Discerning Direction - The Wills of God

When we consider the will of God, there are often two main concepts theologians like to address: the permissive and the efficacious will of God.  Simply put, there are a variety of ways to think about the will of God and these two offer us a framework as we move forward in our discussion.

The Permissive Will of God
This aspect of God's will (as is implied by the language) has to do with what God will permit.  To some degree, we see this most clearly in the world when people make bad or evil choices.  God does not desire people to sin nor does He cause them to do so (James 1:13), but He does permit them to do so (more on this in the future when we address the necessity of freedom in order that true love exists).  God's permissive will can be sub-divided into two categories - the things He permits with which He is pleased (positive), and the things He permits with which He is displeased (negative).  Dallas Willard in his book Hearing God talks about the positive permissive will of God with an example of a father and son.  A son comes home from school and asks, "Dad, what should I do during play time this afternoon?"  The father's desire is that the son would play, enjoy himself, and get some exercise, but since he doesn't have a specific activity in mind, he tells his son to play whatever sport he wants - all the father wants is for the son to do something that fulfills his aforementioned requirements. This can be seen as the Positive Permissive Will.  Sometimes, God desires something broadly from us, but allow us the freedom to choose.  Augustine lived this out with his axiom "Love God and do as you please."  If we are in walk-step with God's heart, He sometimes gives us the freedom to choose what we do.  As long as it falls within His moral bounds and what we already know of His well, we have freedom to choose through which doorway we walk.

Negative Permissive Will is just the opposite.  God will allow bad decisions to be made, bad things to happen and though He doesn't desire it, He allows it.  This is an entirely separate topic, so we will leave this for now and return to it at a future time.

The Efficacious Will of God
This will of God is best described as the will of God that will happen.  When we read in Scripture that Jesus will return, we can be sure this will happen - God will engage the needed variables so this happens.   Some offer the question - if Moses refused to go, what would God have done?  The question brings in many variables, but at the core we can stand on this truth: if God desires something to happen, it will come to pass.
The Resurrection of Christ - this was going to undoubtedly happen.

What can we glean from these wills of God?  At least a few things.  First, sometimes when we are feeling the tension over wanting God's perfect will, we have to realize He might be offering us freedom within His framework (giving us choice within His bounds).  Secondly, we can be sure that the plans God has for us will come to pass.  If God efficaciously desires for us to become something, travel somewhere, or to live out a certain calling - it will happen.  In both of these, we can take comfort and find peace.  These are rooted in His character (our topic for the next post).

-tC

Discerning Direction - Willing to Wait

Once we are in the place of truly desiring direction from God (see last post), the next step is to consider what our internal time-line might look like.  Whether we admit it or not, most of us have a sense of what it is we really want in our future.  We may not have all the details, but we usually know where we'd like to be and what we think things should look like.  But this is where we have to pause and, again, take that internal audit. 

The logic that flows might be organized in this way:
1.  God is good and wants to give good gifts to His people (Jeremiah 29:11, Romans 8:28)      
2.  God is omniscient and therefore knows all that will occur (Psalm 147:4,5)
3.  Thus if He wants good for us, is able to work all situations for our good and His glory, AND He knows all (and so isn't surprised by anything), He is worthy of our trust.

But this is where the rub comes.  Referring to Paul's writing in Romans 12 it has been said that the problem with a living sacrifice is that it always seems to crawl off the altar.  We are often willing to follow Him, as long as it doesn't hurt too much or take too long.  The reason we must check our motives again is because God's time-line is rarely ours.  One of my favorite passages in the entire Bible is found in Genesis 41:1.  We read that "Two years later, Pharaoh had a dream..." and then the passage goes on.  Looking back a few chapters, we see that Joseph has already faced physical pain and imprisonment, and now we read that he's still in jail for at least another two years.  We can quickly skim over those words as we rush forward to hear about the positive aspects of this story, but pause and reflect that it took Joseph at least two years before things truly began to turn around.  I can imagine that during those long nights in the prison, Joseph had to have questions for God (more on this tomorrow). 

But the point is this: the will of God, the purpose He has for us - it often takes time to bring it to pass, and only if we trust Him and His character will be able to wait on Him.  God used 40 years in the wilderness to refine and test the nation of Israel and see what they truly had in their souls.  Walking in the will of God often means patience and perseverance.

As we seek the will of God, we must begin with introspection and ask: do I truly desire His counsel and direction, and am I willing to wait for His plan to be revealed while trusting Him in the meantime?  Two audits down, more to come.

- tC