But doesn’t God always get what He wants?
We’ve got to distinguish between what can appear to be two different “wills” of the All-Powerful. We will call them purpose and desire. His purpose is the will that is unchangeable. We see this kind of will in His plan of redemption for mankind that has been unfolding since the beginning of time. Our Father’s desire is what He would like but will not always get, because he decided to give us the ability to have wills of our own. Both “wills” grow out of the character of God.
Look at the strong words Paul used to describe God’s purpose in establishing the church.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will…” (Eph 1:3-5, Unless otherwise stated: Scripture is taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Used by permission. All rights reserved)
By giving each of us the ability to have a will of our own, God gave up always getting what He wants – in a sense.
“In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory." (Eph 1:11-12)
“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." (2 Pet 3:9)
Look at how these wills met in the Garden of Gethsemane, and how it is an example of what our changeable will should do in coming to terms with God’s purpose and desire for us. Jesus knew His time had come to be beaten and die on the cross for our sins.
“Then they came to a place which was named Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, ‘Sit here while I pray.’ And He took Peter, James, and John with Him, and He began to be troubled and deeply distressed. Then He said to them, ‘My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch.’
He went a little farther, and fell on the ground, and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him. And He said, ‘Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.’" (Mark 14:32-36)
“[Jesus], in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him…” (Heb 5:7-9)
Looking at the fuller picture, these aren’t two different wills, but it’s how it can appear. Our Father decided He wanted to give us the ability to want for ourselves. He knew it wouldn’t always work out the way He’d prefer, but that was according to His plan. Even though it would mean the death of His Son, our Creator gave us the ability to “want” so that we could enjoy a relationship with Him. That is His will.
“God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” (Acts 17:24-31)
Will you give God what He wants?
Van
