Thursday, 17 September 2009
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God Might Not Have a 'Will' for Your Life
'What is God's will for my life?' As a friend has put it, if a twenty-first century Christian were to journey through time to the ancient Israelite farmer and communicate such a loaded question, the poor Hebrew (after the initial shock) would have many questions of his own; such a strange notion would be cause for utter befuddlement. 'What does this stranger mean by "God's will"? Does s/he not know of the covenant?'When God created the world, the ancient Hebrew and Catholic would say, God communicated His will to humanity. Namely, He told humanity: 'Go forth and multiply. Eat of any tree in the garden, but don't eat of this tree.' Speaking loosely, God had said: 'Here is the way I have created the world for you to live in it - now, go have fun in that order.' This was and is how God communicates His will for humanity throughout the ages. Historically, the people of God - from the ancient Israelites to the Catholic Church - had always understood God's will as intimately bound up in God's covenantal action toward His people, in what He had ordained and established for His people. -God's 'will for your life'? God's will for your life is to love the LORD your God with your whole being, to live faithfully in Him, to love your neighbor as yourself, and to obey and serve Christ in His Church. This is God's will for your life.
We of the twentieth and twenty-first century Western world have largely superimposed our understandings onto the reality of God. The 'God's will for my life' philosophy had begun to arise quite a bit earlier than now, but it is accentuated by our cultural context of expansiveness. We enjoy our endless freedom and open choices but seek to go about 'divinizing' them in some way. In many ways, this strange behavior has nothing to do with the choices themselves but with the recognition that God is not typically seen as having anything to do with our choices; our historical/technological empowerment has been a sterile and philosophically agnostic enterprize. In a world in which we can be journalists or firemen, live in a condo in Boston or a house in Denver, we want to 'include' God in some way. Many - if not most - Western Christians play into the language and philosophy of God having an 'individual will' for 'my' life that goes beyond God's historical revelation. Yet this reveals more about our own unfamiliarity toward God's historical will for our lives (or perhaps our subconscious disbelief toward its comprehensive nature) than it reveals about God Himself; that is, God's will for humanity and humans - as it has been historically revealed - is not 'good' enough, is not comprehensive enough, for our liking.
The notion that we must all have a burning bush or even a modest 'peace' (as in emotional) about the choices of our lives is a recent development in the West. Not even the oft-cited mystics, to the best of my somewhat well-informed knowledge, ever supplanted God's covenantal Word with emotional connectedness or signs. In fact, in Holy Scripture, Jesus Christ our Lord warns, 'An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and a sign will not be given it, except the sign of Jonah.' The sign of Jonah - as it becomes fulfilled in the sign of the Church - has always been: 'Repent and be baptized, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.' God's will is to go about saving humans and humanity; God may not have as much concern over your choice of insurance provider as you yourself might have about the matter. Perhaps He is concerned if you are concerned, because He has shown immense concern about His creatures, but He has not necessarily geared the stars in their circles toward your choosing SafeAuto over Progressive. Perhaps if we were to truly embrace the true goodness of God's creation, as it has been historically understood - His desire for us to romp in the Garden, in His gracious covenant with His people - perhaps we would please God and live in healthy relationship toward Him and even manage to be healthy creatures in the process. To expect anything beyond this is to risk being highly presumptuous: no mortal will ever know the full extent of the mind of God.
This is not to say that there is nary a burning bush or wet fleece to be found, nor is it to say that God does not work graciously with our silly understandings of things! This is simply to say that God has already revealed His will, and we shouldn't make it an object to go searching for 'extra' signs. God is definitely gracious with our misunderstandings and works them toward His desire to save the world, whatever these misunderstandings may be (in this particular subject and in many others). God works all things together for our good, for those who love the LORD. And no one would deny that throughout history God has communicated with His people - and to particular persons - in extraordinary, supernatural means. The history of the Church is full of these blessed realities.
The problem comes when we put the cart before the horse, when we begin grasping for signs and wonders to fuel our participation in the virtue of faith. Our faith is in Jesus Christ, who has redeemed the world and established His Church; our faith is in the God who has saved the world. We have been given a New Covenant and we are to live within that covenant in faithfulness and the bestowed peace of God. If God provides you emotional peace, praise be to God. If God comes to you in a whirlwind or a writing on the wall and tells you to do whatever, praise be to God, and you should definitely grapple with that and listen. However, to make this sort of phenomenology the object of faith is to supplant what God has already historically revealed to be His will for your life. Love God, serve Him, live faithfully, love your neighbor, serve and obey His Church. This is God's will for your life.
Do you agree that our 'will' is to save others as the author suggests or do you still prefer the more supernatural 'will' where God guides our decisions?
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- From: Anaxionus@xanga
- Name: Rick
- Location: Nashville, Tennessee, United States
- About Me: Herein are the results of a wanderer trying to get to Office Supplies, ending up somewhere between Lay-Away and Music.
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Comments (45)
I believe God has a specific plan for everyone's life. Throughout history, God has put specific people in specific places for specific reasons, just as He brought Esther to power "for such a time as this" (Esther 4:14). Just because someone doesn't get into the Guinness Book of World Records doesn't mean God isn't guiding their specific choices. God does not show favoritism (Romans 2:11). Therefore, I believe that if He had a specific plan for Esther or Moses or David or Gideon, He has a specific plan for me and for every single person.I don't believe we have to stress out about each decision because God will guide us into making the right ones.
Just because a person in the past did not believe in a specific will doesn't in any way mean there wasn't one. People have always had different blind spots and areas they didn't understand, and God in His mercy has used and guided us in spite of our human misunderstandings.
I believe in a God who walks intimately with me daily and cares about every choice I make, not a deistic God who revealed a general will and sits back to watch people make random choices within it. It's not about knowing the full mind of God; it's about experiencing Him intimately every moment.
That said, this is by no means a salvation issue. If a person's heart is to serve God, He will help them to do the things He wants them to do, regardless of where they stand on this issue.
It can be both. God has his will but also allows us to make decisions. We can see this in I Cor. 7:39, where God shows his will and allows choice.
I totally get it. It's like on MadTV when John Madden does the Vagisil commercial. Follow the game plan, relieve the burning itch.
Ya know, I've always been conflicted by a "Divine Plan" and "Free will." They seem so contradictorily juxtaposed.
What I cannot grasp is how a simple human mind (and I mean simple in relation to an omniscient mind of a god) can override omnipotence. How can our archaic minds cancel out the will of a creator who made all the stars and knows them by name?
I always hear Christians saying, "Ya know, God does, in fact, have a plan for you, but you have the power to deviate from his will."
I am just so confounded as to how this is possible. It all just seems like a great cop-out to me.
Also, what is the point of being birthed if God has a plan for us?
Let's say, for the sake of argument, that there is really a "Hell" and that all of us Atheists are destined to burn there. Let's also go along with the notion that God has an ultimate plan for us. Why would God simply create a human life that is destined for the lake of fire?
What is the need for a test if we all follow a linear path mapped out by an omniscient cartographer?
Are we simply playthings to a god? Do they/it throw around plagues, diseases, cancer, famine, poverty, war, suffering, anguish, defeat for amusement? Were the atrocities committed at Auschwitz simply par for the course? Are we only little sacrificial nothings in the eyes of a Lord?
"As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods. They kill us for their sport."
If there is a god out there who created all of this, this climate of fear, this climate of suffering, this climate of ultimate anguish and defeat, then he is no father of mine.
Proverbs 19:21. Many are the plans in a man's heart,
But the counsel of the Lord, it will stand.
God has a plan for me and everyone else.. i always believe that..no matter what.. i pray that God plans
my life well. i am sure that somewhere down the line.. i will be able to have a great life
I believe that each person is best served by making their decisions with respect to the understanding of God's broad will and an understanding of morals. I know many people who get angry when I say "I think in the future I'm going to do...." because apparently I shouldn't make any decisions, and any time I speak it should be phrased "I've realized that in the future God wants me to..."
Well I don't buy into that. If God has a plan for my life and I am walking with him than he will place those desires onto my heart as though they were my own desires. Sometimes God might even let me make my own decisions and trust me to do so without screwing everything up.
I used to be that person that losses sleep, and faced anxiety daily. Because I wanted to know that I was doing exactly what God wanted me to do. And my life was miserable, and I reakky don't think that people are comfortable in the freedom that we have been given. Maybe it's that humans are so insecure about making a wrong choice, and that spins into God being mad at us. But that's just not true, not even biblical. So does care abour what me decide to do with our lives? Yes of course, that is why he has given us a brain and a heart to decern what might be best for us, and what is not. Of course when God formed us, he placed desires and passions in us, so go and do those things and enjoy life. love people and make disciples. That's pretty much what it comes down too.
@discover_hienie@xanga - you can have a good life now.
Thanks for a great post. I often ask God to make known his Will to me, and to others whom I pray for. I agree that Scripture lays out clearly the path God wants each human being to take; but it is in our nature to look for additional guidance in the myriad choices we make each day. Especially the choices that we know will have a more lasting impact on our life. Lord, is it your will that I take this job? that I move to this city? that I attend this school?
@musterion99@xanga - agreed.
In general I believe he guides our decisions if we're seeking him and direction for our lives, but are also free to make any decision outside of his will. Our decision may not always be according to His plan though, because of our free will and the human's selfish nature. Every decision we make shapes our character, and I believe God has both a PERMISSIVE will and PERFECT will for our lives. The permissive will is that which he allows, and is good.. but isn't his perfect will, or what he would prefer to have for us. His perfect will is always the most perfect and best plan he has for us, which is what we have when we one hundred percent seek and follow his plan according to his will. Permissive is what happens based on some of our own decisions of free will, but isn't the most we could have out of life, in my opinion.
@presque_la@xanga - You know, I used to think the same thing. Then one day I realized that the perfect will didn't include sin, didn't include disease, didn't include anything but Adam and Eve and a Garden. Ever since the fall we've been outside of God's perfect will, so the best we can do is try to live up to the standards we will never meet, the plan we can never entirely fulfill.
So, I guess my question is, did God have a back up plan because he knew the fall would happen, that sin would happen, and that even though I wasn't a part of the initial plan I'm in this world now anyway?
I think God has a broad plan, a general plan, for each of his followers. That plan includes witnessing, sanctification, and the glorifying of his name and his kingdom. But if I have God on my side, the Holy Spirit within, and the word at my disposal, shouldn't I be able to make decisions that glorify the kingdom already.
You know I think God gave us free will for a reason--because it's a lot more interesting for him than if we just followed orders from the sky.
So, my personal philosophy is this. Live your life according to God's commandments, most of all to Love others as great as and greater than yourself, and you'll be making decisions that God would approve of. Of course none of us can do this perfectly, but we couldn't follow his 'perfect plan' perfectly either.
@SighIntoAColorfulEye@xanga - Excellent points. However, what you're rejecting is not Christianity as a whole but one particular determinist school of Calvinist theological thought. I reject most of that too, and I'm still a Christian-- the central focus of Christianity is Jesus of Nazareth, not our philosophical understanding of determinism. (For good Christian writers who take a different view of the subject than the one you reject, you might try C. S. Lewis or N. T. Wright [I think] or George MacDonald or John Wesley or any of a dozen others.) George MacDonald even made many of the same points you make in a few of his sermons on the subject of salvation in Christ.
"Ya know, God does, in fact, have a plan for you, but you have the power to deviate from his will." This makes sense if God plans for you to have the ability to make choices on your own. (As a composer, I sometimes add moments in my scores where the performers are expected to improvise.) You might not then choose everything He would like for you to choose, but it was still His plan (or "will" if you like) that made it possible. Why? As one writer put it, a being that is not free to choose is not free to love, and therefore could never experience perfect happiness. I believe that God thought it more worth His time to create beings that could choose to love Him and each other (but might not) than to create puppets that would never have the chance to be happy.
Thank you! (Speaking from a viewpoint of a Christian) I think that God may or may not have a 'specific' plan for you. Did he have a plan for Jim Elliot? It would certainly appear so. Did he have a specific plan for my mother or father? Who knows?
It drives me crazy to see my college aged Christian friends sitting around at home because they feel they don't know what 'God's plan' is. They set up Facebook groups and send out myspace bulletins asking for their friends to pray for them so that they will know what God wants for their lives.
Now, whatever. They want to pray to figure out God's will? Fine. Do so. But don't sit at home for three years praying about it!! If God gave you this time to get things done, fucking do something! Gah.
I think this may also be just a product of the Western mindset, as well. A 'personal' God was something invented by Western culture. No other tribe, as far as I know, has dared to presume that an almighty God would be so interested in their lives that they would personally plot out and deliver every step for them. I think it's egotistical- I know everyone will disagree with me, but that's how it seems.
@SighIntoAColorfulEye@xanga - What I cannot grasp is how a simple human
mind (and I mean simple in relation to an omniscient mind of a god) can
override omnipotence. How can our archaic minds cancel out the will of
a creator who made all the stars and knows them by name?
We're not canceling out his will because it was his will to allow us to choose.
freelyHere's a good way to think of this. Imagine a Grandmaster chessplayer,
representing God, playing chess with a beginner, representing us. The Grandmaster is not
predestinating or
telling the beginner what moves to make, but allows the beginner to
make any moves he chooses. And no matter what moves the
alwaysbeginner chooses to make, the Grandmaster will
end up winning the
game. The same is true for God. He allows us the freedom to make choices, but his will is always be done in the end.
Let's say, for the sake of argument, that
there is really a "Hell" and that all of us Atheists are destined to
burn there. Let's also go along with the notion that God has an
ultimate plan for us. Why would God simply create a human life that is
destined for the lake of fire?
There are many Christians that don't believe this. God didn't destine you for hell. People go there because they chose of their freewill to sin and chose not to accept God 's forgiveness.
@presque_la@xanga - Amen. Good comment.
@joelstud76@xanga - You know, I used to think the same thing.
Then one day I realized that the perfect will didn't include sin,
didn't include disease, didn't include anything but Adam and Eve and a
Garden.
The perfect will included creating us with the ability and potential to make moral choices.
I agree with what he is saying. I don't see how you could say to the bum on the street, or the rape victim, that that was God's plan for their life. They made choices, or things happened, and life goes on.
My question is, what do we have to do to have our prayers answered, if anything? I was taught that you had to live you life basically to perfection in order for God to grant your requests. Which that just doesn't seem right, noone can live perfectly without sin. I guess what I'm really asking is, what is the point of praying and asking God for something? I he going to intervene and make something happen differently (I know he can, but will he)? If so, why would he say yes to some, and no to others?
Did I pray the wrong way? Did I do something to anger God? Any answers or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
I believe God is always intricately involved in all aspects of this world's existence, because that is only fitting for an all powerful God.
I don't, however, see why we need to understand how His involvement works, figure out His plans, or waste our time trying to reconcile His sovereignty with our free will. It can be a fun mental exercise to explore those ideas, but I don't think we are meant to fully grasp them and it should not be a priority in our Christian walk.
He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8
Doesn't say anything about decoding God's will. It should be assumed that if we are living Godly lives, we are in God's will.
@Pickwick12@xanga - Agreed.
God's will is the cause of Creation. It permeates Creation. However, since human beings are created in God's image, we are free to choose whether or not we want our will to flow with the will of the Creator.
If we choose to flow with the will of the Creator, we choose to become disciples. Then our life becomes instructive in the ways holiness as we are tempered and tested in the ways of love.
Wicked people are simply ground to dust by death. God's will is irresistible.
It is so refreshing to see a nicely written, logically presented and well-thought-out post dealing with the will of God.
God wills several things, but never have I come across a verse that could be effectively used (in its context) to justify the belief that God has planned out every single step of every single life. To the contrary, I see all through Scripture that God's will is that none should perish, that we ought all to be obedient, etc. Given these things, and God's own justice, His will for our lives in not always accomplished. In other words, God is absolutely sovreign, and absolutely could (should He choose) control every single intricate detail of our lives, but it is clear that He does no such thing.
This does not mean that He hasn't interfered in specific people's lives (Jeremiah, for one). However, in the grand scheme and history of humanity, God's own will is often frustrated by the plans and actions of man (which are contrary to His will). Further, there is no Scriptural proof (including hollow proof-texts, often used to attempt to prove the Campus Crusade mantra that, "God has a wonderful plan for your life.") to the claim that God has planned out all of the steps of your life, and has a specific, directed plan for each detail thereof.
God's will is that we act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with Him. His will is that none should perish, but inherit eternal life. His will is clear, and clearly part of that is that we have the freedom to choose life or death, obedience or disobedience, freedom in Christ or slavery to sin.
love this! :) a lot, actually.