Isaiah 38:1-5 “In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, "Thus says the Lord: 'Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.' " (2) Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the Lord, (3) and said, "Remember now, O Lord, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what is good in Your sight." And Hezekiah wept bitterly. (4) And the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, saying, (5) "Go and tell Hezekiah, 'Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: "I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will add to your days fifteen years.”
Scriptural examples make it easier for us to understand the biblical truth that mankind can influence God’s will in certain instances. The first example we will look at is how Hezekiah influenced God’s will. In the passage of scripture quoted above God had made known to King Hezekiah that it was time for him to die. In other words God had revealed through the prophet Isaiah, His perfect will for Hezekiah. Instead of submitting to the will of God for his life however, Hezekiah let God know in no uncertain terms his view on the subject. Hezekiah felt that he had served God faithfully and he had no desire to have his life ended at that time. And so for whatever reason, Hezekiah disagreed with God’s decision and he let God know just how he felt about it. God was not in the least bit angered with Hezekiah because he disagreed with Him, but rather God listened to him. And so we see that God changed His will to accommodate Hezekiah, and God gave him a further fifteen years of life on the earth. In other words God and Hezekiah had reasoned together, and in this instance Hezekiah influenced God to change His will.
Acts 27:21-24 “But after long abstinence from food, then Paul stood in the midst of them and said, "Men, you should have listened to me, and not have sailed from Crete and incurred this disaster and loss. (22) And now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. (23) For there stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve, (24) saying, 'Do not be afraid, Paul; you must be brought before Caesar; and indeed, God has granted you all those who sail with you.”
In the next example we see the Lord listening to the apostle Paul and changing His will accordingly. The background to this account is that God had impressed upon Paul to advise his jailers not to set sail at that time. God had warned Paul that if they did sail that they would lose not only their ship and cargo, but also their lives. In other words God had made His will known to the apostle Paul. Paul had tried to persuade the men not to sail but they refused to listen to him. As a result they had been caught in a horrific storm at sea and they were about to lose not only their ship, but also their lives. In the intervening period however Paul had been petitioning God on their behalf and God listened to Paul. Scripture does not reveal to us just what Paul prayed for, but we do know that he asked God to spare the lives of all on board. It may be that Paul had only asked for their lives to be spared and had ignored the ship and cargo, or it may be that Paul had asked for both but that God had decided that the ship should be lost as punishment for their disobedience. Nevertheless the point remains that Paul and God had reasoned together and God had changed His will to accommodate, at least part of Paul’s request by granting him the lives of the men sailing with Paul.
Deuteronomy 3:23-26 “Then I pleaded with the Lord at that time, saying: (24) 'O Lord God, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your mighty hand, for what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do anything like Your works and Your mighty deeds? (25) I pray let me cross over and see the good land beyond the Jordan, those pleasant mountains, and Lebanon.' (26) "But the Lord was angry with me on your account, and would not listen to me. So, the Lord said to me: 'Enough of that! Speak no more to Me of this matter.”
In this last example we see that the Lord does not always grant our requests, for remember that our Lord said “Come now, and let us reason together”. In other words God also has His say and there are going to be times when His will is going to prevail. The background to the above quoted passage of scripture is that Moses had lost his temper in front of Israel, and he struck the rock that God had told him to speak to. As a result of Moses disobeying God on that occasion, God had told Moses that He would not allow him to enter into the Promised Land with the children of Israel. There had been numerous occasions before this incident, when God had wanted to destroy Israel for their stubbornness, but Moses had interceded to God on their behalf not to destroy them, and God had listened to Moses and had changed His mind by not destroying Israel. And so on this occasion Moses had hoped that the Lord would once again relent, and change His mind to let Moses enter the Promised Land. As we can see however God would not listen to Moses on this occasion, and in fact commanded Moses not to bring up the issue again. Nevertheless Moses and God reasoned together on this issue as well, and in this instance God’s will prevailed.
Michael E.B. Maher
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