Is God a “Nixer”?
Is God a “Nixer”? Does He somehow stand opposed to any individual expression that a person may make? In some things, God would have to be a nixer if He is a person of truth and of holiness, yet does He oppose us when we dream or seek to venture out in risk? I am not speaking of things that are clear moral or ethical violations but things that are good. I believe that our view of God in this will have a great impact on how we live. Do we see God as someone who will not permit people to actually “live”, as someone who is supportive and encouraging us to “go for it” or as someone who is a cosmic kiljoy?
James 4:13-17 says…
Listen, you who say, “today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “if it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.
This passage makes is sound like God might be a nixer. The statement “IF it’s the Lord’s will,” definitely carries that implication. However, James is combating two vices with this passage…the first vice is that of boasting. This kind of boasting is evil because it doesn’t give glory to God who is ultimately responsible for all of live and the blessings that come our way. This boasting is planning that doesn’t include God’s Sovereignty in the plans. God may be a nixer in this sense, however we see the second vice that James mentions is the sin of omission. He says, “Anyone, then who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.” God says no, on the one hand because He is saying yes on the other hand. If a man makes plans to do the good that he feels in his heart he ought to do, He will find that God will not nix that but will encourage it.
Herein lies an important truth to how God leads…it can be found in Philippians 2:12 and 13 “therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose.” God works in us to desire to do the good that he wants for us to do. We are to carry that out “with fear and trembling;” with the same attitude as if God were to hand that to you on tablets of stone. That is how God leads us today. I need to qualify the word “us”. “Us” are the people who are living in right relationship with God and desire to please Him. They are not living entirely for themselves like the boasters referred to in James. The boasters may or may not be oblivious to God’s desire, but they are definitely ignoring it.
Therefore, if our hearts are right with God and they desire to do certain good, then God will not nix the plan.
Sometimes it is difficult to discern if the heart is right…I think it is important to simply do as James says “If it is the Lord’s will, we will do this or that…” We move ahead with the acknowledgment that God is ultimately in control and we thank Him for the opportunities that He places before us.
Our hearts will often betray us though and will make us think that God doesn’t want us to go forward with something that is truly our desire.
King Solomon gave some great advice concerning this in Ecclesiastes 11: 5-6
As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.
Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let not your hands be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well.
I love this passage because it tells me that I really won’t know what God will bless. I need to make sure that I have enough pans in the fire so that He can bless one or all of them. What I do is up to me, what God blesses is up to Him. It is interesting that in the passage (Ecc. 11:9) that follows it talks about the coming of old age and gives advice there about that too.
Be happy, young man, while you are young, and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth. Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see, but know that for all these things God will bring you to judgment.
So is God a nixer? NO…but I think that the plans and dreams need to be something that will inspire Him to bless it. He is not obligated to bless everything that I do, but I thing we have enough insight into God’s character to know what really turns Him on. Here are some cases that reveal what God found irrestible.
We see it in the healing of the paralytic in Mark 2. The text says in verse 5 “when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic”. Whose faith is this referencing? I believe that this was speaking specifically of the faith of the four men who brought him to Jesus rather than the faith of the paralytic himself. I know that this messes with our theology that a person must have faith for themselves in order to receive forgiveness of sin, but it says “see their faith”. The four men actually displayed faith in getting that paralytic to Jesus. They believed that Jesus was this guy’s answer so they came up with a lame plan of breaking though someone’s roof and lowering the man down on a palette. If these four men didn’t believe it a worthwhile venture they would not go through all the pains to go so far. Their action was motivated by their faith and everyone, including Jesus, could see it. How did these men know that Jesus would bless this? They didn’t KNOW it, but they really believed that the opportunity was there for the taking. So they took it…no prayer meeting or any other decisional making device needed. They followed their heart! Jesus was impressed so much when He saw their faith (which was displayed through the working out a crazy plan of getting the paralytic to Jesus’ feet) that He did a little extra thing and forgave the man his sins.
I like this story. These men were men who had faith, but they were also men who showed it through action. Their plans were based on what they wanted God to do. God couldn’t resist it. He condoned and backed this crazy action. What I do is up to me, what God does is up to Him. Here we find that God was inspired to bless them.
We see it in the faith of the Roman Centurion in Matthew 8:8-10
Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go’, ad he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, “I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in
Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that very hour.
There are a couple of things worth noting in this passage. The first is that Jesus was “astonished” at seeing faith. Again, we find that this is something that greatly pleases the Lord and that it a joy for Him to bless. The second point is that Jesus was already going to go to the centurion’s place to heal him. The centurion of his own accord makes a suggestion that shows both faith and humility. The centurion displays his rational for thinking they way he does…Jesus goes along with it because it comes with faith. Jesus changes His plans of going there and adopts the centurion’s suggestion of just saying the word and staying without making the trip. I stress this point that it was a plan that was brought up by the centurion. It was his initiative and not Jesus. Jesus did not nix it because it showed faith. In fact, He was greatly pleased with it. Also, you get the sense as you read this that He would like to see more of it…especially in
We often worry specifically about the plan and whether God will bless it or not, but the issue is that whether the plan shows faith or not.
We see this when Peter walks on the water in Matthew
During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw Him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” He said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.
This is one of my favorite stories in the Bible. There is one major point that I want to point out in this passage is that of Peter’s initiative. It was Peter’s idea to walk on the water. Of course, he saw Jesus doing it yet it was a crazy idea to think that he himself could. Would Jesus permit such an idea? Would it be considered too prideful, too risky or too presumptuous? Will God nix this one? Absolutely NOT! Jesus said “come”. This just blows my mind! Jesus goes along with Peter’s idea. None of the other disciple’s thought of it. They might have but they may have been too scared to try. Somehow Peter had enough confidence that if Jesus was in it, he could do it! I can’t get over it…it was Peter’s idea and Jesus backed it. How many crazy ideas do we get that require trust in the word of Christ that could turn to be a clear display of God’s power if we followed through on it. Keep in mind that Peter got to experience something that none of us would ever dream of experiencing. Yet had he not taken that opportunity, it would have not happened.
Yes I know that Peter lost faith and sank, and that “at least he got out of the boat,” this is not my point here. My point is that we are free to dream and plan and venture and risk and all of those things that will show faith in Christ. We can throw off our caution and place it on Him for He does care for us.
A statement that I hear a lot is…“I don’t know if the idea comes from me or if it is Him”. My response from these passages is “So what?” If the plan is full of belief and faith…GO FOR IT!
Jesus begins to prod His disciples into this type of thinking in His feeding of the multitudes in both Mark 6 and 8. In Mark 6 the disciples see the need and present their idea to Jesus (verse 35-36) and Jesus counters with a different idea, “You give them something to eat.” Of course, the disciples were completely perplexed with how they could accomplish what Jesus was asking them to do. Jesus proceeds to feed the multitudes out of the small amount that they have on hand.
Mark 8 is a similar situation, but here Jesus brings up the need to His disciples in verse 2.
I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.
Jesus brings up the need and an opportunity. The disciples have already been in a situation like this before. It is as if Jesus is presenting an opportunity for a disciple to take some initiative by faith and come up with a plan. Notice how they respond in verse4…
His disciples answered, “But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?”
The disciples are still not thinking and planning by faith in the power of God. They see how impossible the task of feeding that multitude would be. It definitely is impossible without Christ. But they were forgetting that Jesus is with them and with Jesus all things are possible that are impossible with men. The nixer in this passage isn’t God, but it is His disciples. God gives an opportunity and the opportunity is missed. So Jesus feeds them like before and hopes the lesson sinks in. We learn that the lesson doesn’t sink in for a few verses later when Jesus is giving them a warning they misunderstand it in
They discussed this with one another and said, “It is because we have no bread.” Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: “why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes to see but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember?
What were they to remember? They were to remember the two instances in which Jesus fed the multitudes with basically nothing. They were to apply that to the fact that the lack of bread was not an issue. This reveals that the disciples were still struggling to apply their faith into these situations.
This prompts the thought that we are often the ones that limit or nix what God wants to do. It isn’t God who limits us! He gives opportunity after opportunity and situation after situation in which we need to apply faith. This is especially true in those situations where He has proved Himself to us in a smaller matter like He did with David with the bears and lions before the Goliath opportunity. What examples has He personally given us in the past that point to a faith situation today?
We turn now to some encouragements that Jesus gives in relation to prayer. In these encouragements there is the implication that we have some initiative that God is looking for.
The first passage is Matthew 7:7-8 which says…
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
This passage tells us that God blesses a person who will ask, seek, and knock. That person comes with what he wants God to do. Jesus tells us that the person will be rewarded if he does these things. I hear Jesus as saying “Go for it”! It is not wrong to have a desire that moves us to ask, seek and knock. It is in fact good especially when it is acted upon. I rephrase this as saying “if there is something I want, I am free to pursue it.”
There is encouragement to not give up on the pursuit even when it may seem that the answer is “no”. Jesus gave the parable of the persistent widow in Luke 18, and in verse one it says “Jesus told His disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.” There are a few examples of this out of Jesus’ ministry one of which I will share here of Blind Bartimaeus. When he heard that Jesus was passing by him, he cried out for Jesus to have mercy on him. He did so in the face of obstacles and opposition as in Mark 10:48 “Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more…” He did not give up and as the story goes Jesus rewarded his perseverance by restoring his sight.
Bart was successful. He had no idea whether Jesus would respond or not, but he seized the opportunity and did the only thing that he could do. Before long there stood Jesus right in front of him with the wonderful question…”what do you want me to do for you” and Bart said “I WANT TO SEE!” Interestingly, Jesus would have passed by and this story would not have happened if Bart hadn’t taken the initiative to present to Jesus his idea!
It made no difference to all the other people that day that Jesus passed by…but it did to the one who asked, seek[ed] and knocked! The same applies to here and now. Jesus is present…what do I want Him to do for me? Is He the nixer? No…I am the nixer! Everyone else and situations may forbid, yet Jesus does not! Therefore, I must face my belief barrier about God Himself. Is He the one that holds me back or is He the one that would propel me forward. Is He eager to do something great through me or has he brought to a place where I shrivel and dry up? (Sounds like what the Israelites said in the wilderness against both Moses and God) Am I free to soar, to run, to dream to pursue greatness?
I feel that I need to include one last thing on this side of my thought today…and that is one of humility. God opposes the proud but exalts the humble. It is a fact. That is why the boastful in James is evil. In Luke 21:3-4 Jesus told His disciples about the widow who gave more from her poverty than the wealthy did out of their great wealth. He counted her two coins of greater worth than any of what the others did. Jesus is impressed more with the size of the sacrifice than with the size of the gift. This is something well worth remembering for it may seem that a person is serving under limited resources and small things and that person could be esteemed greater than the larger ones.
I need to write briefly of four things that displease God. I cannot expect God’s blessing upon these things.
1. Laziness and fear. In the parable of the talents (Matt. 25:14-30), Jesus tells of how the man who buried his talent was treated by the owner. He was called a lazy and wicked servant. Everything was taken from him and was given to the one who proved faithful. The man simply did not venture out and take the risks necessary to increase his talent. He hid it and did nothing with it. In the parable, the decision of what to do with the talent was up to the servants and they were held accountable for it. Jesus told him that if he wanted to play it safe he should have at least put it in the bank so he could get it back with some interest.
2. Hypocrisy. Jesus said in His Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:1 to “be careful not do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in Heaven.” God won’t bless hypocrisy.
3. Unbelief. It is recorded that Jesus would not do many mighty miracles in His own home town because of unbelief. Matthew
4. Double-minded. James tells of a person who is double-minded and unstable in all their ways. He writes referring to the one who doubts that “man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.” Double-minded means a person who is always unsure. God’s answers to such a person is always “no”. So if a person feel that God is always nixing them, they need to check and see how they are under this test.
So to answer the question…is God a nixer? The answer is no! There are enough scriptures provided here to show the opposite. That God wants people to venture out and take risks for Him. If they don’t, they won’t experience much. They will be assigned to a dull and boring life that may someday be judged as a wicked and lazy one. God isn’t the one standing in our way…it is our own fears and laziness that oppose us. When we listen to these nixers we aren’t listening to the call of God!
