For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Philippians 2:13
A man told of visiting a village where one of the residents had two captured eagles. These birds had been captured as small chicks when only a few weeks old, and had grown to full maturity while being kept in a large room. They were beautiful creatures with magnificent six-foot wing spans. When the visitor returned to the village the next year, he went to see the eagles, and was told they were gone. When the owner had gone away on a trip, some of the local boys had opened the eagles’ cage and allowed the birds to escape. Normally, the flight of an eagle soaring high in the sky is a wonderful sight. But these eagles, having been confined all their lives in a cage, had never learned to fly nor had they developed the powerful muscles to support their wings. They hopped and flopped, and made pitiful attempts to get into the air. Because they were unable to escape, they fell prey to cruel boys and even more cruel dogs. Their deaths seemed such a sad end for birds that were intended to rise to great heights. And so is the destruction of Christians who fail to develop and grow as God intended for us.
The previous verse reminds us that we are to work out the reality of our salvation. Unless we work out what God has worked within, we fail to achieve what the will of God intended for us. Keeping those birds in a cage did not prevent them from being eagles. But it did prevent them from becoming everything that an eagle should be. In the same way, if Christians are stifled by a lack of reading of the Scriptures, by ignoring fellowship with God and with His people, and by avoiding the spiritual exercise of doing things for the Lord, those Christians never achieve what God has intended for us, and face the prospects of nothing but spiritual disaster. But that is not what God wants or intends.
Our text reminds us that it is God Who wills and works in us, to do of His good pleasure. If we are to accomplish anything for Him, it must be according to His will, and not our own. His will is obedience to His Word, subjection to His Holy Spirit, and devotion to His holy Name. If we allow His will to occupy our lives, we will develop the spiritual strength and training to be effective in our worship and service for Him. We will be equipped to perform the work of His good pleasure. Like the eaglets raised in the wild by their parents, we will be able to rise to heights that God intends for us and to put our spiritual abilities to good use.
God’s will and God’s work come together in the Christian who is exercised to allow God’s good pleasure to be in control. -Jim MacIntosh