I DELIGHT TO DO THY WILL

I remember well as a young man growing up in church, I wanted to do well and make right choices; but I found that, despite my best intentions, I still did things that I was not proud of.  Afterwards, I would resolve to do better, only to fall to the same weaknesses a short time later.  Unfortunately, the church that I grew up in could not offer me the answers to the conflict I was feeling.  The Pastor himself admitted openly that he didn’t believe much of the Bible, and so substituted a social gospel that was devoid of any true power to change lives.  For this reason, I thought I had seen religion and found that it had nothing to offer me, so I turned my back on Christianity.  I wandered for a number of years in confusion, and gave myself over to a lot of hurtful pursuits until finally God called me to Himself.

 

I was amazed one day when I discovered a passage in scripture that exactly described the dilemma that I faced as a teenager.  I read in Romans 7, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.”  Paul himself had experienced the same frustration that I had: desiring to do the right things, but unable to follow through and perform what was right. 

 

This same dilemma has discouraged many more folks than just Paul and I, though.  This has been the problem that people have struggled with from the beginning of time.  Man has been on this roller-coaster ride of pleasing his passions and soothing his conscience forever.  The first man, Adam, had direct fellowship with his Maker, but still chose to disobey one simple commandment.  After that, Adam and Eve lost the relationship that they had previously with God, and were driven out of the paradise that God had made for them.  They were given a free will and allowed the enemy of their souls to use it to choose the one thing that God had warned them against.

 

Paul, in his letter to the Hebrews, expounded on the words of David from the 40^th Psalm when he wrote, “Sacrifice and offering Thou didst not desire; mine ears hast Thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast Thou not required.  Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of Me, I delight to do Thy will, O my God: yea, Thy law is within My heart.” (Psalm 40:6-8).  Our obedience to God’s will has nothing to do with what we can do for God.  Our service, our money, and our sacrifices mean nothing to Him – it is a changed heart that He is after.  Only in Jesus Christ can we find deliverance from this cycle of sin and death.  This is He Who was promised from the beginning, “Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of Me.”  From Genesis to Revelations His coming was extolled; and He came and did what no man had done before: He accomplished God’s will in flesh and blood.  Because of this, He opened the way so that you and I can now do the same.  We can fulfill the will of God in our lives by the power of His Holy Spirit working in us.  He says, “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” (Hebrews 10:16).  It is by Christ’s own will that we are sanctified.  It is by the offering up of Himself once and for all that we are saved (Hebrews 10:10)!  Paul says in Philippians 2:13, “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” 

 

I find that as I submit my will to God, my heart is changed and I then delight to do His will.  Not only that, I find also in Christ the ability to perform His will.  What a wondrous thing this is!  I can agree with Paul that it is no longer I who lives, but Christ Who lives in me; and this life that I now live in my flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me (Galatians 2:20).  This is the New Covenant that He has made with every believer.  What a glorious freedom has been purchased for us in Christ!  No wonder David said in Psalm 40, “He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.  And He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.”