That’s What You Say!

That’s What You Say!

People have their problems, and when you try to explain God’s will to someone who is having a difficult time, you usually are met with these words: “That’s what you say,” or, “That’s easy enough for you to say!” It can be a prosperous man who is trying to explain something to a poor man, or someone with time on his hands to someone who is buried in work, or someone who is well to someone who is sick, or someone who is not in any obvious difficulty trying to explain things to someone who is in tribulations. All of them usually are met with: “That’s what you say,” or, “That’s easy enough for you to say.” What does a person who responds like this actually think? Well, the poor person thinks about the rich man, “He has enough money and can do as he wants,” or the ailing person about the healthy person, “He can do as he wants,” etc. Now you are going to see how wrong the person is who thinks like that. Is it actually our business to do what we want or to live for ourselves? Listen to what Paul writes: “For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding . . . .” Col. 1:9.

Our business is to be filled with the knowledge of God’s will. Do you think it is easier for the one than for the other? The rich man can live more easily according to his lusts than the poor man, but do you think it is easier for him to do God’s will when it concerns his money than it is for the poor man? If you look at it from a human perspective, don’t you think it is more difficult? Doesn’t Jesus also say that it is more difficult for a rich man to enter into God’s kingdom? The poor man knows that it is God’s will for him to pay his debts; and once he has paid his rent, the merchant, the tailor, and the shoemaker, he has nothing left; so it is no problem for him. However, the rich man, once he has paid all his debts has a fair amount of money left over which he has to use properly. I believe that knowing God’s will in this area will cause him no small amount of suffering. The same thing applies to the healthy person when it comes to presenting his body in the ministry of the Lord and being the servant and slave of all.

There is nothing greater than being in God’s will. When you are in God’s will your circumstances according to the flesh don’t mean anything, whether you are rich or poor, healthy or sick, talented or not. The important thing is that the individual knows God’s will for himself with all spiritual wisdom and understanding in his personal circumstances.

We can see the disastrous consequences of our first parents coming out of the fear of God. By way of contrast, we notice the great blessing an individual enters into by doing God’s will, regardless of who he is. It costs our self-will. This is where the cross is equally great for all of us. Therefore we read that the same sufferings are experienced by the brotherhood in the world. 1 Pet. 5:9. Those who do God’s will are Jesus’ brothers and our brothers. Mark 3:34-35. No one has itany easier than anyone else; all of us have to enter into death with our self-life. Don’t let Satan deceive you, but resist him steadfast in the faith.

Paul writes further in Colossians 1:12: “Giving thanks to the Father [with joy] who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.”

It is not only a matter of inheriting, but we must also be qualified to inherit. Let us take the example of a farmer who is to leave his farm to one of his sons. One of them toils and labors along in everything on the farm, whereas the other son takes it easy and is lazy. Perhaps the one who toils has often said to the lazy one, “Go ahead, take it easy; you can do as you want.” However, who do you think finds it easy to take charge of the inheritance? I don’t believe that there is a way for the lazy son to take charge of the inheritance, because he is not qualified to do so. However, the other son will inherit everything because he has learned to know his father’s will in everything.

If we are brothers, then we are also heirs, but only if we suffer with Him. Rom. 8:14-17. We are not qualified to inherit unless we learn to know God’s will for us. We gain our qualification in the very circumstances in which we are, for those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.

It is written about a new heaven and a new earth and about those who are going to be God’s people on this new earth; but “He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be by My son.” Rev. 21:1-7.

Therefore, we must refrain from all indulgence, pride of life, and gain according to the flesh and with joy thank the Father who qualifies us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.