God says "I will, I will." part 1.

"I will open rivers in high places,

and fountains in the midst of the valleys.

I will make the wilderness a pool of water,

and the dry land springs of water." Isaiah c 41 v18.

You notice that in this verse, The Lord twice says "I will" and in this respect this verse is in harmony with the rest of the chapter. How greatly I prize a portion of scripture which is filled with God's shalls and wills! Everything He says is precious, but His "I wills" are peculiarly precious. There are the "I wills" of the psalms, a long list of them, and the "I wills" of Christ, a goodly company. When we come to the "I wills" of God, then we are among the precious things, the deep things, the things that minister comfort and strength to the people of God.

We sometimes say "I will," but it is in a feeble fashion compared with the way in which God says it. People say " must " is "for the king," so, "I will" is for the King of kings. It is His prerogative to will. It is His sovereign right to say "I will." When we get a chapter like the one we have been reading, which is full of the "I wills" of God, it is worthwhile to pause for a few moments and just think of what Jehovah's "I will," must mean.

It is an "I will," uttered with deliberation. James said, "known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world." We say "I will," in a hurry, and then we take time to repent of it. We are under excitement, persuasion or compulsion and we say "I will," and we are very sorry soon after, and perhaps we are so unfaithful as not to keep our word. But God never speaks under compulsion, He is almighty. God never speaks in a hurry, He has infinite leisure. God never speaks under excitement or persuasion, that were not like a God. His purpose is of old, and His decree is from everlasting, and the "I will," which is the mouth of the decree, is a word that is spoken with wisdom and prudence. Now when a man speaks a thing prudently and wisely, you believe that he will carry it out if he can. You may have much more confidence with regard to what The Lord says, for He has not spoken without due deliberation, therefore, whenever God says "I will," you may be sure that He will perform it.

Next, when God says "I will," His resolution is supported by omnipotence. You say "I will," but you cannot do what you have promised. Your will is good enough but you fail because of the lack of means. You say "I will, yes I will," but afterwards you have to meekly say, "I pray thee, take the will for the deed" for you have overshot the mark and are unable to perform what you have promised. Now that can never happen with God. Hath He said and shall He not do it? Is anything too hard for The Lord?, especially anything which He has promised to perform. Come then dear friends, if God be omnipotent, and we know that He is, when He says "I will," we dare not doubt it, for eternal power goes forth with the word of His wisdom, and it must be yea, it shall be done. Whatever doubts we might have had, if it were not God's "I will," vanish when we come to remember that all things are possible with Him.

Furthermore, when God says "I will," we should remember that it is sealed with immutability. We change, we are always changing. Made of dust and ashes, we are made of materials that continues to change. Hence we say today "I will," and we mean it, but tomorrow we wish we had never said "I will," and the next day we say "I will not," Ah me the suicides that have come through resting on the word of a man that was false and proved a traitor to his friend. But God never changes, He is the same, yesterday, and today, and forever. The thing that has gone out of His mouth shall never be reversed. When He once says "I will," depend on this, He still says "I will," and till heaaven and earth shall pass away, it will still be "I will," He is too perfect to change, for being perfect He cannot change. A changeable being either changes from a worse to a better, in which case he was not perfect before, or he changes from a better to a worse, in which case he will not be perfect afterwards. But God being always perfect is always the same, never withdrawing His word or altering His purpose. Will you not therefore believe the unfailing word of an unchanging God? can you not hang upon it? and when He says "I will," depend upon it that it shall be even so.

Once more when God says "I will," it will be carried out with faithfulness. He has fulfilled His threatenings. He never idly vapours and utters words of terror without intending to carry them out, and when it comes to promises, rest you sure that God never flatters the ear, and then decieves the man. If He did not mean to do it, He would not say "I will." Eternal faithfulness performs what eternal wisdom declares. Shall God lie? Is He a man as thou art? Will He decieve? Will He promise falsely and then run from His word? That be far from Him, and let it be far from us thus to sin against Him with such a thought. Come then, child of God, thou who knowest Him, if He has said, "I will help thee," He will help thee. If He says "I will strengthen thee," He will strengthen thee. Believe God without a trace of doubt and "be of good courage, and He will strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in The Lord.