I’ve got a new hot button. I experienced it this week and I think it’s best to warn the general public that until I make some progress in sanctification, pushing this button could result in an ugly scene.
(Before I say this, I know there are a bunch of books on this subject and I’ve read some of them. I could just recommend a good book, but I need to get this off my chest.)
My new hot button is “You need to pray until you find God’s will.”
First of all, I believe in God, and I believe he has a will. I believe God sovereignly runs the universe pretty much like the Westminister/Second London Confessions say, though I have absolutely no idea what that means other than God is in control in a way I can’t understand and am not capable of understanding. (My brain is too small.) It’s an assertion, and as much as I know God only in Jesus, it’s a comfort.
Frankly, when Capon says that God runs the world through “Holy Luck,” like a guy with a card trick that’s amazing to you but no big deal to him, that works for me. Capon believes that things don’t look like there’s a plan, but that’s the beauty of the way God has chosen to run the universe. He’s there in plain sight where you can’t see him.
Secondly, I believe God’s will encompasses my life. In the same way, I don’t believe I am going to get much specific insight into that. It’s an assertion, and as much as it comes to me packaged as Jesus, it’s as I said, a comfort.
I know that when tragedy or sudden blessing strike, my belief in God’s sovereign control is a comfort. When my mom had a stroke and died in 14 hours, I was resting in God’s hands and praying the same for her. When I got a book deal, I believe it was God’s time. I’ll give him thanks.
But here’s the thing- I am really, really, really tired of being told to “find” God’s will.
I have no idea what most people mean when they say “find” and I don’t believe they do either.
Let’s run the perspective list:
1. What God declares and commands in scripture is, when rightly understood, his will. I’m fine with that. That’s why I preach the Bible and live my life by it. But I also know there is a lot of life that is a mystery to me, I don’t care how much Bible I stuff in my head.
I’m not impressed by people who demonstrate that they have a verse to turn any tragedy into an opportunity to say “God is doing this.” I prefer to see a tragedy as a tragedy. I’m not saying God is less in control. I’m not going atheist or blaming God, but he’s running the show and he allows tragedy. He doesn’t say, “Now show me you’ve trained yourself to say otherwise.” That’s sad. Maybe even sick.
My human instinct is to see terrible things as terrible. I don’t have any theological response to not trust those feelings and say “Oh, but God is really using this.” He is. He does. But my part is to start with, “This is terrible and people are hurting/suffering.”
2. What God communicates and allows through providence. I’m alive in Ky in 2009. I’m at a school. I have a family. I’m an American. I have an income. I have certain gifts and certain opportunities. God sent them. God allows them. Again, I’m not making a show of believing this. It’s how God unfolds life in time. His story. I’m a character. I don’t try to understand the author. (See Stranger Than Fiction to get that picture.)
3. What God communicates through those with authority over me and/or by means of trusted people in my world. Same as above.
4. What God communicates by his Spirit to me in mystical ways. Now we’re getting close to the issue. I know God does this, but I am really through playing the game of seeking for God to do it or expecting God to do it because some Christians think it’s obviously the way to go. I’ll pray. I’ll ask. I’ll ask others to pray. I’ll be still and listen. I’ll evaluate impressions. I’ll try to discern God’s voices.
But this is not a game I am going to play with God. I’m not cooperating with what amounts to saying “God is toying with us to see what we’ll do.” If God wants to say something to me, no game is necessary. And I am not required to demonstrate my desperation to know God’s will to know it. There may be places in my journey I need to be before God’s will unfolds, but God isn’t being gamey. He’s not playing hide and seek. He isn’t constantly dangling guidance in front of me like bait.
If this makes sense, I reject the idea that God requires some superior effort on my part to be mystical in order to communicate his will to me.
5. What God communicates by signs, miracles and answered prayers. You don’t want me decoding these things. Years ago, our house caught on fire, and a noise outside- totally unrelated- woke me up and got me in the hallway where I saw the fire. That noise saved our lives and our house. It’s a miraculous providence. I have no idea what it “means,” however, beyond what it is. If you hear me saying it meant we were supposed to leave or stay or paint the house pink, I’m just rattling on. No one has that information and I don’t want to go to a church that believes they have it.
I do not want anyone trying to get me on board with anything using miracles as a method. If God is that gamey, I don’t want to play. My dog can talk to me if necessary. I’ll listen.
Now the real deal comes down to this, and I’ll use a real life example. Let’s say I make enough money writing over the next 2-4 years that I could work part time, my wife could work part time, and we wouldn’t have to be where we are doing what we’re doing. So it could be stay or go.
God’s will? Stand by.
I don’t think he cares. And if he does, he can let me know without me acting like he’s an alien sending coded messages.
I can serve him either here or elsewhere. I can serve him anyplace. I can be faithful wherever. I’m free, within the boundaries of following Jesus, loving God, loving neighbor and using my gifts and talents, to serve God wherever I believe is the best place for me. There is a process, but I can trust myself as a reliable means of knowing God’s will. Not perfect, but not to be ignored in favor of “signs.”
I don’t need a sign, or a vision or a voice. I may or may not get a nudge. It doesn’t matter. I don’t think God is hiding his will. I don’t think I am supposed to ignore “normal” factors in determining where God wants me. I believe that if God has a place for me I don’t know about- like being Andrew Marin’s bodyguard- then Andrew will call and talk to me about it.
I can go to school. I can sell programs at the ball park. I can write. I can teach. I can preach or be an associate. I can counsel. I can do a lot of things. And I don’t believe I have to torment myself or anyone else about that.
When it seems right to me and my family, when I’m in a place to be responsible, obedient, submissive and faithful, I can love God and do as I please.
That’s the button. Thanks for listening.
I had this conversation recently with a friend who was all knotted up and nearly unable to move because he wanted to travel a particular path but was uncertain about how it might fit into God’s will. I told him I had come to believe the sort of concern for God’s will he was struggling with did not really honor God. It paradoxically dishonors him because it derives from a belief or concern that he will bring calamity upon us and/or others if we do not make every step fall in the exact place he predetermined we should walk in. Rather, I said, it seems more honoring to think we are genuinely free to travel in any number of directions while believing God will redirect us if he so wills it. I think too much of myself when I believe the fate of the universe stands or falls according to what I do or don’t do.
The times I became frozen and my chest so tight I could barely fill my lungs were almost always because my faith had moved away from Christ and toward myself. When I am able to trust God, when I am convinced of his love for me and all creation,I move and breathe freely. God directs me most when I am moving.
Some of the “fleece techniques” remind me a little of a short strip from MAD magazine decades back: A couple can’t decide whether to buy a sports car or a sedan, so they agree to flip a coin. It comes up “sedan,” at which–SHE: “Drat! I really wanted the sports car!” HE: “Me too!”
Maybe we learn more about _us_ than about God.
Here’s the rub, I think. Does God have specific things He wants us to do? I think He does. Are we in sin if we don’t ask Him? Are we in sin if we don’t like His answer?
I’m in the engineering profession and have been for over 10 years now (was in contracting for 3 years upon graduating from college). I’ve been asking God for a new assignment. Something that will give me life and the opportunity to make a difference to people. One or two at a time, even. I’m not about world domination, so you don’t have to worry about me blogging and podcasting my adventures.
Anyway, last summer, I was helping counsel some friends of mine and started to get feedback, from them and from God, that I was actually pretty good at it. At looking beyond their current issues and struggles and inviting them to go back a few scenes in their stories to determine how they got from the Yellow Brick Road to the Poppy Field. He gave me the desire to help folks. And the joy in doing so.
I’ve always (been a follower of Jesus since January 1996) been intrigued by human relationships (God has been, too!), particularly dating and marriage relationships.
Next month, I start, as a result of my hearing God’s voice, a Master’s program in Marriage and Family Therapy. 3 years and 8 months if all goes well. Then, I get to start internships and stuff… And I’m trusting God in this as I continue to work full time through school.
When I mentioned it to my wife (not even giving her the “I think God’s telling me…), she said, without immediate question, “Yes, we can do this. And you’ll be good at it.”
What is God’s will for me? He’s told me. Did I ask Him? Nope. Was I paralyzed waiting for His answer? Nope. But He’s told me. And I’m obeying in grace, faith, and joy. With a dash of fear.
..being “LED” by the Spirit was an important part of the teaching i recieved from the pentecostal church i attended (that God ‘led’ me to)the second time i “got saved”…. God help me…… btw thanks sharon…
I also don’t understand the preoccupation with understanding God’s Will. If he wanted us to always follow it, why would he give us Free Will?
I think that God’s Will is what we perceive as chaos theory. A lot is going on all at once and our tiny brains can’t begin to fathom it all. Any time I exercise my Free Will, I am bound to impact someone else (the Butterfly Effect).
However God didn’t leave us high and dry. He gave us the tools to navigate in the chaos. First he gave us the written law, but that didn’t work because it was external to us. So he sent us Jesus to, as Jerimaiah said, write the law in our hearts. By following our hearts in loving God and our neighbors we make sense of the chaos and as Brother Michael states above, we can do it any way we like. In this way, “praying for God’s Will” is really getting in touch with what your heart is telling you and reminding ourselves what God has already told us.
Love God.
Love your neighbor.
Be humble.
Pray often.
Do these things and you will be in God’s will.
iMonk quote ~ “But this is not a game I am going to play with God. I’m not cooperating with what amounts to saying “God is toying with us to see what we’ll do.†If God wants to say something to me, no game is necessary. And I am not required to demonstrate my desperation to know God’s will to know it. There may be places in my journey I need to be before God’s will unfolds, but God isn’t being gamey. He’s not playing hide and seek. He isn’t constantly dangling guidance in front of me like bait.”
I am confused, then: How does the story of Job fit into this? Was God gaming with Job in his wager with Satan? And, at the end of the day, who really won? God? Who already, in His sovereignty knew the outcome? or Job who learnt more about God, increased his trust in Him, and became holier in his humility and grace?
When my late Husband was first diagnosed with ALS, we both fled to the story of Job and found succour there. For me, I suddenly found myself, at the age of 46, contemplating widowhood, whilst living with what appeared to be a perfectly healthy Man. I needed to understand God’s Will for my life because my Life had turned inside out, upside down, back asswards. What is happening?!? What is God doing!?! And for me, Job supplied the answers. As I prayed, and fasted, and clung to my weary faith, God answered. Follow Me. In the dark, around blind corners, one step at a time.
God cares deeply about who we are, what we do. He counts the numbers of hairs on our head. Or am I naively clinging to a metaphor? an allegory? a parable? rather than a truth.
Seek and keep seeking. Knock and keep knocking. I believe this is the meaning of the original language. Not because it’s hard to get God’s attention, but because we need the discipline of looking to God first before necessarily relying on ourselves and our own strength.
Brother Bartimaeus. Free will isn’t about God wanting or not wanting us to walk with Him. The one thing that people cannot force another to do, no matter what the means of torture, etc, is to love someone. That’s what free will is about.
We DO have the ability (permission) via free will to make our own decisions and to reap what we sow (both favorable and unfavorable consequences). But love without free will is not love. It’s duty and obligation. Check out “Epic: The Story God is Telling” by John Eldredge (Thomas Nelson Publishers).
I wonder if the “Pray until you find God’s will” advice isn’t more to do with the “I know what you should be doing, and if you don’t agree with me, pray until you do” attitude?
This is one I’ll be forwarding. Thanks Michael.
I think the dynamic being talked about is somewhat akin to the “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life” stuff we hear so often. There’s truth to it, but the strong underlying message is that there is only ONE wonderful plan, one decision in which you will be in God’s will, and if you miss that, you’re hosed. Utter nonsense of course, but that’s what gets conveyed.
I’ve seen very direct and specific answers to prayer, and even been part of an answer to such a prayer (though I had no clue at the time). So it does happen. But it’s rare. God isn’t generally a micromanager.
I think were all groping toward the image of God the best way we know how, sometimes we may get a supernatural nudge or even a kick, but most of the time it is in darkness and hopefully love.
Imonk:
Thanks for this. I certainly agree with your points about God not being gamey, but what about Jesus’ interaction with the demon-possessed man in Luke 8? After Jesus freed the man, he begged to follow Jesus, but Jesus sent him home to be a witness of God’s grace. Both good choices, but Christ clearly willed the man to go down a certain path. As I struggle with choice A or B in my life, that bit of Scripture gives me pause.
Imonk I think your line of thought is great, I wish I read it ten years ago.
Possibly, Martha. However, what might be God’s will for one person might not be His will for another.
For a leader to say, “We have a need in the nursery, please fill that need.” completely dismisses a person’s obligation to listen to God for himself and move with Him into and out of assignments or calling.
Thanks for sharing this. It was very helpful and freeing for this neurotic perfectionist.
Ben, in that bit of scripture, Jesus explicitly told the man what to do. He didn’t wait for him to guess right by using the correct formula.
It seems to me that Michael is saying that there are times when God will make something clear in ways that are not within our control, and other times when we can use the “practical” tools that He gives us to make a choice — knowing the scripture, seeking to please Him above all things, and praying, not as a magic formula to unveil what is clouded, but in faith that if we ask for wisdom, He will give it.
My pastor is fond of pointing out that even if there is a right answer and you get it wrong, God isn’t exactly expecting perfection from us anyway. The worst thing that can happen is that we do it wrong. In the final analysis, we do some (most?) of it wrong anyway. So why do we make a big deal over the possibility of making the “wrong” choice? Of course our desire should be to please God in the choices we make, but not because failure to get the right answer is somehow direfully unthinkable.
Aoibhinn, good to see you here, sister. As always, you pose good, but hard questions. I’m listening.
We can’t expect God to reveal new instructions for us if we’re not obeying the instructions He has already given us.
Too many times we want God to reveal where He wants us in 5, 10, or 15 years, when what He is calling us to it so be faithful right now.
When you’re at point A, you can see B well, you can see a little bit of C, but you have no idea where M is, much less Z. Just be concerned about getting to the next point, being obedient to what God wants from you at this moment. If you find yourself off track, go back to where you made a wrong turn, and get going in the right direction again. Then, when you get to L, you’ll be able to see M clearly just ahead.
Paul didn’t start out his missionary journeys with a full itinerary planned and hotel reservations booked. He went to the next city he felt appropriate or logical. Sometimes the Spirit prevented him from going where he had first decided, rerouting him another direction. Once he had a vision of a man from Macedonia calling for help, but he didn’t have that vision until he was in Troas, where he could board a ship to sail there. If he had received the vision at the beginning of the journey, he may have tried to go straight to Macedonia, bypassing Derbe, Lystra, Phrygia, and Galatia, and losing the chance to minister to the people of those cities.
http://bilingualbibleblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/where-are-you-headed-adonde-te-diriges.html
Pentamom wrote:
My pastor is fond of pointing out that even if there is a right answer and you get it wrong, God isn’t exactly expecting perfection from us anyway. The worst thing that can happen is that we do it wrong. In the final analysis, we do some (most?) of it wrong anyway. So why do we make a big deal over the possibility of making the “wrong†choice? Of course our desire should be to please God in the choices we make, but not because failure to get the right answer is somehow direfully unthinkable.
The image this brought to mind is of an exam in school. There’s a question to answer. You might get the answer wrong. But if you don’t write down an answer, then you definitely will miss it.
Not writing down an answer is akin to interminable “waiting on God” to reveal His will. Analyze the situation using your God-given brain. Pray for wisdom and direction. Pick a course of action. Ask God to stop you if it’s the wrong one. Then move forward.
If you don’t get the answer right, at least you tried to answer. You didn’t just leave it blank.
“God loves you and offers a wonderful plan for your life.”
The booklet “The Four Spiritual Laws” is still a great tool for evangelism:
http://www.campuscrusade.com/downloads/4laws.pdf
However, the first of its laws (above) is often misused to pressure new believers into finding God’s specific will, a road map for all of life, and then all will be peaches and cream. I don’t think Bill Bright intended it that way.
The “wonderful plan for your life” is simply to know the Lord, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth, as in 1 Timothy 2:3-4. Beyond that, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and to love your neighbor as yourself (Luke 10:27).
Xenia, above at 11:33 AM, said it all in five lines. Go and do likewise.
The pressure to find that non-existent road map of God’s will is similar to the challenge, “Do you have any unrepented sin in your life?” or “You need to get yourself right with Christ.”
True, but… There are very often other factors that impede this and need compassion rather than judgment.
This is good. It is the type and manner of discussion that every congregation should have. This is church.
My husband tends to think that way, which I find very frustrating. He stayed in a bad job that made us both miserable for years, saying all along that it must be where God wanted him or else He would open other doors. But why would God open any other doors if my husband wasn’t knocking (i.e., actively seeking another job)? Scripture tells us that God orders our steps and directs our paths, but that implies that you have to be moving forward first.
If God can work all things together for good, doesn’t that include decisions that we make independently? Not that we shouldn’t pray about them, but to me, faith means trusting that He is in control in spite of what we do. As long as our motivations are pure and line up with His known will–loving Him, loving our neighbor, seeking first HIS glory–it’s okay to move without hearing from Him first.
Dan, you’re right. This is good. I haven’t seen this kind of discussion in a brick and mortar in a long time. Usually too busy looking at the Youth Group’s heads (as we sat right behind them) and trying to figure out the lyrics of the song since the overheads were wrong
Ted: Would have to disagree with you on the 4 Spiritual Laws. I only hear parts of the Gospel in it. I have some major problems with that presentation. Much prefer Two Ways To Live.
peace
ms
How do you justify God not being gamey with the story of Job?
God never told Job to discover “his will.” It appears that God was allowing Job to be tested. It was God’s game. Not Job’s. Job’s friends were the guys with the explanations for God’s will. God said they were wrong. Job just tried to be faithful, griped a lot, held on to his faith and finally decided to shut up and not try to explain God.
God was gamey with Satan. Not with Job. Job was never in a “What is God’s Will?” situation other than to continue to believe.
Now Genesis 22…there’s another story. Again, there’s no issue of finding God’s will. He just told him and a horrified Abe found a way to believe and be obedient.
I don’t know what you mean by “game.” I mean “I’ll only show you my plan for you if you sit up and beg.”
“God was games with Satan. Not with Job. Job was never in a “What is God’s Will?†situation other than to continue to believe.”
It’s pretty hard not to see how Job was in full understanding of his circumstances.
You point out a deep and helpful irony here, Michael. Job was the one suffering and dealing with the horror of God’s will and, by and large, was accepting it for what it is: The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord.
But it was Job’s well-fed, trial free friends who were the one’s in denial about God’s will – which when revealed blew their theological paradigms out of the water.
Brad
I wish this had been around for me to read in college. I spent so many years fretting over what God’s will was in my career and relationships that I hurt both at times.
Michael,
I meant to point out that the misunderstanding and misuse of the term, “wonderful plan for your life” is more of a “flaw” than a law, and not what Bright intended. The pressure to discover God’s specific will is the question at hand.
Although it’s not in this thread, I’d be interested to hear more about why you have major problems with The Four Spiritual Laws and why it tells only parts of the gospel (another thread maybe?). I agree that it could go farther, but it’s meant to be a short tract; and I think it’s at least accurate as far as it goes.
I checked out Two Ways to Live: http://www.matthiasmedia.com.au/2wtl/2wtlonline.asp
Thanks for sharing that.
“Finding God’s will” can have the underlying presupposition that God wants things to work out successfully. So wanting God to tell me which city I should move to has the subttext that if I make the right choice then a great job will be witing for me. Financial or personal success becomes the validator that it was God’s will, not growth in holiness.
Another issue is that “finding God’s will” can be twisted into laziness. Why should I do the spade work on trying to find a job if all I have to do is close my eyes and “feel” God steering me to something that will drop in my lap? I know students in college who didn’t study, figuring that God would tell them the right answer since they had spent the time hanging out with friends in Bible study instead (this did not work very well). I do not know if God is currently Tweeting instructions to them as they work.
Ted, I know you’re not asking me, but The Four Spiritual Laws are used as (although I believe in Bright’s original intent being much BIGGER than this) “fire insurance” than of actually inviting someone into the Larger Story that God is telling. And, I think many times, people come to faith when their life sucks and they are looking for something to give them hope. But the hope that Christ (as we all know) offers is oftentimes (falsely) put on heaven as opposed to the Kingdom of God here and now.
Altar calls, Gospel tracts, etc, are all well and good, but they don’t tell the whole story that was Jesus’s life and purpose for being sent to us. Salvation was only a part of it. Sure, that’s where it started. But if we stop there, then we merely get to roll with the punches until we die. That’s a dim outlook on life and not the way the redeemed people of God should be thinking.
Thank you all for the good discussion. This topic reminds me of the parables of Jesus, pretty much guaranteed to raise the heart issues of each one of us.
Ed: “Whenever I hear someone speaking about seeking out God’s will, I can’t help but see it as an attempt to avoid some obvious path.”
Perhaps that is case for you Ed, you had best decide that, you may want to hold off assuming that this the case for anyone else.
truthinflux: “Tell me this is not a Christian code for “this is what I decided, and I want to seem really spiritual in my decision.â€
God’s will is probably is code for exactly quite a lot of the time.
Not always though, I had an interesting experience a few years back, I was “seeking God’s will” and I really truly genuinely 100% did not have an idea of what that would be, or should be. I guess I was sweating it, struggling with this idea that God is playing some kind of game with us and we have to try really hard to guess what He wants.
But in the midst of that, and hopefully I have matured since then, I really did lay down what I wanted out of life.
The interesting bit is that the Christians I encountered simply refused to believe me, they accused me of actually having some hidden agenda of “really knowing what God wanted me to do” by which they meant in their own lives that they had decided to do something and they called that “God’s will”.
Now if they had meant that God’s will was that they decided what they wanted and got on with it, within the guidance of Scripture, counsel and whatever wisdom God had given them, well and good, but they didn’t, and by “seeking God’s will” in the way that I was I was (unwittingly) pushing their buttons, and as you will have guessed they in turn pushed mine by inducing me to start a neurotic quest for the last vestiges of any wish, desire or inclination which might come from me not God. I am hoping that one day we’ll all get to laugh about this.
My human instinct is to see terrible things as terrible. I don’t have any theological response to not trust those feelings and say “Oh, but God is really using this.†He is. He does. But my part is to start with, “This is terrible and people are hurting/suffering.â€
Yup, kinda like the suffering people of Cincinnati, after what the Phillies did to the Reds on Monday… 22-1, was it? Ouch.
Derek, but can’t you say “Okay, we need someone to supervise the nursery and seeing as I’m the only free pair of hands around and I’ve been asked, I’ll do it” without making a song-and-dance over “Oh, is this God’s will for me? I can’t decide unless I get a sign!”
That’s the odd part for me – not being able to say either yes or no without discerning does God want you to have porridge or corn flakes for your breakfast.
Okay, that’s petty. But there are things to do that surely we don’t need direct instructions from God to yeah, go ahead and do this (that is, more explicit instructions than “If you love me, keep my commandments” and “Love the Lord your God and love your neighbour as yourself.”)
Now, if someone is at a definite crux in his or her life, I can see praying that God’s will be made clear, but I have to say – deciding to get married to a particular person because another person says “I have been given a prophetic message that you two should marry” strikes me as “Um – why does God particularly care if these two marry each other, instead of different partners, or not marry at all?”
Maybe it’s the will of God that I should be reading the Pope’s new encyclical, “Caritas in Veritate”, instead of arguing over discerning God’s will on a Baptist blog.
How can I know? Who will guide me? Should I practice Bibliomancy?
Martha,
Every need is not a call.
Hi, Derek! It’s great to be here with you!
Okay…so God is gaming with Satan and not with Job. So what was Job, then? Hardly a willing participant in the initial parameters of the Game. For Job, I would hypothesise, it was play the game or well and truly die. “Curse God and die”. God allowed Satan to smite him. (Do I dare say, God smote Job??? Hmmm…).
Anywho, Job rose to the Game by remaining faithful, after a fashion, to God. I remember when our Daughter announced her forthcoming Child (who was born 6 months after her Father died), my Husband proclaiming, “The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh…Blessed be the Name of the Lord!”
But I digress…
So Job was gamed with. Yet Job “won” the Game for God. So what do we glean from this? Does God game with us in the hardships of our lives? What do we then get out of this???
In Genesis 22 Abraham obeyed God. The easy answer is that God would never ask of us what He Himself is unwilling to do. Even though He is God. Yet the picture he is substitutionary death. So…is this a game? Abraham wasn’t begging…or was he, in his heart, for God to DO SOMETHING because he could not see how God’s covenant promise to him could possibly be fulfilled if Isaac is killed…
And as far as God expecting us to sit up and beg for some morsel from Him, is that presupposing that God doesn’t already give us something without our asking? Look around and see what amazing things we already have… Is “storming the gates of heaven” for something more a worthy thing? a waste of time? hubris? hutzpah? something else?
Things that make me go “Hmmm…”
Michael,
This expression is like a big ole can of fresh air to me. I can almost breathe again.
I’ve got the wanderlust in the worst way. I just want to move around and see things and look for that place where I want to put down roots. I thought it was Knoxville, but after 5 years it feels like it’s time to move on.
But of course, over the years I’ve gotten it into my head that I can’t do this because “it isn’t God’s will.” It isn’t God’s will that I have the freedom to do what I want and live where I want.
How does this happen? I could sum it up by saying, if I’m enjoying myself I must be sinning. If I’m doing what I want, I must be sinning. Even if there’s not thing one in the Word about restlessness being a sin. Is there?
Wow, you touched a nerve with a lot of people. Count me a billion times on board with you. It seems to me every time God spoke in the scriptures, it was pretty freakin’ obvious to the hearers that God was speaking. The question was never, “was that God?” The question was, “now that He has spoken, are we gonna believe it?”
Just watched Stranger than Fiction Sunday night, although I haven’t pondered the spiritual implications that linger behind it.
In an earlier comment some one said “We seek God’s will for our character,” but something keeps me from agreeing. If we are “seeking His will” (or “face” as I believe the comment was about) it should not be for OUR glory but for HIS glory. It seems like that is the point of our entire lives – to bring God glory. Do our choices, attitudes, habits, convictions, etc, etc, etc bring Him glory? If we could choose one road or another and both have the potential to bring God glory, then what difference does it make? Sure, hind’s sight is always best, but we were given that super-power we would never grow and mature.
iMonk, I like what you had to say about tragedy being tragedy. I had a Bible class last year (the best ever in my 8 years of Christian school) and one of the things my professor addressed was lamentation and that as humans we need to lament. We can’t turn every sad thing into a sentimental “God will get us through” “God is working”, etc, and never grieve. Certainly he is and certainly he does, but grieving in no way lessens our faith Him. There’s an entire book dedicated to lamenting. I was told once that it is a sin to feel hurt, to lament that hurt. What a farce. God has created us emotional beings and if WE can grieve Him and grieve the Spirit, then how much more should we grieve when humanity and creation suffers.
Michael,
Thank you a million times for this article. It seems a lot of younger people especially experience this vapor lock; so focused on finding God’s will for their lives, they don’t do ANYTHING. My advice has become to do something, even if it’s wrong. God can’t/won’t steer a stagnant ship.
Besides which, praying so intensely to know God’s will presents two other problems to me: 1) it implies that He is up there waiting for us to deviate from His will so He can throw the lightning bolt; and 2) it ignores the fact that He has made His will abundantly clear for us. More often than not, we’re just not satisfied with the answers He provides for #2: “What do you mean I should serve in the nursery if they need volunteers or give that smelly homeless dude a ride to the park… I want to Change The World!” We don’t really believe in God’s will because our ideas of what it should be are so much more grandiose than what it really is: love God, love men.
Aaanyway, thanks for vocalizing, once again, the things going on in my head, but doing it so much better than I ever could.
Peter
“Okay…so God is gaming with Satan and not with Job. So what was Job, then? Hardly a willing participant in the initial parameters of the Game. For Job, I would hypothesise, it was play the game or well and truly die. “Curse God and dieâ€. God allowed Satan to smite him. (Do I dare say, God smote Job??? Hmmm…)”
God wasn’t toying with Job. He wasn’t looking for a set of certain overtures from him in order to unlock the secret to success or win the gold star. There was no IF A, then B set of conditions. Job was part of a set game, he was a pawn that was moved, but he moved exactly as was preplanned and/or as God anticipated he would move according to what he set in motion. For Job it was set course that he would wind through and follow precisely.
A timely post and discussion.
I trust in the LORD who made heaven and earth and declared it all to be good.
I have to keep my discernment simple: Choose life over death, light over darkness, followed by “Not my will but Thy will be done.” Act. Then note whether I experience consolation or desolation. Repeat as often as needed.
I really benefited from Kevin DeYoung’s book “Just Do something”.
Love God with all heart and do what you want!
Derek, feel free anytime to add two cents.
I agree that the gospel isn’t all about my personal salavation; and that I’d be selfish to think of it only in terms of fire insurance.
The gospel is all about God, as revealed in Jesus (I am the way, the truth and the life); and the Lord’s Prayer should be our model (Father, hallowed be THY name; may THY kingdom come; may THY will be done…) It’s all about God–Father, Son and Spirit. My own salvation is incidental.
And you’re right, the kingdom starts here, not at “graduation day” as Hal Hill used to say.
I’m not much on tracts, in fact I think I used the Four Spiritual Laws only once, probably in 1980. But, I think this and other tracts can fulfill what Paul meant by being all things to all people in order to win some of them for Christ. If it works to get someone into the kingdom, great. If not, try something else, even a Greek poem, as Paul did; but above all focus on Christ.
And, again (one more time), to keep to my original point, that Bright’s term “wonderful plan for your life” has been misinterpreted to mean a happy road map of God’s perfect will for our lives. I don’t believe it works that way, and I don’t think it’s what Bright meant either.
God’s will is for us to follow him wherever it leads. Sometimes it’s more specific than other times–as you discovered about your master’s program in marriage and family counseling (post of 10:52 AM)–and sometimes we discover his will after the fact; but most of the time his will for us is simply to be faithful.
Michael,
Thanks for yet again writing a straight forward take on a Christian topic that can be become a thoughtless panacea for so many.
I think there are almost 6.8 billion people on the planet currently, and Lord knows how many from the past, and yet to be in the future. I think many of these people do not look like me, live like me, or have the prosperity that I have. I have wondered for a while how that fit into God’s will as so many people here in the U.S. seem to think about His will.
I also wonder more as the years roll on how much me stubbornly holding on to my own free will, skews His perfect will for me and those I encounter. As a biologist I think that I understand that if He dropped me almost any place in this world on dry land, he has already given me what I need to survive. And I might even prosper if I shared and loved and cared. I don’t know that there is any other will to find.
Ted,
Good reminders. Yeah, I don’t think that Bright’s terminology, if taken out of context, and making Salvation a “transactional” deal where we say the “Sinner’s Prayer”, is being understood as he intended it to be. Neither is the “wonderful plan for your life”, I would hazard a guess.
two thoughts:
I tend to read Psalm 37:4
4 Delight yourself in the LORD
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
with an emphasis on “desires” – i.e. He doesn’t give us what we already desire – He gives us Godly desires, and then delights to fulfill them.. if we are delighting ourselves in Him…
On the other hand, God does seem like He’s playing games sometimes in the Bible…
like the arrow hitting thing? that always seemed weird to me –
2 Kings 13:18-19 Then he said, “Take the arrows,” and the king took them. Elisha told him, “Strike the ground.” He struck it three times and stopped. The man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times.”
If ever there was an example of free will, it is Job.
I refuse to believe that anything made in the image of God acts as a robot. Or that God would damn (or elect for that matter) someone before they were born.