09/04/2019
Sometimes there is more to an illness than meets the eye. We ask to be healed because we are suffering, but do we consider the greater purpose of the Lord as we pray? The will of God, which is the same will that Jesus conforms too, is paramount to everything in our lives. We come to know God when He reveals Himself to us... or in other words... by His will, and we are healed when it is His will as well. A leper approached Jesus with that understanding, and was healed.
“And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, "If you will, you can make me clean."”
Mark 1:40 ESV
We are much like the leper when we are sick and hurting; we plead with Jesus for healing and relief from our suffering, but do we do so with the full understanding that God’s Will is at play here, and that Jesus always conforms to that will? In our verse the leper knew the answer might be “no” when he asked to be healed; that is why he said “IF you will”. In prayer, like in every aspect of His life, Jesus remained in the will of God...
“Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.”
John 14:10 ESV
Even when His death was imminent He asked first to be in God’s Will; listen to Him pray in this well known, and quoted, verse...
“saying, "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done."”
Luke 22:42 ESV
When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, how did he tell them to begin their prayers? He taught them to pray in the will of God...
“Pray then like this: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
Matthew 6:9-10 ESV
Our God is Love, and He is Good. We know that He will ultimately work all things together for good, but which of us understands that we might have to suffer as Christ did, or lay down our lives as He did, in order that we should remain within God’s will? How many of us are truly willing to pick up our cross and follow after Jesus into the heart of God’s will for us... or stand faithfully by and watch as a loved one goes through such suffering and death? Are we able to do this without questioning God, or praying through our own tears of blood? Do we pray “take this cup from my hand”, but never reach our submission to God’s will by praying “not my will, but yours, be done?”
“Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”
Matthew 16:24-25 ESV
Many of us live our lives of “faith” pursuing our own will. We come to God with what we feel is best for us, and attempt to bind Him to our desires through legal maneuvering, and by using certain verses to trap him into our will. Are we guilty of this? Do we predicate our faith on God doing our will? Do we threaten God when His will and ours are not the same; telling Him that if He doesn’t heal us, or our loved one, that He is a liar? Do we say that He has broken His Word when we don’t get our way in prayer? Well, we are selfish creatures by nature, and inclined to strike out at God in the midst of our disappointment. We do this when we should be praying that we are shown His will... so that ours can be reconciled with it. Does this sound familiar? Are we guilty of running away from Him to seek shelter elsewhere?
“And I say, "Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest; yes, I would wander far away; I would lodge in the wilderness; Selah I would hurry to find a shelter from the raging wind and tempest."”
Psalms 55:6-8 ESV
Watching Jesus die on the cross was a horrific sight, and most certainly it ripped the hearts of those who loved Him. When we suffer, or watch our loved ones rendered down, it tears our hearts too, but in such moments, more than any others, we need to hold tight to our faith, and know that God is good. The sadness our eyes are seeing, and the pain our hearts are feeling, is not the end; His Will is not bound up on earth. We know only this moment, and this sight, but God sees eternity, and that is how He loves us... there are no bounds to His will, no end to His love, mercy, and goodness. We must believe in things yet unseen, and trust in the perfection of His will.
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
Hebrews 11:1 ESV
God’s Will supersedes Death, and just as there is purpose in His will for the living, there is purpose in dying, and just as there is good in life, there is good that comes from death.
“By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.”
Hebrews 11:4 ESV
God’s will contains goodness and mercy, but the realization of His will often comes through suffering, and death. We are creatures that know only a life in this world, but our faith should allow us to anticipate much more... isn’t that the promise we receive through a suffering, and dying Jesus who shows us the goodness of God’s grace, and the defeat of death? Isn’t this God’s will?
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”
John 5:24 ESV
Prayer:
Father, thank you for your will which is such a mystery to us that it is revealed only in bits and pieces as we make our way through this life by faith. Thank you for your goodness, mercy, and grace, that are at work throughout eternity, and are unbound by what we are able to experience here in the now. Teach us Father to seek your will as we pray, and to yield ourselves to it; even when it means suffering and death. By your mercy give us comfort in the storms we face, and help us in our faith as we trust in your goodness despite our tribulation. Help our eyes to see that just as all lightning doesn’t reach the ground but remains in the sky where it stretches out within the clouds, so your will lights up all of heaven with your goodness, and rules both heaven and earth. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God, who’s will reigns over all of those things created, and uncreated. Praised be your name Father as your hand remains upon us always. Wonderful are you who turns suffering and death into goodness and life everlasting. All glory is yours Lord, because through your Son Jesus you have willed us grace, and looked upon us with mercy. We praise you in life’s storms, and trust your goodness will come to us... even in our times of great tribulation, and hardship. Help us Father in our unbelief, and show us your will so that our prayers will find your heart, and our work be yours.
“I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.”
John 17:4-5 ESV
Rich Forbes