“I WILL” – WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
When we say, “I will,” it’s often a weak or mundane response, like: “I will take a ride.” But when God says, “I will,” it’s much stronger, and should be understood as: “THIS IS MY WILL; THIS IS WHAT I WANT.” I started in Genesis, looking up the usages of “I will.” But when I looked for it in the original texts, it wasn’t there! Why not? God didn’t need to say, “I will.” The translators added it. God’s will was in the action word following the “I will.”
This seems to be consistent throughout the Bible. God doesn’t need a lead up; He jumps right in with immediate engagement. I’ll show you by starting with the first place we find “I will” in the Bible. (You younger, and older, men who are looking for the perfect wife will love this one.)
Genesis 2:18: “And the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.’” When you drop the “I will,” you have a much more direct and powerful demand: MAKE, as in “make it happen; do it.” The original Hebrew word is “asah.” By the simple task of looking it up on your online Strong’s Concordance, you see that it means, “to produce, to procure, to prepare, to put in order, appoint, ordain, bring about, to celebrate, and maintain!” WOW! What a great promise for any single man who admits to needing a help “meet for him.” God’s will is to MAKE it happen absolutely! God says it’s His will to perform, celebrate, and maintain it! He declares to His universe, “Make it happen!”
On the same website, you’ll see a further explanation of the word MAKE. It’s “to create, to work a miracle, to make or produce it from oneself.” What a great and loving God. Three examples given are of how a cow makes milk and how a tree makes fruit and how a grain makes flour. The product comes from the source. The explanation goes on to say the thing made is acquired by labor. It is prepared and made ready, like food. It is also trained and combed (not shaved). When we apply this to a human being, God is telling us that He is the one who produces this person. He prepares them; He labors in them to give them the best stuff. He trains them and combs them, bringing out the best, not cutting them off. When God picks a person for you, He does it right.
The above example is only the first place we see God saying, “I will.” I also looked up Genesis 17:7 where God says to Abraham: “And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.” Galatians 3:29 says: “If ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” So, the many “I wills” God said to Abraham after Genesis 17:7 apply to us too. I highly recommend looking some of them up.
But in this verse, the action word after “I will” in this verse is “ESTABLISH.” It’s a firm, strong and sure declaration, like the MAKE in Genesis 2. In this verse, God is talking about a personal relationship between Him and us. When we look up the word “establish,” it means “to prove, to fulfill, to validate, to raise up, stir up, stand up, make clear, and strengthen.” God’s strong desire is an intimate organic relationship with Him every day.
Three very powerful “I will” verses that I will look at in the next post (Wed.) are in Exodus 15:26 and Exodus 23:25-26. The verses read:
“I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee” (Ex. 15:26).
“I will take sickness away from the midst of thee” (Ex. 23:25).
“The number of thy days I will fulfill” (Ex. 23:26).
Four steps - 1. We look up the “I will” verses in the Bible. 2. We jump right over the “I will” and go directly to the action God Himself declares. 3. We agree His action is our blessing. 4. We believe, and we receive with thanksgiving. All the glory goes to God.
Love, Carolyn
A great book for starting out 2018: WINGS: BEING A BOLDER CHRISTIAN FREE THRU TUESDAY ! ! ! * * **
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