God’s Will

December 2, 2019

In Acts 16, Luke tells us that when Paul was on his second missionary journey, he twice attempted to go east, but was “forbidden by the Holy Spirit” (Verses 6 & 7). On another occasion, Paul wrote that he had been hindered from visiting the church in Rome, without indicating whether this was the work of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:22), but in 1 Thessalonians 2:18 he clearly states that his inability to visit the Christians there was due to the hindrance of Satan (1 Thessalonians 2:18).

So when is a wrench in our plans the work of the Holy Spirit, and when is it the work of Satan? The success or failure of our plans is not an accurate measure of the will of God. Paul determined to go to Rome where he was later executed. Stephen and James were executed by Herod, while Peter was set free by an angel. Two bad outcomes to a single good one—not a very helpful way of determining God’s will. 

Are difficulties God’s way of moving us in a different direction, or are they his means of testing our determination? Just because a door is open, does that mean we should necessarily walk through it? Opportunities to sin lie all around us, but that doesn’t mean we should take advantage of them. This business of determining God’s will can be a sticky wicket.

When I was a teenager, finding God’s will was a major concern in my circle of friends. Which college should we attend? Which person was God’s will for a spouse? What should have been a joyous experience of gratitude for all the possible choices before us became instead fraught with fear lest we make the wrong choice that would condemn us forever to second best. In the matter of dating, the issue was compounded. If I chose the wrong person, not only did I make a mistake and miss God’s will, but so did the girl I married. Not only that, but the individuals they were supposed to have married were suddenly excluded from the circle of God’s will. It soon became an untenable way of looking at things; one single mistake had an endless ripple effect that poisoned the whole scheme of things.

It took me awhile, but I finally came to the conclusion that God’s will is moral, ethical, and spiritual, but not personal. God’s will is clearly stated in Scripture, eg. “This is the will of God, even your sanctification, that you abstain from fornication” (1 Thessalonians 4:3). And “In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you (1 Thessalonians 5:18). It can’t be much clearer than that. Nor much simpler. In everything else, God gives us freedom to choose, and wisdom to do so well (James 1:5). Instead of living in fear lest we make a choice that forever condemns us to a life of second-best, God graciously opens wide his heart and places life before us. Among other things, this means that even when I make a mistake, God has it covered. He has already figured my failure into his plans; that’s what salvation is all about. It’s as old as the Psalms. “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he shall give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4). If God is at the center, he bestows the freedom to choose and to be blessed by those choices. That doesn’t mean everything will work out as we plan, but that everything will eventually work out. 

In a world increasingly chaotic, it is comforting to know that when we orient our lives towards Jesus Christ, he takes care of the rest. That is worth giving thanks tonight.