Questions of Faith Part 4: The Will of God

There are few questions of faith more universal than this one.  Each person, on this terrestrial spheroid we call home, will confront this question in some form or another.  It is also one of the thorniest questions to be sure.  This is due to the specialized nature of the question.  Each questioner confronts this question from a different perspective, frame of reference, life history, and the like.  The answer to their question is as individualized as the person asking it.  As there are no two exactly identical people, there are no two exactly identical applications that answer this question.

That isn’t meant to say that there aren’t some generalities in application.  There are a few, and we can find a good entry point to them in the book of Romans.  Romans 12:2 it says,

If we excerpt out the “Good, Pleasing, and Perfect will” statement we find a good entry point for aiding an answer of this question.  We can see the broad outlines for this subject.  This statement could be best thought of as an onion with three broad sections that we can see as good, pleasing, and perfect.  These sections are then subdivided into a multitude of layers and these layers are part of the instance that is specific to the individual.

If we look at these sections and take them in sequence, we start with the good will of God.  This section is largely representative of the process by which a person enters into relationship with God or at least is afforded the opportunity to do so.  It goes without saying, that each person’s process of coming to know God is unique.  The road traveled to arrive at the onion and this first section is distinct to each person.

This section is dominated by opportunity and as such is largely a potential section.  A person can choose to enter into a relationship with their creator and proceed deeper into this section or stop peeling the onion of faith right there.  If they however choose to keep peeling the potential nature of this section is translated into kinetic nature and a transformation occurs.  We call this transformative process conversion.

While the conversion process pleases God, I think the pleasing section of the statement here refers to something else.  I believe the pleasing section refers to a growth in relationship.  The individual comes to understand God in a much more direct way.  The person who continues begins to learn about their God with a higher degree of specificity; as such this section is dominated by the intellect.  This section of our faith onion is akin to  the phase of a relationship that happens post initial attraction where a person becomes obsessed with knowing the other in a more detailed fashion.  Questions are posed and answered during this phase.  Question like: ‘What is this person really like?’, or ‘What makes this person tick’, or ‘what pleases this person’ are asked and answered in this section.

If this section is completed fully by the individual, it culminates into a transition from intellect into action.  The believer begins to act upon the knowledge they’ve gained.  They begin to seek out ways to please their beloved.  They begin to emulate behaviors that God finds acceptable.  The believer begins to walk out the commitment they have made in the previous section.  Habits change, behaviors change, new behaviors begin to show up in their life, and the transformation that occurred in the previous section becomes evident.

The first two sections can be broadly defined in general terms.  They can be outlined and even graphed in some cases.  The components of these sections are easy to spot and identify in action.  While these two sections are unique and tailored for the person experiencing them, they can be rationally exposited in ways that are generally experienced by each believer.  These two sections are rarely the source of the questions that believers pose on this subject though.

It’s the last section in which the majority of the questions come up.  The Perfect Will of God is this section.  It’s is a sweet spot of faith in which purpose, form, and function meet destiny, design, and divine providence.  This occurs at the confluence of the relationship between the believer and the creator.

The section of God’s individual will is completely and totally unique to that individual.  There is only one universal principle that defines this section; intimacy.  It is in the context of an intimate relationship with God that the specifics of the perfect will of God for that individual are made known.  It is only by placing oneself in places and times where this relationship can progress into an intimate state, that the questions of faith that we all possess and the specific implementation of God’s plan for our lives can be probed and made known.

So if the question a believer has relates to God’s specific will for their lives, becomes important to look first at the Good and the Pleasing aspects of God’s Will for their lives.  If those segments have been or are currently satisfied, only then can a discussion of the perfect will really begin.  The Perfect will can’t be faked, forced, or coerced.  It comes and becomes apparent when God’s timing is right for it to be made known.  Grasping the Perfect Will of God as an individual is largely a Herculean task and it takes a lot of effort to reach for it.

The key to the whole matter is relationship.  It is only when we can say that we are in relationship with God that we can reach out for this understanding.  So if your question relates to the Perfect Will of God, the answer is found in your relationship with God.  Seek to know God, inasmuch as any individual this side of eternity ever can know God, and the task, becomes possible.  Notice, I didn’t say easy.  I just said possible.  If we communicate the desires of our heart to the one that formed and shaped us in the womb of our mothers, and seek to know His heart for us in return, God can’t help but answer in reply.

Another key in grasping this matter in its entirety is found in individual focus.  The specific believer shouldn’t focus on how God works in the lives of others.  You’ll just end up either feeling less than, because God’s movement in your life isn’t like that of others or you’ll end up feeling jealous, (both of which are toxic for the soul, trust me I know).  The believer should only focus on their context with God.  They should seek to find the rhythm and process that works to facilitate their connection with God.  The connection process for some is very ritualized and liturgical in nature.  And for others, it’s anything but that.  The character of this connection is highly specific to the believer and no two are exactly alike.

So if your questi0n is, “What is God’s perfect will for my life?”  My answer to you is that I don’t know, nor is there any way under Heaven that I can really know it.  The answer is yours to suss out, to wrestle with, to work out with fear and trembling.  All I can promise you about the perfect will of God for you is this, that God has one for you, and that only in an intimate discussion between the two of you will you ever be able to fully plumb the depths of  it.  Only in reaching beyond what you believe is possible for yourself will you ever be able to glimpse it.