The confusion distorting her once calm countenance was evident as she walked through the room. As she came closer it was clear that it wasn't confusion as much as it was an array of feelings in response to an essay she had read. She proceeded to read us this essay of her fellow classmate. The volume of this classmate's opinion was so loud it left our ears ringing. We sat stunned empathizing in our friend's confusion.
This classmate was arguing about being controlled by the Supreme will of God and how it's not out of love for us, but rather out of hate. She brought up the story of Abraham and Isaac (which when people argue against God's will, they mostly bring up this story). She argued God's will by asking the question: why would a loving God ask so much of His followers? It was her argument that Abraham would have been better off not listening to God that day.
What shocked me about this paper was that it acknowledged this human capability outside of God's ability. Trusting in our own ability and saying no to God's will would have saved Abraham a trip up Mount Moriah. No. God works His will amongst us out of love for us. Abraham needed that test of faith. And God never intended to have Abraham sacrifice Isaac for He had great plans for Abraham's family. He always had the other sacrifice in mind because He wasn't really down with child sacrifice. In fact, later in Jeremiah 19:5 when the Israelites start committing child sacrifice, God rebukes it saying He never had any of that in mind.
What does all this mean? Human capability outside of God's ability only leads to success in an earthly sense. Imagine if Abraham trusted in His own ability to have a greater sense of faith. He would have never went up on that mountain and would have never been acknowledged as a man of faith. He would have never learned. He might have considered it success but it would be a success that would easily fade. But we see the opposite displayed in this story. Abraham trusted in God's ability to grant him greater faith, and because of this, he gained an eternal success of faith.
Too many times do I see human ambition and trust in their own ability compete with God rather than submitting to God. We see this in Scripture when the people of the world moved to a plain in Shinar and tried building a tower to reach to the heavens (Genesis 11). This was not in God's will because His people sought to compete with God out of their own ability, so God scattered the people as punishment.
Human ambition and ability can never exceed the boundary of God's will because God's will knows no boundaries. Rather, God's will at work in us only shines light on how our ability far lacks in comparison. We are not capable of anything eternal by ourself.
To those who are living to die, the idea of not being capable is the most discouraging thing they could hear. But for those dying to live, it is the most encouraging. It gives us hope that we can change the world not through our own flawed ability, but rather the limitless ability of God. It makes sense to us by re-establishing the correct order of the universe- that we are small and God is big. In my own life, I feel like all my successes only testify to my weakness as a man and the grace God is so willing to bestow.
There is this extraordinary phenomena that occurs within us that allows us to accomplish anything. You see, Christ dies for us and then lives in us by His Spirit. If we live according to His Spirit, then we can trust that God is enacting His supreme will in us, and by that we have the ability to accomplish great things, right? But rather, we find ourselves saying the same thing as the man in Mark 9:22, who says, 'If you can do anything . . .' You see, there are people who have a distrust of God enacting His supreme will in them that they believe they have no ability. What is the result? Well a couple of verses later in Mark 9:38 the disciples say that they stop another man casting out demons in His name. Therefore, out of their own distrust of God working in them, they stifle the work of those who are trusting in God's will and ability for the betterment of their self and others.
In conclusion, people argue against God's will because they are more trusting in their own ability. But their ability far lacks in comparison to submitting to God's will because it doesn't accomplish anything eternal. Trusting in God's ability and will allows us to accomplish the eternal. And this phenomena of God giving us the ability and enacting His will is at work in us because Christ lives in us. But though He lives in us, we have a distrust of His work in us which only leads to a stifling of ability rather than promoting ability for accomplishing the eternal.
Trust in the fact that Christ lives in us, therefore, we can accomplish anything in submission to His will.
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