God's Will

I met with DA last week for a time of Spiritual Direction.  It was really good.  One of the things I took away from the flow of our discussions was the role of God in our priorities and our decisions.

First, can we divine God's will for all areas of our lives?  I like reducing everything to its absurd extremes to get a feel for the spectrum we are working with.  On the important end of the spectrum I would see life decisions such as buying a home, getting married, becoming a missionary in a foreign land.  I'm sure most Christians would seek out God's will for those things.  On the absurd side of the spectrum are things such as which color of socks to wear and what type of cereal to have for breakfast.  I doubt anyone has ever seriously asked God for His will in those areas.  Why not?  I don't think we think its important (enough).  So where along the spectrum do things become important enough for God's will to be applied to our lives?  And does God really prefer that we wear white socks to black?  If so, shouldn't we seek out God's will for even those absurd things?  I'll leave that there for a moment.

Next, what is God's will?  Is it like finding a needle in a haystack?  Is there only one option or possibility of the infinite choices available to us?  On the other side of the spectrum is the "Bless me" option.  All options become God's will in this example.  People will do whatever they want and then ask God to bless their decision, basically affirming that whatever they decided is now the will of God.  I think the truth lies somewhere in between.

These two main thoughts intersect somewhere.  Wherever that place is, it is truth.

Our discussion focussed on my relationship with God.  Who is God to me?  There are two absurd extremes to this answer.  Is God my dictator?  If so, I should seek God's will on everything from socks to career choices, because everything is too important to chance and there is only one right choice. Is God my magic genie?  If so, I don't need to seek God out for anything, regardless of importance, because there is no correct choice and God's will is whatever I chose. Obviously neither of those is correct.  The truth lies where the spectrums intersect.

If Christianity is about relationship, and I believe it is, God is both my lord and saviour, friend and father.  Decisions that come out of relationship are totally different.  The will of God is known through relationship, almost subconsciously.  If I am my Beloved's and He is mine, if I abide in Jesus and His words abide in me, God's will influences my will.  All decisions are made jointly, to some extent.  Now I also believe in free will and I know that I've gone and "Gomered" things up and ignored God's will on occasion, but God is always present in the decisions I make, whether I listen or not.  Sometimes there are decisions that are so big (to me at least) I want to turn up the volume of God's voice to see what He is saying, because He definitely has an opinion.  Other decisions may be inconsequential and God is somewhat indifferent.  And sometimes God's will really may be whatever I chose.  The truth, as I believe it, is that God's will is all three of those categories at different times and for different situations.  That doesn't mean I pray an hour each day about what to wear or I randomly make life altering decisions without going to God.  It means I try to listen to God in this relationship and let my decisions flow out of that relationship.

Does Jesus want me to be a Roughrider fan?  He probably doesn't care.

Does Jesus want me to help my neighbours?  Yes, but I think how I go about it is not as important as the fact that I will try to help, and God will honour this effort, what ever it may be.

Does Jesus have a specific goal for me?  A specific something that really is a needle in a haystack?  A divine appointment?  A direct set of instructions?  Sometimes.  I know there have been times in my life where I felt God telling me to do something specific, like going to CBC, which really was God's will for me.  To not do it would have meant disobeying and it would have been sin.

My whole point is that in a relationship you figure these things out.  God may have an ultimate plan for us that is very specific, but there may be a lot of roads to that destination. Sometimes God really doesn't care which road we take.  Sometimes God wants us to take a specific route, and other times He just wants us to pick a path so He can bless it.