What God Wants, God Gets

Understanding Our Role in the Divine Plan and Resting in Its Wisdom

Good Morning,

As we move into the next part of the Lord’s Prayer we are witnessing the call of Christ to be in keen remembrance of the relationship between God and man. It is wrong to ever think that the one who made the Heavens and the Earth is working together with us to accomplish what is on our heart. Those who believe in Jesus have come to understand that they are the workers given the responsibility to be about their Father’s business, not the Father about theirs. We must be at rest in our position as the servant, not the master, and as the Apostle Paul notes the servant should serve in such a way that his master has no reason to chastise him. It is a sweet compliance when what is on our heart coincides with what is on God’s heart. That should be the goal and orientation of every person who loves the Lord. To say, as we will discuss more in a second, His Will Be Done, is a testimony born out of a servant’s heart where our interest seeks only in one thing, and that is what God has revealed in His word. This is our ultimate love each and every day that we breathe oxygen on this planet. Our goal is to return thanks for all that He has done for us. As one of our favorite Bible songs notes, O Lord the high and holy One, I am a servant unto thee, thy servant and thy handmaid’s son; thou hast from bonds delivered me.

Let’s look at the Q/A for today:

Q. 192. What do we pray for in the third petition?

A. In the third petition, (which is, thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven,) acknowledging, that by nature we and all men are not only utterly unable and unwilling to know and do the will of God, but prone to rebel against his word, to repine and murmur against his providence, and wholly inclined to do the will of the flesh, and of the devil; we pray, that God would be his Spirit take away from ourselves and others all blindness, weakness, indisposedness, and perverseness of heart; and by his grace make us able and willing to know, do, and submit to his will in all things, with the like humility, cheerfulness, faithfulness, diligence, zeal, sincerity, and constancy, as the angels do in heaven.

We are to have a singular mindset born out of first looking towards the author of truth and blessing, and second, remembering that this understanding is solely ours by grace alone. The fourth commandment plays a key part in God’s gracious gift towards His covenant children in that His mercy has provided for us a day set apart from all the others that we might be in the presence of the Holy Spirit renewed in our covenant commitment to trust in the plan of the Lord who has ordered our lives in accordance with His glory and our benefit. In John 14 we hear Jesus expound on this message to the disciples. Take a moment and go look at Christ’s response to Judas (not Iscariot) in that we who are united to Him by faith thereby love His law and His word and seek to be found in conformity to it, not for our benefit strictly speaking, but out of the abundance of our thanksgiving for having God as our God, both in this life and the life to come. We do all things out of assurance and delight, especially resting in His will.

Nothing is more difficult in this life than recognizing that fact. When Job’s counselors are attempting to convince Job that he has done something wrong to deserve the trial he is under the man after God’s own heart understands something that they never will, and that is Job was not present when the Lord spoke the world into existence. Job does not feed Leviathan. Even Elihu, who is in his own head the wisest of them all, criticizes Job for his unwillingness to see that God would never discipline His own people or allow their lives to fall into ruin. In Job 34:33 we hear this false helper say, “Should it be according to thy mind?”. For the Christian our answer to such an inquiry is, no, may it never turn out that this is so. The second our activities become born out of our own desire is when we join forces with the evil one to work against the agency of Jehovah, and that is a dangerous place to be.

In the listing of things we must be careful to never do include murmuring against His providence. The most extreme version of this can be found in the example given in the days of Aaron. Therein God has brought judgment upon his sons Nadab and Abihu for their offering of strange fire to the Lord. It is an awful thing to fall into the hands of Jehovah, and they had. Aaron is commanded to not mourn his sons due to their disobedience. That includes the why question. Our first response in tragedy is to lash out at the Lord who made all things and blame Him for the wickedness that has taken place. Whether it be earned as in the example of Aaron’s sons or the men who died when the Tower of Siloam fell, in each case it is not right and good for the people of God’s own choosing to question the purpose He had in such an event. That sounds harsh, but to go back to Job for a second remember his response to the misfortune that befell him? The LORD giveth, the LORD taken away, Blessed be the Name of the LORD. Why is he able to speak in such a way when he has lost everything dear to him?

In closing, the answer is right in front of our face. He may have had children, home, wealth, animals, and all his belongings taken from him, yet what did he not lose? The promise of God to forever be His God. We see the strength of this faith covenant rest when the LORD rewards him at the end of the book. Job does not see his loss as a net positive because he ended up with more than at the beginning. This man after the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit’s own heart is just as content at the end as at the start. The reason for this is not rocket science. It is because his highest good was not himself, or anything around him. His chief end was the glory of God and then to enjoy Him forever and no earthly thing could change that about Job, for his faith was Heaven sent. That is what we pray for when we raise up this petition of the Lord’s Prayer, that in a sense, that we may have Job’s patience in Christ.

Last word:

https://tabletalkmagazine.com/posts/gods-will-and-personal-decision-making/

Blessings in Christ,

Rev. Benjamin Glaser

Pastor, Bethany ARP Church