TUESDAY
Yesterday we talked about the big idea from James 4:15. Remember, the main emphasis is to submit our plans to the will of the Lord, recognizing, submitting to, and seeking his sovereign will.
James 4:13–17 13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. 17 If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.
This obviously deals with the very complex topic of the will of the Lord. So, I thought we would spend a day on it here. Here’s an excerpt from a devotional I wrote a few years ago about the story of Joseph.
When we think of the will of God, we should think of it in two senses (Piper demonstrates the biblical basis for this in the video I've linked you to below). The first is God's will of command (I've also seen it referred to as the perfect will of God or simply "God's wish will"). In this sense, God did not will for Joseph's brothers to sell him into slavery because it was a violation of God's moral law. However, it was a part of God's will in the sense of his will of decree (I've also heard it referred to as his permissive will or "will will"). Everything, then, that happens is in God's will in this sense because nothing can happen outside of his will. Therefore, Joseph can say that what his brothers did to him was indeed a part of God's will; in fact, it was God's doing.
This brings me to our Christianese If You Please for the week. When someone has experienced a tragedy, well-meaning Christians will often say, “God didn’t intend for this to happen.” As we’ve just learned, in one sense this is true, but in another sense it is not. In the sense of God’s will of decree, it happened so it was a part of his will and this statement is not true. Alternatively, in the sense of his will of command or perfect will, this tragedy was not a part of his will. Tragedy, death and evil are not what God desires for his creation. They are the results of sin in the world. They were not in the Garden of Eden and they will not be in the new creation. D.A. Carson says that God stands behind good and evil in different ways. He is not ultimately culpable for evil, but he is responsible for good. So, we must be careful with phrases like this and how they can influence our theology.
In the context of this passage, James’ teaching that we should not make our plans without acknowledging, seeking and surrendering to the will of God touches on both senses of God’s will. When we seek God’s will, we are trying to discern his perfect will or his will of command. To do this we first must first assess whether one choice or the other is morally wrong according to teaching of Scripture. In this same vein, when discerning the will of God, we should also assess our motives in the decision. We should ask ourselves, “Am I making decisions out of a motive of selfish ambition or out of love for others? Am I experiencing peace with God as I walk in this decision? Which decision will likely lead me to be more like Jesus?” For example, I may be planning to retire to a condo in Florida. However, when the time comes, I may find that God is calling me to continue investing in the people within my local church. Neither decision is right or wrong, but I must do my best to discern the will of the Lord. In most decisions like this, I think it is too simplistic to view it as a binary choice, i.e., God has one chosen for me and if I choose the wrong one I will be outside of his will. He may reveal specifically that he wants me to do one or the other, but if He doesn’t then I think I would be free to choose either one and be the person God calls me to be and bring goodness to the world in either place. However, choosing the selfish decision will likely hurt me and lead me to miss out on some of the joys of following the Lord.
This leads me to another Christianese phrase. Like last week, we have two this week. How exciting! The phrase is, “God never closes a door without opening a window.” I’m sure you all can hardly contain your, “Amen!” after hearing that. Looking for “open doors” or opportunities that seem to be available to us is one factor that we often consider in discerning the will of the Lord. Indeed, it is true that if it is God’s will for us to do something, he will provide an open door or window. However, it is often difficult or impossible for us to see the way that God will open what appears to be a closed door. But it is not true that a closed door is necessarily evidence of something not being God’s will. The Red Sea before the Israelites and the Egyptian army behind seems like a closed door. They surely could not have foreseen God parting the sea. I imagine Paul could have made many excuses of closed doors to discontinue his ministry when he was stoned and left for dead, shipwrecked and stranded on an island, beaten, arrested, etc. Jesus could have viewed the rejection of the religious leaders in Israel as a closed door but who could have foreseen that it was God’s will for them to put him to death and through that provide the sacrifice of redemption for his people and all creation? Isaiah is directly told by the Lord that the people of Israel won’t listen to him, in fact his mission is to preach to them so their hearts will be hardened and they won’t see or understand. Sounds like a closed door to me.
Now, on the other hand, whatever we do is in the permissive will of God. If I had to pick which sense James is thinking of the will of God, I would say it is this one but I can see how both are in play. If we are making plans that conflict with God’s decrees of what will happen, then they are futile. My fitness plans are for naught if God has decreed that I get cancer and die in two months. In this sense I am free to make my plans, all the while knowing that God may change those plans or bring about a different outcome. When he does change them or bring about a different outcome, I have two choices: 1. I can resent it and become increasingly more bitter, or 2. I can accept it as God’s will and walk in this new direction with peace, hope, and joy. Number 2 sounds like a much better way to live!
Tim Keller sums this up nicely, as he always does.
“The sovereignty of God is mysterious but not contradictory. It means that we have great incentive to use our wisdom and our will to the best effect, knowing God holds us to it and knowing we will suffer consequences from foolishness and wickedness. On the other hand, there is an absolute promise that we cannot ultimately mess up our lives. Even our failures and troubles will be used for God's glory and our benefit." —Timothy Keller Walking with God Through Pain and Suffering
Additional Content
Friday: Divine Sovereignty and Human Freedom