When God’s will, our will and death collide

I believe that God’s will is always being done  and that it is always the best way but that we as humans are constantly distorting that will just by being human really. You see, this “life” is a mixture of God’s will always at work in the world and our free wills always moving this world in all kinds of ways sometimes closer to God’s will and sometimes not.

Bob Silvanik

When we are moving towards God’s will, our spirit is alive and our hearts are steady but when we move away from it, we are wounded and experience more suffering and restlessness.

Many times -- we can convince ourselves that things are “bad” and we therefore should feel pain and sadness when in truth things are just as God planned. This confuses our self-will and leads us further away from God. Sometimes we even blame God for something that is actually not only God’s will but a good thing, because we cannot see the “good” through the power of our self-will telling us it’s bad.
For instance – if you have a friend dying of cancer, that seems like a “bad” thing? My self-will tells me it must be because it brings an end to his life and creates sadness and heartache in many other lives.

But what if I really knew and believed that death was actually a “good” thing in the ultimate plan of God? I still might experience sadness and suffer grief for missing this person and seeing his family suffer and indeed for a life on earth being over.
But I also know that this is part of God’s will and thus the “overpowering” feeling is one of peace knowing that always and again God’s will is good and God always takes us to a better place when his will is done. On earth as it is in heaven.

Thus we may grieve and feel sad but through that experience we can come to know God even more and find even more peace in our heart because of one person’s death.
(Bob Silvanik is the pastor of Dry Ridge Christian Church. He can be reached at 823-1303 or by e-mail at dryridgechristian@insightbb.com)