Decisions, Decisions
Among the more familiar passages of scripture is one by the prophet Jeremiah, written around the 7th century B.C. to the Israelites who had been exiled to Babylon:
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11)
Today, those words are echoed by those who say, "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life." But if your life is like most, the problem isn't in believing in the love of God. Nor even in believing that God knows the plans He has for us. The problem is that at times, He seems to be the only one who knows what those plans are!
Indeed, life would be so much easier (or so we think) if we received our marching orders in an Old Testament fashion--through a prophet, the voice of God, or through some unmistakable sign such as the pillar of cloud and fire that led the Israelites (Exodus 13:21). Every day we find ourselves making decisions--all of which impact our lives to a certain extent. Does God really have a plan for our lives? If so, what is it? And more importantly, how can we ensure that the choices we make daily are in accordance with this plan?
To answer these questions necessitate first answering perhaps the most basic question of life--why are we here? The "Philosopher" of Ecclesiastes struggled much with this question. Though his search for meaning would expose him to the best the world had to offer, in the end he could find his purpose in only two things:
Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. (Ecclesiastes 12:13)
Fear God and keep his commandments. It would seem simple enough. But life is more than just a robot-like existence, following a set of rules and regulations. Listen to Jesus' response when asked about the greatest commandment:
One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." (Matthew 22:35-40)
How fascinating that God's greatest command to us is to love Him. But this isn't too strange of a concept for us to understand. What parent does not desire to be loved by their child? What couple does not long for love from each other? What is God saying when He commands us to love Him? He is saying, "I want to have a relationship with you!" He need not say that He wants to love us, for He has already demonstrated His love for us (John 3:16, Romans 5:8, Ephesians 2:4-5, 1 John 4:9-10). Instead, He says, "I want you to love me!" For our part, "We love because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19).
In choosing to enter into this relationship with God, we find a new purpose to life--to know Him, to love Him, and to glorify His name (Psalms 63:3, 1 Peter 2:12). This point is crucial when we begin to talk about God's will for our life. If we believe that our purpose in life is to do good works, then we will tend to see God's will for us only in terms of what we can do for Him. If we believe that our purpose in life is to enjoy what God has given us, we will tend to see God's will only in terms of what we can get out of it. But if our purpose is to know, love, and glorify Him, how we go about living our lives will be markedly different--both from the world, and perhaps even from other Christians.
As we begin to speak about God's "will," we need to stop and define what we mean by the "will of God." For our purposes, we are referring to the expressed desire of God for our life. Does God have a single, perfect will for our life? The answer, it would seem, is both "yes" and "no." Though God may desire for us to live our lives according to His plan, He nevertheless grants us the freedom to live apart from it. When God told Adam, "You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil"(Genesis 2:17), there could be no doubt as to God's will for Eden's earliest inhabitants. Nevertheless, Adam and Eve were given the freedom to choose otherwise. When they did, sin entered the world and shattered God's perfect plan for humanity. But somehow, a new plan emerged. Again and again, humanity would be given the freedom to choose.
In understanding God's will for our lives, it's important to distinguish between situations where we must seek His counsel and situations where we need not. For example, we need not ask God whether or not we might be permitted to steal--God has already made His position known. When we find explicit commands such as, "you shall not murder," or "you shall not commit adultery," in the Bible, we find God's will expressed in a clear, non-negotiable form. Likewise, as we read the Bible and study the lives of others we find implicit direction in how our lives should be lived. The book of Job, for example, tells us much about perseverance in trials long before we read of its virtues in James.
So we see that there are a great number of circumstances for which we can discover the will of God through His Word. Of course, in most situations the difficulty isn't in understanding God's will but in following it. When we fail, God graciously offers forgiveness (1 John 1:9), but there is no reason for us to expect that we will be rescued from the consequences of our foolish decisions. Nevertheless, He continually gives us new opportunities to choose what is right. As we choose to do the things we know are right, we serve to further God's sanctifying work in our lives. As believers in Christ, we can take confidence in knowing that God will ultimately accomplish His purpose in our lives:
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. (Romans 8:28-30)
Copyright © 1998 Tim A. Krell. All rights reserved. Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version (NIV), Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.