One may say he does not believe it to be God's will that he undergo this
suffering when it may be only his own humanity. Out of human sympathy we
may try to dissuade our brother from doing the will of God. At Caesarea
certain brethren tried, out of mere sympathy, to persuade Paul not to go
to Jerusalem, where, it was prophesied, he should be bound and delivered
to the Gentiles. Seeing that he would not be persuaded, they gave place to
that higher will, and said, "The will of the Lord be done."
This is not confined to the greater affairs of life, such as burning at
the stake, but includes the little affairs of every-day life. How easy it
is for man to conclude it is the will of God for him to do a certain thing
when perhaps it is only the will of sense! Remember, God's ways are not as
our ways. It seems to be a most reasonable thing to the minister that he
should go home to his family. How easy it is for him to believe it is
God's will that he should go! At least, it has been so many times with the
writer. He has too often obeyed the human desire and disobeyed God. Such
disobedience, if such it may be called, is not sin, since the will of God
is not known, but it is being led by the impulse of sense and is
detrimental to spirituality.
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