Good morning! May this be a great day, the Lord willing and the creek don’t rise! Well, that quite frankly doesn’t sound very encouraging to me, so let’s take a look at Words of Encouragement and break that down – the Will of God.
If you don’t know how I am about these phrases you will see, if you follow my blog for very long. Let’s look at the first part of the phrase, the Lord willing. In the phrase above, “the Lord willing,” makes it sound as if the person using it doesn’t know God’s will. “I don’t know if He is willing but if He is…” . And then if He is, as long as the creek don’t rise. What? Does a creek rising change the Will of God?
Willing (adjective) – ready, eager, or prepared to do something.
The phrase ‘Lord willing and the creek don’t rise’ sounds sincere enough, but is it really biblical? The question for me is, is the Lord willing? My first response is: certainly! I would say our God is ready, eager and prepared to do something…if the creeks don’t rise (we are just going to ignore that part of the phrase at this point).
But then there is a follow up question. We could word it like this – will He do something? In other words, is it His will? What is God’s will? Or more specifically, what is God’s will for you?
Ephesians 5:17 niv
Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.
To know God’s will, you must first know God. There is a difference in actually knowing God, or just knowing of God. Many people know of God. Even demons believe there is one God (James 2:19). Knowing Him personally is the difference.
To know Carmen is to know my wife!
Some of you might know of my wife Carmen, but you don’t KNOW her. I know her. I walk with her daily. She speaks and I know her voice. She says jump, and I say how high – happy wife, happy life! 😊 Haha (I will have more on that in a later devotional). So it’s different to know of, and to actually know.
“Okay Scott, so I know God and have an everyday-walking-around-kind-of-life with Jesus, so what’s next?” It’s simple. 😊 God’s will is always in line with and never outside of His word. His word is His will. He speaks (His word) and that is His will. Furthermore, Jesus is the word, and the word became flesh. So quite literally Jesus is the will of God, or God in the flesh. So Jesus is the Key to the living and ever-present will of God.
God’s word is His will, even if the creek does rise
God will speak to you in two ways, His written word and His spoken word. Obviously you have to be reading the Bible for Him to speak to you through that. And if you aren’t in His written word (reading the Bible) it’s going to be hard to know His spoken word. His spoken word will always be in line with His written word. But if you don’t know the written word, it will be hard to know if He is speaking to you or if the enemy is speaking to you, or if you are just having random thoughts. Do you know His voice?
To know His voice, which is in line with His written word, is to know His will.
Romans 12:2 niv
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
So I believe our mind is renewed by God’s word and the time we spend with Him, walking with Jesus.
Challenge of the day: Know God’s will. Renew your mind with His word. Get to know Him, not just of Him. Learn His voice (know His word) so you will know it and can follow it. Then you will be walking in His will – You will be walking in His written and spoken word – that’s His will. Know that God is ready, eager and prepared to do something in your life – don’t guess at what that is, “if the Lord’s willing and the creeks don’t rise,” but know. So be it!
Note: The next two days are a thread to today’s Word.
