Being Nothing

Oh! the joy of having nothing,

Being nothing, seeing nothing

But a living Christ in glory

And being careful for nothing.

Oh! the joy of having nothing,

Being nothing, seeing nothing

But a living Christ in glory

And His interest here on earth!

This hymn by Br. J N Darby I have sung it many times but I never could really relate to it as I still have many things. Sometimes I wonder if anyone could really mean the words of this song. But of late, I began to realize what it means to really be nothing. And I have been graced to begin to understand this hymn and also I am beginning to experience the fact of being nothing.

Actually, we are nothing from the very beginning, more practically so, from birth. As Job declared rightly in Job 1:21 RecVer, And he said, Naked I came out of my mother’s womb, And naked I will return there. Jehovah gives and Jehovah takes away; Blessed be the name of Jehovah. 

The only question is whether we realize we are nothing indeed or not.

Many, including me, have regarded myself as somebody when I am actually nobody and nothing. But it took the grace of the Lord to open my eyes to see who I really am, that I am nothing. Time and again, the Lord uses different people at different times to let me know that I am nothing. It has been a great discovery recently to realize that I am nothing. When I came to this realization I felt a great relief. In fact, this is a salvation too. Because, in truly being nothing we can easily humble ourself and have no opinion or feeling about anything whatsoever, especially in the Lord’s work. 

The main problem with me has been that I think I know something and that I also think I have some experiences of serving the Lord or working things out. This consciousness of "being somebody or something" has been a spiritual disease that gave me all kinds of feelings and opinions about how things ought to be done by me or others in the Lord’s work. Actually, the Lord’s work is the Lord’s, and I should not in any way put my natural hands into it for whatever reason nor give my opinion or feeling into it. What I can do is, I can only destroy, not build, with what I am and what I have. May the Lord preserve me from being a "destroyer" of His work by assuming to be somebody or presuming to know something.

Thank the Lord, in the recent past, the Lord has shown mercy on me and now I am able to realise I am nothing, and I mean it, and that I can do nothing, and that I am nobody for anything. All my natural strength has been drained to come to realise this special truth that I am indeed nothing. If there be any good coming out of my life or my service, it is purely out of the Lord’s mercy and blessing. I dare not count any positive thing I have been experiencing as of anything to do with me. All good things are from the Lord. And if by any chance, something good passes through me, they are altogether because of the Lord’s mercy and grace. For I am nothing. 

How the Lord views me is upto to the Lord, and how others view me is all up to them. But my view about myself is, I am nothing and nobody. As such, I can do nothing on my own. Now, I have been experiencing the joy of being nothing. That said, Christ is my everything!