ISAIAH 55 - 'GOD'S PERFECT WILL'

The first thing I believe God wants me to share as we begin this journey into His word, is about His Will. There is God's Perfect Will, and then there is God's Permissive Will; What is the difference between the two? For most of us that have been walking with God for a while, the answer to this question might seem to come pretty easy; but what difference they may have upon our lives, well that is a story still untold. But for now, let's just address some of the simple things that we already know. First off we must be straight about one thing; As far as God is concerned, He will perfect His Will no matter what. The real difference is in the way we are affected; the way we are brought through to the other side; and the way in which we experience wholeness. Look at it like this; In essence God would say to us: "Do you want to do My Will the easy way, or Do you want to do My Will the hard way; because either way, My Will be done". (That almost sounds like something my mother use to say to me as a kid.) The next thing we must be straight about, is whether or not we can force God's hand to allow us to live outside His Perfect Will; Can we force God's hand to cause a healing that is outside His Perfect Will; and can we force God's hand to adjust His laws outside His Perfect Will. The answer to all of these is yes; however, God will not be moved!!! So, when we do force God's hand to allow, cause or proclaim something that is not His Perfect Will, guess who moves; we do, that's who. We move, outside His perfect will for our lives, and then, into His permissive will for our lives; His ways are perfect, but our ways, well to put it mildly: 'they usually produce bondage, death, destruction, misery, and heartache'; all of which are things that God really does not want us to have to go through. He really does have a more perfect plan, which requires that we put all our hope, all our faith and all our love towards Him. Here are a few illustrations of what I am talking about. The first one is found in 1 Samuel 8: Israel asks for a King; but God wanted them to choose Him as there King, and Him alone. But they wanted to be represented by a King which they could see, to show off to the world; which came with a price of bondage, and being lead to serve other gods. The second one is found 2 Kings 20 & 21: King Hezekiah is sick unto death, and Isaiah comes to him and tells him, "Thus saith the Lord, Set your house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live". Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and pleaded with God for his life; and God healed him and gave him 15 more years to live; which came with a price. After Hezekiah was healed he showed off all the splendor of Judah to the rulers of Babylon; which caused for all of those things to be taken away, and for the future generations to be carried off into captivity. But the most destructive thing which happen during Hezekiah's extra 15 years was Manasseh; the most evil King that ever ruled in Judah; this guy was serious evil. He became King when he was 12 years old, and chapter 21 lists all the things which he did to God's people for 55 years of his reign. In verse 16 it says; "Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; besides his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight of the Lord." (Oh what needless pain we bare!) The third one is one that has effect in us on so many levels, and an illustration of this is found in Matthew 19:3-8. Here we see the Pharisees come to Jesus to tempt him about the law concerning divorce. They said, "Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?" And Jesus answers, "Have you not read, that he which made them all in the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder." To which the Pharisees answered, "Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?" And Jesus said, "Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery." Listen up!!! God hates divorce; He hates it because of what marriage represents in the bonding together of the two, into one. This bonding together of a man and of a woman is the same bonding together of the church and Christ; they become one. God's perfect will is that a man and a woman would be bonded together as one, for ever. Please try to see what is being said here! There is a perfect way, and then there is the hard way; sometimes the hard way may appear to be more glorious, feel better and seem easiest to deal with; but in the long run, it is hard; it is hard on us, our loved ones, and our relationship with God. While I am on the subject, I thought I might make this a little more personal; 'Do I think I can force God to heal my wife?'; yes I think so. If I pleaded hard enough, sought out far enough, and cried out loud enough; I believe God would heal her right now; but is that His Perfect Will? No one on this earth wants my wife healed more than I do; but more than anything else, I want God's Perfect Will for our lives. If someone comes to me and says, "But God doesn't want her to be like that."; or something stupid like, "It is because of sin, demons and the power of darkness that she is being left unhealed."; I will try to be gracious, but I will rebuke them. Because I know this more than anything else; God is doing a work in me and in others that I know, through my wife. Things that I know would never had been performed in my life had things just stayed as usual in my life. Do I ask God to heal my wife? Oh you bet I do, night and day; but more than that I ask Him to continue to have His way in my life and in our marriage. Besides, what if I forced God's hand to heal my wife; and a year from now she dies in a tragic auto accident, taking with her several other people that I love also? What is the glory in that??? "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord." Isaiah 55:8