Obedience to God’s Will.
 

NKJV John 7:1 After these things Jesus walked in Galilee; for He did not want to walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill Him.
KJV says: John 7:1  After these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him. 

John 7:1 is one of those verses that we read and just skip over without giving it a second thought.
However, when I read it in my daily reading, I was struck by the words, “He did not want to walk in Judea”.
I wondered, why would  He not want to go, or why would He not walk in Jewry.

Jesus had a mission. He knew what the will of God was. He was fulfilling the will of His Father. That was to be a sacrifice for sin.
Jesus’ birth, death and resurrection were foreknown and predestined before the foundation of the world.

Acts 2:23 Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death;

It was certain that Jesus would die at Calvary at the predetermined time.
Jesus Knew His Destiny before He came to earth.

Jesus’ journey to the cross began even before the earth was created. It was always God’s plan. His appointment with the cross was no accident or failure of God. It was a pre-planned destiny.

Therefore, He could never have been killed in Judea. (Jewry).
Firstly, His death was destined to be at Calvary and secondly no one could take His life.

John 10:18 No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”

However, because He chose not to go, it meant that He would not be killed there. Jesus choice was in the will of God. His actions were part of, and a fulfilment of God’s will.

The Greek words used in this text for “did not want” or “would not” is thelō ou, which means, He chose not or He preferred not.

Why am I saying all this?
I am saying it because it is important to us, as Christians, to follow the example of Jesus, to walk in the will of God and not to choose to frustrate or attempt to thwart it.

Jesus knew the will of God. He wanted to be obedient to God’s will, so He chose not to go against God’s will.

It was not a lack of courage that made Jesus stay in Galilee, but an awareness of the Father’s perfect timing and it was not yet time for Him to be arrested and delivered to the Gentiles.

We can rest in the fact that God’s Will, will be done. Nothing will stop or frustrate it.

So the question is not can I frustrate God’s Will but will I be obedient to it?
 

The meaning of Frustrate: The prevention of the progress, success, or fulfilment of something.
Plural noun: frustrations. 
Verb: prevent (a plan or attempted action) from progressing, succeeding, or being fulfilled.
 

Can we thwart the will of God?
Given the common definitions of the words, the simple grammatically based answer would be no.
To believe otherwise would be to suggest that we have the power to frustrate God’s plans and purposes.
Another word for frustrate is “Thwart” and it is clear from scripture that God’s will cannot be thwarted.

Isaiah 14:27 For the LORD Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?.
Job 42:2 Then Job answered the LORD and said, “I know that You can do all things, And that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted”

The Bible is full of scriptures that speak of God’s will being fulfilled, in spite of men, circumstances, or evil.
On the contrary, it is God that thwarts the plans of the wicked.

Ps. 33:10,11 “The Lord foils the plans of the nations [the wicked]; He thwarts the purposes of the [wicked] peoples. But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of His heart through all generations”.
 

God’s will, His predetermined plans for the world and for His people, will prevail.
 

“There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD” (Proverbs 21:30).
”O Lord, God of our fathers, are You not the God who is in Heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in Your hand, and no one can withstand You” (2 Chron. 20:6).
”Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails” (Prov. 19:21).
”The Lord works out everything for His own ends –even the wicked for a day of disaster” (Prov. 16:4).

”The faithless will be fully repaid for their ways, and the good man rewarded for his” (Prov. 14:14).

As we see, from the many scriptures, we do not have the power to literally frustrate God’s plan.
However, we can grieve God by the choices we make and our choices can have an adverse effect on others.

Our choices should be rooted and motivated by faith and love in Jesus Christ not by our own desires.
The Israelites were an example of this.

Psa 78:40  How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert! 

We are exhorted not to grieve the Holy Spirit.

Eph 4:30  And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. 

By acting on our own desires and not seeking to do the will of God, we can be a stumbling block to our own development and to other believers. Our actions can frustrate the development in their relationship with God.
Again, an example of this is:

Mal 2:8  But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the LORD of hosts. 
 

As Christians we do the right thing, not because it saves us, but because Christ saved us. In everything you do, do it all for God’s glory and love for Christ.

Colossians 3:17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

James 4:17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin

Galatians 6:9 Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.

James 1:22 But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

John 14:23 Jesus answered, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him

C.S. Lewis quote:

Do what is right, not what is easy.

The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it.

Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching
 

Theodore Roosevelt quote:
Knowing what’s right doesn’t mean much, unless you do what’s right. 

The choices we make should be what we know to be right.
 

Romans 14:23 But if you have doubts about whether or not you should eat something, you are sinning if you go ahead and do it. For you are not following your convictions. If you do anything you believe is not right, you are sinning.

 

Jesus honoured the authority of His Father through complete obedience.
Jesus Christ’s entire life and ministry were foreordained by His Father and Jesus was careful to carry out every detail according to the will of His Father. 

Hebrews 10:7 “Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come . . . to do thy will, O God’.
 

Everything that Jesus did and said was according to the Fathers will.
 

John 12:49 “For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me commandment, what to say, and what to speak”.
 

Even though His obedience led to His death, He still obeyed.

Philippians 2:8 “And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross”.

Jesus never fought against the will of God and neither should we.

The Bible is God’s revealed will to us.
The Word is where we discover His will for our lives. We must read it and practice its precepts.

We are free to make choices in our lives. God has given us a mind and all our decisions and choices should be made with His precepts in mind.
If we walk in Christ. If we walk in love. If we are keeping ourselves free from sin and walking in the Spirit, our choices and decisions will follow a right path. God will direct our way.

Proverbs 16:9 A man’s heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps.
 

Anyone who thinks he can obstruct, prevent, or defeat God’s plan is only going to harm himself, or frustrate others.

In our text John 7:1 It says: He did not want to walk in Judea NKJV.

The KJV says: for he would not walk in Jewry.
 

This should be our aim in life. We should not want to walk in any way that is not the Lords will.
May it be said of us, that we would not walk in anything but the will of God.

​

​

​

​

​

​