CE 1 YEAR: 46 God’s Wills

Week 46

God’s Wills

How do you know God’s will for your life? This is one of the most frequent questions that Christians ask. We do not want to miss God’s will in a decision. A bad decision can greatly harm our life. Does God offer us guidance in our decisions? There are two primary approaches to answering these questions:

Wisdom View	Mystical View
God only expects us to know and do His moral biblical will.	God also expects us to know an extra-biblical “secret” will, like who He wants us to marry.
God’s biblical will is completely revealed in Scripture and we are led in it by the desires of His Spirit in us.	God’s extra-biblical will is revealed through “signs,” or mental impulses that we must interpret as divine direction.
God’s will in extra-biblical matters is to use love and reason to make wise choices.	We can miss God’s will in extra-biblical matters because we miss His extra-biblical revelation to us.

The fundamental difference between these views is what they believe about God’s will. The mystical view believes God has an “extra-biblical” will for your life. By extra-biblical we do not mean unbiblical, but simply things that Scripture does not specifically tell us to do. Examples include what occupation to choose, where to go to school, where to live, and which Christian to marry.

These are very important decisions in which you do not want to make a mistake. Which is why it is tempting to believe that God has a specific will in them that He is willing to show you outside of Scripture.

Mysticism claims that God has an extra-biblical will for your life that requires Him to give you extra-biblical revelation. Mysticism can be defined as: the belief that God is regularly revealing His extra-biblical will for our lives through mental telepathy, or our correct interpretation of circumstances. As attractive as this view may be, there is little, if any, biblical support for it.

The topic of God’s will, divine guidance, and decision making will take up the next four weeks of the Essentials. We will offer biblical answers to such questions as: Does God have a will for my life that I am supposed to know, but is not in Scripture? Does the Holy Spirit want to lead me in extra-biblical decisions? Does God want to give me “signs” to show me what choices to make in extra-biblical matters? How can I make wise decisions?

The best starting point for this topic is to define God’s will so that we understand what we are looking for. Essentially, Scripture teaches several different aspects of God’s will including: predestined will, prayed-for will, moral will, and free will.

The certainty of God’s predestined will

God’s predestined will includes those things that God decides and makes certain will happen apart from any decisions or deeds of humans. For example, we read, “The Lord Almighty has sworn, ‘Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will happen’” (Isa 14:24).

It is helpful to distinguish between God’s foreknowledge of everything, and His predetermining some things. God knows every possible thing that can happen in the Universe. As He sees all possible events in the future (foreknowledge), He decides to intervene in some to make certain things happen (predestination). This is how God can filter your entire life to ensure that nothing happens to you that will be too difficult for you (1 Cor 10:13; see Week 20).

The Bible indicates that God’s predestined will includes: 1) when and where you were born (Acts 17:26); 2) the length of your life (Ps 139:16; Job 14:5); 3) your personality (Ps 139:13, see Week 18); 4) your spiritual gifts (1 Cor 12:11).

For example, as explained in Week 42, your spiritual gifts are a very personal revelation of God’s specific will in how you serve Him and His people. But He decides what gifts you have. Some would also include your salvation in God’s predestined will (Acts 13:48; Eph 1:4-5, 11; Rom 9:10-24; 11:5; 1 Thess 1:4-5). Some speak of a “personal” will of God for your life. God’s predestined will is His personal will for your life.

Scripture also reveals rare instances where God predestines someone to fulfill a specific service. Examples include Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Gideon, Jeremiah, Jonah, Mary, and the Apostles (Matt 16:17-19; John 15:16; Acts 26:16). These people were chosen for specific tasks apart from (and often even against) their own choice. They are clearly part of God’s predestined will that He chooses and makes sure will happen. The rarity of such “controlling calls” is demonstrated by their attributes.

First, they only apply to those divinely chosen for very unique and pivotal tasks in the accomplishment of God’s plan for His people. Secondly, they are clearly communicated through miraculous means such as an Angel or a vision from God. Thirdly, such “controlling calls” often involve great suffering. Finally, there is no example in Scripture of God miraculously communicating His desire for an individual to fulfill a specific ministry task that was not obeyed and fulfilled.

The mystical view of God’s will and guidance suggests that God has a “controlling call” for every Christian. But if He did, then we would all be seeing Angels and visions like those in Scripture. How else could we know such a thing?

The items above are the revealed predestined will of God. Like our spiritual gifts, we normally only know them in hindsight. But there may be other things that God has predetermined to occur in your life that He will not reveal. Accordingly, we will have no certain way of knowing whether such events were the result of natural coincidences, our free choice, or the intervening manipulation of God. But we do not need to know, because God alone will ensure they happen (Esther 4:14; Prov 20:24).

You cannot “miss” God’s will in the predestined parts of your life. They will happen regardless of what you know or do or whatever anyone else does. These aspects of your life are relatively rare, but they will affect your life more than anything else.

The miracle of the prayed-for will of God

There are things that God is willing to do in your life and the world, but will not do unless you pray (Jam 4:2). God invites you to pray so that He can make things happen that would not otherwise occur. The prayed-for will of God is described in 1 John 5:14-15. It says if you pray according to God’s will, that He will grant whatever you ask. This was discussed further in Week 35.

The clarity of God’s moral will

Far too many Christians are afraid that they will not know God’s will for their life. They are concerned if they make the wrong decision, they will be on “Plan B” for their life, instead of God’s best plan for their life. If you struggle with this, we have good news for you! The part of God’s will for your life that you need to know and follow, is completely revealed in Scripture!

The only “will of God” that He expects you to know and do is his moral will. Moral decisions are between what is righteous and what is sinful. It is only moral decisions that God is holding us accountable for and which we need divine guidance to obey. God’s moral will is the only will of God you need to know and do to please God and completely fulfill His plan for your life. This is why He clearly reveals His moral will in Scripture. You do not need to “find” it. It is written clearly in Scripture and desired by God’s Spirit in you.

All of this is taught in Romans 12:1-2. God’s whole will is that we are morally “holy” and therefore “pleasing to God” (v. 1). All we need to do to be pleasing to God is to be holy. Verse 2 tells us how we to do this. We must renew our mind so we will not follow the sinful beliefs and habits of this world. What is the result of living morally in this world? Then we will know God’s good, pleasing, and perfect will for our life. There is no other will of God that we must know to be holy and pleasing to God. And this moral will of God is completely revealed in Scripture and the only will the Spirit desires to lead us in.

How does an understanding of God’s moral will relate to our decision making? All of God’s will that you need to know and do in any situation is moral and completely communicated in Scripture and desired by God’s Spirit in you. For example, God hardly cares what job you choose, but cares much more about how and why you do that job (Col 3:22-24).

If God has a will for you that is other than moral in nature (and therefore not communicated in Scripture), then it is an aspect of His predestined will. In that case, He need not reveal it to you in order for it to be fulfilled. He will fulfill it Himself.

In the rare case that God would choose to reveal to you an extra-biblical will, then He will communicate in miraculous, unmistakable ways such as supernatural visions or personal appearances as He did for those in Scripture. But the rarity of such a will is demonstrated by how rarely such miraculous communication occurs.

God’s moral will is different from His predestined will in two ways. First, God does not need to reveal His predestined will because we have no responsibility in fulfilling it. But He clearly reveals His moral will because we are responsible to fulfill it. This is why the part of God’s will that you need to know and do will always be clearly revealed. Like any good father, God does not want His children confused about what they are supposed to do.

Secondly, God’s moral will is not always fulfilled. It depends on us to obey or disobey. The simple idea that God’s will is always done is not true. God’s moral will is disobeyed in this world constantly. But His predestined will is always fulfilled.

The freedom of free will

Another biblical aspect of God’s will is free will. This includes things in which God really doesn’t have a will at all, but gives you the freedom to choose according to your own desires and careful reasoning. The reason for this freedom is that such issues are amoral in nature. That does not mean they are immoral. It simply means you cannot sin or displease God or miss His will in an amoral matter.

A simple example would be choosing what flavor of ice cream you will have for dessert. There are other examples of amoral decisions in which God does not have a specific will, except that we act morally. Such decisions include what occupation to choose, where to go to college, and which Christian to marry. You cannot sin in an amoral decision. God is not interested in telling us what to do in amoral decisions. Any moral guidance has already been clearly provided in Scripture. Beyond that, God wants to give you free will to follow your desires.

A biblical example is God’s instruction to Adam and Eve. He said, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Gen 2:16-17). Here we see two different “wills” of God operating. First, He told Adam and Eve what they could not do. This is an example of His moral will which is always clearly communicated. But God also granted Adam and Eve tremendous freedom to “eat from any [other] tree in the garden” because it was an amoral issue.

Likewise, in every decision, after we have followed God’s moral will, He always wants to give us free will. Beyond telling them what would be sinful, He was not interested in telling them what other fruit to choose. This is because He wanted Adam and Eve to choose other fruit according to their personal likes and dislikes. And the same is true in what occupation you choose, where you live, or what Christian you marry. And like the trees in the Garden of Eden, a lot of different choices are available under free will, and will be equally blessed by God.

Mysticism claims God has a specific will for things that God deems is under free will. God gives you a lot more freedom in your decisions than is taught in mysticism.

If you need to choose between wearing a red shirt or a blue one, should you think God has an opinion? Surely not. What else would you put in this category of decisions that God would simply want you to follow your desires if they are not sinful or otherwise foolish? More than mysticism claims.

Of course, mysticism claims we have free will in some decisions. But it cannot tell us where our free will ends and God’s specific and “secret” will begins. How can you know where free will begins? Remember, the part of God’s moral will that you need to know is completely revealed in Scripture. Therefore, whatever is not addressed in some way by Scripture, is one of those amoral issues that God grants you free will.

If you were to ask God what He wanted you to do in a decision that is not addressed in Scripture, do you know what He would say? “Do what you want, and I will bless it.” Do you believe that? Because if you don’t, you have an unbiblical perspective on God’s will and decision making.

Most of the decisions you make in life come under free will. God does not have any specific direction for every decision in your life. He leaves a great deal of your decisions up to your own personal desires and careful reasoning.

How then does an understanding of free will relate to decision making? It should give us a great deal of relief! So many people have put themselves into unnecessary bondage with the false belief that God has a will for details of their life that are not revealed in Scripture. Then they anxiously pursue all sorts of mystical and superstitious methods to find this supposed extra-biblical will of God. And they often remain uncertain they have “found” God’s will. This was never God’s intention.

In a nutshell, God’s will for all of your decisions is: 1) Obey Scripture with all your soul and strength, 2) Make wise decisions with your mind, and 3) Follow the desires of your heart.

The unbiblical “secret” will of God

The belief in a “secret” will of God has made the topic of divine guidance more complex and confusing than anything else. This supposed secret will of God is not revealed in Scripture and involves amoral decisions. This aspect of mysticism claims God has one best college for you to attend, one best career for you to choose, or one ideal Christian mate to marry. According to mysticism, if you choose another college, career, or mate, you have missed God’s perfect and secret will for your life.

This idea is attractive because we don’t want to make mistakes in such important decisions. It would be great if God would clearly reveal His perfect, secret will in all the decisions we make. But there is no clear biblical support for such an idea, and it has caused more harm to Christians than many will admit.

What Scriptures are used to support the claim of God’s secret will? As noted above, God had a specific, extra-biblical will for some special people in Scripture. But these “controlling calls” were always communicated clearly and miraculously through Angels, visions, etc. Such unique examples are not evidence that God intends to do the same with us.

The famous verse in Jeremiah 29:11 is also used. But the context has nothing to do with a “secret will” for every Christian. The promise was made to the nation of Israel in their Babylonian Captivity. Therefore, caution should be used in applying it to our own lives. This promise may reveal God’s attitude toward all of His people. But if it does, then it would most clearly apply to God’s predestined will, not a secret will that we must find.

Others point to the example of Isaac and Rebekah as evidence that God has one best person for us to marry. This will be discussed further in the next chapter.

The idea of a specific secret will of God is attractive. But believing such a thing is unbiblical and harmful. First, it makes the will of God difficult to know. This has been agonizing for many Christians who wonder if they have missed God’s will in an extra-biblical amoral decision. Mysticism teaches you can only find this secret will by fervently seeking it outside of Scripture.

Thankfully, Scripture is clear: It is always God’s responsibility to clearly communicate His will. There are no biblical examples of a will of God that people needed to know, but was difficult to know. Contrary to mysticism, God makes knowing His will easy. The hard part is doing it.

Secondly, mysticism claims that a Christian must be willing to do anything for God before they can know His supposed secret will for them. But there are no examples of this anywhere in Scripture. God always communicated His will regardless of who was willing to obey it. Not even a wicked unbeliever needs to be willing to obey God in order to know God’s moral will from Scripture. Romans 12:1-2 is often used to support this claim. But as noted above, this passage teaches that the reason we will know God’s pleasing and perfect will is because we renew our mind with the moral teachings of Scripture.

Thirdly, some believe that if God does not have an extra-biblical will to reveal to them, that He does not love them. But God’s word does not say that God demonstrates His love through a secret will, but in sending His Son to die for our sin (Rom 5:8). Mysticism makes God into a controlling father who wants to dictate everything in your life. Would this be loving in our relationship with our earthly father? Would we consider a father who dictated who we would marry and what job we would choose to be more loving than one who told us, “Do what you want without sinning and I’ll support you in whatever you decide”?

Like any good father, God does not wish to dictate everything in your life in minute detail. Rather, He wants you to live morally, using your reason to think wisely, and pursue your desires. The fact that in the OT God dictated virtually every aspect of His people’s lives reflected their spiritual immaturity. But in the New Covenant you are indwelled with the Holy Spirit so you already know and desire the moral will of God.

Fourth, a belief in an extra-biblical secret will adds a great number of things in which we can sin against God. It makes amoral issues become moral ones because it is claimed God has a specific will in them. This would seem to violate God’s command to not add to His commandments (Deut 4:2). God never reveals direction to someone that is merely His suggestion. To disobey or “miss” a secret will of God that you are supposed to know and do would be rebellious sin. A secret will creates another “Bible” that we must discover and learn to read if we do not wish to be sinful and displeasing to God.

Finally, what if someone believes they have found God’s “secret” will for the job, college, or spouse they were supposed to choose. But then they encounter great problems because of their decision. What will they think? They must have missed God’s plan? They were not humble or godly enough to “hear” God? They are now stuck in “plan B” for their life? Mysticism sets you up for such lies, and they will make hard situations even more painful.

Belief in a secret will makes God’s will into a narrow, difficult-to-find path that we must find or hurt our life. But the real wills of God cover every aspect of your life. In the Bible, the only “secret” will of God is under His predestined will that He will make sure happens. His moral will enables you to know God’s pleasing and perfect will and it is written in Scripture. Free will makes your extra-biblical decisions a rather wide and delightful path with several options, all of which your Dad is willing to bless in your life. And God’s prayed-for-will gives you the opportunity to ask God to make all kinds of things His will for your life.

Practical application: What is something you want to bring into the prayed-for will of God? Keep asking until God grants it, or makes it clear that He has something better for you.

In your small group meeting this week, share praises and prayer requests and then discuss these questions:

1) What are the two primary views about divine guidance in decision making? How do they differ?

2) What does “extra-biblical” mean? What kinds of decisions does this describe?

3) What is God’s predestined will? What are biblical examples?

4) Mysticism claims God has a “controlling call” for every Christian. Why do its biblical attributes make this unlikely?

5) What is exciting about the potential of the prayed-for will of God? How can this encourage you in prayer?

6) We claim that the part of God’s will for your life that you need to know and follow, is completely revealed in Scripture. What do we base this claim on? What do you think?

7) If God has a will for you that is other than moral in nature, then it is a part of what aspect of His will?

8) When God had an extra-biblical will for those in Scripture, how did He reveal it to them? Why does this suggest that such a thing is very rare?

9) What does amoral mean? Why does God grant free will in such things?

10) What do we claim God would say, if you could ask Him what He wanted you to do in a decision, that is not addressed in Scripture? How might this be encouraging?

11) What is the supposed “secret” will of God? What are supposed examples?

12) We claim there are no biblical examples of a will of God that people needed to know, but was difficult to know. Why could this be encouraging?

13) What are the problems caused by believing in a “secret will” of God?

14) What was most meaningful to you in this chapter? Why?

The Wills of God

	Description	Examples in Scripture
Predestined & Personal	Things that God decides and makes certain will happen apart from any decisions or deeds of humans. Usually unrevealed to the person until it occurs.	Place & time of birth (Acts 17:26) Spiritual gifts (1 Cor 12:7, 11) Some callings from God (Moses, Jonah, Paul)
Moral	Reveals what is holy or sinful. Completely revealed in Scripture and confirmed by the desires of the Holy Spirit. Its fulfillment is dependent on your choice to obey.	Loving God and people (Matt 7:12; 22: 40; Phil 1:9-10) Being holy (1 Thess 4:3; 1 Pet 1:16 Faithful with gifts (1 Pet 4:10)
Free	Led by personal desires & careful reasoning. No additional revelation or divine guidance needed apart from Scripture.	Which Christian person you marry (1 Cor 7:1-38) Which honorable occupation you choose (Col 3:23). What good church to join.
Prayed-for	Makes miraculous things happen that would not otherwise occur when God grants our requests.	Hezekiah’s healing (2 Kgs 20:1-5) Miraculous deliverances (2 Kgs 18:13-19:37; Acts 12:1-18)
Unbiblical Secret	Extra-biblical and unknown until we somehow discern it apart from Scripture.	Nothing in Scripture about it. Any secret will of God apart from Scripture will be a part of His predestined will and will occur no matter what.