Faithful in the Hidden Life

“The Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple.” Malachi 3:1. How will He find us then? He will find us in exactly the same state in which we were in the many small trials. It is folly to hope for a good meeting with the Lord if we know that we have not been faithful in the hidden life. What will be is nothing but the fruit of what has been (Ecclesiastes 1:9), and God makes man to find a reward according to his way. Job 34:11. Joshua received this exalted calling on the basis of his former life when God said to him, “Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them—the children of Israel.” Joshua 1:2. He had faithfully served Moses from his youth and had followed the Lord. Numbers 11:28 and 32:12.

Now everything is developing at a furious pace: the evil, so it can mature for judgment, and the good, so it can be separated as being precious. Before we even suspect it, the Lord’s commandment can come to us, “Make yourself ready now!” How will He find you? Are you redeemed from everything and everyone? According to the time, have you become an instructor in the fear of God? Will He find you able—as He did Joshua—to fill the place of one of His intimate ser­vants? Blessed is every young person, each man and woman, whom the Lord finds in such a state when He comes to His temple. This is how God will find us if we are faithful in little things; but if we have been unfaithful in the hidden life we will not receive authority over anything greater. Luke 19:17.