Our Experience of the Golden Lampstand - The Trimming and Beating Work of the Lord


	Our Experience of the Golden Lampstand - The Trimming and Beating Work of the Lord [Editor's Note: This material was spoken during a group presentation, and assumes a basic understanding of the subject. For help with this basic understanding, refer to the Life-Study of Exodus (Witness Lee, Living Stream Ministry, 1987), Vol. 3, messages 92-94 concerning the golden lampstand. This material has not been reviewed by the speaker and is for study purposes only.] Two Experiences of the Lord's Work: Being Trimmed and Being Beaten The golden lampstand is the testimony of the Triune God. For us to be His testimony God must do a work upon us. We must continuously go through two experiences of the Lord's work related to the golden lampstand. The first experience is being trimmed, and the second experience is being beaten. What is the difference between these two experiences? Everything we go through that seems logical is the experience of being trimmed, and everything that seems illogical is the experience of being beaten. Everyone who follows the Lord must have these two sides of the Lord's work. Trimming produces the shining of the lampstand, and beating produces the growth and shaping of the lampstand. In our Christian life there is gold within us, and there are also golden utensils working upon us. This means that God is within us, and God is working upon us. Out of the trimming work of this very God, and out of the beating work from the divine hand, a golden shining lampstand is produced to be His testimony. Being Trimmed: Experiences which are Logical and Reasonable As those who are shining on the lampstand, we often become charred. When we realize that our natural strength is burnt out, when we come to the realization, "I can't do it anymore," that is to be charred. So we need to be trimmed. This is very normal. If we have never had the experience of being trimmed it means that we have never consecrated ourselves. It means that God cannot work with us. The experience of being trimmed is the experience of dealings from God which are logical and reasonable. These trim the wick of the lampstand so that the light may shine brighter. Everything from the Lord that is logical and reasonable is the trimming work. When someone is not trimmed, then they remain charred. Someone who is charred may think that they are giving off light, but actually they are just giving off smoke. Often this means they are giving off doctrines without life. This is why the golden utensils come in to do the trimming. The experience of being trimmed is logical, and is thus easy to handle. The Lord comes in to trim us so that we may give more light. When the Lord trims us He trims with golden utensils. He does not use a natural source. The Lord always trims us with something divine. In the church life the trimming often comes from other brothers. This doesn't mean that we should try to trim others, because many times our trimming work is not golden. If we want to work with a brother we can only exercise with something golden. We must work with something divine. Being Beaten: Experiences which are Illogical and Unreasonable At the same time, not only does the Lord have to trim us, but He also has to beat us. To be beaten is to experience illogical and unreasonable things. What are these experiences for? They are for the Lord to beat us into shape. All of the experiences of being beaten are illogical. That is why those who love the Lord often have the experiences of losing their homes, losing their jobs, having troubles with their car, or getting sick more than they should. This is typical for those who love the Lord, because the Lord desires to take away everything that is impure. We are all superstitious when we first come to the Lord. We think, "I love the Lord, so the Lord will bless me!" We have all kinds of mixed and impure thoughts. So eventually, God has to come in to beat us. From our side this is illogical, but from God's side it is very logical. We think, "I love the Lord, so why do I have to go through all this?" It is because God desires that we would not just be a person with gold, but that we would be a person with gold in a very good shape and with very concrete experiences. What is this shape? The golden lampstand, the shape that bears the Lord's testimony. The lampstand is made of beaten gold. This means that in principle the church life is a beating life. Our spiritual growth doesn't come merely by conferences, trainings, or by studying the Bible. The growth which is for the divine testimony comes by how much we let God beat us. Our whole Christian life is simply a beating life. Every ounce of our gaining of Christ must be beaten into us. This understanding is completely different from the thought of just enjoying the Lord's presence. Without the experience of being beaten there is no shining testimony. When we are preserving ourselves, we won't let the Lord beat us or even touch us. This means that our growth is over as far as the testimony of the Lord is concerned. We are still saved, but because we won't let the Lord touch us, we can never be His testimony. The Stages of Growth of the Lampstand With the golden lampstand there are three stages of growth: the cup, the bulb, and the blossoming. The lampstand grows stage upon stage. The beating hand of the Lord is for us to experience these stages of growth. The cup is shallow, the bulb is full, and the blossoming is glorious. So every time God beats us, it is to bring us through the process of these three stages. In the beginning of our experience something is so shallow. It is just a cup. Then eventually it becomes a bulb - something full. And then finally it blossoms as a flower - how glorious! Then we think, "Praise the Lord, I have really gained some growth!" But the Lord will say, "Are you ready? I am coming to beat you again. Because I love you, I'm going to work on you some more." Even when we experience the blossoming, the Lord will eventually bring us to experience the stages of growth again. God is working on us until we are built up into His testimony. The more we grow, the more the gold is shaped by the beating hand of God. Our Willingness to Receive the Beating Hand of the Lord What we should be the most afraid of is refusing to be treated illogically. It is not enough just to love the Lord. We must both love the Lord and know how to take things from the Lord. Then there will be the real blessing. But if we never pass through this process then we will never grow. We will refuse to be beaten. We will respond to everything we go through with our logic and reasoning, and this will ruin us. For us to grow, we must learn how to take the beating hand of the Lord. Are we willing to be beaten? Are we ready to be treated illogically? How much we can grow, and how much the Lord can use us, is based upon how much we are willing to be beaten. Whoever refuses this kind of unreasonable treatment according to their natural disposition eventually will have very little growth. We should not grow up in the church life as a spoiled child. If we are always being told how good we are then we are being bribed. This is a hard lesson to learn, because people prefer to be bribed. But sometimes we need to be rebuked or to hear a harsh word. We must have the ability to handle the things which are seemingly illogical. We will go through all kinds of things which do not match our logic, but we have to learn to take them from the Lord. Otherwise there will be nothing profound or solid about us. Our realization should always be, "The Lord allowed this to happen. The Lord has allowed and measured everything to me for my growth." It is a sorrowful thing for a brother to be in the church life, yet be untouchable. No matter how much we love the Lord, if we have made it clear that no one can touch us it means that no one can give us the real care, and we will never grow. We will be a lump sum of gold, but not beaten gold. People will know that if they touch us, we will react. If the day comes when the leading brothers are afraid to be honest with us because they know we will be easily offended, then that means our growth is terminated. So this is the first lesson we must learn if we want to grow properly. When we go through illogical things we should say, "Lord, this is Your beating work. This comes from Your beating hand." We must tell the Lord, "Lord, I give myself to You. Work on me with Your hand, that I can be built into Your testimony."