Surely we agree that God has a will; that his will has a relation to us as members of the race, and to us personally as individuals; that to fulfill his will we must know what it is, so far as it relates to our own actions and our conscious conformity and obedience thereto. Not only is there, therefore, nothing amiss in our inquiring reverently as to the nature of his will, but a moral obligation rests upon us to do so. A true view of the nature of God’s will, of necessity will be in harmony with the facts of the natural and spiritual worlds. Failure to understand the nature of his will, or holding erroneous ideas concerning it, may react and destroy that natural harmony, which should exist between God and man. Such reaction frequently causes persons to hold a wrong attitude toward it. The necessity of a right view of the subject is hardly likely to be exaggerated.

Both the Bible and human experience make it plain that God’s will does not always operate in the same way. There are, three phases of God’s will, or three modes of its operation. These we may characterize as the independent or sovereign, the dependent or conjunctive, and the passive or permissive phases of his will. In each of these phases God holds a distinctly different attitude, and acts in a distinctly different way. We shall briefly consider each of these three phases. The first phase to which we give attention is

God’s Sovereign Will...

We assume the correctness of the idea generally entertained of God that he is supreme over all, that all powers and creatures are subject to him, and are less powerful than his will. There are certain things that God determines. He wills that they be so. With the carrying out of these things he will brook no interference. Having all power, he will carry out, or cause to be carried out what he wills, overcoming or destroying all obstacles and all opposition.

The Scriptures set forth this phase of his will in such language as the following: “The most High [God]…whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation: and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?” (Dan. 4:34-35). “But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased” (Psa. 115:3). “Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places” (Psa. 135:6). These are forceful assertions of the sovereignty of God’s will, and of the fact that none can deter him from, or hinder him in carrying out his sovereign purpose.

We see this illustrated in the natural universe, in the constancy of natural law. Every twinkling star declares it to us. The beams of the rising and setting sun speak eloquently of it. All the processes of orderly nature give us evidence of it. Also we see it manifested in the moral realm, as in God’s choosing Israel to be his own particular people; in his raising up Pharaoh to be king of Egypt, that in him he might manifest his power; in destroying the Canaanites out of the land in order to make room for Israel; and again in the plan of salvation which we are given to understand was formed in God’s mind before the earth was created.

When God has determined anything by his will, nothing can prevent the fulfillment of his determined purpose. “None can stay his hand.” What he determines, he will perform. What he wills he will bring to pass. There is no might, nor power that can stand against him. There is no will that can successfully resist the operation of his sovereign will. He is Lord over all. It is, however, a very serious mistake to suppose, as some have done, that his will has no other method nor works in any other way than in this sovereign, all-compelling way. God does not always work independently. He sometimes voluntarily limits himself, in order to produce certain desirable results. He might always, if he so desired, enforce his will, but he could not thereby produce all the results that he might wish to produce. The consideration of this fact brings us to the second phase of his will... [ End of Part 1 ]

{ TUNE IN---Tomorrow, same cyber channel (Heart Talks)---for the EXCITING consideration of Part 2 =) }

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