"Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto The Lord." [Acts 11:23]
There is an interesting aspect of magnets, where if you hold two of them against each other in one way, they cling tightly together; but, if you flip one of the magnets they begin to repel each other. Upon turning one magnet in the opposite direction, and attempting to stick them together as before, there seems to be an invisible and impenetrable forcefield keeping them from sticking fast.
Along with this, there is another peculiar aspect of magnets, and that is, that only one magnet needs to be strong in order to secure a connection. Even the tiniest and weakest magnet will secure a mighty connection, if so be that the other magnet is very strong. But what do these things teach us spiritually? What do they teach us of God?
In our verse for today, Barnabas is said to have exhorted the disciples “that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto The Lord.” The exhortation, “cleave unto The Lord” is a common one to scripture and it is the practice of such which produces life. In Deuteronomy, it is written,
“I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: that thou mayest love The LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey His voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto Him: for He is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which The LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.” [Deut 30:19-20]
Life is closely associated with clinging to The LORD because The LORD is the source of all life. Clinging to The LORD is also shown to us in another manner and in another place, which reveals not just that this habitual practice brings life, but also strength. In Isaiah, The LORD speaks and says,
“But they that wait upon The LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary, and they shall walk, and not faint.” [Isa 40:31]
The word used for “wait upon The LORD” in Isaiah is a word which at its root means to twist or to bind. That is, to wait as a servant waits, being twisted into the will of another. Here, that other person is The LORD. And so, God is telling us that the man who waits upon The LORD, who is twisted into Him and His ways, His will, will receive strength and refreshment. In this light, think of a twine rope which can hold at most five pounds. This represents us. Now, think of a great behemoth rope which anchors ships to the dock and can hold thousands upon thousands of pounds. When that tiny rope is twisted around the big rope, the tiny rope shall not break when the ship tugs, for it is twisted around the larger. It has received the strength of that around which it was twisted. The same is true for the man who waits upon The LORD. This is the clinging to The LORD of which we are being encouraged to pursue: that we would with an intentional mind, tightly cling to The LORD, that we would be stuck unto Him, and thus receiving of His life and His strength.
But what does all this have to do with magnets? In Isaiah, The LORD says, “turn unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.” [Isa 45:22] Those who turn to The LORD in humility, (for as it is written, “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.” [Jam 4:6]), shall experience an attraction to The LORD. Or rather, it is those who are humbly turned to The LORD who shall have an opportunity to be attracted to Him. In contrast, those who are in rebellion and/or disobedience, not being turned to The LORD: whether they are unsaved altogether or believers who have backslidden – they cannot in that state cling to God, for He resists them. Just as the magnet which is turned in the opposite direction, so too the man who is turned away from God is being repelled. But when any man turns to The LORD genuinely, turns to Christ Jesus in truth, then that clinging and attraction can occur. It is as it says in Corinthians, “nevertheless when any man shall turn to The Lord, the vail shall be taken away.” [2 Cor 3:16]
Therefore, let us turn to The Lord; let us, in humility, earnestly cling to Him, let us always have our face turned toward Him, toward the light of Christ and of Zion. May we never turn away from our King, but as a magnet, fiercely cling to Him, knowing assuredly too, that it is not our strength, not our magnetism, but The LORD’s which is keeping us close, for in all things He is our strength and our security. And let us also see that a magnet will not stick unto wood, nor felt, nor any like-material, but only to something which is also magnetic, such as metal, or another magnet. Remembering how it is written, “there is none that seeketh after God,” [Rom 3:11] we are instructed that in order to cling to God and obtain His life and strength, we first need to become something we are not. The natural man cannot cling to God, cannot understand God, nor experience any real, spiritual activity: for he is “dead in sins,” “having no hope, and without God in the world.” [Eph 2:5, 12] Therefore he must, as Jesus says, be “born again” and become “a new creature” in Christ. [Jn 3:3, 2 Cor 5:17] His very nature must be changed, just as an object’s nature must be changed for it to become magnetic.