This article was last updated on the 19th June, 2015 by Patrick Carpen.
Is God’s will made of of iron? If you look at the title above you will notice a question mark at the end: it is a debatable “question”, not an assertion.
In the book of Acts, the apostle Paul writes “do not say to yourselves…I will do this or that…for nothing on earth will be done unless it is the will of God”.
When Jesus taught us how to pray, it included “Thy (God’s) will be done”.
Jesus also told us that not one dove falls to the ground without God’s approval, so how powerful and unbendable really is “God’s iron will”?
God’s will is indeed powerful. If God decrees a thing, you can sure that it will be, unless of course, He changes His mind. And yes, God does change His mind at times.
The bible teaches us that God’s will can be bent, and that God can be reasoned with. In the book of Genesis, when God told Abraham that He will destroy the city for their wickedness, Abraham said “hold on there God…won’t you spare the city if there are some righteous people there?”
God said “OK, if there are 50 righteous people, I will spare the city”.
But Abraham proceeded to negotiate with God, like a businessman negotiates a business deal, until Abraham broke God down to five or ten people. Yes, God now agreed with Abraham to spare the city if there were just five righteous people.
There are many other stories in the bible which illustrate how “negotiable”, “merciful” and “relenting” God can be.
And this brings us to the power of prayer. Because God is so willing to “give ear” to His people who He has created; so willing to listen to their pleas and bargaining, we must never underestimate the power of prayer.
God gives humans free will; but there are some things which are a result of our actions or lack of them which forces God to “do what He has to do”.
It was not God’s will that man should sin in the Garden of Eden. Sin hurts and angers God. So why should He “will” that sin should happen? On the other hand, it was God’s “iron” will that Jesus should die on the cross and redeem us from this sins.
Jesus went into the Garden of Gethsemane and prayed “Father, if it is Thy will, remove this cup from my shoulders; but not My will Lord, Thine”.
If we examine the story of David, when he angered God by coveting Uriah’s wife and later causing Uriah’s death, we will see that God preordained the uprising of David’s beloved son Absalom against him. This was God’s punishment for David’s sin. And indeed, God does not punish sin because God takes pleasure in human suffering. If this were the case, then God Himself not have taken man’s place on the cross of Calvary; but rather, God punishes sin because “God loves righteousness”.
If we carefully examine the stories of the bible, we will see that God’s will is indeed made of iron when it is for our good and benefit. And as David writes “His mercies are from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him…”
Sometimes, if we look back at our lives, we see things happening and we wonder if we really have any control over our lives. The answer is yes. And the bible teaches us that while all things are in God’s power and control, He is a just, righteous and reasonable God. He listens to the voices of his servants. He can be bargained with; He can be pleaded with; and He can be moved by the voice of our supplications.
