Are We Willing?

“If you are willing and obedient,

you shall eat the good of the land;

but if you refuse and rebel,

you shall be eaten by the sword;

for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
Isaiah 1:19-20

It’s amazing how the world and our flesh will buck at the things of God, which are only good and give life. In Isaiah 1:19-20, it’s as if the Lord is saying – you may be whole or you may remain broken. That is the invitation we have in Christ. He offers wholeness, cleansing of sin, soul-satisfaction, and eternal life. Some hear the invitation, yet choose to remain in what breaks and devours. God wants us free.

Willing is the Hebrew ʼâbâh and means to be acquiescent – ready to accept something without protest, ready to do what someone else wants. God will not force His will on us. But as we get into His Word and grow in our knowledge of Him, He opens our eyes to see what we’re choosing. The Hebrew for “obedient” is shâmaʻ which means to hear intelligently. By His grace, we hear with understanding and declare, “Lord, have Your way with us!” Nothing could be better.

We must be ready to accept His will without protest, and that can be hard. Let’s ask the Lord to show us areas where He is inviting us to wholeness, and we are choosing to remain broken. In so doing, we are hindering our ability to reveal Him as He truly is. By allowing Him to have every bit of our lives and every place in our hearts, He can renovate us into vessels who reveal who He is and what He can do. And that is our true purpose, which is only possible in Christ.