FROM THE DAWGHOUSE…
You Can’t Change the Will of God
There is something in us that still believes we can change Gods will.
We pray as if we might persuade Him.
We worry as if we might outmaneuver Him.
We sin as if we might derail Him.
We obey as if we might improve His plan.
But Scripture is unwavering: you cannot change the will of God. “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted” (Job 42:2). That’s not poetry. That’s reality.
God is not reacting. He is reigning.
Before the foundation of the world, His purposes stood firm.
Before we were born, our days were written in His book (Psalm 139:16).
Before we prayed, He knew.
Before we failed, He accounted for it.
Before we obeyed, He ordained the fruit.
This does not make prayer meaningless…
It makes prayer powerful, because prayer is not changing God’s will; it is participating in it as Pastor Pete shared with us this week when teaching about the importance of a Daily Appointment With God (DAWG).
Jesus did not teach us to pray, “My will be done.” He taught us to pray, “Your will be done” (Matthew 6:10). That is not resignation. That is rest. When we truly grasp that God’s will cannot be overturned, something in us exhales.
We cannot sin our way outside of His sovereign purposes.
We cannot obey our way into a better storyline than the one He has written.
We cannot suffer in a way that surprises Him.
We cannot succeed in a way that improves upon Him.
Isaiah declares, “My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please” (Isaiah 46:10). Notice the confidence. Not “I will attempt.” Not “I will adjust.” “I will do.” We struggle with this because we still want control. We want a God who consults us. We want a God who negotiates. But the God of the Bible is not campaigning for office…
He is King.
And here is the good news: His will is not cold, mechanical fate. His will is wise. His will is holy. His will is good.
Paul writes that God “works all things according to the counsel of his will” (Ephesians 1:11). All things. Not most. Not the pleasant ones. All.
Even the cross was not an accident of history. Peter says Jesus was handed over “by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge” (Acts 2:23). The worst evil ever committed was still within the sovereign will of God and became the means of our salvation.
If the cross was not outside His will, neither is our trials.
So, what do we do with this?
We trust.
We obey.
We pray.
We rest.
Not because we are steering history, but because the One who is steering is good.
You cannot change the will of God. Yes, you can fight it, resent it, even fear it, or…
You can bow before it and discover that the unchangeable will of God is the safest place in the universe…
That’s a promise.
Joe Bouch
