The will of God
31 Jul 2011 Leave a Comment
This summer has been crazy. From wondering what I would do for work, to Carrie finishing her degree, to one of our car’s going to its grave, it feels like a stream of “brain teasers” have hit me regarding God’s will for my family’s life. Some would question whether it is even fitting to refer to matters of God’s will as brain-related so much as an application of another kind of paradigm that a short list of theological emphases affords. I was struck with one of those moments where I am aware of a variety of approaches, all with some good and valid insight. In such times I usually take to making lists, and, when the content is not too esoteric, sharing them like I am now (do I have the spiritual gift of secretary-ism?):
1. God’s perfect will vs His permissive will: This is the most immediate, the most obvious, and the most popular distinction that is made. Surely a good God (and God is perfectly good after all) doesn’t ever want any evil to happen, but it definitely happens. So as long as we are accepting that He is in fact God (and good), we have to articulate a category like this to account for the “allowances” that we experience. This means we can both encounter evil through the tension of this mystery and also maintain a deep rooting in God’s righteous law. It also brings great joy and comfort to know that no evil can replace or overtake God, but that His immanence is truly and unendingly universal. No, God doesn’t make all things happen for a reason. But He does make all things work together for good for those who love Him (Romans 8:28).
2. God’s intention vs His plan: Wonderfully, there is even more revealed to us behind the thick curtain of God’s permission of suffering. One great and glorious truth that so many have found to be fundamental to the faith in these uncertain times we live in is that, while the fullness of God’s good intentions may not be met in any given era, they will be met eventually according to the delightful knowledge that He has a plan underway (and has from the beginning). This is far more than simple allowance. It is taking the world by the horns and riding out its wild bucking rampage until it is tamed into its pen (with varying degrees of force applied, but characteristically deferential). It is so very reassuring to remember this element. We can thus begin to work out God’s will in total peace.
3. God’s general will vs His specific will: And this is where people immediately surrender that peace in confusion. If we are simply shooting for His perfect will and realizing that we are falling short, but also realizing that He will continue to work a plan in it all for good according to His overall intentions, then we need not worry and fret about particular plans and decisions the way that so many of us do. We should just “give our best, and let God do the rest”. But, if we are deeply relying on the fact of God having a “plan”, we can easily begin to think in this third pattern where it is broken down into general (ex. salvation) and specific (ex. where to park the car). The dilemma comes when we realize that this specific will is not publicly revealed anywhere. Yet, various aspects of the scriptures and of our faith lead us to believe we can and maybe even should be getting direct ”leading” from God in this area. Many interesting stories come to us, for instance, about how this or that “feeling” or otherwise inexplicable decision led to a “divine appointment”. This is fuel on the fire which leads us into some dangerous flames if we’re not careful and wise in it.
For instance, I think most of us have made peace somehow with the fact that such specifics are not always revealed, to say nothing of the fact that they may not even always exist (most would agree that He probably doesn’t have a parking spot picked for us, though that’s not to say He doesn’t care, or that it might not have huge implications, or that He might not have one picked out occasionally). Likewise, it is healthy to accept that such leading may not always be definite or immediate (i.e. a strong, clear sense of what to do in our “gut”), and may in fact require a lot of investigation, prayer, and counsel, with the end result still feeling more like 75/25 than certainty. And of course we must add that, even with a direct leading, we need corporate discernment and accountability to be sure it is not clearly leading us in the wrong direction. There is much that could be said and is being said to help us hone this process. But let us also address some fundamental criticisms of the whole notion.
4. God’s script vs His relationship: The deepest error in getting caught up in such a feed-me-my-line type of living is that it is hollow. While it is keen to note that the methods of receiving God’s specific will essentially demand a constant communal and spiritual existence from us, this by no means guarantees an actual loving relationship with others or God. To the contrary, it fosters a mindset that sees all else in the world (even God) as a means to a personal end- getting God’s specific will right for my life. Even if the ulterior motive for this is for God’s glory or the benefit of others, it still bottlenecks at this point and the self becomes the ultimate center upon which everything depends. The bottom line is that this is incompatible with God’s intentions. It is clear that He seeks relationships, full, robust, honest, free, creative, loving relationships. How wooden of us to be zeroed in on following some kind of heavenly “script”. It is wonderfully edifying to open ourselves back up to the terrifying freedom of God’s agenda. In other words, too much emphasis on the specifics leaves us myopically sacrificing the generals. My coach used to call it tunnel vision, and those who had it usually ended up costing us the game.
5. God’s steps vs His goal: Now, I hope you don’t take me as suggesting that God has no such specifics for us in our life. I believe He does indeed and that remaining open to Him in this way is a key component of Christianity. It’s about following a real person- Jesus- in a concrete way- His Church- through the power of the Holy Spirit. If we reduced it even to something like “loving relationship with God and others”, we have made it a project at our bidding and have lost touch with Christ. Sure love for God and neighbor is the greatest commandment, and we should be about it. But our faith is more than this. And God’s will is for more as well. This is why He not only “works in mysterious ways” in the sense that we sometimes don’t understand. but that His perfect will actually requires Him to call our attention out of the “wind and the waves” of any particular agenda of our own and unto His face. We are not meant to be preoccupied with making sure our every decision fits the pre-ordained details of God’s “specific will”. Rather, we should be spending our energy worshipping the living Christ and letting Him lead us into the fullness of life. Yes, He inspires vision, and projects, and ministries, and particular actions; He calls us to community and commands us to structure it right; He walks with us into and out of our families. But what’s more is that He sanctifies us. He teaches us and forms us and empowers us and challenges us to become kingdom people, not just act like them. This doesn’t mean learning how to be a better puppet at His command, but how to be a better person with greater love and wisdom. We should always be open and submissive to His specific will in any given, and everything that He does He does through making disciples of us, but His perfect will, along with His permissive will, intentions, and plan, even the specifics themselves are shaped according to the purpose of what many Christians refer to as theosis- making us more and more like God himself. In order to do this, I think it would, at least occasionally, require that He back off and let us drive a little, the way parents do with kids learning to ride a bike (or even the car). This would mean intentionally not disclosing the answer key to life or the road map to the goal. Indeed, such a revelation of the exact steps leading to the goal would paradoxically be counter-productive to ever getting there!
So, let’s seek after and follow Jesus, wherever He leads, and become the kind of people He wants us to become, doing our best to be open to His “specific will” while also being at peace knowing that nothing is going to knock Him off His throne and that we can’t do better than our best shot at doing right, nor can we do any better than allowing the Lord to sanctify us, filling us with knowledge and wisdom and insight and discernment as we remain faithful to Him, trusting that He will always have a plan for working good from whatever we’re able to offer.
