Yahweh's Will versus Yahweh's Ability

Read Matthew 8:13

As a school teacher, I often have to correct students on the use of “can” in the place of “may”. They would say, “Sir, can I use the bathroom?” Invariably, my response is, “I don’t know if you can. Can you?” I Expect them to say, “May I use the bathroom.” Sometimes the correction is between “Can” and “will”. The conversation usually sounds something like this:

STUDENT: Sir, can you call Miss So-and-so for me?

ME: Of course I can.

STUDENT: Thank you, sir.

ME: Why are you thanking me?

A conversation (long or short) usually ensues before they get it that they should say, “Sir, will you please call Miss So-and-so for me?”

“May” is asking permission. ”Will” is asking whether I am in the mood and compliant to do something. ”Can” questions my ability to do something.

In Matthew 8:1-2, a leper said to Yeshua, “Lord, if You will, you can make me clean.” Three things are implicit here.

1. He called Yeshua Lord. He was already submitting to Him, and acknowledging our Lord’s power and divinity. In fact, verse 2 says that he worshipped Him.

2. The leper said, “If You will.” He was saying, “If You want to; if You are in the mood; if You are compliant.”

3. “You can make me clean.” He affirmed His faith in Yeshua’s ability to do this job, a job that was medically challenging in those days.

The leper did not question Messiah’s ability: he questioned His willingness to heal him. Yeshua’s response was reassuring: “I will; be clean.” (Please observe the pause at the semi-colon after “will” when reading.) The issue was not a matter of Messiah’s ability to heal this condition, but whether it was His will to do so.

Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were brought before Nebuchadnezzar for not bowing to his idol. They said to him in response to his threat of the fiery furnace, “Our God is able to deliver us . . . and He will deliver us out of your hand. But if not . . . we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image . . .” (Dan. 3:16-18). They knew Yahweh’s ability (power) to save or deliver, but they submitted to His willingness/unwillingness to do it.

Beloved ones, even if Yahweh does not come through for us in a particular way, it does not mean He is unable. Or, said another way, not because He can, it means He will.” His ability and His will are two separate things.

Satan said to Yeshua, “If You are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread” (Matthew 4:3, ESV). Did Yeshua do it? NO! Could He have done it? YES! He turned water into wine, didn’t He? He used five loaves and two fish to feed over five thousand, didn’t He?

Never question Yah’s ability; rather seek His will. Is it His will to heal, to provide, to deliver, to protect, etc. in a given situation? He can, but His will may not permit Him to. Trust Him to do the right thing for all involved.

Chip Ingram offers this definition of wisdom (modified from Berkhof’s): “God brings about the best possible ends, by the best possible means, for the most possible people, for the longest possible time” (Chip Ingram). Someone said, “God is all-wise and we are otherwise.”

Here’s a song by Babbie Mason to encourage your hearts.

All things work for our good Though sometimes we don’t see how they could Struggles that break our hearts in two Sometimes blind us to the truth Our Father knows what best for us His ways are not our own So when your pathway grows dim And you just don’t see Him Remember you’re never alone God is too wise to be mistaken God is too good to be unkind So when you don’t understand When you don’t see His plan When you can’t trace His hand Trust His heart He sees the master plan And He holds our future in His hand So don’t live as those who have no hope All our hope is found in Him We see the present clearly But He sees the first and the last And like a tapestry He’s weaving you and me To someday be just like Him He alone is faithful and true

He alone knows what is best for you

(May 1, 2016)