Against God’s Will

Be careful what you ask from God. Will He ever answer prayers against His will? He has in the past. But why? Sometimes we are so obstinate, insisting that we know what is best for us and we pray and cry to God to answer our prayers how we want. Or then we say something in a fit of anger that we really don’t mean, but it has grave consequences. God will, on occasion answer prayers against His will to show us that we were wrong. He was right. He does this in the hopes that we will recognize our sin and repent, turning to Him, trusting Him for guidance in the future.

ANCIENT ISRAEL

The Israelites rebelled quite a bit in the wilderness. When they arrived at the borders of Canaan the first time, they hoped soon to enter. It was not God’s will originally that they send out spies. It was the people’s idea and they came to Moses with their idea and he took it to God. “Here it was proposed by the people that spies be sent up to survey the country. The matter was presented before the Lord by Moses, and permission was granted,” PP 387.

Had they trusted in God initially, they would not have worried about what kind of people were occupying Canaan. They would simply have trusted God for their conquest. God said He’d help them possess the land and they should have believed Him. How often our faith wavers because we want to see tangible answers to our prayers before we believe.

The search made by the spies had disastrous results. The people were influenced by the negative report given by the ten spies who did not believe God could deliver them. The whole nation turned against Moses as they did not have faith to believe that God could accomplish what He has promised them when they left Egypt.

“In their rebellion the people had exclaimed, ‘Would God we had died in this wilderness!’ Now this prayer was to be granted. The Lord declared: ‘As ye have spoken in Mine ears, so will I do to you: your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness, and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward.
“But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised.’ ” PP 391

They complained that was it not better for them to have died in the wilderness? God said, ok, you asked for it, so be it, you can die in the wilderness. It was not His original will for them to wander 40 years in the wilderness and then die there.

Shortly after this they decided to go ahead and try to take the nation by their own strength. They did not want to wander forty years in the wilderness after all. They realized it was a rash demand they had made of God, therefore they changed their minds. It was too late then, God had made His decision. Their battle ended in terrible defeat.

How were they to conquer Canaan when the time finally came for the conquest? We have a little more of the story of Ancient Israel in the following paragraph.

“God had made it their privilege and their duty to enter the land at the time of His appointment, but through their wilful neglect that permission had been withdrawn. Satan had gained his object in preventing them from entering Canaan; and now he urged them on to do the very thing, in the face of the divine prohibition, which they had refused to do when God required it. Thus the great deceiver gained the victory by leading them to rebellion the second time. They had distrusted the power of God to work with their efforts in gaining possession of Canaan; yet now they presumed upon their own strength to accomplish the work independent of divine aid. ‘We have sinned against the Lord,’ they cried; ‘we will go up and fight, according to all that the Lord our God commanded us.’ Deuteronomy 1:41. So terribly blinded had they become by transgression. The Lord had never commanded them to ‘go up and fight.’ It was not His purpose that they should gain the land by warfare, but by strict obedience to His commands.” PP 392. But they had said, “we will fight.” It was not according to God’s original will, but they asked for it and God granted their request and they had to fight to obtain Canaan.

THE JEWISH NATION

In the time when Jesus walked on this earth, many of the Pharisees were against Him and plotted to kill Him. It really was unfortunate to see people in God’s church treating Jesus as such. Jesus only meant them well, and here they hated Him with such a passion. They wanted to make sure that there was no connection between Jesus and their nation, so when Jesus was in Pilate’s judgment hall, they made a terrible statement that has been a curse to their entire nation since that time. They certainly were not thinking very well when they made this request.

“Looking upon the smitten Lamb of God, the Jews had cried, ‘His blood be on us, and on our children.’ That awful cry ascended to the throne of God. That sentence, pronounced upon themselves, was written in heaven. That prayer was heard. The blood of the Son of God was upon their children and their children’s children, a perpetual curse.
“Terribly was it realized in the destruction of Jerusalem. Terribly has it been manifested in the condition of the Jewish nation for eighteen hundred years,–a branch severed from the vine, a dead, fruitless branch, to be gathered up and burned. From land to land throughout the world, from century to century, dead, dead in trespasses and sins!

“Terribly will that prayer be fulfilled in the great judgment day. When Christ shall come to the earth again, not as a prisoner surrounded by a rabble will men see Him. They will see Him then as heaven’s King. Christ will come in His own glory, in the glory of His Father, and the glory of the holy angels. Ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands of angels, the beautiful and triumphant sons of God, possessing surpassing loveliness and glory, will escort Him on His way. Then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory, and before Him shall be gathered all nations. Then every eye shall see Him, and they also that pierced Him. In the place of a crown of thorns, He will wear a crown of glory,–a crown within a crown. In place of that old purple kingly robe, He will be clothed in raiment of whitest white, ‘so as no fuller on earth can white them.’ Mark 9:3. ‘And on His vesture and on His thigh a name will be written, King of kings, and Lord of lords.’ Rev. 19:16. Those who mocked and smote Him will be there. The priests and rulers will behold again the scene in the judgment hall. Every circumstance will appear before them, as if written in letters of fire. Then those who prayed, ‘His blood be on us, and on our children,’ will receive the answer to their prayer. Then the whole world will know and understand. They will realize who and what they, poor, feeble, finite beings, have been warring against. In awful agony and horror they will cry to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?’ Rev. 6:16, 17.” DA 739.

SISTER M.

The final example I want to share is the experience of Sister M. That is not her real name, but that is how the letter is addressed in the testimonies. I encourage anyone who has this book available, please read this letter. It is a fascinating letter about the story of the life of Sister M as revealed to Sister White in vision. She not only revealed the life history of Sister M, but also she was given a view into the invisible world. She was shown how God and Satan were working in the life of Sister M. She was a poor sister, but very faithful. She had a difficult life because her husband was violent and an alcoholic. She had a difficult time trying to feed her children. I will now quote some paragraphs from this chapter. It is taken from Testimonies for the Church, Volume 2, p. 268 to 288.

“I saw you struggling with poverty, seeking to support yourself and your children. Many times you knew not what to do; the future looked dark and uncertain. In your distress you cried unto the Lord, and He comforted and helped you, and hopeful rays of light shone around you. How precious was God to you at such times! How sweet His comforting love! You felt that you had a precious treasure laid up in heaven. As you viewed the reward of the afflicted children of God, what a consolation to feel that you could claim Him as your Father!

Your case was, in reality, worse than if you had been widowed. Your heart was agonized by the wicked course pursued by your husband. But his persecutions, his threats and violence, did not lead you to trust in your own wisdom, and forget God. Far from this; you sensibly felt your weakness and that you were incapable of carrying your burdens,
“You suffered opposition and abuse, yet God was your source of strength. While you trusted in Him, He sustained you. In all your trials you were not permitted to be overwhelmed. How often have the heavenly angels strengthened you when desponding, by presenting vividly to your mind passages of Scripture expressing the never-failing love of God, and giving evidence that His loving-kindness changeth not!

“The Lord did not leave you to perish. He frequently raised up friends to aid you when you least expected it. Angels of God ministered unto you, as step by step they led you up the rugged pathway. He did not leave you alone; but His strength was imparted, and you could say: ‘The Lord is my helper.’

“Through all your trials, which have never been fully revealed to others, you have had a never-failing Friend, who has said: ‘I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.’

“O my dear sister, if you could only see, as I have seen, the ways and works of God manifested all through your perplexities and trials in the former part of your experience, when pressed by the hand of poverty, you could never forget Him, but your love would increase, and your zeal to promote His glory be untiring.

“In consequence of your afflictions and peculiar trials, your health failed. The friends of the cause of God were but few, and many of them were poor; and you could see but little to hope for on the right hand or on the left. You looked upon your children and your destitute, helpless condition, and your heart well-nigh fainted.

“Your diseased arm was a great affliction. You had turned to the right and to the left for help. You had consented to have a woman try her boasted skill upon you. This woman was a special agent of Satan. Through her experiments, you nearly lost your life. The poison introduced into your system was sufficient to kill a person of the most robust constitution. Here again God interposed, or your life would have been sacrificed.

“Every means you had resorted to for the recovery of health had failed. Not only your arm, but your entire system, was diseased. Your lungs were affected, and you were fast going down to death. At this time you felt that God alone could deliver. You could do one thing more; you could follow the direction of the apostle in the fifth chapter of James. You there made a covenant with God, that if He would spare your life to minister still to the wants of your children, you would be for the Lord, and Him only would you serve; you would dedicate your life to His glory; you would use your strength to advance His cause and to do good in the earth. Angels recorded the promise there made to God.

“We came to you in your great affliction and claimed the promise of God in your behalf. I was especially shown that God wrought in a wonderful manner, and you were preserved by a miracle of mercy, to be a living monument of His healing power, to testify of His wondrous works to the children of men.

“At the time you felt such a decided change, your captivity was turned, and joy and gladness in the place of doubt and distress filled your heart. The praise of God was in your heart and upon your lips.

“As dark clouds at times enshrouded you, you could not forbear inquiring: ‘O God, hast Thou forsaken me?’ But you were not forsaken, although you could see no way open before you. The Lord would have you trust in His love and mercy amid clouds and darkness, as well as in the sunshine. At times the clouds would part, and beams of light would shine through to strengthen your desponding heart and increase your wavering confidence, and you would again fix your trembling faith upon the sure promises of your heavenly Father.

“As victory was gained by you, and light again shone upon you, you could not find language to express your sincere gratitude to your gracious heavenly Father; and you thought you never again would doubt His love nor distrust His care. You did not seek for ease. You did not consider hard labor a burden if the way would only open that you might care for your children and shield them from the iniquity prevailing in this age of the world. It was the burden of your heart that you might see them turning to the Lord. You pleaded before God for your children with strong cries and tears. Their conversion you so much desired. Sometimes your heart would despond and faint, and you would fear that your prayers would not be answered; then again you would consecrate your children to God afresh, and your yearning heart would lay them anew upon the altar.

“When they went into the army, your prayers followed them. They were wonderfully preserved from harm. They called it good luck; but a mother’s prayers from an anxious, burdened soul, as she felt the peril of her children and the danger of their being cut off in their youth without hope in God, had much to do with their preservation. How many prayers were lodged in heaven that these sons might be preserved to obey God, to devote their lives to His glory! In your anxiety for your children you pleaded with God to return them to you again, and you would seek more earnestly to lead them in the path of holiness. You thought you would labor more faithfully than you had ever done.

“The Lord suffered you to be schooled in adversity and affliction, that you might obtain an experience which would be valuable to yourself and others. In the days of your poverty and trial you loved the Lord, and you loved religious privileges. The nearness of Christ’s coming was your consolation. It was a living hope to you that you would soon find rest from labor, and the end of all your trials.

“To meet with the people of God seemed to you almost like visiting heaven. Obstacles did not deter you. You could suffer weariness and hunger for temporal food, but you could not be deprived of spiritual food. You earnestly sought for the grace of God, and you did not seek in vain. Communion with the people of God was the richest blessing you could enjoy.

“In your Christian experience your soul abhorred vanity, pride, and extravagant show. When you have witnessed the expenditure of means among professed Christians to make a display and to foster pride, your heart and lips have said: ‘Oh, if I only had the means handled by those who are unfaithful in their stewardship, I would feel it one of the greatest privileges to help the needy and to aid in the advancement of the cause of God!’

“You often realized the presence of God while you sought in your humble way to enlighten others in regard to the truth for these last days. You had experienced the truth for yourself. That which you had seen, and heard, and experienced, and testified unto, you knew was no fiction. You delighted to present before others, in private conversation, the wonderful way in which God had led His people

“My attention was called to your desire to possess means. The sentiment of your heart was: ‘Oh, if I only had means, I would not squander it! I would set an example to those who are close and penurious. I would show them the great blessing there is to be received in doing good.’ Your soul abhorred covetousness. As you have seen those who possessed abundance of this world’s goods shut their hearts to the cry of the needy you have said: ‘God will visit them; He will reward them according to their works.’ As you have seen the wealthy walking in their pride, their hearts girt about with selfishness, as with iron bands, you have felt that they were poorer than yourself, although you were in want and suffering. When you have seen these purse-proud men bearing themselves loftily because money has power, you have felt pity for them, and in no case would you have been induced to change places with them. Yet you desired means that you might so use it as to be a rebuke to the covetous. [Was this according to God’s original will?]

“The Lord said to His angel who had hitherto ministered unto you: ‘I have proved her in poverty and affliction, and she has not separated herself from Me, nor rebelled against Me. I will now prove her with prosperity. I will reveal to her a page of the human heart with which she is unacquainted. I will show her that money is the most dangerous foe she has ever met. I will reveal to her the deceitfulness of riches; that they are a snare, even to those who feel that they are secure from selfishness, and proof against exaltation, extravagance, pride, and love of the praise of men.’

“I was then shown that a way was opened for you to improve your condition in life and at length to obtain the means which you had thought you would use with wisdom and to the glory of God. How anxiously did your ministering angel watch the new trial to see how you would stand the test. As means came into your hands, I saw you gradually and almost imperceptibly separating from God. The means entrusted to you were expended for your own convenience, to surround yourself with the good things of this life. I saw the angels looking upon you with yearning sadness, their faces half averted, loath to leave you. Yet their presence was not perceived by you, and your course was pursued without reference to your angel guard.

“The business and cares of your new position claimed your time and attention, and your duty to God was not considered.

“In your prosperity you did not carry out the resolves you had made in adversity. The deceitfulness of riches turned you from your purposes. Cares increased upon you. Your influence became extended. As the afflicted realized relief from suffering, they glorified you, and you learned to love praise from the lips of poor mortals. You were in a popular city, and thought it necessary for the success of your business, as well as to retain your influence, for your surroundings to be somewhat in accordance with your business. But you carried things too far. You were swayed too much by the opinions and judgment of others. You expended means needlessly, only to gratify the lust of the eye and the pride of life. You forgot that you were handling your Lord’s money. When means were expended by you which would only encourage vanity, you did not consider that the recording angel was making a record which you would blush to meet again. Said the angel, pointing to you: ‘You glorified yourself, but did not magnify God.’ You even gloried in the fact that it was in your power to purchase these things.

“A large sum has been expended in needless things which could only answer for show and encourage vanity and pride that will cause you remorse and shame. If you had borne in mind the claims Heaven has upon you and had made a right disposition of the means entrusted to your care, by helping the needy and advancing the cause of present truth, you would have been laying up treasure in heaven and would have been rich toward God. Consider how much means you have invested where no one has been really benefited, no one fed or clothed, and no one helped to see the error of his ways that he might turn to Christ and live.

“Your children were not disciples of Christ. They were in friendship with the world, and their natural hearts desired to be like worldlings. The lust of the eye and the pride of life controlled them and have influenced you to a certain extent. You have sought more earnestly to please and gratify your children than to please and glorify God. You have forgotten the claims of God upon you, and the wants of His cause. Selfishness has led you to expend money in ornaments for the gratification of yourself and your children. You did not think that this money was not yours; that it was only lent you to test and prove you, to see if you would shun the evils you had marked in others. God made you His steward, and when He cometh and reckoneth with His servants, what account can you give of your stewardship?

“Your faith and simple trust in God began to wane as soon as means flowed in upon you. You did not depart from God all at once. Your backsliding was gradual. You ceased the morning and evening devotions because it was not always convenient.

“Means were expended needlessly for show. Over this sin in others you had felt deeply grieved. And while thus using means, you were robbing God. Then the Lord said: ‘I will scatter. I will permit her for a time to walk in the way of her own choosing. I will blind judgment, and remove wisdom. I will show her that her strength is weakness, and her wisdom foolishness. I will humble her, and open her eyes to see how far she has departed from Me. If she will not then turn unto Me with her whole heart, and in all her ways acknowledge Me, My hand shall scatter, and the pride of the mother and of the children shall be brought down, and poverty shall again be their lot. My name shall be exalted. The loftiness of man shall be brought down, and the pride of man shall be laid low.’

“The above view was given December 25, 1865, in the city of Rochester, New York. Last June I was shown that the Lord was dealing with you in love, that He now invited you to turn to Him that you might live. I was shown that for years you have felt that you were in a backslidden state. If you had been consecrated to God you might have done a good and great work in letting your light shine to others.

“In your earlier experience the Lord imparted to you talents of influence, but did not give you talents of means, and therefore did not expect you in your poverty to bestow that which you had not to give.

“In the providence of God your influence has been extended; in addition to this, God has seen fit to prove you by giving you talents of means. You are thereby laid under double responsibility. When your condition in life began to improve, you said: ‘As soon as I can get me a home, I will then donate to the cause of God.’ But when you had a home you saw so many improvements to make to have everything about you convenient and pleasant that you forgot the Lord and His claims upon you, and were less inclined to help the cause of God than in the days of your poverty and affliction.

“I saw that there was yet opportunity to return to the fold. Jesus has redeemed you by His own blood, and He requires you to employ your talents in His service. You have not become hardened to the influence of the Holy Spirit. When the truth of God is presented, it meets a response in your heart.

“I saw that you should study every move. You should do nothing rashly. Let God be your counsellor. He loves your children, and it is right that you should love them; but it is not right to give them the place in your affections that the Lord claims. They have kind impulses and generous purposes. They possess noble traits of character. If they would only see their need of a Saviour, and bow at the foot of the cross, they might exert an influence for good. They are now lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. They now stand in the enemy’s ranks, under the black banner of Satan. Jesus invites them to come to Him, to leave the ranks of the enemy, and to stand under the bloodstained banner of the cross of Christ.

“My dear sister, the Lord has been very merciful to you and your family. You are laid under obligation to your heavenly Father to praise and glorify His holy name upon the earth. In order to continue in His love, you should labor constantly for humbleness of mind and that meek and quiet spirit which is in the sight of God of great price. Your strength in God will increase while you consecrate all to Him; so that you can say with confidence: ‘Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?’ ‘For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is Christ Jesus our Lord.”

God blesses some people with means, and some not. ‘Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.’ Heb. 13:5.

There is a battle going on for your soul and from this example of Sister M, we see how real the battle is. God is putting forth a great effort for your salvation. It is your duty to cooperate with God and turn away from the evil influences and be very careful what request you make of God and never speak rashly in anger. It just may be that God will answer you, but it may not be according to His will.
AMEN

Wendy Eaton, Australia