5. The Will
5. The Will
If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land.—Isa 1:19
Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy flower.—Psa 110:3
The one question which the Lord Jesus puts to every one of us, is that which He put, beside Bethesda’s pool, to the sufferer who wistfully scanned His face for help: “Wilt thou be made whole?” The whole question turns on the attitude of the will. And it is for lack of realizing this, that many grope for years in darkness, who might otherwise walk in the light of life.
There are some who lay the chief stress on Right Thinking. They demand that the mind should have a clear apprehension of the entire system of Christian truth. Every i must have its dot; every t must be strictly crossed. Each doctrine must receive its just place in the homage of the soul; and there must be no uncertainty in the pronunciation of the test-words of the Church. Then, they argue, that the character and experience will necessarily be right and blessed.
But, in practice, it is not so. It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of clear and accurate conceptions of truth. For what a man believes, that he is. At the same time, experience and observation prove beyond a doubt, that to think right is not enough to produce the fruits of the Spirit, or the blessedness of the Beatitudes. Many babes and sucklings in knowledge, whose notions of truth, through no fault of their own, are hazy and partial, have entered the kingdom of heaven; the doors of which are closed against the wise and prudent who have no other claim for entrance than that they could pass muster in the strictest theological examination.
Others lay the chief stress on Right Feeling. Their test of rightness is joyousness. When they feel bright and happy, and their heart sings—and the azure blue, unflecked by cloud, canopies their path, they can sit in the heavenlies, and take their place among their peers. But when their glad emotions expend themselves as summer brooks; and the birds cease their strains; and the sky is overcast; they begin to question even their acceptance.
Surely feeling is too unsatisfactory for any of us to build upon it for peace or power. Choose rather the shifting quick-sands as a foundation for your house! We need something more reliable than an experience, which may be disturbed by an east wind, a cloudy day, or a fit of indigestion.
The true basis of religion is in Right-willing. And the reason for this is clear. We are not what we know. We are not what, in some special moment, we feel. We are what we will. We must bore down beneath the alluvial deposits of emotion, and the formation of the intellect, to the granite of the will! There, and there only, can we find a stable basis on which to build the structure of a blessed or useful life; because the will is the true expression of ourselves.
We admit this in daily life. We judge men, not by their intellectual capacity, not by the sensibilities that quiver beneath the passing breath, as the chords of an Æolian lyre; not by exceptional and special deeds: but by their will—which may be called the resolve and intention of the soul, expressing itself in the decisions and actions of the life.
We do not blame the maniac who seeks to fire a cathedral: we simply confine him; his will was impaired. But we condemn the man who clearly meant to take his brother’s life, though the deed itself was frustrated; his will was murder. And what we are with respect to one another, that we are also with respect to the Almighty God. His one complaint against us is not that we are dull and stupid; or that we do not feel more deeply; or that we are not swifter and stronger in our obedience—but that we are not willing. “Ye will not come unto Me, that ye might have life.” “If any man will come after Me.” “I would... but ye would not.” “If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land.”
We need not now touch that mysterious province, hidden from mortal ken, where the human will is influenced by the Divine will. Doubtless, there are avenues by which the will of God reaches us, and ‘touches us, of which we know nothing. And there are numberless methods by which God’s will can impress itself on ours without violating the individuality of our willinghood. It is enough to know that He does work in us to will and to do of His own good pleasure. And it is certain that we cannot will aright except He prompt us. More than this we do not know, and cannot say. We cannot but think, haw-ever, that no soul of man is born outside the range of the working of that loving will, which is peace on earth and good will to men. Alas, that it is so often resisted, even unto death!
Now let us turn to the practical bearing of this great truth, that our primary concern must ever be with our WILL. And we may sum up all we have to say in this one sentence: Put your will on God’s side in everything, and leave to Him the responsibility of fulfilling in you, and through you, “ all the good pleasure of His goodness, and the work of faith with power; that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in Him, according to the grace of our God, and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Thes 1:11-12)
On the Threshold of Salvation.
How many there are around us like the impotent man of Bethesda! They are waiting for healing with eager desire. To get it they linger for years in the porches of Mercy’s House. They wistfully see the gladness with which many go healed away. They hope that their turn will come at last.
But they are waiting for the wrong thing—for some mysterious troubling of the waters, rather than for the Healer. For a ceremony, and not for Christ. For an angel, and not for the Saviour. For the help of men to put them into salvation, or to their own lame efforts to shuffle into the pool of healing. They are always trying to get more correct conceptions of Christianity, or to work themselves up into a condition of earnest feeling. Oh, if they could only feel more earnestness; or more adequate sorrow for sin; or more assurance of faith! They wait year after year for some angel to trouble the inner waters of their souls, and send a ripple of saving feeling across them. But the angel comes not. And they wait on till hope almost dies.
To such the Saviour comes. “ Wilt thou be made whole?” He does not send the soul to college to study a creed, however Apostolic. He does not wait till it is fired with ardor or steeped in tears. He cuts right through all sorrowful confessions of deficient faith, utter worthlessness, inability to shed pure tears or think right thoughts. All this is with Him secondary. It must be considered: but presently, not first. His one prime concern is the will. What willest thou? Wilt thou be saved? The question of salvation is a moral one; it hinges on the will.
And if the trembling soul can only look up to Him and say; “ I would, but I cannot, feel; I would, but I cannot, believe; I would, but I cannot, repent”; then with great joy the Shepherd takes the lost sheep upon His shoulders. He says: “ It is enough. I will work in thee all thou lackest. I will enter through the unlatched door of thine heart, laden with gifts. I will cleanse thee from all that grieves Me; and I will produce in thee all those holy things which thou seekest. They are the gifts of God to the recipient spirit through the agency of the Holy Spirit.”
The initial step of salvation is our willingness to be saved. If that is assured, tell Christ so. Look to Him to begin in thee His gracious work. And there is already commenced in thee a transformation, which starts with forgiveness, and ends in perfect conformity to the Son of God, in heaven’s dateless glory.
In our Daily Religious Experience.
We give ourselves to God. Beneath the spell of some stirring appeal, or under the impression of written words, burning as carbon-points of the electric light, we resolve that we will live a more earnest, devoted, and whole-hearted existence. For some few days the momentum carries us on, and we feel happy and satisfied.
But after awhile the blessing we have received seems to expend itself. We are troubled by violent temptation. We lose all pleasure in private prayer. We can get nothing from our Bibles. For some deep and subtle reason, all our feelings are suddenly overcast. The heart, which was like a garden in summer, is as a barren moor, on which clouds brood. At such a time, if we are simply dependent on our feelings, we shall be ready to despair. If, like Peter, we regard the winds and waves, we, like him, must begin to sink; and we shall doubt the reality of the experience of God’s truth and grace, which had given us a real lift heavenwards.
But if, my reader, you have ever learned the side of truth on which we are laying stress, you will have an unbroken confidence, and will feel a handrail ready to your touch, though you cannot see your way through the murky night At such a time look up to Christ and say: “I do not feel as I did; the joy of song and rapture, all is gone: but I am still Thine; I will to be only, always, all for Thee; I desire, in the very centre and heart of my being, to abide in Thee; I long for nothing so much as that Thou shouldest hasten Thy work of conquest within my soul, till every thought and feeling are brought captive to Thine obedience.”
Even if you are conscious of having swerved for a moment from the path of perfect willinghood, by His grace put your will back again on the side of Christ, with tears and confessions, and ask Him to hold it, as a father holds the hand of his child on a slippery day. Forget your feelings. Entrench yourself in your will. Ask, Jesus to purify and sanctify it by His Spirit, so that it may be true to Himself. And believe that He is as eager as you are to still all the rebellion of the soul, and to make you what you wish and WILL, to be, in your best and holiest hours. Your attitude towards Christ is determined, not by your feelings, but by your steadfast desire and “will.”
In sorrow and Trial.
As sons we must endure the rod of chastening, which is “not joyous, but grievous.” The way to the Kingdom lies through Gethsemane, with its deep shadows and its tears, and sweat of blood. All that can abide the fire must be made to pass through the fire.
And when our hour comes we cannot but suffer. We suffer as the little one is torn from our embrace, not realizing henceforth there will be always a child in our home. We suffer, as we have to leave cherished surroundings, and venture, as the eagle’s nestlings, on the untried air. We suffer, as we have to be the means of inflicting pain upon those who love us; at the call of God taking the knife to slay their hopes. We suffer as we see some creeping paralysis slowly cut us off from the avenues of sense and life; shutting us up in a living cell. And let us not begrudge it all, since we learn obedience by the things we suffer; and discover the art of comforting others as we have been comforted.
Yet sometimes how hard it is to be submissive! And here it is that so many mistake. They try to feel submissive and resigned. But they try in vain. They cannot bring themselves to feel, as they know they ought: and so they write hard things against themselves; and go out into the night in a self-imposed exile.
But it would be comparatively easy if they would only begin with the WILL. Will God’s will. Tell Him that you are willing to be made willing to have His will. Bring your will to Him, as a piece of cold iron; and ask Him to renew it, and soften it, and mould it into perfect oneness with His own. Say to Him as Jesus did, “Father, Thy will, not mine, be done!” And when thoughts of rebellion or mistrust surge upwards in your soul, do not lose heart; trust God to deal with them. You cannot master them; but God can. Only be sure that your will is true to Him as the needle is to the pole.
Oh, is not this a sight on which angels love to dwell?—when a human soul, amid its keenest agony, still is able to will the will of God; not swerving from it to the right or to the left; sure it must be good and wise, though all appearances are contrary; and daring to cry out from the midst of its agony, whilst all the nature beside is in revolt, “My God, I trust Thee; I choose Thy will.”
If thus we yield our will to God, in our blindness, not because we feel it pleasant, but because we dare to believe in Him, we shall find that a wonderful change will steal over us, winning over our emotions and feelings to the self-same side; so that we shall come to accept the will of God with our feelings, as well as to will it with our will.
In Regard to Sin.
When temptation besets us, it will sometimes so insinuate itself into our hearts, that we may be at a loss to distinguish the voice of the tempter from that of our own consciousness.
Bunyan tells us, that when the pilgrim was come over against the mouth of the pit, one of the wicked ones got behind him and whisperingly suggested many grievous blasphemies to him, which he verily thought had proceeded from his own mind. This put poor Christian more to it than anything that he had met with before.
We all of us know something of this. Such horrid thoughts! Such vain imaginations! Such vile suggestions! Noisome pestilence, indeed! But it is not ours so long as the will remains steadfast in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Nor can we be held chargeable of sin so long as the spirit cleaves its way through all, tossing the suggestions aside as a ship the foam-crested waves.
Will to be free! Will to walk with God in stainless robes! Will to refuse the tempting bait! Will to deny flesh and to crucify self! Will because God is working in you to will. And you will find that if the will is present with you, the power to perform will also be forthcoming to your faith; and Jesus will make haste to achieve your complete deliverance. Lift up your heads and rejoice: your redemption draweth near.
Yes, and this will come to you—that your will shall become more and more one with the will of God; so much so, that God will give you the keys of His kingdom, saying, “Ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” And in proportion as the will of man is brought into unison and harmony with the will of God, there will be growing peace and growing power. When the will of God is done in the heart, even as it is done in heaven, then the joy of heaven enters it to abide. “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath the heart of man conceived, what God hath prepared for them that love Him.” But these things are unfolded to the man who has given up his will to God; and who has received it back again, magnetized by His will; and who now lives in the citadel of a sanctified and devoted will. For this is the law of the kingdom of the Son of God: “If any man wills to do His will, he shall know.”
Wilt thou be made whole? Christ asks that question of thee, my reader. Is not the Holy Spirit producing in thee a holy willingness? If so, tell thy Saviour so. He wills; wilt thou? If thou dost, then He undertakes to do all the rest; producing in thee health and life, wholeness and everlasting joy.