Today let’s ask and answer some questions about the will of God!
Is Everything That Happens, “The Will of God”?
Muslims tend to have a very fatalistic view of life under Allah. Everything that happens, good or bad, is said to be “the will of Allah”. Again, certain segments of Christendom, having a strong view of the sovereignty of God, tend to hover at this end of the spectrum. They seem to be saying, “Everything going down must be the will of God because after all God is sovereign!” At the other extreme are the secular humanists who believe that the world and everything in it is in our hands. I’d like to illustrate what I’m saying with this diagram…
The fulcrum or balancing point is when my will engages with the will of God.
Getting back to our question, let’s consider the Lord’s Prayer…
Mat 6:9-10 Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven… Things may be hunky dory in heaven, but they are clearly not yet so on earth. We need to pray that God’s will will be done on earth. In effect, we need to download heaven to give earth an upgrade.
Is it the Will of God to Work through Human Agency?
It’s interesting to note that although God is sovereign, He still invites, encourages and uses the prayers of men. Also, the Sovereign Lord still wants to work in and through men and women to save this world. He’s not saving the world solo. He works more profoundly where there is faith and obedient action on our part. The opposite is also true. A lack of faith seems to limit God’s desire or capacity to act on man’s behalf. Mat 13:58 And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.
Jesus said to Peter and his disciples, I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven”. (Mat 16:19)
The keys are in our hands. Jesus has invested us with some authority. Clearly, some things going on here need to be prohibited, bound or locked up. There are also things that are not happening that need to be promoted or let loose.
When you think about it there are actually lots of wills at work in the world. First there’s the will of God
Then there’s the confusion of 7 billion human wills trying to exert themselves (many without any reference to what God’s will might be). Then there’s a more sinister will diametrically and diabolically opposed to the will of God. Our adversary, Satan, seeks to rob, kill and destroy. (See Joh 10:10)
How Do Different Theologians Understand the Will of God?
Historically Christian theologians have been divided into two camps when it comes to the question of the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man. This diagram summarizes some of their key emphases and differences…
There are many Scriptures that emphasise that God is sovereign. Likewise, there are many Scriptures that indicate that we do have the power of choice. Both are right!
A few examples of Scriptures that indicate that we do have power of choice are Deut 30:19, Josh 24:15 and Acts 2:38. I celebrate the fact that I have a gift from God – I have a free will!
Now, I can exercise my free will in independence of God and go on my way singing “I did it my way!” Or I can choose to turn from independence and charting my own course and surrender my will to the will of God.
We now get to the key question of the day…
How Can a Loving God Allow Such Terrible Evil on Earth?
This is a question many atheists and agnostics pose to Christians. They say, “You say God is good and God is love, but I don’t see it”. Then they ask, “How can a loving God allow such terrible evil on earth?” It helps me to see it this way: I believe God has a permissive will and that God also has a perfect will.
The book of Job deals with the enigma of evil. God permitted Satan to steal, kill and destroy just about everything Job had. However, God was not the cause of the calamity. Satan was the instrumental cause, but it only happened because God allowed it to happen. We could say Job’s losses and suffering happened in the permissive will of God. Towards the end of the book of Job we see the perfect will of God coming to the fore when God restores Job’s fortunes.
Evil things happen in the world because God didn’t create us to be a bunch of obedient robots. We are moral beings who have freedom of choice. Everything that happens on earth happens in the permissive will of God. Nothing happens that He in His omniscience and foreknowledge is not aware of. However, He is not the instrumental cause of many things that occur. They happen because man is exerting his free will and often does things contrary to the perfect will of God. I don’t believe it was the perfect will of God that Russia invaded Ukraine; it has unleashed terrible heartache, suffering and loss of life. However, our Sovereign God has allowed it to happen because He will not tamper with man’s free will. I take comfort in the fact that God, the righteous judge will one day judge the nations. Say among the nations, "The LORD reigns." The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity. (Psa 96:10)
In A Nutshell
Not everything that happens on earth is the will of God.
It is the will of God to work through human agency.
Man is a moral being with freedom of choice. We can exercise our will to obey or to disobey God. Because God permits man to exercise His free will many things happen in the permissive rather than the perfect will of God.
Christians should apply themselves to discovering and living in the perfect will of God.
Eph 5:17 ..do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.
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