What does God want from us, and what is our responsibility when it comes to decision making? The typical model, it seems, is to assume that God has a will for every facet of our lives. Thus, so we are told, he is concerned to reveal his will about such things as which job to choose, which house to purchase, and which girl to marry. Sound good, I suppose, but where is the line drawn with such things? For instance does God have a will for which shoes we should buy or how many slices of pizza we ought to consume? One problem with the traditional view is that it is rather arbitrary. At what point does our supposed openness to the will of God become absurd? Another weakness is the practical matter that it seems to make God into a master of disguise. In other words if God is so concerned to reveal his will about every detail of our lives, why does he have such an apparently difficult time getting through to us. I mean, if he wants me to turn one way and not another, why does he not simply say to me, “Hey, you idiot, go this way!”? I truly do not mean for this to be blasphemous or disrespectful, but it seems that the traditional view creates an avenue of communication that is extremely hard to decipher. You hear people saying, “I heard a still, small voice.” Fine, but how do you know that it was God’s voice and not merely the result of the hot wings you ate last night? Though we must not trivialize the voice of God, we must be equally careful not to put words in his mouth. Thus, if he has not said “Buy this car and not that one,” who are we to claim that he has? For these and other reasons, I struggle with the so-called traditional view.
As an alternative, there is a view–which probably fits in best with a good chunk of church history–that God’s will doesn’t work like that. I remember reading Gary Friesen many years ago, who proposed something along these lines. Does God care about every detail of our lives? Absolutely, but this does not necessitate that he share his will about everything. Instead, he expects us to trust in him, believe in his sovereign will, and learn to make wise decisions. This fosters maturity and faith, and it also provides believers with sensible amount of legitimate freedom. Too often, or so it seems to me, the traditional view promotes fear, uncertainty, and a tendency to play mind games. At least in my life, I was often frustrated my inability to decipher what God was saying to me. Of course there were times when I played the part and asserted that “the Lord had spoken,” but in my more honest moments I had to admit that I was unsure and often frazzled.
Of course even the non-traditional view has its drawbacks. Though I don’t think Friesen promotes it this way, I have seen some people who treat their walk with God in a rather mechanical way. It’s like God is doing his thing, but he never bothers much with us. And we do our thing, but it can become overly rationalistic and predictable. Thus, even this view, for all its strengths, is something less than perfect.
How then should we progress? Just a handful of thoughts:
(1) I don’t think there is some perfect model for outlining how God works in the world.
(2) This being said, the traditional view, though advocated by good and sincere people, is probably more unhealthy than healthy.
(3) On the other hand, I still believe that God is very much involved in our daily affairs, much more than we expect, in fact.
For what it’s worth, a number of additional points:
(1) God is sovereign, so we need not fret. We need to trust that he knows what's going on . . . even if we do not.
(2) God’s moral will is an important aspect of Scripture. Thus, we must learn to decipher and follow it.
(3) God’s will is located in community, in the ups and downs of regular interaction with other likeminded (and not-so-likeminded) people.
(4) God can and sometimes still does do spectacular things, and we should rejoice when he does.
(5) God wants us to be free and mature. Freedom means you can eat as many slices of pizzas as you’d like. Maturity means that you at least occasionally realize that perhaps you shouldn’t devour “the whole thing.”
(6) We ought to do more than simply ask for the Lord’s guidance. We should, I think, bathe in his “ever-present-ness,” his “already here-ness,” his life-permeating nearness. Though it can and often is healthy to say “Lord, what should I do?” it is also healthy to walk by faith and in freedom, learning each day to lean into and/or flow with this incredible being who is described as wind (see John 3).
(7) Someone once said, "love God and do what you want." Wow, that makes a bunch of sense to me. There is freedom and wisdom and purpose and a whole lot more whenever we are alert and responsive to divine love. “Lord, I am so often a fool, but you are with me still. Thanks for your ongoing displays of love. Lord, help me to be what I should be for others and for you, and continue to enable me to hear the beautiful music you are playing each day.”
As an alternative, there is a view–which probably fits in best with a good chunk of church history–that God’s will doesn’t work like that. I remember reading Gary Friesen many years ago, who proposed something along these lines. Does God care about every detail of our lives? Absolutely, but this does not necessitate that he share his will about everything. Instead, he expects us to trust in him, believe in his sovereign will, and learn to make wise decisions. This fosters maturity and faith, and it also provides believers with sensible amount of legitimate freedom. Too often, or so it seems to me, the traditional view promotes fear, uncertainty, and a tendency to play mind games. At least in my life, I was often frustrated my inability to decipher what God was saying to me. Of course there were times when I played the part and asserted that “the Lord had spoken,” but in my more honest moments I had to admit that I was unsure and often frazzled.
Of course even the non-traditional view has its drawbacks. Though I don’t think Friesen promotes it this way, I have seen some people who treat their walk with God in a rather mechanical way. It’s like God is doing his thing, but he never bothers much with us. And we do our thing, but it can become overly rationalistic and predictable. Thus, even this view, for all its strengths, is something less than perfect.
How then should we progress? Just a handful of thoughts:
(1) I don’t think there is some perfect model for outlining how God works in the world.
(2) This being said, the traditional view, though advocated by good and sincere people, is probably more unhealthy than healthy.
(3) On the other hand, I still believe that God is very much involved in our daily affairs, much more than we expect, in fact.
For what it’s worth, a number of additional points:
(1) God is sovereign, so we need not fret. We need to trust that he knows what's going on . . . even if we do not.
(2) God’s moral will is an important aspect of Scripture. Thus, we must learn to decipher and follow it.
(3) God’s will is located in community, in the ups and downs of regular interaction with other likeminded (and not-so-likeminded) people.
(4) God can and sometimes still does do spectacular things, and we should rejoice when he does.
(5) God wants us to be free and mature. Freedom means you can eat as many slices of pizzas as you’d like. Maturity means that you at least occasionally realize that perhaps you shouldn’t devour “the whole thing.”
(6) We ought to do more than simply ask for the Lord’s guidance. We should, I think, bathe in his “ever-present-ness,” his “already here-ness,” his life-permeating nearness. Though it can and often is healthy to say “Lord, what should I do?” it is also healthy to walk by faith and in freedom, learning each day to lean into and/or flow with this incredible being who is described as wind (see John 3).
(7) Someone once said, "love God and do what you want." Wow, that makes a bunch of sense to me. There is freedom and wisdom and purpose and a whole lot more whenever we are alert and responsive to divine love. “Lord, I am so often a fool, but you are with me still. Thanks for your ongoing displays of love. Lord, help me to be what I should be for others and for you, and continue to enable me to hear the beautiful music you are playing each day.”
2 comments:
Carmen,
Thanks for your insightful thoughts on this topic. Very practical and helpful.
For what it's worth, it was Augustine in a homily I think on 1 John that wrote "Love God and do what you will." Fracois Rabelais, then the occultist Aleister Crowley and other occultists following him took this phrase and turned it into simply "Do what thou wilt". Take the love God part out and you have problems.
Thanks, John, for the reminder that it was Augustine. You are right in saying that it's all about "the love factor"--God's love for us and ours for him! Again, thanks!
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