If We Let Him

“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”

Hebrews 11:6  


I read with interest a statement on my social media feed that said, “God does not see us in our failure; He sees what we can become. We see the past, but God sees the future. We see a mess, but God sees a message. God can change everything in our story—if we will let Him.” I was encouraged until I felt the pressure of the words, “if we let Him.” Translated in my mind that means, faith, that you and I have some role to play in the glorious plans of God in turning our mess into a message. “If we let Him” says to me we can’t just sit idly by and expect God to just bless our lives like a Roman slave dropping grapes into the mouth of Caesar so he didn’t need to raise his arms.  

I don’t claim to understand how the predetermined plans of God (the sovereignty of God) and mans free will (human responsibility) work together but I know from reading my bible that they do. Our Bible teaches both and yet it seems our need to understand God outweighs or often times clouds our ability to simply trust Him. I’m speaking for myself here. Our inability to reconcile how sovereignty and free will are compatible make up the basic premise of the Fall of mankind. Simply stated when we (Adam and Eve) sinned against God we gave up the ability to fully know. Again, as God’s Word declares, “For now we see dimly darkly” at best.

The enemy of our soul thrives on torturing our unsettled mind. He isn’t called “the author of confusion” for nothing. Ever since the Garden of Eden, the deceiver has set out to call into question the love and faithfulness of God evidenced in His Sovereignty and the Free Will of mankind exercised in trusting God by faith. The enemies goal all along has been to dethrone God in the heart of mankind, for man to have the sense that God can’t be completely trusted and that, “one in the hand is better than two in the bush” regarding our faith is the best way to live. In other words, the enemy of our soul deceived Eve in the garden that the only secure future was one where she and Adam would go it alone apart from God. At least they wouldn’t need God since they would be like God. The lie of the enemy rested on convincing the woman to believe that leaning completely on free will would release her and her husband from personal responsibility towards God, and with that, dependence upon Him as well.

If there is one thing I am certain of today in my journey of faith more than at any time in my life is my need for God. I understand better today the words of the apostle Paul in Colossians 3:4 where he writes, “When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.” Jesus isn’t to just be in our life or part of our lives. No, loved one, Jesus is our life! Life is in the Son. When “If we let Him” becomes the goal of our spiritual lives each day our worship will become informed and our desire to share Jesus Christ with others motivated.

Just like having two legs gives us greater balance in this life, so does resting and trusting in knowing that the sovereignty of God and the Free Will of man will always be traveling companions running alongside one another, though they will never come together until the day we see Jesus face to face. The goal of our lives then and now remains the same, to know God. The best way we can know God is to read the Bible and believe it. Read the Bible and trust it. Read the Bible and obey it. Read the Bible and receive it. Read the Bible and share it. Read the Bible and enjoy it believing its true that God can change everything in our story—if we will let Him!


“In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.”

Ephesians 1:11-14

I LOVE YOU!

Michael Osthimer

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