Many times, we find ourselves in positions where we have to do things that we are not really interested in. It happens more often amongst the people of God. The Church needs to set up a committee and a leader is needed, then you find no one wants to be the leader. Somehow someone reluctantly takes the challenge while deep down inside they are not interested. Quite often you find that it will take a special grace of God for the task to be accomplished successfully. Why? Because there was no willing heart to get the task done. Our lives are full of many unpleasant responsibilities. In our call to be of service to God, we find that this call requires that our heart be in the right place. The call on our lives requires that our hearts be willing to serve the Lord. Is your heart willing?
God loves a heart that is willing to do His will. In Exodus 35, Moses relayed God’s commands about the construction of the tabernacle to the people of Israel. In giving the commands, God also gave several details about how the tabernacle should be built. God directed that the Tabernacle should be built by the people from the beginning to the end. He even told them when they should work on the Tabernacle and when they cannot. One very important aspect of the instructions that was given by God to the people of Israel was that the work that will be done on the Tabernacle must be the work of only “willing” people. “Take ye from among you an offering unto the Lord: whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it…” – Exodus 35:5a (KJV). This requirement established for God’s people a basic and fundamental truth. More than anything else, God wants our hearts. When it comes to the things of God, many of us are on auto. We just do things devoid of emotion, without our hearts in it. However, our God Is not satisfied with mechanical actions; all of our actions must be accompanied by our heart. He wants a relationship first before anything else we might want to do.
The question is worth asking: Why do we do what we do? Are we doing what God expects of us? Are we doing what pleases God? And if we are doing what God expects, are we doing it with a willing heart? Many times, in our lives our base instincts take over and we do not conform with God’s expectations of us. We do not follow God’s will for us, and when we do, it is often with the wrong motive. God loves to use a willing heart to accomplish His purpose. But God made us and knows our short comings, so many times He is willing to also come to our aid to help put our hearts in the right place. When hearts are not right, He changes our hearts. I know God can change hearts. So, I look unto Him to help me with my heart and make it more willing to do His will. We need to always go to God and ask Him to help us with our hearts just like David did in Psalm 51:10 (KJV): “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me”.
God knowing that His wayward people do not have their hearts in the right place and have not the willing heart to do God’s will, reminded them in Ezekiel 36:26 about His desire and ability to do His work: “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.” He knows where we are, and He is willing to meet us there. Even where we do not have the abilities to do what we need to do, when our hearts are willing God will take care of the rest. He did this for Moses and gave him abilities he never thought he possessed.
God has blessed us with different abilities and so there may be times when you feel you are not up to the task because the task requires abilities you do not possess. Because of this we do nothing. God does not want us to do nothing. All He needs is for your heart to be willing, He will make a way. So, I urge you people of God, set your eyes on the Lord. Make yourself available for His use. Is your heart willing? That is all you need. He can take care of the rest, “for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure”.
July 3, 2022 – Pastor Simbo Odunaiya
