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What if Noah would have said “No”?  Would someone else have built the ark?  What if Abraham said, “No thank you.  I’m happy right here.”  Would someone else’s family have entered the Promised Land?  What if Moses said, “I don’t want to be the one to set my people free.”  Would there still have been an exodus from Egypt?  

Is God’s will dependent on our obedience?  Or is God’s will simply God’s will and we have the opportunity to participate?  If we say “No”, will God’s will simply be accomplished in some other way, through some other person?

This is one of those “If a tree falls in the woods and nobody is around to hear it, does it still make a sound?” type of questions.  For Noah, Abraham and Moses didn’t say “No”.  So, why bother asking the question? 

It matters because Noah, Abraham and Moses didn’t say “No”, but what about you?  Are you saying “No” to something that God is calling you to be?  Are you resisting the leading of God in your life?  Are you being who God created you to be or are you going your own way, doing your own thing, following your own will?

The question is essential, not only for the past, but for the future generations of your family.  For Noah’s, Abraham’s and Moses’ decisions to follow, to carry out God’s will, certainly impacted their descendants.  And the same is true for you.  There are multiple generations of your family standing on your shoulders right now.  The decisions that you make about how you will live your life today, will have ripple effects on their lives tomorrow.      

Yes, it’s true that if you say “No”, God’s will, will be done.  It will simply be done in another way, through another person.  The Ark would have been built, even if Noah said “No”.  Someone else’s descendants would have been the promised people of God, if Abraham had said “No”.  The Hebrew people would have been freed from slavery in Egypt, even if Moses had said “No”.   

You’re getting ready to ring in a new year.  And God wants to do something wonderful in you and through you.  The effects of what God wants to do in you and through you will not only impact your life, but will have a lasting impact on the future generations of your family.  God is inviting you to participate.  God is giving you the opportunity for your life to be more than simply your life. 

God’s will, will be done.  And God is inviting you to be a part of that will.  Yet, God loves you enough to give you the freedom to say “No”.  Yet, in saying “No” you aren’t only hurting yourself.  You’re also hurting the future generations of your family who will miss out on being the descendants of someone who said “Yes”.