That without his will, they can neither move or be moved
Dec 15th, 2007 by Michael Krahn
We can be patient when things go against us
thankful when things go well
and for the future we can have
good confidence in our faithful God and Father
that nothing will separate us from his love.
All creatures are so completely in his hand
that without his will
they can neither move or be moved
- Heidelberg Catechism, Q & A 28
This expression of God’s sovereignty – “All creatures are so completely in his hand that without his will they can neither move or be moved” – is comforting and constraining at the same time.
No man can move us unless God wills him to. As Jesus said to Pilate, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above.” I love that scene in The Passion of the Christ. Jesus, bloody and beaten to within a breath of his life, utters these defiant words to Pilate and Pilate knows the truth of it.
We cannot move unless God wills us to. How difficult this submission is, to not move outside of God’s will. We say it is difficult to discern at times but more often I think we simply choose the way that seems best to us without really asking God. If we move outside his will, we move away, even if we do what he would have asked of us. If we do it with selfish motives, it negates the benefit of the act.
So why do we resist this submission? Because we do not believe that he has our ultimate good in mind. We still believe, foolishly, that we can find our own way and only seek assistance when the going is hard. We are still every bit as foolish as our first parents were in the garden.
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