders
his neighbor;
I cannot tolerate anyone
with haughty eyes
or an arrogant heart. …
No one who acts deceitfully
will live in my palace;
no one who tells lies
will remain in my presence.
Every morning I will destroy
all the wicked of the land,
eliminating all evildoers
from the LORD’s city. – Psalm 101:4-8
A walk in the Holy Spirit is not only not committing sin but also not allowing self to abide. The Holy Spirit can manifest His power solely in those who live by Him. Whoever walks by his natural strength cannot expect to witness the mighty realities of the Holy Spirit. We need to be released from everything natural as well as from everything sinful. If we insist in walking according to man – not just the sinful, but the all-inclusive natural man – we reject the rule of the Holy Spirit in our lives. How can He exhibit His power if we are set free from sin and yet continue think as “men”, desire as “men” desire, live and work as “men” do? We are not leaning entirely upon the Holy Spirit of God to work in us. If we genuinely desire the fullness we first must break the all-pervasive influence of the soul. – Excerpt from The Spiritual Man by Watchman Nee (emphasis added)
The quote from Psalm 101 sounds like one of those good old Old Testament theocratic, social conservative rants. The nutroots might read that and think it is exactly the mindset of Mike Huckabee or Alan Keyes or the Mormon hordes threatening the Great Ball of California. Of course, we are learning that it is really the Collectivists of the left who can’t tolerate disagreement or individuality, but that’s not my topic for the day – except maybe indirectly.
Psalm 101 is the song of a righteous king determined to drive out the lying and the deceitful, the wicked and arrogant. OK, what better place to begin such a purging than my own self? I look in the mirror and am reminded of the blues song that says, “I’m built for comfort. I ain’t built for speed.” My “palace” may be a little weather-beaten and rundown these days. I can’t do much with the exterior; it’s keeping the rain out at least. I can still keep up the interior, knocking down the cobwebs and mopping the floors.
My greatest struggle within my own quaint little city of Mansoul is with those denizens who lie and deceive. When Nee talks about the natural man and the self, he is talking about that which is derived from the Real. It is a mistake to take the self seriously. By doing so, destructive illusions and great confusion are wrought in the world. The soul will be a pompous ass, if allowed. The self has a purpose, but it is not to rule. The soul is meant to serve the spirit, not the other way around. The natural usurps power over the real by deceit. Like the king in the Psalm, I need to get up every morning and run those liars out of town.
If I would walk in the Spirit and live in peace, I must embrace truth, and it is sometimes blunt and brutal. I can give deception, or the deceptive self no quarter. Since by the one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive the overflow of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ (Romans 5:17). There is, in Christ, life-giving justification for everyone, power to live the abundant, Spirit-ruled life free from the strangling lies and murderous pride of the natural man.
Here comes the Son.
