We Can Change

WHOSOEVER WILL

Fate has a way of challenging faith. It throws us a curve that appears to be leading to a dead end and we assume that God willed it. It is not so, my friends. God wills nothing that causes us pain or trouble. He has assigned all that to our will. We map our destiny and not God. We make choices that hurt us. We follow systems that destroy us. We believe in beings and things that lead nowhere. And we justify our actions by assigning them to some one other than to ourselves. We have sown the seed that is producing our kind of harvest (Galatians 6:7). Because of the results, we have become fatalists.

The purpose of our will should be directed against fatalism. It is up to us to change things, regardless of how insurmountable our handicap may be. I was at the very bottom after my accident and I was counseled to be content with it. I was told to accept my situation as an act of God. Praise God, there were ordinary people, not experts that encouraged me to move on. That is why, fifty-nine years later, I am still here to encourage you to go on against the odds. One outstanding example for me was the Canaanite mother on her knees, against all odds begged Jesus to help her child (Matthew 15:21-28). She had an overwhelming will. Her young daughter had an unbearable mental condition and she did not belong to the people to whom Jesus was sent. She was not asking to be included with the chosen. All she wanted were the crumbs that the children dropped off the table for their doggies. And Jesus granted her request and praised her faith. It was the kind of faith that was backed by her unyielding determination. And the Lord yielded his will to hers.

Another example was a Moabite lady by the name of Ruth. She set her will against Naomi, her mother in law, her Moabite people and the Jewish people she adopted as her own. She too humbled herself and gleaned in the field of a man who could purchase her right to be his wife and amount to some one in Jewish history. The historian left this account, “she gave birth to a son, and they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David” (Ruth 4:13, 17). At about the same time, Hannah, who was childless, wrestled with God in prayer. God yielded to her will and blessed her with Samuel. He became judge, priest and prophet to Israel and instituted the monarchy (I and II Samuel ). Samuel and Moses were the only two mortals that were allowed to stand before God (Jeremiah 15:1). It was all because Hannah willed to be a mother for the Lord. She desired a son that would serve His people. It is an intriguing idea why we need children and mothers like Hannah.

God has not limited our will. We do it to ourselves. The Creator has endowed us with the ability to will. It is not “if God wills,” but “whosoever wills.” God has provided a way for the here and the here after. It is up to us to put our will to use and find it. I have very close relatives in wheelchairs. They are mentally in better positions than I was, when I was disabled. Tragically, they have yet to employ their will. They depend on others, the community and the state to sustain them. They have become members of a system whose wills are controlled by people that believe someone else owes them a living. When will we realize that these individuals enhance themselves and leave us empty? All they give us is just enough to keep them in power and make us believe that it is all for us. I know that when they help me with a dime, then it comes from the Dollar they took from me. Any change that can come depends on our will and not theirs. I did will my way through a system and so can you. It is always about “Whosoever wills.” The question is “What do we will?”