You Can Frustrate God’s Good Purposes for Your Life
Surely you shall not come into the land, concerning which I swore that I would make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. — Numbers 14:30
Let us fear therefore, lest perhaps a promise being left of entering into his rest, anyone of you should seem to have come short of it. — Hebrews 4:1
Author
Dr. Roberto Miranda
Summary: God has gracious purposes and great blessings for our lives, but He has given us the freedom to receive them or frustrate them. Disobedience, stubbornness, unbelief, and love for the world can close the door to what He has prepared. Salvation demonstrates this: God desires everyone to repent and find refuge in Jesus Christ, but many reject the way He has established and forfeit that good. Jerusalem also resisted the protection Jesus longed to give it, and its hardness brought loss instead of blessing. Our attitude can either facilitate or hinder God’s goodwill; therefore, we must respond with faith and obedience, making our hearts good soil where His seed can bear fruit.
It is important for us to understand that God often has benevolent purposes, great blessings, and plans for our lives. The terrible and dangerous thing about this is that we have the power to thwart—and this may sound a little scandalous and controversial—we have the power to thwart and prevent the great blessings God has for us. The Bible establishes this truth insistently, time and again.
God has allowed human beings, in their free will, in the freedom with which He created them, to have the right to close the door to the blessing He has already prepared for them, through disobedience or simply through stubbornness, or because they love the attractions of the world more, or whatever the reason may be. We can lose or hinder the blessings God has intended for us. Esau, Samson, King Joash, as well as other biblical figures, can testify to this mysterious truth.
I would say that one of the clearest illustrations of this is salvation. God sent His Son Jesus Christ to redeem and save humanity. Christ died on the cross, lived here on earth, had three years of ministry, left His Church established, and left a wealth of spiritual instruction for all of us. In God’s purpose, He wants everyone to be saved, the Word tells us. God wants “everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).
God does not have a quota for the number of people who are to be saved. God does not say, “Only 144,000, or ten million, will be saved.” No! God wants everyone to enter into salvation. That is His true fatherly desire.
But what happens? Many people do not follow the prescriptions God has established for salvation, and they end up losing and ruining their souls because they do not obey what God commands—something as simple as accepting Christ as their Lord and Savior, receiving Jesus, and walking in the ways He has established. Thus, we see that in those who are lost, God’s benevolent purpose is thwarted. Although God knows all things, His fatherly desire would be for all His creatures to take refuge under the name of Jesus as the Savior of their souls.
You will remember the occasion when the Lord looked toward Jerusalem and said, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! How many times I wanted to cover you as a hen covers her chicks, but you were unwilling!” (Matthew 23:37). And then He adds, “Behold, your house is left to you desolate.” The hardness of heart of the Hebrew people prevented God from covering and protecting them as He longed to do. Instead of blessing, there was curse and loss.
We see, then, a first and very important principle: Your attitude, whether one of obedience or unbelief, can allow or prevent God’s good will and benevolent purposes from being fulfilled in your life. Within you lies the power to facilitate or hinder the good things God has intended for you. It is important for your heart to be good soil, so that the seed of God’s blessing can bear fruit within you.