|
For it is God who is
at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
-Philippians 2:13
It has always perplexed me how we speak
of God as the initiator and creator of all things in the beginning
(Genesis 1:1), yet at the same time make ourselves the initiators of
whether or not He can do anything today. Has God somehow become less
powerful, less informed, less active than He was when He started things?
I know He is much older now than He was 6,000 years ago but He’s still
a pretty durable Creator, wouldn’t you say?
All kidding aside, we talk a lot about
how important it is that we all get together to pray to get God to do
something. We contend that it is only when we turn over every area of
our lives to Him that He will then to do something to affect change in
us. We even insist that it is our responsibility to constantly allow Him
to live His life through us or else He won’t do it. Is God that
dependent upon you and me to carry out His will? If so, then who is in
control and Who is wringing His hands?
Paul makes it crystal clear that God
“works all things after the counsel of His will (Ephesians
1:11). All things have gone, are going, and will go according to His
purpose and His intention (Ephesians 1:9). I for one am glad of that! I
don’t want things going according to my will. Why would I? How could I
possibly know all the factors involved about anything in order to
determine what is best for me or anyone else? He’s God, I’m not,
cased closed.
You may not agree with the way God does
stuff. Peter sure didn’t. When
Jesus announced that He was going to be crucified, Peter just knew that
this plan of nailing His Messiah to a tree was a no win situation and
that he somehow needed to intervene. What Peter didn’t know at the
time was that what appeared to be the working of the enemy was actually
the will of God. Huh?
Did God consult with Peter about how He
should go about redeeming mankind? Was God anxiously awaiting Peter’s
go ahead through prayer, or any other means to take action and through a
cross reconcile the world to Himself? May it never be! God determined
the right time to carry out the demonstration of His righteousness and
to accomplish His will in the manner He wanted it done.
Friend, God does not need your
permission to work in you what He wants to work in you. He is not
nervously or impatiently waiting for you to give Him the go ahead to
impact the way you think and act. And He is not dependent upon the
prayers of large groups of sincere people to carry out what He desires
to accomplish. His will, His purposes, and His intention concerning not
only you, but all things in heaven and on earth will be done! You may
not sense or feel or even believe that He is at work in you or in others
but that does not keep Him from carrying out His plans and purposes.
The benefit that you will derive,
however, in understanding and believing this truth is that you will be
able to rest from your worry that God is expecting you to cause
Him to act on your behalf or anyone else’s. He is not waiting on you
to wake Him up or give Him a shove. God’s got it covered. He’s had
it all handled since before the foundation of the world. He chose you
in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4).
Do you see the arrogance of thinking
that God is on standby until we rub the lamp? He does not work on the
“your wish is my command” system. He works whether you or I wish it,
command it, ask it of Him or not. He not only knows what is best
for you, but how it is best accomplished in you. And there will
come a day when all of us will realize the magnificence of what He has
done and how He did it, all without our permission. You see, Jesus
Christ is Lord, Redeemer, Sanctifier, Reconciler, Savior, Life, and the
Initiator, not responder, of all. May we rejoice in the fact that He is not
waiting on us!
Grace and peace to
you always!
John
|
