His Ways!

But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold. My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside. Job 23:10,11 NIV

You may have seen my recent piece where I confessed to overthinking some things, well here is one of those hoary chestnuts which I wrestle with, and have done more recently than in my early faith walk. The fact is, it was never in question, or an issue at any level in church circles until recently. The issue is the free will that God has given us to choose His way, or reject it.

The old patriarch Job had more real problems to contend with than any of us will ever face, and his faith was unwavering in spite of his friends advice, and yes even his wife who told him to ‘curse God and die’ and be done with it. The big lesson to be taken from the life of Job is his full, complete faith in a God he couldn’t see. He had no knowledge of Jesus, or God’s ultimate plan of salvation, but Job believed that his God knew the way Job would take. God didn’t decide what Job should do. The choices were Job’s to make, but it is clear that God knew the way Job would take. There is a vast difference between God knowing our path, and deciding that path for us.

An argument made by some professors and students of theology is this: Since our gift of free will is real, does this mean that God cannot know our decisions until we make them of free will, only then and not before? OR, although in free will, God does not make our decisions, but He, being God, knows what those decisions will be beforehand? The fundamental question at stake is God’s omniscience. Is He really ‘all knowing’? Do you have any thoughts on this?

I am reminded of this verse from Isaiah 55:8,9 (ESV) “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Thy Will be Done

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:10

He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, Thy will be done. Matthew 26:42

The words fall from our lips as we recite the Lord’s Prayer, and we use them as advice to others when a tough decision is needed, but do we mean it? I think we mean well, especially if the situation is not life threatening, and even just one of life’s trivialities.

It’s very different when a friend or loved one’s life is in the balance, hung between earth and heaven, and we fear the worst. What then? I liken it to advice which may be given by a well meaning person who, when faced with a sick friend, says I believe God can heal you, but they have no experience of needed healing in their own life. Maybe they have come to terms with their own illness, or more likely it is easier to transfer their ‘faith words’ to someone else. It might even sound ‘holy’, although I think that word should be ‘hollow’.

My experience confirms that the person most likely to say these words, and mean them, is the one directly facing the serious health issue. I see it harder for the loved ones to say the words, never mind mean them. In one case, there is a resignation that he or she is IN God’s hands and will, and in the other case loved ones don’t want to test the issue. After all, what if it is God’s will to cut the thread that holds your dear one to this world, and you don’t want to have any part in that action?

Jesus knew life as a human being, and yet was sinless. The first verse above is the prayer aimed at guiding the disciples in how they should approach their Father. That, for us, is the easy part and we use it often as an encouragement for others, when we want to help in some way. The second verse is very different. Jesus is dripping blood-sweat as He prays for His execution to pass. He was in agony, but even through the pain and knowledge of the torture that faced Him, the words are recorded, “Thy will be done”. If that prayer had been answered differently by God, we would not have been offered salvation. It was only through the shed blood that we have remission of sins.

Next time you pray for God’s will to be done in your life, or the life of a loved one, bear in mind the depth of the prayer, and be glad that part of Jesus’ prayer was answered to give the best outcome, and He  went through the way of the cross for our salvation. That perfect will for you might mean the loss of a job, a downturn in finances, poor health, or the ultimate cost of losing a dear one to heaven.

There is yet another aspect about God’s will. There may come a time when something good or someone special crosses your path, and humanly, you want this to be His will, and to happen. You may even pray that God makes His will clear, although we are already convinced that this something or someone has to be what God would want for us, but are we prepared to wait for the clear confirmation? Separating God’s will from our own desire is not always easy, so it is essential that we are certain about whose will we follow. God’s pure will for our good, or our own? We must remember that His will is always the best for us, whether we think so at the time or not. After all, Jesus found this prayer difficult, and there is no reason that we would find it easy!