Skip to main content

Hornets, Fish and the Will of God

The Hornet Song

When the Canaanites hardened their hearts against God,
And grieved Him because of their sin,
God sent along hornets to bring them to terms,
And to help His own people to win.

Now the hornets persuaded them that it was best
To go quickly and not to go slow,
They didn't compel them to go 'gainst their will.
But they just made them willing to go.

If a nest of live hornets were brought to this room,
And the creatures allowed to go free,
You would not need urging to make yourself scarce,
You
'd want to get out, don't you see!


When Jonah was sent to the work of the Lord,
The outlook was not very bright,
Why he never had done such a hard thing before,
So he backed out and ran off from the fight.

Now, the Lord sent a big fish to swallow him up,
The story I am sure you all know,
God didn
't compel him to go 'gainst his will,
But He just made him willing to go.

Chorus:
God doesn't compel us to go, oh, no!
He never compels us to go,
God does not compel us to go 'gainst our will,
But He just makes us willing to go.


Many years ago, I remember hearing this song and being struck by the neat way it approached the question of man's free-agency and God's sovereign will. 

I look back on my life with the good and bad decisions I've made and see the Finger of God in evidence: sometimes prodding, sometimes tapping me on the shoulder and other times being shaken before me in warning. 

And now, I thank the Lord for each one of these times and that I was 'made willing to' do God's will.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

God's Proof of His Love-While We Were Still Enemies

I've just come across an excerpt from a wonderful book I have, The Divine Forbearance or The Dynamics of Forgiveness (2001) by Paul T. Harrison 1 . I want to focus on some points he makes from Rom 5.1-11 concerning the love of God. In Romans ch 4, the subject is faith: 'the means by which we are rightwised 2 to God' (Harrison, p. 52). But what, Harrison asks, arouses faith; what 'has Christ revealed about God that makes us able to trust Him?' Fire of God Ministries International Church-see http://fireofgodservants.blogspot.com.au And to that question he answers, God's forgiving love . God's love is so faithful and true that we may depend on it absolutely. Why is that so? That is explored in Rom 5.6-11. Our status before God as ungodly sinners (Rom 5.6, 8) in the past meant that we were the 'enemies of God' (Rom 5.10). Think of that! Being an enemy of God means to be subject to his wrath (Rom 5.9) and displeasure. People don't give their live

Reigning With Christ by F J Huegel

Reigning With Christ by F J Huegel (1963) is a book of only 88 pages yet it is filled with crucial truths of the Christian faith organised around the theme of the enthroned believer . It's fair to say that the theme he concisely addresses in this small book is much neglected today. For the press of technological life with its bustle and speed is such that we can forget that present life, so ' real' to us, is temporary (2 Cor 4.18) and as in the first century, 'the form [Greek, "schema"] of the world is passing away' (1Cor 7.31). It's easy to read this work and though it has 20 chapters, they are short and pithy. However, reading it requires a meditative attitude so as to allow the Spirit to work on our hearts.

Christian Atheism!

" The great lesson that our blessed Lord inculcates here...is that God is in all things, and that we are to see the Creator in the glass [mirror] of every creature; that we should use and look upon nothing as separate from God, which indeed is a kind of practical atheism; but with a true magnificence of thought survey heaven and earth and all that is therein as contained by God in the hollow of his hand, who by his intimate presence holds them all in being, who pervades and activates the whole created frame, and is in a true sense the soul of the universe." These pungent words were given to me by an overseas correspondent and come from a sermon by John Wesley (1748) on the 'Sermon on the Mount'. Part of the context for his words apparently were that Wesley originally baulked at the idea of preaching in the open air until he realised that the Lord Jesus had preached outside! But, more especially for our edification is that Wesley fixed on the truth that nothing