About the Will of God

Dear Reader, 

Bear with me as I wait for further instruction and inspiration from God on The Screwtape Letters.

I want to talk about something inspired by the message I heard last Sabbath at church (http://www.gbfsv.org/).  The key verse Pastor Cliff used was James 4:15, which reads: "You ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.'"  This made me reflect on what I know about the will of God.

First, we are to understand that everything is in the will of God.  Nothing happens that isn't allowed by Him.  This can be difficult to believe when we suffer hardship.  We wonder, How can the Lord expect me to endure?  How could He allow this for His precious child?    "We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose," says Romans 8:28.  Even the hardship.  Especially the hardship.  It seems I asked myself for so long, Why do I have to suffer?  How come my family doesn't act like all the other families?  And as I grew older, resentment grew, and I just couldn't figure it out.  Even after I became a Christian, I looked at my friends' lives, at their parents who raised them in the way they should go, and I felt jealousy over the guidance and love they grew up with.  How come they have You and they get to have functional lives, Lord?  I've come to realize now that Jesus saved all of His people in the same way (by dying on the cross in the place of each of us sinners who accept His grace), but we don't all find salvation in the same way.  For some, it takes a lifetime of a willful attitude and sinful action before they see the Truth while lying on their deathbeds.  Murderers find Jesus in prison as they serve their life sentences.  Paul came to know the Lord after actively persecuting those who believed.  For some, it takes a lot of sinning to realize the abounding grace of God.  But for others, it takes the Biblical formula for how to live.  It takes parents who learn the Lord's commands and then teach them diligently to their children (Deuteronomy 6:5-7).  But maybe if I grew up in a Christian home, I wouldn't have the relationship I have with the Lord today.  So I am grateful for God's knowledge of my soul (Romans 8:29), and the blessing of enduring hardship in order to know Him.  Amen.

James 4:15 indicates that we ought to want His will to be done (also refer to Matthew 6:10). This can be tricky.  I am no expert on wanting anyone's will but my own.  My grandma kept a journal for me from the time I was a year-and-a-half old.  Her first entry, dated September 12, 1992, reads: "You...are very strong willed and aggressive.  You very much want your own way...I like to hug you or sing 'Shine Jesus' when you are especially naughty.  Sometimes I just laugh and tell you that someday Jesus will break that strong will of yours.  He certainly delights in making us gentle."  At such an early age, I showed my sinful nature and pride in my own way.  Now, when I seek to fulfill my will, I see that I am just acting like a toddler.  Just in the months since I've been married, God has been working to teach me to honor the will of my husband.  In my women's precept Bible study, we just learned the Greek for the word "submit," or be subject to, in regard to our husbands.  What interested me is that the key is willfulness.  This kind of submission is a developed will of a wife under her husband.  We are to desire to do the will of our husbands!  In the same way, we are meant to long for the implementing of God's will.  Again, we do not wish hardship on our families or ourselves.  But truly longing for the will of God allows us to accept with gratitude these trials ("In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you"-1 Thessalonians 5:18).  

  

Father, I pray that you crucify our selfish desires today.  Help us to long for Your will, knowing that our submission brings glory to you.  Fill us with the truth that abiding by Your will brings us closer to You.  Thank You, Jesus, for your ready forgiveness for when we stumble and long only for what we want.  We praise You for Your grace.  Amen.

As always, may God bless you in everything you do today.

adguglielmo