“So it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should perish” (Matthew 18:14 NAS).
During World War II, Dr. Leslie D. Weatherhead gave five talks on God’s will to his City Temple congregation in England. Fortunately for the rest of the world, they were published. Every time I hear “It is God’s Will,” I think of this remarkable little book and how it clarifies God’s will for me.
Dr. Weatherhead separated God’s will into three parts: 1) intentional; 2) Circumstantial and 3) Last (ICU).
1. God’s INTENTIONAL WILL is for our good. These are Adam and Eve in the garden. When God created Adam and Eve, He intended for them to live forever and be happy. But they sinned and were expelled from Paradise.
2. His CIRCUMSTANCIAL WILL is due to the circumstances of our lives. It is within this will that we find the permissive will of God. This is Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. This is Job 42: 2: “I know (faith) that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted”; It is the entirety of Romans 8:28, that glorious rod and staff of the afflicted: “We know that to those who love God, all things work together for good, that is, to those who are called according to his purpose.” I know (wisdom) that I can (possibility) do (perform) all the things that He asks!
3. His LAST WILL is for His glory and our good. This is the resurrection of Christ and our resurrection. It is all of us on the New Earth.
The wonderful revelation from reading this book is that God’s intentional will eventually becomes His supreme will, even as we go through the circumstances of our life. Dr. Weatherhead gives the example of the young Londoner who intended to be an architect but, because the war changed his circumstances, he joined the Army. At that time, this was the honorable course. The young man could not control Hitler’s evil circumstances and his desire to conquer the world, but he could control his reaction to them.
As I read the book, I was comforted by the fact that nothing falls outside the circle of Divine Providence:
1) the knowledge of God embraces him;
2) His power is sovereign over her;
3) His mercy sustains her creatively.
The key here is the goodness of God. The father does not want evil for his son; not even a perfect God would want evil for his children. At the time that Dr. Weatherhead gave his speeches, the people of England desperately needed to know that there was a living and loving God despite the horror that was happening.
We need to understand God’s will and its components before telling the person prostrate in pain that “It is God’s will.” As I read this incredible tract, I saw myself as if we were in God’s intensive care unit and God taking care of us as only He can, regardless of our circumstances.
Thank you, Father, for being our doctor in your ICU unit!