THE BATTLE BETWEEN GOD'S WILL AND MAN'S WILL

Trevor S. Ferguson

October 1, 2011

Jonah 1:1-3 (NKJV)
¹ Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
² "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me."
³ But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.

INTRODUCTION

The Oxford dictionary defines will as – the faculty by which a person decides or is regarded as deciding on and initiating action. In other words, having free will means having the ability to make decisions.

God in His sovereign wisdom created man with free will. This means that man has the ability to choose whether to follow God’s will or his own will. Throughout history however, there has always been a battle between God’s will and man’s will.

The first conflict arose because of man’s desire for wisdom and pleasure. We are told in the scriptures that Eve’s decision to eat of the fruit in disobedience to God’s expressed will was based on the fact that she thought that the fruit was good for food, pleasant to the eyes and was desired to make one wise. We all know the consequences of that decision; Eve’s sin led to Adam’s sin and as a result they were cast out of the garden. Sin passed unto all men. Despite the grave consequences, man did not learn from the experience of Adam and Eve. By the time of Noah the whole earth was covered with sin and again sin resulted in judgment – all were destroyed in the flood except for Noah and his family.

As time went on God chose the nation of Israel to be the model of his will, but the history of Israel has been one of drifting away from God’s expressed will time and time again. Not long after God had expressly instructed the people not to have any other God’s or make graven images we find them making a golden calf and declaring them to be the gods that delivered them out of Egypt. Again, we find that after God had said to them that they should be a kingdom of priests, within a few generations they asked Samuel to give them a king.

Today’s text reminds us of another of these situations where the man of God thought it better to follow his own will rather than God’s will and had to face the consequences of that choice. As we review this story I want to share with you some of the consequences of disobeying God’s will.

EXPOSITION

The bible tells us that God told Jonah to go down to Nineveh and speak out against the wickedness of that city.  However in verse 3 of Jonah chapter 1 we see that Jonah had other plans. Having received instructions from God to go to Nineveh, he decided instead to flee to Tarshish. He went to Joppa, found a ship going to Tarshish, paid his fare went on board and decided to take a nap.

The bible does not give us the details of the message Jonah had received for Nineveh. It is likely that there was a repentance clause in the message because in essentially every situation God gives man space to repent before instituting judgment. It is also likely that it was this repentance clause that Jonah was at odds with. In chapter 4 verse 2 Jonah declares that the reason why he fled was that he knew that God was gracious and compassionate God who will relent from sending calamity (NIV). So because he disagreed with God’s plans for mercy he devised his own plan. Things however did not work as planned. Man acts, God counteracts!

While Jonah was taking his sleep, God sent a mighty storm on the sea. The sailors tried their best to stabilize the ship, but the storm grew worse. They therefore decided that the storm was of divine nature – some god was angry with someone in the ship. They then cast lots to find out who was the guilty person and the lot fell on Jonah. The end result was that Jonah had to be thrown overboard before calm could return to the seas. Jonah was swallowed by a big fish but prayed to God from the belly of the fish and was vomited out on dry land. God gave Jonah a second chance. He preached. Nineveh repented and was spared. That however created new problems because now Jonah was angry that God had spared Nineveh. God had to teach Jonah another lesson by sending, then removing a plant which had provided shade for him. God had to show Jonah that if he was so concerned about the plant, how could God not be concerned about the soul's of the people in Nineveh.

APPLICATION – CONSEQUENCES OF DISOBEYING GOD’S WILL

§ Disobeying God’s will produce turbulent situations: As a result of Jonah’s disobedience the usually calm seas became turbulent. Are you experiencing turbulence on your life? Check your self – you might be out of God’s will. Are we experiencing turbulence as a church? Check our selves – Are we walking in God’s will?

§ Disobeying God’s will affects the lives of other people: The effects of Jonah’s disobedience extended beyond him personally. The sailors whose ship he had boarded were now also in trouble. When we disobey God we often bring other people down with us as well. We can’t endanger the lives of others – let us walk in God’s will.

§ Disobeying God’s will produces a worse outcome than obeying God’s will: Jonah thought that he could escape God’s anger by fleeing from God’s presence or from the land in which God operates. But found out that he had bought himself more trouble. He was thrown overboard from the ship; swallowed by a fish and yet, still had to deliver the message. We cannot escape from God – we might as well do what God requires from the outset, lest we have to be thrown overboard!!

CONCLUSION

Man has frequently struggled with God seeking to do his own will rather than God’s will. In all these situation however the will of God has prevailed and man has ended up worse off because of the struggle. As Jesus said to Paul – it is hard for you to kick against the pricks. Let us resolve to do God’s will. Our lives will be much better for doing so!!!