God's Will

As a Christian, I hear and think a lot about "God's will," what does God want for me? What do you think of when you hear that? If you're like many people, you may think it means what does God want you to do in specific situations or what choice God wants you to take. Nothing seems wrong with that and on many levels there is truth to these statements. But I invite you to come along on a journey with me to see if we need to reevaluate our thinking on what God's will is.

Lately, with all that has been going on in my life, you betcha this has been a big question in my mind. So a couple days ago when I found a CD entitled: Way of Wisdom: God's Will for Me, I did an inner jig and thought, "Great! Now I'll learn how to figure out what God wants me to do as far as B is concerned!" After an initial listen, I did learn, but the lesson was not what I expected. The teaching is by Dr. James McDonald of Walk in the Word ministries. This particular lesson is #2 of 4. I've listened to his CDs before, a series where he used the story of Esther to teach about who God is. I really enjoy his style and had learned so many things about who God wants to be to me, so I was doubly excited to listen to this current CD.

I'm going to listen again later, but basically Dr. McDonald challenges the traditional view that God has an individual will for each of us. This is the one that says there is one right option for our situations and if we don't choose it, we are out of God's will. Instead, he says, God has a sovereign will (the order of things like the universe, which we can't change) and a moral will or His Word. Rather than directing us to a one-and-only option for specific situations, He is wanting us to be a certain kind of person. His will is that we come to a deeper, closer personal intimacy with Him.

In discussing God's moral will, James uses 1 John 2:3, where it says that we know we love Him if we keep His commandments. Think about this: If you love someone, you'll obey them. Take parents, for example. And you're not going to love just any old person. You love someone you know, someone you trust. Only *then* will you not only be willing to do what they say, you'll be happy to. Ultimately, this really works only with God, for only His ways and judgment and insight are perfect, so we can trust Him completely. James says, "It's like, 'I'm God, you're not. Trust me, I made you. Do this." When you love and trust someone and they really love you, you *want* to serve them because you know that they will not ask you to do something that is harmful to you. So, as Dr. McDonald says, "once you figure out who He is, you'll be okay with" Him telling you what you are to do.

As I touched on above, some people think that this means there is only one right choice for all that concerns us, and if we don't make that ONE correct choice, we are out of God's will. Dr. McDonald calls this being "off the dot." Now, when it comes to "Should I take this job where I'll be asked to cheat people and lie?", that's covered under God's moral will in the Word. James says, "We want to believe that God's plans for us are about what kind of house we're gonna own and what kind of car we're gonna drive. Those are OUR plans, okay, and we gotta stop trying to get God on OUR program. God's dreams for your future are not that He would somehow get on your program. God's dreams for your future are that you would get on HIS program." He goes on to say that God's dreams do not include all the minutae like where you should go on vacation or what job you should do but that they "are about an amazing intimacy with you that you have not yet experienced maybe, and God is calling us deeper and deeper, deeper into the fullness of life in Him." He says God wants us to get to a point where those specifics become nothing to us and our life is all about getting to know and love God more and more. He wants us to seek Him with all our heart and find him (Jer. 29:12). THAT is His will.

What incredible freedom God gives us! He gives us so much liberty to choose what we want. You've got 2 equally viable options for a job? Take the one you want! You like Toyotas and the color blue? Get a blue Toyota and don't worry that God will remove His blessings from you because you were *supposed* to get a RED Toyota! Of course God wants us to choose what is in line with His Word, but He says nothing specific about which city is better for you or what school your child should go to. The point is that God can use you whatever choice you make. He is more concerned about what kind of person you are: how intimate you are with Him and how you treat other people. "He is going to get His stuff done regardless of where you decide to go." He can handle it! Be assured, too, that He does indeed care about your decisions. He just is not going to direct your every single choice; He gives you great freedom to move within His moral will. So enjoy it!

So, how does this apply to what I've been going through lately? For the past week, I've been praying, "God, make it Your will that B and I are together." Even when we reconnected, I convinced myself that it was God's will, that He brought us back together. But now I am seeing that, whether or not he and I *do* end up together, all along God's concern has been that I be a certain kind of person no matter who I am with. I've also seen that I have not been the kind of person God wants me to be and have ignored my relationship with Him. Lately I have been praying for God to make both of us the kind of people we ought to be, but I prayed that in a selfish way, thinking it would then bring us together. I am going to continue to pray that God helps us both be people who are on fire for Him, growing closer and closer to Him, and people who treat others in ways that honor Him. Sure, I want B and I to be together, but now my focus will be that I'm God's woman regardless of whether or not I am B's choice.

Is this easy? No way! But I do know this: If we are listening to God and becoming more and more like Jesus, then whether or not we end up together, B and I will be in God's will. I draw great comfort and peace from that.