Everything That's On My Mind

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

When you use the term “the will of God,” what do you mean? More than likely, you’ve used it in a number of different ways. That’s OK, so does scripture, but it is necessary to distinguish how we are using the term. Let’s start by looking at the different ways scripture uses these terms.

I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart."

Psalms 40:8 (NIV)

It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you.

1 Thessalonians 4:3-6 (NIV)

For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.

1 Peter 2:15 (NIV)

What these verses describe is what can be called God’s Moral Will. God’s Moral Will is his revealed commands. According to 2 Peter 1:3, it has been completely revealed to us by God through His Word. None of it is hidden. It doesn’t need to be discovered, but it does need to be learned just as David said in Psalm 119:11. Mankind has a responsibility to obey God’s Moral Will. It is possible to be ignorant of God’s Moral Will, and it is possible (and common) to willfully ignore it. The revelation of God’s Moral Will is a fundamental purpose of scripture. However, that is not the only way scripture uses the term.

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."

James 4:14-15 (NIV)

The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.

Proverbs 16:33 (NIV)

In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,

Ephesians 1:11 (NIV)

Here we see what is called God’s Sovereign Will. This is clearly a completely different concept than His Moral Will. Unlike God’s Moral Will, His Sovereign Will is hidden from us as Paul tells us in Romans 11:33-34. The only exception to this principle is the prophetic word, where God chooses for His own purposes to reveal His plan to someone. Just like the manifestation of any of God’s miraculous gifts this is an exceptional occurrence, not something to be expected regularly. The second important characteristic of God’s Sovereign Will is that it is unchangeable. It cannot be stopped, altered, or “missed.” As Daniel wrote (Daniel 4:35) “He does as He pleases” and “no one can hold back His hand.”

So where is the “wonderful plan for my life?” Good question. Stay tuned…

The rest of the series:

Part 1: Introduction

God's Will

Tuesday, August 08, 2006 - 10:08 PM Eastern Daylight Time

Comments [2]

Sunday, August 27, 2006 9:09:14 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

I saw your blog on God's perfect will, and just had to chip in, Paul uses Isaiah 40:13 as his reference in Romans 11, but seeing that Romans is a letter and the verses were put in later, wouldn't it be better to read the whole thing in context? Sure, Paul says we can't know the mind of the Lord, but he says (para-phrasing here), 'Therefore...renew your minds, transform yourselves so that you can test and approve what God's perfect will is.'

Paul uses the same OT reference to the church in Corinth (1 Corinthians 2:16). And in the OT that was certainly true, God was hidden from the people, only revealed through His messengers. But Paul ends the verse by saying, "BUT we have the mind of Christ." He is telling the people they live under a different dispensation - we CAN know the mind of the Lord, because we have the mind of Christ, therefore we can know and do His will.

My personal opinion is that we tend to throw in "If it's your will" as a catch all phrase in our prayers. Are we that unsure of the Word, are we that unsure of the God we serve that we have to use that as an out in case God doesn't come through?

Jesus only used that phrase once when He asked whether the cup could be removed from him; but he was not using it as a back door, he already knew what the Father wanted, he just wanted to know whether there was another way to fulfil his mission.

Every other time Jesus prayed he was straight forward in his words to the Father. He didn't have to ask for the will of God, because he was doing the will of God, that meant he barely had to ask for anything. When Jesus multiplied the food, when he raised the dead, he didn't pray, "Oh Lord, if it is your will, multiply the food, raise the dead." He knew it was the Father's will to feed the hungry, the Father's will to restore life, the Father's will to release the captives and heal the sick, so he made statements and the action that resulted was the fulfilment of God's will.

James talks about praying the will of God so that you don't make plans without Him - again that is different, you are actually meant to do the will of the Father. Too many Christians haven't spent enough time in the Word to even start praying, 'if it be your will' because they aren't obeying and doing what the Word has told them to do, the MORAL will, as you put it. To pray 'if it's your will' implies you are already doing everything in the Word and now you need extra guidance.

Corinne Smelker

Tuesday, August 29, 2006 9:09:37 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

Hi Cori,

I agree, many Christians tend to use "if it's Your will" as a substitute for sincerely seeking wisdom from the Word and the Spirit. However, I would disagree that we now have the ability to know God's sovereign will. I don't generally agree with the "dispensational" theory of biblical interpretation. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

In 2 Corinthians 2, Paul is addressing God's sovereign plan of salvation. At the end of chapter 1, he is discussing the plan of salvation through Christ that God implemented before time began. That is what has been "revealed to us by His Spirit" (2:10) Paul is certainly not suggesting that we can know or understand God's full sovereign will here on earth. In chapter 13, he reminds the Corinthians that we "know in part" and will only understand fully when God's plan is complete.

The Corinthian church was a very troubled church, as the rest of 1 Corinthians displays, sexual immorality, divisions, abuse of spiritual gifts, etc. I believe that when Paul speaks of having the mind of Christ he's saying that since we have received the Gospel, we should not think as worldly people do...the same idea found in Romans 12. This becomes apparent as you read on to chapter 3 where Paul begins to chastise the Corinthians for their worldly thinking and behavior.

Thanks for joining the discussion, and stay tuned!

Pastor Bob

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