God's Will

A couple of weeks ago, my throat became inflamed. One minute I was fine, the next minute I was definitely not. When I was unable to nip it in the bud that night, by morning I was remembering last spring, when the same thing happened, and dragged on for two weeks. I was remembering the fall prior to that, when the same thing happened, and dragged on for three totally miserable weeks. I felt myself caving in, defeated.

Then, in the middle of one sleep-impaired night, I caught myself attempting to bargain with God. Was there something I could trade for being well?

I knew enough to recognize the insanity of what I was doing, but it jolted me, and got my attention. I dug in my mental heels, and stamped my mental foot. Jesus did not die, I reminded myself, so that I could be sick. He died so I could be well, and whole.

It is not God’s will for me to be sick.

Mind you, I was sick. A lot of people are sick. Untold thousands of people have chronic illnesses that make a two-week bout with head congestion seem like a waltz through the park. I know that, you know that, and God knows that. But that is not His will. He does not desire His people to be sick.

There are two other angles that must be considered alongside of this question of God’s will. One is that God uses everything. Sickness is not and never has been His desire for me, but He put it to very good use, and I have come out of the experience stronger and wiser than I was when I went into it.

The other angle—perhaps an even more important one—is that we are not necessarily called to fight against the things and circumstances that are not God’s will. Our enemy is not sickness—or poverty, or taxation, or the government, as the case may be—and our weapons are not drugs or herbs or hard work or letters to our congressmen. It is through our God that we have the victory, and this begins with bringing down every reasoning or imagination that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.

When Israel entered Canaan, their enemy wasn’t the residents of Jericho. All the Israelites had to do was bring their thoughts into subjection to God, and subsequently their actions, as well. God defeated their enemies, and they simply needed to finish them off—again by acts of obedience.

It doesn’t matter what our enemy is: we defeat every enemy in the same way. Through our knowledge of God and of the scriptures, along with His specific words to us, we make a determination of what God’s will is. We submit our thoughts and our actions to Him, knowing that God is all the while using even our enemies for our good.

We have the victory, and sooner or later we’ll see God’s will be done on earth.

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