How do I know it is the will of God? There are many books of advice on knowing the will of God, but practically to know the will of God remains such a subjective and vast subject that generally Christians take one or some combination of three views.
Firstly we can rest in a fatalistic view, the matter is so beyond our grasp that we throw ourselves back upon the sovereignty of God and say "well God is in control" or "God is a God of grace and love and I am His child so I trust that all things will work out for good." Well in one sense that is true, these statements cast us back on the great biblical truths of who God is and how he deals with his people. But does this really address the deeper spiritual question of walking in fellowship and certainty with our covenant God who promises that we will be a people to Him and He will be a God to us as we walk humbly with Him (Micah 6.8).
Another view is to be dazzled by that "blinding light" directly from heaven whereby God, or the confident claim that God, "has told me" this or that. This is very enticing. This makes decision making the easy choice that we often desperately want it to be. The concern here is that we rely on our human senses rather than on the objective truth of God’s Word to give us a truly subjective experience that is not open to being manipulated by our sinful human nature. Is it not true that when we desperately want to hear something, we tend to justify hearing it on the most tenuous evidence? Often a scripture text is used either out of context, or its general implications are correctly understood, but used in a way that implies it is unique and especially true for me in an infallible way.
But more often than not the view we take is one where we approach things very rationally and take a leap of faith based on positive emotion. We do some thinking and planning, we work with one or two co-incidences, we check the ethical and biblical correctness and then if all matches up we follow our hearts desire. Most books on guidance give the mechanics of the third view, a safe middle of the road approach. The best mechanics are drawn out by Sinclair Fergusson in his booklet “Discovering God’s Will” (Discovering God’s Will by Sinclair B Fergusson, Banner of Truth 1993 reprint.) Here he draws out the typical principles of guidance and the will of God that we are taught in modern day literature Nevertheless, Fergusson I believe aims at a higher and more all encompassing approach to guidance that involves the whole man in all of his duties. We see this in the first three chapters dealing with “God’s Ultimate Purpose” addressing our right relationship to God, Guidelines for Guidance” that has its starting point in Scripture and “Guarding the Heart.”
Martin Luther clearly gets to the heart of the matter in his “Treatise on Christian Liberty” when he wrote “Many people have considered Christian faith an easy thing, and not a few have given it a place among the virtues. They do this because they have not experienced it and have never tasted the great strength there is in faith. It is impossible to write well about it or to understand what has been written about it unless one has at one time or another experienced the courage which faith gives a man when trials oppress him.” One could also add that this is the case when one faces decisions of any kind; this faith dominates, or should dominate our decision-making. Anyone who has read Puritan literature or literature about the Puritans will realize that this is the classic Puritan approach to all of life. For them the first matter to settle was that the world is God’s world and the only certainty of value in this world is to be of the people that are God’s people. “It is the great support and solace of the saints in all the distresses that befall them here, that there is a wise Spirit sitting in all the wheels of motion, and governing the most eccentric creatures and their most pernicious designs to blessed and happy issues. And, indeed, it were not worth while to live in a world devoid of God and Providence” (The Mystery of Providence by John Flavel, Banner of Truth, 1976 reprint, p15 (First published 1676).)
The message is clearly that the bigger your God is, the more sure you are of providential care and personal guidance. What they meant by this is that we must not only know the true God, but also know him truly. Furthermore we should know how small we are so that we really can know how great the Triune God of Creation is. The real issue at the end of the day is more about God’s glory and not so much about my personal ambition. Guidance then for the Christian is balanced in the light of “The insignificance of the thoughts and actions of sinful man and the precocious truth of God’s Word”. Hence Flavel in practically applying the doctrine of God’s providential care notes “If, as we have seen, God performs all things for you, God is to be owned by you in all that befalls you in this world, whether it is in a way of success and comfort, or of trouble and affliction. … It is our folly to engage this instrument (prayer) and that for us, to attempt this way and to achieve our end, and all the while forget Him upon whose pleasure all instruments and means entirely depend. That which begins not with prayer seldom ends with comfort. The way of man is not in himself (Jeremiah 10.23); If it were prayer might then be reckoned lost labour. … O that we would but steer our course according to those rare politics of the bible, those divine maxims of wisdom! Fear nothing but sin (Sin is want of conformity to the law of God – insert by Mark). Study nothing so much as how to please God.”
These truths must be lived out in personal communion with God and an eye to all His providential dealings with him. The emphasis is on a principled personal Spirit led relationship as opposed to method and activity. We have recently moved from South Africa to Canada. How traumatic to move from a land where the first family generations began in 1688 with the landing of the Huguenot families in the Cape. What made them move from a Godless France to such a distant, wild and Godless country? With so much gospel work undone in South Africa, what makes us move now to another country that is at once distant and Godless as any Western nation? It is only in the God of Luther and Flavel and Fergusson that one finds peace and rest in the matter. Ultimate purposes and Causes lie comfortably within His providence. After all the soul searching, all the technical decision analyses and self justification, in spite of all the sin contaminated effort and circumstance, we find joy and solace in our Covenant God. Did He lead us? Yes, with definite and sure promises. Yes, with definite and sure circumstances. Yes, with definite and sure results. Yes, with many comforts and many chastisings. Fellow Christian Traveller would you not expect the same kind of care and assured leading of any loving father? Yes we remain “strangers scattered” (1Peter 1.1), we remain “dispersed among the gentiles” (John 7.35) we are as the “outcasts of Israel” (Isaiah 11.12) nevertheless all God’s guiding is salted with joy unspeakable and is full of glory for we are receiving the end of our faith, even the salvation of our souls. (1Peter 1.8)
Books Recommended for guidance in discovering the will of God in decision-making:
1. Discovering God’s Will by Sinclair B Fergusson, Banner of Truth
2. The Mystery of Providence by John Flavel, Banner of Truth
3. Collected Writings, vol.1, ch. 26 by John Murray, Banner of Truth (clarifies the link between feeling and truth)
4. Knowing God by James I Packer, Hodder & Stoughton
5. The Christian Directory, The Practical Works Volume 1 by Richard Baxter, Soli Deo Gloria
6. In What Manner are we to expect the Divine Guidance, Works Volume 1 by John Newton, Banner of Truth (Fine advice on the use of Scripture)
7. The True Bounds of Christian Freedom by Samuel Bolton, Banner of Truth (On legitimate use of God’s Law)
Firstly we can rest in a fatalistic view, the matter is so beyond our grasp that we throw ourselves back upon the sovereignty of God and say "well God is in control" or "God is a God of grace and love and I am His child so I trust that all things will work out for good." Well in one sense that is true, these statements cast us back on the great biblical truths of who God is and how he deals with his people. But does this really address the deeper spiritual question of walking in fellowship and certainty with our covenant God who promises that we will be a people to Him and He will be a God to us as we walk humbly with Him (Micah 6.8).
Another view is to be dazzled by that "blinding light" directly from heaven whereby God, or the confident claim that God, "has told me" this or that. This is very enticing. This makes decision making the easy choice that we often desperately want it to be. The concern here is that we rely on our human senses rather than on the objective truth of God’s Word to give us a truly subjective experience that is not open to being manipulated by our sinful human nature. Is it not true that when we desperately want to hear something, we tend to justify hearing it on the most tenuous evidence? Often a scripture text is used either out of context, or its general implications are correctly understood, but used in a way that implies it is unique and especially true for me in an infallible way.
But more often than not the view we take is one where we approach things very rationally and take a leap of faith based on positive emotion. We do some thinking and planning, we work with one or two co-incidences, we check the ethical and biblical correctness and then if all matches up we follow our hearts desire. Most books on guidance give the mechanics of the third view, a safe middle of the road approach. The best mechanics are drawn out by Sinclair Fergusson in his booklet “Discovering God’s Will” (Discovering God’s Will by Sinclair B Fergusson, Banner of Truth 1993 reprint.) Here he draws out the typical principles of guidance and the will of God that we are taught in modern day literature Nevertheless, Fergusson I believe aims at a higher and more all encompassing approach to guidance that involves the whole man in all of his duties. We see this in the first three chapters dealing with “God’s Ultimate Purpose” addressing our right relationship to God, Guidelines for Guidance” that has its starting point in Scripture and “Guarding the Heart.”
Martin Luther clearly gets to the heart of the matter in his “Treatise on Christian Liberty” when he wrote “Many people have considered Christian faith an easy thing, and not a few have given it a place among the virtues. They do this because they have not experienced it and have never tasted the great strength there is in faith. It is impossible to write well about it or to understand what has been written about it unless one has at one time or another experienced the courage which faith gives a man when trials oppress him.” One could also add that this is the case when one faces decisions of any kind; this faith dominates, or should dominate our decision-making. Anyone who has read Puritan literature or literature about the Puritans will realize that this is the classic Puritan approach to all of life. For them the first matter to settle was that the world is God’s world and the only certainty of value in this world is to be of the people that are God’s people. “It is the great support and solace of the saints in all the distresses that befall them here, that there is a wise Spirit sitting in all the wheels of motion, and governing the most eccentric creatures and their most pernicious designs to blessed and happy issues. And, indeed, it were not worth while to live in a world devoid of God and Providence” (The Mystery of Providence by John Flavel, Banner of Truth, 1976 reprint, p15 (First published 1676).)
The message is clearly that the bigger your God is, the more sure you are of providential care and personal guidance. What they meant by this is that we must not only know the true God, but also know him truly. Furthermore we should know how small we are so that we really can know how great the Triune God of Creation is. The real issue at the end of the day is more about God’s glory and not so much about my personal ambition. Guidance then for the Christian is balanced in the light of “The insignificance of the thoughts and actions of sinful man and the precocious truth of God’s Word”. Hence Flavel in practically applying the doctrine of God’s providential care notes “If, as we have seen, God performs all things for you, God is to be owned by you in all that befalls you in this world, whether it is in a way of success and comfort, or of trouble and affliction. … It is our folly to engage this instrument (prayer) and that for us, to attempt this way and to achieve our end, and all the while forget Him upon whose pleasure all instruments and means entirely depend. That which begins not with prayer seldom ends with comfort. The way of man is not in himself (Jeremiah 10.23); If it were prayer might then be reckoned lost labour. … O that we would but steer our course according to those rare politics of the bible, those divine maxims of wisdom! Fear nothing but sin (Sin is want of conformity to the law of God – insert by Mark). Study nothing so much as how to please God.”
These truths must be lived out in personal communion with God and an eye to all His providential dealings with him. The emphasis is on a principled personal Spirit led relationship as opposed to method and activity. We have recently moved from South Africa to Canada. How traumatic to move from a land where the first family generations began in 1688 with the landing of the Huguenot families in the Cape. What made them move from a Godless France to such a distant, wild and Godless country? With so much gospel work undone in South Africa, what makes us move now to another country that is at once distant and Godless as any Western nation? It is only in the God of Luther and Flavel and Fergusson that one finds peace and rest in the matter. Ultimate purposes and Causes lie comfortably within His providence. After all the soul searching, all the technical decision analyses and self justification, in spite of all the sin contaminated effort and circumstance, we find joy and solace in our Covenant God. Did He lead us? Yes, with definite and sure promises. Yes, with definite and sure circumstances. Yes, with definite and sure results. Yes, with many comforts and many chastisings. Fellow Christian Traveller would you not expect the same kind of care and assured leading of any loving father? Yes we remain “strangers scattered” (1Peter 1.1), we remain “dispersed among the gentiles” (John 7.35) we are as the “outcasts of Israel” (Isaiah 11.12) nevertheless all God’s guiding is salted with joy unspeakable and is full of glory for we are receiving the end of our faith, even the salvation of our souls. (1Peter 1.8)
Books Recommended for guidance in discovering the will of God in decision-making:
1. Discovering God’s Will by Sinclair B Fergusson, Banner of Truth
2. The Mystery of Providence by John Flavel, Banner of Truth
3. Collected Writings, vol.1, ch. 26 by John Murray, Banner of Truth (clarifies the link between feeling and truth)
4. Knowing God by James I Packer, Hodder & Stoughton
5. The Christian Directory, The Practical Works Volume 1 by Richard Baxter, Soli Deo Gloria
6. In What Manner are we to expect the Divine Guidance, Works Volume 1 by John Newton, Banner of Truth (Fine advice on the use of Scripture)
7. The True Bounds of Christian Freedom by Samuel Bolton, Banner of Truth (On legitimate use of God’s Law)
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