God's will for me
For so many years until now, I thought I understood what the will of God in my life meant until I read the following verse.
You see, we live our lives wanting and desiring things not really knowing if it's God's will and sometimes they are not. Let's be real, it hurts and it hurts a lot when it's not, especially if at the moment you don't see anything wrong in it and you obey God but there is always that small part of you that doesn't really understand why the answer was " no " or it was " yes ".
Let's dive into some stories in the bible and try to figure out this together. Deal?
The Bible is full of stories where God's will seems kind of suspicious, crazy, unbelievable, and maybe even weird or hurtful. If we see the story of Joseph in the book of Genesis from chapters 37 to 50, we see a man who, at a shortage, God's will was revealed to him. His immaturity in sharing his dreams with people who clearly envy him helped him to take "step one" in God's will. You see that phrase " God who is working in you" it's what's happening here in Joseph's life. God had to do work in him in every single step to prepare him for that one day he was going to be in front of Pharaoh. The multi-colored robe Joseph is not the same as the Joseph in the pit, and the Joseph in Potiphar's house is not the same as the Joseph running from sin and being wrongfully accused and the Joseph in jail is not the same as the Joseph in front of Pharaoh.
Joseph had it rough. Rougher than he imagined and saw in his dream. The truth is, that if God showed us the process first and then the end result, 99.9% of us would not want to do it at all. At the end of the day, the Creator knows the creation and He knows how to talk to us and most importantly how to work in us.
Again, no one here is saying that letting God work in us is easy because it's not. The Bible mentions or describes God in different ways for us, simple humans, to try to understand how God works in our lives.
We can see that in the beginning God, the creator created a garden and taught Adam how to take care of it too. With this, we can understand and as Mary Magdalene did, think of God as the gardener in our lives.
If we think of God as the gardener in our lives, we need to trust that he will prune us when we need it.
Give us water when needed, shade, and even transplant us when needed. If He takes care of the lilies in the valley, how much more will he take care of us? We often think that God's will is not really that good just because it's not what we want, the way we want it, and when we want it. When in reality what we are doing is not letting God work in us. The Bible is clear, Do you want to understand God's will? Let Him work in you.
Let's analyze Joseph's life together. God shows him the end result in the very beginning and gives him a dream, something to long and work for. He is first gifted something beautiful by his father, betrayed by his brothers, and sold by them too. Worked as a slave and was almost sexually abused. He was wrongfully accused of it and spent years in prison, where he discovers that not only does he dream but he can also interpret dreams now. This new gift is what got him in front of Pharaoh.
You see everything that happened to Joseph, seems like it was not a good plan and he suffered a lot in the process but he was being refined and worked on, so he would be prepared to be the Governor of Egypt, and all of this to be able to help his family and future nation of Israel during the famine.
The Bible mentions in Jeremiah 29: 11 " For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. This verse is key to understanding why God works on us to want and do his will because the plans He has for us are good.
You see we tend to confuse God's will with "I won't get what I want" but in reality, it is always "You will get more than what you asked for." God is a God of love, He is our Father, our friend, our pastor, and so much more, and this all means that He wants what is best for us.
Just like any parents when teaching their kids to eat veggies and fruits when they are babies, they might not like veggies but it is the parent's job to work in them the desire to eat healthy, so even if the kid doesn't want veggies, parents will find a way to add veggies without the baby knowing. They might not realize it but their bodies are being nurtured and taken care of.
Let us not forget that Jesus himself had to do the will of the Father. He even prayed and asked "Let this cup pass from me" but Jesus knew the Father and continued to pray saying ' Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will."
This is why it's so important to pray and imitate Jesus, that even he would have liked to not die such a horrible death but the will of God the Father made it necessary, and Jesus was given the power to endure all the suffering for our salvation.
God is working in us to want to do his will and have the power to do it, and that's not him being a dictator, it's Him being loving and understanding that we often want and desire things that we shouldn't, or it's the wrong time, or we are not prepared for it and so much more.
The Father has plans that are good, to prosper you, to give you hope and a future but for that He has to work in you, to want that too.
Let's pray together...
Dear Father,
Thank you for being so patient with me. Thank you for always going out of your way so I can understand you a little more every day. Thank you because now I know that you are working on me.
I may not understand today why the answer is no/yes but I know that in the future everything will make sense and I will end up thanking you that the answer was no/yes. Forgive me Lord for thinking you left me alone and didn't see my pain or distress, now I can see that you were right there with me, working on my heart. Keep working on my heart Lord, In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
