FAITH DOES THE WILL OF GOD

THURSDAY, TWELFTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Gen 16:1-12,15-16; Ps 106:1-5; Mt 7:21-29

What Divine Will Permits

Without the aid of grace from God, our fallen nature cannot do the will of God. However, that does not mean that God's will is not being done on earth, for nothing happens without God's will. Based on this apparent contradiction, we distinguish between the divine will or plan and his permitted will. God wills the whole creation into existence. Each creature obeys divine will by following its nature, which represents the divine will that brought it into existence and governs its operations. While the nature of each thing is determined, the operations are not, for they depend on the operations of other things which may or may not occur. The interdependency of creatures is one of the beautiful features of the universe and a source of its flaws as a creature. Our wills, as the source of our human operations, are characterised by this indeterminacy. Our wills lost the natural promptitude to obey the word of God at the original fall, which was to guide us to knowledge and perfection like God. Our inability to see the divinity of the word of God prevents us from following the divine will or plan in our lives. The alternative courses of events and operations following this shortfall in our wills are what we describe as the permitted will of God for us and the universe. The permitted will of God for each of us contains alternative and possible routes our lives could follow due to our inability to believe and keep the word of God.

These possible routes contained in the permitted will of God fall short of the glory of God contained in the original divine will or plan for us. We see this play out in the story of Sarai and her maidservant, Hagar. Sarai’s inability to believe the word of God promising them a son made her compel Abram to marry Hagar and get a baby through her. “So, Sarai said to Abram, ‘Listen, now! Since the Lord has kept me from having children, go to my slave-girl. Perhaps I shall get children through her.’ Abram agreed to what Sarai had said.” Abram did not want to do that, but for peace to reign between him and Sarai, God directed him to do as Sarai requested. God permitted Sarai’s decision, which she forced on Abram, but still kept his word to Abram, who believed him. Though God permits alternative courses of action for us, there are dire consequences for deviating from the divine plan or will for us. The consequences of Sarai’s decision to act away from the word of God were numerous and far-reaching for the children of the promise till today. The first consequence of Sarai’s action was the loss of peace in their house. When Hagar conceived, she started disrespecting her mistress. “Then Sarai said to Abram, ‘May this insult to me come home to you! It was I who put my slave-girl into your arms but now she knows that she has conceived, I count for nothing in her eyes. Let the Lord judge between me and you.’” The disturbance would extend to Sarai’s children for all times, as the angel revealed. “A wild-ass of a man he will be, against every man, and every man against him, getting himself to defy all his brothers.”     

The path to peace and eternal glory is the word of God. God made us temples of his sacred word. If the word of God has not taken residence in our hearts, our thoughts, motivations, and operations cannot be right and just. We would never be happy. “They are happy who do what is right, who at all times do what is just.” Jesus teaches that what is good is to do the will of God contained in his words. “It is not those who say to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ who will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the person who does the will of my Father in heaven.” No matter how beneficial our actions are, if they are not in sync with the will of God, they count for nothing at all. God would not reward the use of our spiritual gifts if not guided by his will. “When the day comes, many will say to me, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, cast out demons in your name, work many miracles in your name? Then I shall tell them to their faces: I have never known you; away from me, you evil men!” Hence, sin is disobedience to the divine will or plan as contained in his words. The permitted will of God contains paths digressing from the divine will with their consequences. Thus, the safest way to travel is that of faith in the word of God. “Therefore, everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on rock. Rain came down, floods rose, gales blew and hurled themselves against that house, and it did not fall: it was founded on rock.” We ask for grace to build our lives on the rock that is the word of God.

Let us pray: Grant us, O Lord, great reverence for your holy name and attentiveness to your word, for you never fail to guide and protect those you have established on the firm foundation of your word and love. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.