A War of the Wills

15 Because I was sure of this, I wanted to come to you first, so that you might have a second experience of grace. 16 I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea. 17 Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans according to the flesh, ready to say “Yes, yes” and “No, no” at the same time? 18 As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No. 19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes. 20 For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. 21 And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, 22 and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. – 2 Corinthians 2:15-22 ESV

When reading any book in the Bible, especially the pastoral letters, it is important to recognize that the letters were written to an original audience. That means there was a specific context that shaped the letter's content, and that is the case with our text for today. Paul was addressing an issue that was unique to him and his audience in Corinth. In his previous letter to them, he had said he planned to come and see them.

I will visit you after passing through Macedonia, for I intend to pass through Macedonia, and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you may help me on my journey, wherever I go. For I do not want to see you now just in passing. I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. – 1 Corinthians 16:5-7 ESV

Evidently, Paul’s plans had changed, and he was unable to follow through. The result was that there were those in Corinth who began to question the sincerity of his word. So, on top of having to deal with a faction in the church that was questioning the validity of his apostleship and, therefore, his authority, he was now having to defend his integrity.

Paul wanted them to know he had been sincere when he told them he would visit them. In fact, twice in this passage, he claims his intention was to visit Corinth. 

I wanted to come to you first. – 2 Corinthians 1:15 ESV

I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia. – 2 Corinthians 1:16 ESV

But his plans had changed; his agenda had been altered by God. Luke records in Acts that it was not uncommon for Paul’s plans to be influenced by the Spirit of God.

Next Paul and Silas traveled through the area of Phrygia and Galatia, because the Holy Spirit had prevented them from preaching the word in the province of Asia at that time. Then coming to the borders of Mysia, they headed north for the province of Bithynia, but again the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to go there. So instead, they went on through Mysia to the seaport of Troas. – Acts 16:6-8 NLT

Paul was a servant of God, and as such, he was obligated to do God’s will. His plans were subordinate to God's, and yet the Corinthians viewed his failure to visit them as vacillation or, even worse, disingenuousness. So Paul addresses their misgivings by asking a series of questions.

You may be asking why I changed my plan. Do you think I make my plans carelessly? Do you think I am like people of the world who say ‘Yes’ when they really mean ‘No’?” – 2 Corinthians 1:17 NLT

Paul insists that his failure to come to see them had nothing to do with vacillation, but everything to do with submission to the will of God. In fact, he claims that he, Silas, and Timothy were being faithful to what God was calling them to do, just as Christ was faithful to do the will of His Father.

Paul’s point seems to be that his will and desires were completely subservient to God's will. He was obligated to do what God wanted him to do, even when it was in direct conflict with his own well-intentioned desires. 

In essence, Paul is boldly claiming that questioning his integrity and faithfulness is tantamount to questioning the very will of God. He strongly believed that he was obeying the will of God, who is always faithful. God’s yes is yes, and His no is no. As a former Pharisee and a student of the Hebrew Scriptures, Paul would have been intimately familiar with the following passages.

God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through? – Numbers 23:19 NLT

…he who is the Glory of Israel will not lie, nor will he change his mind, for he is not human that he should change his mind!” – 1 Samuel 15:29 NLT

God cannot lie, so His word can always be trusted. And because Paul was doing the will of God, the Corinthians were essentially questioning the integrity of God and His Son. In fact, Paul states, “For Jesus Christ, the Son of God, does not waver between ‘Yes’ and ‘No.’ He is the one whom Silas, Timothy, and I preached to you, and as God’s ultimate ‘Yes,’ he always does what he says” (2 Corinthians 1:19 NLT).

The bottom line for Paul was that Jesus was the living example of God’s integrity, veracity, and reliability. Jesus was the unquestioned expression of God’s faithfulness because through Him all the promises of God had been fulfilled. This wasn’t about Paul keeping his word, but about God keeping His. It was about the gospel and its spread throughout the known world. That was Paul’s God-ordained duty and responsibility, and if it meant that his own will had to take a back seat, he was okay with that, and the Corinthians needed to be so as well. Their unmet expectations had to take second place to God’s divine plan. Paul wanted the Corinthians to know that God’s will took precedence over their personal and somewhat petty disappointments.

Rather than being put out with Paul, they needed to remember what God had done for them. As much as they desired to see Paul and were disappointed that he had failed to keep his word, they needed to recall the unbreakable nature of God's promise and that Paul had been the one to bring it to them. 

It is God who enables us, along with you, to stand firm for Christ. He has commissioned us, and he has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guarantees everything he has promised us. – 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 NLT

People will let us down, but God never will. Even faithful believers, who are committed to and bound by the sovereign will of God, will occasionally disappoint us. But we must remember that God’s word is always reliable and the fulfillment of His will is unstoppable. From our limited perspective, what appear to be setbacks are simply God’s will being done in ways that we can’t understand. What appears to be disappointments or delays is nothing more than the will of God conflicting with our own desires and agendas.

Paul was just as disappointed that he had been unable to make it to Corinth, but he knew that God’s will was better than his own. Paul had plans and aspirations, but he knew that God’s plans were worthy of his trust and obedience.

We can know we’re learning to trust God when we find ourselves gladly submitting our will to His, displaying dependence rather than disappointment.

Father, I'll be honest, it can sometimes be difficult to discern Your will. There are times when I feel like I am operating within Your will, only to discover that things don't turn out quite like I expected, and that always throws me for a loop. I feel like I am being obedient and then everything seems to fall apart around me. The least little bit of trouble makes me question whether I was actually doing Your will. But Paul provides me with the insight that recognizing and obeying Your will has more to do with trust than discernment. You said, “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,…And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine” (Isaiah 55:8 NLT). Paul said that it was impossible for us to understand Your decisions and ways (Romans 11:33). So, You call us to trust You, even when we don’t understand Your will or Your ways. You don’t always write Your will on the wall for us to see. Sometimes, it is hidden and working behind the scenes. Our inability to see it doesn’t invalidate it. Help me to trust that Your will is always being done. And when I can see it, give me the strength to obey it even if I don't fully understand it. Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

You Have Spoken.

And now, O Lord God, confirm forever the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, and do as you have spoken. And your name will be magnified forever, saying, “The Lord of hosts is God over Israel,” and the house of your servant David will be established before you. – 2 Samuel 7:25-26 ESV 2 Samuel 7:18-29

David trusted God. He took Him at His word. He believed that whatever God had promised, He would fulfill. This was a characteristic of God that he had been taught since he was a child. He would have been familiar with Numbers 23:19 where it states, “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?” And there is a strong possibility that David was familiar with the words his mentor, Samuel, had uttered to King Saul on the day that God told him that he was taking the kingdom away from him and giving it to another. “And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret” (1 Samuel 15:29 ESV). God had made a promise to David. He had sworn to place a descendant of David on the throne and to establish his throne forever. And David was willing to believe what God had told him. Over in the book of Hebrews, we are told that God keeps His covenants. “God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind. So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie” (Hebrews 6:17-18 NLT). God had given his promise to Abraham that through one of his descendants, the nations of the earth would be blessed. And Abraham believed God. He trusted Him. He also took God at His Word. And it was that faith in God and His promise that was accounted to Abraham as righteousness. Over in Hebrews chapter 11, there is a list of great men and women of faith from the Old Testament who placed their faith in God. And it tells us “All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it” (Hebrews 11:13 NLT). Abraham never saw all the descendants God had promised. He never once owned an acre of property within the boundaries of Canaan, the land God had promised. It was by faith that Joseph believed the people of Israel would one day leave the land of Egypt, even though he never lived to see that day. Over 400 years later, it was by faith that Moses led the people out of the land of Egypt, not fearing the Pharaoh, but also not knowing exactly where he was leading them. It was by faith the people of Israel marched seven times around the walls of Jericho, not knowing exactly how God's somewhat unconventional battle plan was going to work out. God had spoken and they trusted Him.

It's amazing what happens when we trust God, when we take Him at His word. The problem is that obedience to God's word and acceptance of His promises always requires faith. We don't always know how things are going to work out. When God told Abraham he would be the father of a great nation, Abraham had no way of knowing how that was going to happen. After all, he was old and his wife was barren. When God told David that he would have a descendant who would reign in Jerusalem forever, he had no idea what that meant or how it was going to take place. But he determined to take God at His word. His only response was to ask God to confirm His word. He just asked God to bring it all about – in whatever way He might see fit. No stipulations or requirements. No helpful advice or conditions. He knew that whatever God had in mind would be far better than anything he could dream up. And his ultimate desire was that God would receive glory. “And your name will be magnified forever, saying, ‘The Lord of hosts is God over Israel.’” Is God's glory our greatest desire? Is our faithful acceptance of His word and patient waiting for its fulfillment more important to us than getting our own way? God has promised us peace, joy, contentment, His presence and provision, and not to mention eternal life. But for some of us, that doesn't seem to be good enough. We get frustrated because we don't seem to be enjoying the peace we were expecting. We aren't experiencing joy, at least not according to our definition. We lack contentment. We fail to sense God's presence, and we tend to provide for ourselves, refusing to wait on Him. And if the truth be told, for a lot of us, eternal life is not worth waiting for. So we try to treat this world as if it is all there is. We seek everything here and now, refusing to wait on God's promise of the hereafter. But as the writer of Hebrews tells us, “Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see” (Hebrews 11:1 NLT). God has spoken. But are we listening? God has promised, But do we believe Him? He doesn't lie. He never fails to keep His word. He always knows what is best. So when will we learn to trust Him?