The Will of God
I
owe a lot of my thinking on this matter to Garry Friesen and his book “Decision
Making and the Will of God”.
When
I read his book (more than 20 years ago) it changed my life.
By
“God’s will” we sometimes mean God’s sovereignty. What non-Christians might call
“fate”.
God
is sovereign, and if he wants something to happen then he has the power to
choose to make it happen.
God’s
sovereignty can overrule anything.
But
this is about God’s will for me. What does God want me to do?
Usually
when people are asking this question they have a specific context in mind.
Who
does God want me to marry?
What
job does God want me to do?
What
does God want me to study?
Where
does God want me to go for short term mission?
Mostly
what we would consider “big” questions.
I
think we all pretty much assume that God doesn’t mind which shoe I put on first
this morning, or what I have on my toast.
Basically,
when it comes to the big decisions, we don’t want to get it wrong, so we give
careful thought to what God wants.
So,
let’s look at this in the context of career.
First,
think of every possible career there is. Everything.
In the diagram below this is the orange box.
Now,
within that, there are going to be some jobs that I simply cannot do.
I
can never become queen of France. I am too old now to become an astronaut to
Mars. I don’t think I have the physical attributes to become an Olympic
athlete.
These
might be silly examples, but basically there are many jobs/careers that are not
open to be because of my circumstance.
They
might be available to you, but not to me.
So,
not everything in the orange box is possible for me. So, now I have the blue
box. All the careers that are actually possible for
me.
Now,
within what is possible are some things that are clearly unacceptable because
of things God has revealed in the Bible.
I
am sure God does not want me to be a prostitute. Or a thief.
These choices are not acceptable.
This
leaves me with the green box. All the jobs that are possible
for me to do and generally acceptable to God.
Now,
traditionally, and in many Christian circles still, there is the thinking that
of all the dots in the green square, only one is God’s will for you.
i.e.
God has a specific career for you. And only this career is God’s will for you.
No
wonder we want to get this right! If we miss that dot and choose the wrong one
we will have wasted our whole life.
But
is that true? Is God really like that? Is that what you see in the Bible?
God
is often described as our shepherd.
Can
you imagine a shepherd taking his sheep to a lush mountain pasture and yelling,
“OK,
#43 not that blade of grass, a bit to the left.”
“#98,
you know better than that, what are you doing on this side of the pasture…
AGAIN!”.
Of
course not. He chose the pasture because he knows its safe. He knows the grass
is good here.
He
is happy for his sheep to graze it wherever they want (as long as they stay
nearby).
God
is also our father.
Imagine
I tell my little son to go and play.
And
he asks, “Do you want me to play with my toy cars or with my lego?”
“With
the police car or with the fire engine?”
It
would drive me crazy.
I
have chosen his toys carefully. I know they are all safe. I know they are all
“good” for him.
I
am happy for him to play with whichever toy he wants to play with.
Now,
everything in the green square is acceptable, but some of the choices in the
green square are going to be “better” than others.
This
is where wisdom comes in.
When
my son was little I might have gone along with his questions because I know he
was just trying to please me.
“play
with the police car”.
But
as he gets older I would expect him to know me a bit better and to start to be
able to make these decisions for himself.
Now
he is in his 20’s. Imagine if he was calling me every day to ask what clothes
to wear to work today. And should I take the freeway or surface streets today?
By
now, he should be making those decisions himself.
But
if he’s thinking of getting married, or buying a house, I would be thrilled if
he asked my opinion on his choice. I would love to have some input on those
decisions.
Of
course I would still leave the choice up to him, but I would be happy to share
my thoughts.
God’s
will is like that. As young Christians God puts up with our questions and even
answers them for us as a patient father.
But
as we get older, as we mature, he expects us to make wise decisions for
ourselves.
We
can ask questions like “Which choices bring more glory to God?”, “Which choices
best fit the talents and abilities God has given me?”.
Questions
like that show maturity.
But
then, if we have more than one choice which seem otherwise equal. It’s up to
us. Which one do you want to do?
What
job do you want to do? Who do you want to marry? Where do you want to go for
mission?
Now,
in the Bible we do read of times that God had specific things for people to do.
Jonah
was very specifically told to go to Nineveh as a missionary.
For
Jonah, there was a dot. One dot.
But
in all these cases in the Bible, God communicated to them exactly what that dot
was.
If
God clearly tells you, that for you there is only one dot… DO IT.
But
if he hasn’t, then you may eat any grass in the pasture.
God’s
will for you is that you choose wisely from all the acceptable choices
available to you.
I
think he would like it if you discussed it with him if it’s a big decision.
But
there is no dot. You are free to choose.
Choose
wisely.