Whatever it takes . . .

The first time that I prayed “whatever it takes” was a request to God to help a person become all that He wanted him to be. The next thing I knew, that man lost his job and wound up in another one that was extremely foreign to his previous experience. He was stressed and struggling. However, after a few weeks he told me that this change in his life opened his eyes to things he needed to know.

Since then, I’ve been a bit nervous when I ask God to do “whatever it takes” concerning someone’s life and their relationship (or lack of) with Him. I’m not sure what will happen, and while I want the will of God, calamity is not easy experience or observe in the lives of others.

I’ve heard stories of people whose lives were turned from sin to God by terrible events like car accidents and fires. I’ve also known people whose turmoil was completely inside them, and in their distress they turned to God and found the joy and freedom of being His children. I’m always amazed at whatever it was that happened to produce the changes in peoples’ lives.

Yet God knows what to do. My reading today is from Isaiah 17:7-8. The city of Damascus was going to be destroyed. The northern tribes of Israel had joined with Syria to combat the invading Assyrians, but to no avail. After this assault, some people would be left. The Bible calls them a “remnant” and it is of those people that these verses speak.

In that day a man will look to his Maker, and his eyes will have respect for the Holy One of Israel. He will not look to the altars, the work of his hands; he will not respect what his fingers have made. . . .

Prior to that, God’s people may have had the idea that simply because of who they were, they were safe. They may also have thought that their own virtues or goodness would protect them. They certainly had made idols and trusted in them, but whatever their form of ignoring God, God was going to use the invasion of the Assyrians to change their hearts.

This seems extreme, but God knew what to do. He knew that they needed to realize they could not depend on anything or anyone but Him. What was a disaster in their minds became the very thing He used to make their hearts look to Him with renewed awe and respect. Note that it wasn’t that God needed their respect. He is complete without any worship from us, but we are incomplete until we acknowledge and get our lives right with the One who created us.

As I pray “whatever it takes” I can trust God to know what He is doing. He knows because He understands the hearts of every person. If someone is fearful of judgment, He knows how to show them that all judgment for sin was taken by Christ at the cross. If someone is flippant and ignoring God, He knows how to show them that He is Almighty God and in charge of every detail of their lives.

One other thing gives me confidence to pray this prayer; God also knows exactly the best way to reveal truth, particularly those things that seem so obvious to me. As His child and as part of His family, I am getting to know my Maker and my Father. I understand His love, mercy, grace, and discipline. That He is Creator and Redeemer is not only obvious, but makes perfect sense to me.

Yet I realize this is not so for everyone. Those who do not know God through saving faith in His Son have little or no valid ideas about Him. Their concept of God is either incomplete or based on rumor and lies. Satan is good at that. He knows how to convince sinners to reject what will save them from sin. He also knows how to keep people in the dark about who God is and what He can do. Many people often don’t know much about God, and cannot articulate exactly what they are rejecting.

God knows this too. He knows where their thinking about Him is in error and how to correct those errors. He knows their reasoning and excuses concerning why they don’t want to know Him and He knows how to expose that reasoning for the rebellion that it is.

All of this is too much for me. I’ve at times thought that I could “convince by words” anyone who didn’t know or accept the gospel. Now I realize that is sheer pride and ignorance on my part, even utter nonsense. The realm of “whatever it takes” belongs solely to God. He not only knows exactly what to do, but also has the ability to do it in such a way that the people who I pray for are not destroyed by His work in their lives. Instead, He can turn them from their sin and rejection to faith in Christ and the joy of knowing Him.