John 6.38. “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me”. Jesus knew everything that there was to know about the will of God and we wonder what was his own will that he speaks about here, his own will was so well covered, so veiled for he was only concerned about the will of God. The will of God is a mystery to the world, not many understand what the will of God is and multitudes don’t care and there are those who think they know but they don’t. There are those who do understand and they are concerned what the will of God is, that is contained in his word. Many people read his word but don’t hear him because it is only revealed by his spirit, as we listen and read his word and then we know what his will is for us. What is it that God would have us to do and I have thought of the will of God in steps, there are steps in the will of God. There are degrees that we enter in to, steps that take us deeper into God’s will and this brings a greater depth of joy and peace. The greatest contentment and joy a person can experience is to be deeply rooted in God’s will, doing what he wants us to do. A wonderful thing when it is crystal clear, what God’s will be, when it comes to that and we can understand that if we are pleasing God well, we are pleasing everyone who is worth pleasing.
The first step to enter the will of God is the same for all people, every man and woman, every nationality, every race the same, for God is very fair. God does not set one standard for one race or nationality. There are things that concern what God loves and what God hates and as we listen to the sound of the gospel, we learn this, we learn this side to the will of God and it is the same for all. This is a part of the will of God that God’s servants help us to understand, also they teach things to those who are outside who are seeking and they learn this side of the will of God. Parents also teach their children; this responsibility is theirs of teaching the children this part of the will of God and many children among us understand this part of the will of God. Someone made this remark at convention, a 5-year-old child among God’s people understands more about the will of God than the clergy will ever know. It is because they are listening to the first step into the will of God.
The second step or degree is when we understand that God has a place and a purpose and a plan for every individual life, for every one of you, something that God has for you to do, a place for you to fill. It is a struggle for us to understand what God wants us to do but there are plenty in the Scriptures who knew God’s plan for them. Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Ruth, Esther and then in the NT we have Peter, John and Paul, they all knew that there was something that God wanted them to do that no one else could do. If we don’t fill this place maybe someone else will fill a similar place but will not fill our place, or do our work and if we don’t do it will be left undone. It is quite a struggle to understand what our place is and I was looking back to my own struggle to understand that and maybe in our midst today there are some who are struggling with that.
What does God want from my life, it is a noble struggle and we know because we have been there and we have sat in convention meetings like this and we want to know. No one else can say what place God has for us to fill, others may help us to understand, may help us to be willing but knowing what it is between us and God, He has to show it to us. If we really seek God will in kindness reveal it to us and it is not for us to choose but only to be willing and that is our struggle. To do, to come to the place where we are resigned that whatever is the will of God, we are willing for it. God will reveal to us that there is some place in his family for us, to be in a certain place, in a meeting week by week, a God-given place where he wants us to be. Some have a struggle over their occupation, some over where to live and some are placed in some lonely part and they wonder why am I here. Wherever we are placed, it is a God given place, just where he wants us to be. Some are placed in a rest home, a place not so easy to fill but good to remember, this is my God given place, God has a purpose for me being here and God is anxious that we would show a spirit of contentment and trust and joy.
My own struggle was to know where God wanted me to be and it was not an easy matter, it took over a period of 5 years before I got peace about that. When I was a boy just out of high school and was visiting with my father and asking what a person could do with their life. My father talked about many different careers and he was very understanding and then he would always finish up with these words, of course there is nothing better than the work and I never forgot that. It was not what I wanted to hear but a seed was planted a thought in my mind from a young age and I knew that there were many courses that I could have taken but if I take any other course, I would be missing the best. When my father was on his deathbed, I helped to care for him over a number of months and then on one of the last visits I asked him if he remembered talking to me about these things. He said, yes, I can remember and I always knew it was the best, knew it from the beginning. I knew that I couldn’t do it but I knew that it was the best.
I remember when I finished school, I was in road construction building highways in the mountains and in winter it was very cold, below zero. I had to haul water, working nights and had to sit for an hour while the truck filled with water, then drive long distances and then I thought of life, it was on my mind continually, thoughts of the work. Not wanting to think too much about it but this struggle going on, not whether I should go into the work or not but this struggle to be willing. I felt that everyone should be willing and then it was up to God to choose. Then thought of so many whom were up in years who had served many years in God’s service and then I was young and then for the first time in my life I tried to be fair and because I did that I saw things in a different light. I finally came to the point where I had it settled, that if I knew for sure that this is what God wanted for my life then I’d be willing to go, then I received peace from God. I then put it out of my mind and never thought any more about it for two years. I was called into the army and there saw many things, lives were wasted and it became clear to me what God wanted me to do, and then I had that settled. Again I put things off and said why not wait another year and I did, but then I offered and was willing to go forth and I was given a place but I had this thought: that even tho I am resigned to God’s will and I am willing to do it I know that I will never be happy again, that was my thought.
Then when I was in the work I had the greatest surprise of my life for the 2nd day in the work I was sitting in the home of one of our friends, just waiting for lunch and I thought there is something strange. I am happy to be here, I am content, the first days in the work and I’ve enjoyed it, as I did not think that it would be like that. Six months later my parents came to see me and it was very reassuring to me as they had just been to visit my two brothers and sisters and they had spent time with their families, they had a nice time but they all had their little problems, with children, with finance. They then said it is not hard for us to tell who has the best. I just mention these things that it is not for us to choose but just want to help you to be willing and let God choose, to let him reveal to us what he wants. One remark made by an older brother at convention has been a help to me, he and his companion were working in a country place, they were visiting and using an old truck that was dusty, dirty, rough and hot. He turned to his companion and said, “You are looking at the happiest man in the world, for just knowing that where I am is where God wants me to be and doing what God wants me to do.”
Then there is the third degree or step, this part of being week by week, hour by hour, minute by minute in the place where God wants us to be, this is not so easy. This is when we choose to walk with God and we can accomplish that day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute. The Shunammite woman, she was without child and she then had a child and in the process of time the child died. In the 8th chpt of 2nd Kings we read of the time when Elisha told this woman to go and sojourn for 7 years and she did that and now she was returning to her own land. The king was speaking to Gehazi asking him to tell of all the great things that Elisha had done and as he was telling the king. How he had healed the leprosy of that great man Naaman, how he was asked to dip in Jordan 7 times and he did and was cleansed. He then told how he had restored a dead body to life, I was there and I lay my staff on the child and nothing happened but then Elisha came and he raised the child to life again. Now there she is, in the court and then at that moment the woman was right there in the court to claim her land. This was perfect timing, this was no accident and because of what happened the king restored to her the land, he was so impressed, he restored all her inheritance to her. This could only have been the leading and the direction of God, she kept close enough to God that the very hour, the very minute when the story was told she came in.
The life of Esther also appeals very much to me, Haman had design on God’s people to destroy them and Esther became aware and she put her life at stake and said, If I perish I perish. She asked the king to come to a feast and this was granted, also Haman was asked to come and the King asked her for her petition. She asked for them to come to another feast tomorrow, for in her heart she did not feel that this was the right time. Sometimes we feel like that, something has to be said, but we feel that it is not the right time and it is better not to say it. The king could not sleep and asked for the chronicles to be brought in and he read where Mordecai had exposed a conspiracy against the king, which saved the kings life, and this touched the king deeply. The next day the stage was set, this was the right time, this is it, this wicked Haman was exposed, his purpose to destroy the Jews. This was so close, Esther was sensitive, hour by hour, minute by minute. I long too to know intimately, to have the awareness to understand what God wants me to do, where to go, what to say, dwelling in the centre of God’s will as it brings such joy and peace.
Truth Archive 