No Desire

By nature there is no one among the children of men who delights in the knowledge of God’s ways. There was such a desire in the state of rectitude. Then man delighted in the law of God. In our deep fall in Adam, we have not lost much, but we have lost everything. We have deprived ourselves of all those gifts wilfully and voluntarily wherewith God had endowed and blessed us.

In regeneration, God’s children receive again that which initially had been imparted to them in Paradise. They receive that again because the Lord has declared, “My desire is toward her.” It has been His will and good pleasure, with retention and glorification of all His virtues in Christ Jesus, to glorify Himself in the salvation of sinners, in their restoration into His blessed fellowship.

Christ has, with His passive and active obedience, acquired that which we have lost. He has received gifts for men. He is the Obtainer but also the Applier of salvation. It is upon the basis of the righteousness of Christ they again receive a desire to fear the Lord and to walk in His ways through the ministration of the Holy Spirit. It is all God’s own work. It flows forth from God and it returns to God. Listen to the poet of Psalm 35, “Let them shout for joy and be glad that favor my righteous cause; yea let them say continually, Let the Lord be magnified which has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.”

Alas, this life is not always so active that God’s people are able to sing like this all the time. At times the harps hang so high, and we often lie so deep in the pool of listlessness, that not even a complaint can come over our lips. At times it may be so low and so downcast.

It is more than fifty-two years ago that at a gathering I heard an aged child of God, who has already rejoiced for many years before the throne, say in his prayer, “Lord Jesus, make Thyself amiable once more.” At that time it sounded rather strange to me, but oh, it is experienced in our own life. In Ecclesiastes 12:1 it is not written in vain nor without reason, “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them.” The evil days are the listless days. It is a great mercy when initially and continually it may be within our soul, “I sat down under His shadow with great delight” (Song of Solomon 2:3). It is a blessing when, regarding our state, a solution is found, and concerning the condition of our life, we may be filled with anxiety. Once more it is all the fruit and result of that which Christ has declared. “I delight to do Thy will, O My God” (Ps. 40:8).

Then there is a desire to obey God’s commandments, a desire to walk in His ways, a desire to practice God’s statutes, a desire to walk in the ways of God’s ordinances, a desire to glorify God, a desire to live a well-pleasing life unto God, a desire to hate sin and to live justly, a desire to follow the Lamb whithersoever it goes, a desire to walk in His footsteps and to be conformed to His image.

Alas, how our time is characterized with the word which I wrote above this discourse—no desire. What a deadly calm there is everywhere. All the earth sitteth still and is still. The wise virgins fell asleep with the foolish (Matt. 25). Verily, the worst conflict is more profitable to God’s people than the least carelessness. Listless times are unprofitable times—times when we condemn ourselves because we cannot condemn ourselves properly. Fearful, because true tearfulness is lacking. No desire to seek God, no desire to know Christ, no desire to search the truth, no desire to go into the inner chamber, no desire to fight against sin. Oh, where shall I end? And is all this in a regenerated heart; all this with a person who has initially received grace? It cannot be described how far that listlessness may extend itself; how far the inward life may sink away. We have instances of it in God’s Word. The person who is a stranger to that life condemns them, places them outside of it, and blots them from the book of converted people, casts stones at them and condemns them. Oh, if those Pharisees could only look deep, deep into the heart of those people for whom they shrug their shoulders, they would soon cease with their wicked judgment! For, however far that true life is hidden, at the bottom of their heart there is a grief and condemnation which is not known to all self-righteous, pious Pharisees. There is a sighing, calling and crying to be delivered out of that state.

No, they do not agree with their state; they walk the earth condemning themselves. They do not agree with this condition. All this is proof there is something different. Death feels nothing, and a hypocrite is satisfied with himself. Oh, they are so pleased with themselves! They only boast with themselves. They always have much and never lack anything. They know no want, no strife, and no condemnation. They have no knowledge of that which David sang in Psalter 389:4:

My failing spirit see
O Lord, to me make haste.
Hide not Thy face from me
Lest bitter death I taste.
O, let the morn return,
Let mercy light my day;
For Thee in faith I yearn,
O guide me in the way.

A hypocrite can help himself, but God’s people must be helped. They become evermore dependent upon the influences of that dear Spirit. Warburton wrote to his son, “My name has been on the beggar’s list for more than fifty years, and now in my old age I have to go down on my knees more often than ever before.”

Yea, it becomes manifest, and it is confirmed, that the Lord has left an afflicted and poor people who shall trust in His Name (Zeph. 3:12). And in that confidence, that childlike, humble confidence, those people are not disappointed. The Lord shall finish that which He has begun unto the day of Jesus Christ. In His own time, He revives those which He has quickened. What a pleasant sensation that is when their soul is animated again, when the service of the Lord becomes an act of love again, when they may once again delight themselves in the Lord and their heart may go out because of His presence! This is when the Lord renews the face of the earth.

Finally, we are convinced and we know that we have nothing of ourselves. When, in Ezekiel 1, the large wheel began to turn, then all the others turned with it. How that does characterize itself in our day by great listlessness! Our heart should be filled with fear when we observe, in general, that everywhere there is no desire to search the truth. Alas, we need not put our head outside of our door. How sad the conditions are in our families! Let us commence with our own heart and home, and then we shall not be surprised that conditions in the visible church are so sad. It is a rare thing if a child would desire to search God’s Word, and if we would find our boys and girls with a book to instruct them in the truth; that they are still interested in the history of God’s Church. How much is known, even outwardly and judgmentally of the fundamental principles of the truth? That is also one of the reasons why the preaching in the church and instructions in the catechism classes have so little acceptance and so little interest.

Our generation hardly concerns itself anymore with the things that are necessary to know unto salvation. May we become the guilty one under all this! Also, in respect to this, the judgment begins at the house of God. Oh, may the Lord grant us a change for the better! Lord, do arise once more and work with Thy Spirit so that we shall not sink away and return to paganism.

God alone can work a change.

Rev. W. C. Lamain (1904-1984) pastored the Netherlands Reformed Congregation of Leiden (1929-1932), Rotterdam-South (1932-1943), Rijssen-Wal (1943-1947), and Grand Rapids, Michigan (1947-1984). Reprinted from 1974 Banner of Truth.

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