God Equipping Us to Do His Will

Day By Day By Grace
Bob Hoekstra
June 8, 2010

Now may the God of peace…make you complete in every good work to do His will. (Hebrews 13:20-21)

Again, our devotional study is from Hebrews 13:20-21. In our previous meditation, we saw that the God of peace makes obedience possible through the shed blood of the crucified, risen Christ. That shed blood forgives our sins, making friends out of formerly disobedient enemies. Furthermore, that shed blood establishes the new covenant of grace, which supplies God's sufficiency for all our needs, including the developing of an obedient life.

Now, we will reflect upon God being the one who uses His heavenly resources to equip us to do His will. What a hope and joy this is! God Himself is willing to undertake the task of shaping us into His obedient servants: "Now may the God of peace… make you complete in every good work to do His will."

This term ("complete") is exceedingly insightful. It speaks of equipping people for their intended tasks, getting them ready to do what they are called to do. To equip means to furnish whatever qualities are necessary to perform the task at hand. To equip means to supply whatever is needed for an assigned purpose. Our calling and purpose in the will of God is that we engage in a great variety of good works. God is willing to equip us "in every good work to do His will."

Long ago, David was inspired of the Holy Spirit to speak boldly in similar terms. "The LORD will perfect that which concerns me" (Psalm 138:8). In light of David's calling to obedience (and our own calling to the same), many things concern us. We are called to serve, to sacrifice, to pray, to worship, to love, to evangelize, to edify—and the list continues. How are we to expect progress in such a broad range of obedience? Our confidence is that "The LORD will perfect that which concerns [us]."

As we have asked previously, is this equipping work of God unto obedience an automatic issue? Not at all! Remember, we can resist (Acts 7:51), quench (1 Thessalonians 5:19), and grieve (Ephesians 4:30) the work of the Spirit of grace in our lives. So what is our response to be? Since the Lord is the one who must equip us to do His will, we are to seek Him daily in the word and in prayer. We are to depend humbly upon Him. We must not look to ourselves, to formulas, or to any other false hope.

O God of peace, please do what only You can do. Equip me to obey You in every type of good work that is in Your will.. I do not have what it takes to fulfill Your will for me. I often put my hope in vain places. Lord, I now look to You alone, in Jesus' name, Amen.