as the learned (learner, a disciple).  The Lord God hath opened mine

ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back' (Isa. 50:4,5).

This passage, like Psalm 40, is Messianic, setting forth the true

Servant of the Lord.  To be able to speak, the servant must hear.  To hear,

he needs to be awakened, and his ear to be opened.  If we covet that most

gracious of ministries 'to be able to speak a word in season to him that is

weary', book learning will not avail; the ear must be bored, anointed and

awakened, for we can only speak as we hear, if we are not to speak vain words

out of our own hearts.

The Opened Eye

The second symbol of service before us is the eye:

'Deal bountifully with Thy servant, that I may live, and keep Thy Word.

Open Thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law'

(Psa. 119:17,18).

'Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity' (Psa. 119:37).

'Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not Thy law'

(Psa. 119:136).

'Mine eyes prevent the night watches, that I might meditate in Thy

Word' (Psa. 119:148).

'As the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters' (Psa.

What a variety of uses the eye of the servant has.  First he watches for the

signal of his master that he may render prompt obedience.  Then he desires to

behold the wondrous things hidden in the Word, and at the same time prays

that he may have his eyes turned away from vanity.  His eyes, too, shed

tears, because men do not keep the Word, and often cut short the hours of

sleep that the Word of God may be better understood.

Coming to the New Testament, we learn the value of the 'single eye'

(Matt. 6:22), the relative importance of the 'mote' and the 'beam' (Matt. 7:3

-5), a lesson none can learn too well.  To the church of the Laodiceans the

Lord speaks of the anointed eye (Rev. 3:18), which makes us think of the

anointed ear.  Service must not be so construed in terms of activity, of

business, of doing, that it leaves no time for hearing and for seeing.

Service that is not regulated by the anointed ear and the anointed eye may be

busy but unblessed.

The first disciples called by the Lord were fishers:

'And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon

called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for

they were fishers.  And he saith unto them, Follow Me, and I will make

you fishers of men.  And they straightway left their nets, and followed

Him.  And going on from thence, He saw other two brethren, James the

son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their

father, mending their nets; and He called them.  And they immediately

left the ship and their father, and followed Him' (Matt. 4:18 -22).

In this passage we have two of the symbols that we are to consider: the

'fisher' and the 'follower'.  The Lord found these men 'by the sea', where

one would expect to find men of their calling.  He did not look for them in