What is God’s will?

 

When praying “Thy will be done” I’ve wondered if I’m asking for His perfect will in which everyone does as He commands — a sort of ‘heaven on earth’ request — but I know it is not going to happen.

Or am  I asking that God will use the disobedience of humanity to accomplish His purposes, such as He did with Joseph was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers, and even more profound, something like when Jesus was “delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God” yet “crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.” (Acts 2:23)

God can use evil for good, a truth that God showed me early in my Christian life:

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

The ‘good’ here is being transformed into the image of Christ and ‘all things’ includes even the unpleasant events of life, the trials that I’m to count as pure joy (James 1:2-4).

At least one theologian* speaks of the will of God in three ways. One is His “decretive” will or His absolute decrees, the things He is going to do that no human can stop or change. In other words, what God determines or promises cannot be cancelled. He will do it.

The second is His “perceptive” will, or insights revealed in His law as those things that are right or proper, His rule of righteousness for the way His people should live. Sadly, the OT tells how the will of God for faithful obedience was substituted by ritual rather than a loving zeal for God. Lest we think ‘salvation by grace’ changed that, we need to examine ourselves. Are we “seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” or relaxed in the righteousness of Christ without “thy will be done” being a priority?

The third aspect of God’s will is “disposition” which refers to His character and is about what pleases God. He may allow evil but not give permission to it and is not at all pleased by it. As a believer, I sense His pleasure and feel joy when I obey, but also feel His grief when I do not.

Take these three aspects of God’s will and apply them to this: “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)

• In the “decretive” nobody perishes and then universalism is true and hell is vacant of people. Not biblical.

• In the “perceptive” sense, God does not allow people to perish, but grants His moral permission. This does not fit the context of the passage.

• The third option of “disposition” makes sense in that God is not willing or inwardly disposed to, or delighted by, people’s perishing. Instead, He desires and commands my obedience. When I fail, I am not destroying His sovereignty nor making a lie of His desire that I obey.

This OT verse says something else about God’s will: “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” (Deuteronomy 29:29) He does not tell me everything, only what I need to obey Him.

Yet the marvel of God is that He can use “all things for my good” even my disobedience. For one thing, it produces greater humility and dependence on Him. This does not mean disobedience is a virtue in disguise. It only means God can bring good out of evil (as He did with Joseph) and points to the transcendent power of His sovereignty. It also means that I should seek His revealed will and comply with it, not assume that I can do whatever I want and He will turn it to good.

Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long . . . .Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way. (Psalm 25:4–9)

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. (James 1:5)

Lord Jesus, I thank You for revealing much about who You are and how You think. Your will is often hidden, yet when I ask for wisdom and guidance, You hear and respond. You, who spoke all things into existence, are involved in the lives of Your people. You ask us to pray that Your will be done here on earth. Grant me the ability to pray with discernment so I understand what I am really asking.

EXTRA: Read Psalm 119 and note any changes I need to make when praying. What am I thinking when I ask that His will be done?

* Sproul, R. C. Can I Know God’s Will? Vol. 4. The Crucial Questions Series. Lake Mary, FL: Reformation Trust Publishing, 2009.