“May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with everything the Lord your God sends you to tell us. Whether it is favorable or unfavorable, we will obey the Lord our God.” (Jeremiah 42:5-6)
If you are in the habit of buying on-line, you are probably familiar with “on approval” purchasing. This is an agreement in which items are provided to a prospective customer for a pre-purchase trial and if you are not totally happy with the product you can return it within a specified time period. Sadly, many in the church today view God’s will that way. They pray for God’s will in a certain set of circumstances and when they sense they have received it they decide whether to follow it or not. In other words, God’s will is “on approval” if they are not totally happy with it.
This is exactly what the people of God who survived the fall of Jerusalem did in coming to the prophet Jeremiah and asking him to pray to the Lord to show them His will. They had already decided in advance to flee to Egypt and were looking to God to “rubber-stamp” their will rather than reveal His will. And when Jeremiah reported with God’s will for His people to stay in the land of Judah rather than running to Egypt in fear of the invading Babylonians, they received it “on approval” and did not approve of it, “So they entered Egypt in disobedience to the Lord” (Jeremiah 43:7). Deciding to receive God’s will “on approval” proved disastrous for the people of God and it always proves disastrous for us today as well.
In all my years as a pastor, I do not think there is any prayer more difficult to pray and participate in than “Thy will be done!” Have you been wrestling with God in prayer lately regarding an important decision? Perhaps He has already made it clear what He wants you to do but you have not done it because you are actually seeking it “on approval” and are waiting until His will meets your approval? To be sure, the results of making requests of God “on approval” always end up like the people of God who asked Jeremiah to pray for God’s will on their behalf – DISASTROUS!
Remember, pray unceasingly, but pray having decided in advance, not to follow your pre-determined plans, but to follow wherever God is leading you. The true disciple of Christ trusts Him even when he cannot trace Him, regardless of the cost or circumstance. May the confession of our lives be that of the psalmist, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6). When it is, we will receive God’s will obediently, not “on approval.”
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
