God always looks for ways that His will may be fulfilled. Some Bible scholars say that the will of God is expressed in three different ways. The three ways in which God’s will is expressed are: His ultimate will, His intentional will, and His circumstantial will. The ultimate will is what God ultimately wants, for example: the salvation of the man. The intentional will is what God wants that happens so that His ultimate will is fulfilled, for example: the death of Jesus to save the world, according to some experts, it should have been on an altar as the “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” John 1:29. His circumstantial will was what He had to do instead of His intentional, because we caused His intentional will to fail, for example: as the Jews did not accept Jesus, He had to die on the cross (Philippians 2:8).
Let us take another example: Abraham and Isaac. The ultimate will of God was to save Abraham. The intentional will of God was to make him understand the gospel through an only son: Isaac. But Abraham had another son whom He should have not had. So God had to look for a way to teach the gospel to Abraham with two children: Ishmael and Isaac. This last one was the Circumstantial Will of God.
Another example is Jacob and Esau. The ultimate will of God could be that there is someone in every generation bearing the responsibility and the privilege to live and preach the Gospel. This is what all who are in the lineage of Christ would do. This person would communicate the promise of the Messiah to the world. The intentional will of God is that this person would be Jacob. Abraham would teach Isaac, and Isaac in turn would teach Jacob. But the circumstantial will of God, made God move heaven and earth to remove Jacob from his native land, thus saving the lineage of Christ. Sister White says that Isaac felt Divinity in the words that he spoke to Jacob when Jacob disguised himself to deceive its father. God intervened to assure that Jacob received the blessing and not Esau. Esau sold his right to it for a “pot of lentils.”
The next example is Jacob, Leah and Rachel. Was it the will of God that Jacob had two spouses and their servants as concubines? Could one of them have been God’s will? If this is true then it should have been Leah. Leah was brought to Jacob, just as Eve was to Adam and Rebekah was to Isaac. (Rebekah was chosen by God to be Wife of Isaac). Leah was the only one that gave Glory to God for procreating (Genesis 29:35). In fact, it was when she gave birth to Judah that she gave Glory to God. Judah, her fourth son, originates the tribe of Judah and continues the lineage of Jesus. It seems to me that Leah had been the intentional will of God, if only Jacob had been a praying man. How different would it had been if Jacob had prayed to God having requested to him wisdom as far as choosing a life companion, instead of making God promises He could not fulfill. How different would it have been if Jacob would have waited, as his father Isaac waited for God to bring the woman to him, instead of Jacob choosing himself? As Abraham, he should have listened to the voice of God, and believe God’s Word to him.
The promise that God gave to Jacob was, “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.”” Genesis 28:15. If Jacob had believed this promise - and had continued believing – and had understood everything covered in the promise, it would had been sufficient for him to hope that God could provide all his needs - including a wife - instead of working to provide them for himself. This does not mean that Jacob would have not worked for Laban, but that perhaps on different terms.
This promise also is also for us. Christ said to his apostles, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). Since He is with us always He can still provide for all of our needs if we allow him – yes, even a spouse. His will will be done, if we respond, “let thy will be done.”
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