Are you the Great I Will…or aren’t You?

Them’s fightin’ words…and I aimed them at God.

You see, for a few years now, I’ve been badgering the Lord about my personal Purpose-Driven Life. I read that best-selling book, and I agree. My life has a purpose. God has a plan for me. A plan to prosper and not harm. A plan to give me hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11).

Agreed. God has a plan. I’m here for a purpose.

SO WHAT THE HECK IS IT?

Therefore, like a kid asking repeatedly for ice cream, or a sleepover, or a new bike, I’ve been tugging at The Master’s cloak, asking, asking, asking….

Show me the plan for my life.

Let me know what the purpose is.

What work should I be doing?

And as I badger, I hear in my Spirit the answer….

“I Will.”

Always the same... “I Will.”

Now, I’m familiar with the Old Testament, where Moses asks God His name, and God replies, “I Am.” But “I Will”? This is a new one. Yet I always hear the same answer, “I Will.” And it surprises me. It surprises me because I imagined I was asking a rhetorical question. I didn’t expect an answer. And it shocks me because I don’t understand it.

I Will. I Will.

What does this mean? Am I making the whole thing up? I don’t think so.

Right away, I wonder if there's a Scriptural basis for calling the Lord “I Will.” As I reflect, the Scripture “I Will never leave you or forsake you” comes to mind. But is there more? How do I know it’s God’s voice? That it's Him shutting me up, telling me He’ll take care of all my questions, in due time? And not just my own inner voice?

So I look up “I Will” on my electronic concordance. It’s this cool computer thing where you can type in the words you’re looking for and see if these words appear in the Bible. It’s fun to play with. Like, type in “baseball” or “watermelon” and you’ll see that there are no matches. No Scriptures about baseball or watermelons.

But type in “I Will” and over 1,900 Scriptures fly onto the screen! Yikes, He Will. He’s not just whistlin’ Dixie. He is the Great I Will. His Book bears that out.

Back to my fightin’ words. I kept hearing “I Will”, but no more specific answers. It started to make me mad. I’m waiting….tapping my foot impatiently.

Show me the plan for my life.

Let me know what the purpose is.

What work should I be doing?

In my frustration, I wrote in my journal, “Are you the Great I Will, or aren’t you?”

By that I suppose I meant, “Where are You? When will I get a better answer?”

When I was little, I would ask my mother if my friend Beth Rooney could sleep over. Mom would say, “I’ll think about it. Go away.” For the rest of the day I would tiptoe around, a model child, speaking in hushed tones, picking up my toys, offering to bring my mother a can of Tab from the olive green fridge. My twin sister and Beth Rooney would do the same. We were all hoping to influence a faster (and affirmative) response.

Sometimes it worked. Sometimes it didn’t. I suspect Mom knew the answer as soon as I asked the question….but wasn’t willing to tell me right away.

And likewise, God. He is the Great I Will.

He does have a plan. And part of His plan is to do it in His timing.

Therefore, I wait. And I sometimes badger. Like David did in the Psalms. David is great. He doesn’t hold anything back. He cries out to the Lord and He whines and He begs and He cajoles and He challenges. And God said He loved David. He describes Him as being a man after His own heart. This gives us permission to do the same. God wants to hear it all.

What challenge do you have for the Lord today? He wants to hear it. All the begging, whining, complaining, crying. He can take it.

So go ahead, in the quietness of your own heart…cry out to Him. Ask Him. See what answer you get.

I suspect it might be.....

I Will.