I read this article today from Mike Metzger and really found it thought-provoking. I don’t know about you, but for me, God’ will often feels nebulous. My theology of God’s will often feels the same way. You may not agree with everything in this article, but I do think you’ll find it thoughtful. Below is an excerpt:
Knowing God’s will is a weighty issue. Many sincere Christians struggle to discover God’s plan, which is odd since there is no record of anyone in the Bible struggling to discover God’s will. There are many who have difficulty with what they discover to be God’s will, but no one has trouble discovering God’s will. For those who struggle in today’s world, the problem is not a lack of sincerity. The problem is the string.
Many Christians use a sort of string theory to know God’s will. Imagine a stretched string representing the entire range of decisions we make over the course of a lifetime. On one end are momentous ones such as career choices. On the other end are minor decisions such as selecting a breakfast cereal. Most Christians have an imaginary line of demarcation. Weighty decisions such as selecting a spouse require knowing God’s will. Whimsical decisions such as selecting socks require a simpler calculus—we do what we want to do. They draw a line and say the string operates two ways: simply by desire in the little things but by seeking to discover God’s will in the big things. But what if there is no line of demarcation? What if the string operates entirely by desire, or delight?
This is what scripture suggests. Delight is how God makes every decision. “Our God is in the heavens; he does whatever delights him” (Ps.115:3). “Whatever the Lord desires, he does” (135:6). We are created in God’s image (Gen.1:26-28). We’re designed to do whatever we delight in. “It is a Christian duty, as you know, for everyone to be as happy as he can,” wrote C.S. Lewis.1 Blaise Pascal agreed: “All men seek happiness without exception. They all aim at this goal however different the means they use to attain it.”2
Doing what we desire often spooks Christians. That’s because their understanding of the gospel starts with the fall—the way it is—versus creation—what ought to be. Granted, fallen beings can fall over the edge when it comes to desires. This doesn’t change our basic design, however. In forsaking the “passing pleasures of sin”, Moses recognized we sin because we love to (Heb.11:24-25). But the cure is not ginning up more willpower since this only shapes five percent of desires. To shape the other 95 percent, look at Psalm 37:3-4: “Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
