The Will of God

“I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent Me.” — John v. 30.

ifer^/ passionate desire of the heart of the Lord Jesus

PW was to do the Will of God. As He stepped down

JL M into our world, He appropriated David’s words, with

X^^^^^^r a significance that David could never have put into

^U*^ them,” Lo, I come; in the volume of the book it is

^-, written of Me; I delight to do thy will, O my God.”

As often as He asked for daily bread, He prayed that that will

might be done on earth, and doubtless in his own life. And He

clung to it as a handrail down the steep dark staircase by which

He went to his death, saying, as He descended into the gloom,

“O my Father, thy will be done!”

It is evident, though we cannot penetrate the mystery in which the whole subject is enshrouded, that our Lord, as far as his human nature was concerned, had a will, which could be denied and subordinated to the will of his Father. We cannot fathom or explain, but we cannot ignore his repeated references to /it’s own will. It was the perfect e.xpression of his holy, glorious nature; but it was a distinct and special force in the mechanism of his inner life. “I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father “; “I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me”; “Not my will, but thine be done” (John v. 30; vi. 38; Luke xxii. 42). He subordinated his own will to God’s; and so came, as all do who begin by choosing it, to delight in it as altogether lovely.

To do God’s will meant, in the experience of our Great High Priest, obedience to death, even the death of the Cioss; it meant shame and spitting, a breaking heart, a soul exceeding heavy, as laurels bending low under a weight of rain; it meant the cry of forsakenness. But He was ever nerved and sustained by the thought that it was the will of his Father. He did not look at the Fatherhood through the cross; but at the cross through the Fatherhood. Never for one moment did He lose faith in the infinite love which was leading Him through darkness into light, through death to life.

There are many thoughts given us in our Lord’s acceptance of his Father’s will.

I. It is the Sufficient Purpose of Life to do the Will of God. — Among the aims of our Saviour’s life we may enumerate his desire to save the lost; to put away sin; to purchase for Himself a people; to win for Himself a bride; to destroy the works of the devil. But all these were included in the sweep of a wider, grander purpose than any, as the orbits of the planets are included in the march of suns; viz., the subhme aim of doing his Father’s will.

Nor is there anything loftier or more inclusive throughout all worlds than this; for the will of God is the perfect expression of his character, which is infinite love, strength, and wisdom, woven in perfect unity. But do we not often sink below this level, and, missing this high purpose, involve ourselves in disappointment?

Not infrequently do I receive letters from discouraged Christian workers in which they complain sorrowfully of the lack of conversions in their ministry, and questioning whether it would not be better for them to abandon their positions for some other calling. Now, it is right and Christlike to yearn with soul-travail over the lost, and to track them in their wanderings through the wild; and, if there is a cessation of salvation work in our service, it should lead to solemn questionings and searchings of heart. But neither this, nor the ebbing away of people, nor the appearance of failure, is a true indication that we should forsake our post. We cannot no tlTE Mill of (Bab.

explore the Divine purpose, or know the special function which God is fulfilling by our means. The one question for us is, Are we where God would have us be? We may be pawns standing for hours on the same square of the chessboard; or sentries at outpost duty far from the camp: but if it is the will of God for us to be there, it is enough. We can laugh at what the world deems failure; we can exist without the fulfilment of our chosen gauges of success, if only we are in the current of our Father’s will.

The ground is hard; the outlook unpromising; helpers few; success rare as a gleam across the sea on a stormy day. But God has put us where we are f and it is enough, abundantly enough.

We know God’s will by several unmistakeable signs; by the sure impression of his Spirit on our heart; by the teaching of his holy Word; by the unerring indication of the circumstances in which we are placed, and by which we may be bound or tied or nailed to a certain post. We may suffer keenly; heart and flesh may threaten to fail; our life-blood may seem to be ebbing drop by drop from our heart: but, if God shows us no way of escape, and no path of retirement, we must take it as his will that we should keep just where we are. It is his will, and it is enough. His blessed will! His lovely will! The will of our Father! Hush, my heart, there can be no mistake! He has not forgotten thee. And some day it will be a sufficient reward to know that He was satisfied.

n. The Blessed Results of Doing the Will of
God.

(i) It feeds the spirit. — An hour before, the Master had sent his disciples to buy food, and He, too exhausted to accompany them, awaited their return beside the well; but now that they have hastened back. He seems indifferent to the bread they bring. “Hath any man brought Him aught to eat?” No. But He has been fed in doing. “My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish his work” (iv. 34).

So is it ever. Not only in the devout study of the Word, or in attendance on some public ministry, but in doing the will of God, though it may only lead to a wayside talk with a wayfarer, the soul is nourished and fed. Obedience to God’s will can never take the place of communion with Him; but it is a valuable adjunct. Do what lies to your hand, not because you must, but because you discern God’s will in it; and you will discover that to expend is to expand; that to give out is to increase; that to feed crowds is to accumulate baskets of provision; and that to water others is to be watered.

(2) // clears the judgment. — How often are we perplexed about our course! We stand where many roads meet, not sure which to take. We waver and vacillate, and finally run to this friend or the other, or adopt some questionable method of ascertaining our path. Why all this difficulty? Much of it arises from the intrusion of self-will, which deflects our judgment, as the masses of iron on a steamship deflect the needl? from the pole. Our eye is not single, and therefore our body is not full of light. “My judgment,” said our Lord, on the other hand, “is just, because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent Me.”

Our God must have a purpose for each of his children, and in everything. In his mind there must be an ideal of what we should do under all circumstances of daily living. And He is not unwilling to show it to us; it is there held out for us to see; and if we fail to see it, it is probable that there is some obliquity in our vision. Beware of this; search your heart to see what it may be which prevents you from apprehending God’s purpose. It will not be long ere you discover some lurking reluctance to have God’s will done completely; and only when this is dragged to light and judged, will you descry the Star of Bethlehem glimmer out in the morning sky to guide you.

There are cases in which the will is unbiassed by self-will, and yet it seems impossible to discern God’s will: then wie must wait; the lesson is evidently patience, and there is no alternative but to stand still, in spite of all remonstrances to the contrary, till a path is cleft through the mighty waters.

(3) // gives Rest. — What an agony must they suffer whose life seems at the mercy of some cruel fate, or iron destiny, or ii8 tlj£ Mill of (Soi>.

implacable, unalterable law! They beat their breasts against the bars of their cage till they fall panting, dying to the floor. Many an imperturbable face hides a broken heart, or one eaten through with unrest. But as soon as the soul has learnt to recognise God’s will in all the events of life — in the falling of a sparrow to the ground, and of a hair from the head; in what God permits as well as in w Iirit He appoints: in the coming of a Judas to betray, as much as in the advent of an angel to strengthen — then there is rest. The current of the life which had dissipated itself in many side channels settles down to an even and steady flow towards the sea, which draws it to itself.

If you would look up, though with tear-blinded eyes, and recognise that it is your Father’s will for you to be fixed in that difficult position; to be separated from that twin soul; to drink that bitter cup; to be exposed to calumny and hate; to do that uncongenial task; that it is the will of One who loves you infinitely, and is making all things work together for good — then you would find rest to your soul. This was Christ’s way. The doing of the Father’s will was the yoke He took and bore, and has consecrated for ever. So take your side by Him in the long, difficult furrow, yoked with Him. “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of Me,” said He, “for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest to your souls” (Matt. xi. 29).

(4) // is the key to certain knowledge. — We want to know. All around us stretches the great unexplored continent of God’s nature, in which we have appropriated but a few acres of clearing. To know God would surely bring into our lives deeper draughts of that eternal life to drink of which quenches the inner thirst. But how shall we know Him, and how be sure of aught we think we know? There is no hesitation in our Lord’s majestic answer: “If any man will do his will, he shail know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of Myself” (vii. 17).

The cause of much of the ignorance of men is traceable to the will. They are not willing to know or to retain God in their knowledge. But when they renounce their prejudices,

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and put their wills on God’s side, and become as little children, content to be taught, the true knowledge begins to steal into their being, and grows unto the perfect day. Then they no longer need books of evidences or arguments to prove the truth of Christ; they have seen Him for themselves, and know that the Son of God is come, and has given them an understanding, that they may know Him that is true.

In dealing with professed sceptics or seekers, or those who seem unable to believe, it is of the highest importance, therefore, to probe their will, and see if they are holding to anything which is inconsistent with this attitude of entire acquiescence with the will and ways of God; until this is the case, neither conversion nor regeneration is possible.

(5) // introduces to a large family. — OviX Master knew what loneliness was in his family life; for, with the exception of his mother, his nearest refused to believe in Him, What ecstasy, then, must He have felt on that day when, after his friends had endeavoured to stay Hiifl from getting into deeper colHsion with the Jewish leaders, “He stretched forth his hand toward his disciples and said. Whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.”

And is this really the case, that those who live in the will of God may claim the kinship of all in all worlds that Uve for the same? Are there bonds, invisible as air, yet firm as adamant, which bind us for evermore in family ties with all holy souls, and which knit us, above all, to Him, the Royal and Divine Man? Then isolation is impossible. Gulfs are bridged. Barriers are pierced. Space is annihilated. Christ and we may be one; and we may be one also with redeemed spirits, and bright angels, and all great souls that have been, are, and shall be, in so far as we and they participate in the fixed resolve to do or suffer in all things the will of God.

III. An Exhortation to Choose the Will of God. — Refuse it, and it will crush you. Take it grudgingly, and it will chafe you into sores. Withhold from it some portion of your life, and you spoil your obedience in all the rest. But why all this reluctance? The will of God must be infinitely lovely and beautiful, because He is that. To put it away is to put Him away. To refuse it is to refuse Him. Stand out no longer, but yield!

So many make the mistake of trying to like the will of God, or of working themselves up into a state of resignation and stoical indifference. This will never do. Begin, not with it, but with Him. Distastefulness passes out of the will of those we love and trust. Choose Him, and you will come to choose his will. Will his will, and you will come to delight in it. Tell Him that you are willing to be made willing, and leave Him to bring every thought into captivity to Himself.

The will of God may lead into the garden of Gethsemane; but the path to the Easter dawn lies there. There is no other way, and there is no danger of being lost (vi. 39); but the certainty of an ever-deepening sense of blessedness, and serenity, and heaven, the law of whose perfect joy is that strong angels do his will, hearkening unto the vqice of his Word.