Most people accept the fact that God can do
anything. There should be no questioning the matter. How
can the creator of all things ever have an element of His own creation that
boggles Him? The truest statement is this,
“It
remains to be seen what God can not do...”
This is established in even a child’s psyche; that
nothing is too hard for the Almighty God who made everything!
Acceptance of this fact... that God can do all things,
is unanimous; however, there is in the minds of many Christians one lingering
issue which must be addressed in order to walk confidently with God. In order to
have a fulfilling prayer life, we must finally settle this question, “Will He?”
We
are confident that God “Can”, but “Will
He?” In other words, is it His will? Does He “will” to do it? It seems that believing God “Can” do a particular thing for us doesn’t hold
much benefit if we are not yet convinced that He “Will”.
This
question finds its roots in one of the promises made to us that should actually
provide confidence in prayer. 1 John 5:14-15 says,
“If
we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know He hears us,
we know that what ever we ask according to His will, we know we have the
petitions we desired of him...”
We
see in this passage that God clearly promises to oblige any petition we desire
of Him, but we find the promise hinged on the phrase “according to his will”. Immediately, the
root of the doubt presents itself. What is His “Will”? Again... God “Can”, but WILL He? The answer is apparent if we
dig just a little deeper.
The
fact is, the majority of what we ask of God has been seen in the lives of
others. In fact, knowing that God has done what you need from Him for someone
else in the past should add to your confidence about asking. And, since we have
seen Him preform miracles for others, in actuality, we are well aware that God
“Will” do this particular thing that we are asking
of Him... purely by example. Thus, you the question is not necessarily “Will
He do it...?”, but rather “WILL
HE DO IT FOR ME?”.
Put
in those terms, the obvious answer to the question which alludes so many
Christians is a great big YES! He
WILL do it for you... He WILL do it for them... He WILL do it for me... He WILL
do it for US! It IS His
WILL to answer our petition!
How
do we know?
The
reason we know He WILL give us what we desire is because of a small passage of
scripture found in the book of Psalms which says,
“Take delight in the Lord, and HE
WILL GIVE YOU THE DESIRES OF
YOUR HEART. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him and HE
WILL DO THIS..." Psalms
37:4-5
According to verse 4 of this passage, God is fully
prepared to be petitioned concerning the desires of every heart; which means by
proxy that He must already KNOW the desires of our hearts. He must know how we
worry about sick relatives. He must know our turmoil over relationships. He
must know the stress which ways heavy on our hearts due to our job. And God
says He will answer by GIVING US the desires that are in heart;
which He CLEARLY knows all about. Verse 5 gives the final assurance that "HE
WILL DO THIS..." . The King
James verbiage says He will "...bring it to pass".
However, there is a caveat... The bible
specifically states that we must give God our trust AND THEN He will give us the
desires of our heart. This is found in verse 3. Just before the statement
about the desires of our hearts, the bible introduces the preliminary
instruction to, “Trust in the Lord and do good" followed by a charge to, "dwell
in the land and enjoy safe pasture" (KJV uses the phrase "...Be
Fed").
In addition, in this passage, it says to
"Commit your way to the Lord". The word Commit in this context is a form of submission. We
are to submit to God's ways... or submit our attention to His ways. The concept
of submitting to God appears numerous times in the bible; often mentioned within
the marriage language. For example, in the book of Ephesians, Paul says to
husbands and wives of that century,
"Submit to one another out of reverence to Christ..."
Ephesians 5:21
The
bible instructs that we not only trust Him, but SUBMIT to Him and He will GIVE
US the desires of our submitted hearts.
Now... here's a new issue.
Lets
say you are confident that you've learned to trust God and, as far as you're
concerned, you have committed your "Way" to
the Lord; meaning you submit to His "Way" on a
daily basis to the best of your ability... But you haven't seen the desires of
your heart come to fruition in your life. May I offer you some insight as to
why that might be...
If
you're sure you trust God to provide the desires of your heart (meaning, you
aren't going outside of the will of God to get your desires met....) and you as
committed to His way as you know how to be in every area of your life
(understanding that no one but Jesus is perfect... there will occasionally be
failures in your commitment), the only issue remaining may simply be this:
TIMING.
In
this passage where God promises to give us the desires of our heart, there is
one more statement to notice. The very next verse after the passage in Psalms
which we have already discussed says this,
"Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him..." Psalms
37:7
You say you trust God... but how long will you trust
Him? You are committed to His "way"... how long will you stay committed? You
believe He will GIVE you the desires of your heart.... how long will you believe
"HE WILL DO THIS" before you go and get the
desires of your heart some other way? A week? A month? 6 months? 6
years? A decade? How long before you decide that God's promise to "...bring it to pass" just isn't for
you?
The
truth is, you should expect to spend years waiting for what you believe God has
promised you. So many people over decades and centuries of human history have that
testimony. So many people prayed to God and then waited patiently for Him... and
they saw results! Some individuals have seen God move instantly... but for the
vast majority of us, years pass before what we've asked God to do in our life is
done.
However, when it does come to pass, it will be done
in a remarkable way which will make it obvious to the world that the Mighty
Power of our Almighty God did it... and when He does it, He will do it according
to HIS Will!
So, concerning the things that are on your heart
today, these are your instructions: Trust in the Lord and continue to do the good things that God
prepared in advance for you to do (Ephesians 2:10). Next, enjoy the safe pasture provided in the Will of God.
Delight yourself in God... commit to His way.... place His will and His way
above your will and your way. AND THEN, HE
WILL GIVE YOU the desires of your heart. Make your commitment to God today; trust
Him and "HE
WILL DO THIS..."
Amen
