A Believer’s Will 581
God. Only those who are in harmony with Him can actually
appreciate his heart. If a person has not arrived at this perfect
harmony between his own and God’s will, he has yet to experience
the summit of spiritual life. To be obedient to the Lord is indeed
good, but when grace completely conquers the natural life the
Christian will be fully attuned to Him. As a matter of fact, the union
of wills is the zenith of anyone’s spiritual walk.
Numerous saints conclude they already have lost their wills
entirely. Nothing could be farther from reality. When the moment of
temptation and trial comes they will discover that an obedient will is
not the same as a harmonious one, that nonresistance does not
necessarily mean no will of their own self. Who is there who does
not care for a little gain, who does not withhold a little something for
himself? Who really desires no gold or silver, honor, freedom, joy,
advantage, position or whatever? One may think he cares nothing for
these items; while he has them he may not be conscious of their hold
upon him; but let him be on the verge of losing them, and he shall
soon discover how tenaciously he wants to hold on to them. An
obedient will may agree with God’s will on many occasions, but at
some time or other there is bound to be a mighty struggle between
the life of the believer’s will and the will of God. Unless His grace
realizes its fullest work, the saint can hardly overcome.
Obviously from this an obedient will cannot be viewed as
perfection. The volition, though broken and deprived of the strength
to resist God, has yet to achieve concord with Him. We of course
acknowledge that to arrive at the point of being powerless to resist
God is itself the fruit of His great grace. And ordinarily we say that
an obedient will is already dead in itself. Yet strictly speaking it still
possesses a thread of life which is unbroken. There continues to be a
hidden tendency, a secret admiring of the former way of life. That is
why on certain occasions it finds itself less joyful, less ardent and
less diligent in obeying the Lord than at other times. While the will
of God is in fact obeyed, there nevertheless remains a difference in