Understanding God's Will (UGW) Intro

            Alright, I need to say this up front.  I am no expert in “God’s Will” or in how He works or what the Bible says.  I can only tell you what I think and believe at this point in my life.  And that could change.  There could be a Bible verse that I didn’t know about that could alter my view.  God’s ways are a mystery.  And ironically, they become more mysterious the longer I walk with Him.  But this is how I understand it now.  (And I may refer to things that I wrote about in deleted posts.  But it should still make sense.  Hopefully.) 

UGW 1-3: God's Plans, Cause vs Allow, Doing His Will

            1.  You say that we have an effect on the path that we walk in this life, that God’s “best path and best plans” don’t just happen apart from our cooperation.  Do you have Scripture to back that up?    

            Well, I’m glad you asked.  And let me ask this:  If God always did whatever He wanted to do in our lives, regardless of us, why are we told so often in the Bible to pray for wisdom, to seek it, and to be discerning?  If our choices and actions don’t matter and don’t have an effect on what He does in our lives, then it doesn’t matter if we live with wisdom or foolishness.  Whatever happens is God’s plan, right? 

UGW 4-6: Our Duties, Prayer Matters, But God Reads Minds

            4.  Is there danger in believing that God will always work His plan in our lives, regardless of what we do or any responsibility we have? 

            Definitely.  Because then we don’t think so much about what we do and about our responsibilities.  We won’t take seeking righteousness, wisdom, His kingdom, prayer, and obedience, etc., as seriously because we don’t see the effect it has over our lives.  If He’s just going to do whatever He’s going to do anyway, then it doesn’t matter what we do or don’t do. 

UGW 7-8: About Prayer and Finding God's Will

            7.  But what about the verses that talk about how God knows what we need before we ask, like Matthew 6:8 and Matthew 6:32?  Doesn’t this show that we don’t really need to pray for His care, because He’ll care for us anyway, since He knows our needs?

              God knows what we need, and He can read our thoughts.  (All the more reason to make sure that we set our minds on things above and not on impure, ungodly things.)  But once again, it doesn’t say that He responds to our thoughts or that He gives us what we need just because He knows that we need it.  We can choose to live apart from God and in self-sufficiency.  We can choose to live life sitting back, putting our feet up and saying, “Ok, God, bring on the blessings. . . Look at how well He takes care of me!”  Even though we are doing nothing to draw near to Him.

UGW 9: Understanding Prayer Better

            9.  How come some prayers don’t seem to work, even when you believe that it’s God’s Will?  And how long do you keep praying for something (especially when it’s a painful issue) when God seems to not be listening or answering?   

            Boy, I tell you, I struggle with this one all the time.  I want something so bad sometimes (even something that’s good and beneficial), and I pray earnestly for it.  And when it doesn’t happen, I struggle with why my prayers aren’t getting things done. 

            When we were considering a possible adoption (one of my relatives was possibly going to give up his newborn and ask us to take her), I was reading a book that basically taught the “name it and claim it” idea.  If I felt like I could “hear” God’s answer in prayer, then I just had to claim it and cling to it in faith, until it happened.  Despite any appearances to the contrary.  If I had enough faith to continue to cling to His “promise,” it would happen eventually.  And if it didn’t happen, it’s because I gave up too early or because I doubted. 

UGW 10-11: Bad Things Happen, Do Things Happen For a Reason

            10.  Can things happen that God doesn’t want to happen?  

            Obviously, yes!  We fell, didn’t we?  We introduced death and sin into the human race and the world.  I bring up this question because people want to know why God would allow evil if God is all-powerful and can stop it.  And the answer is because He doesn’t use His power to override our choices and the consequences of our choices.  And so bad things happen because of us and because of Satan and his kingdom.  (Funny thing is, we don’t want God’s interference when things are going good and going our way, but we sure want His “interference” when they aren’t.) 

UGW 12-15: Things Work for Good, God's Sovereignty

            12.  I used to take comfort in the fact that God does whatever He wants to do and that God causes everything to happen for a reason.  But if that’s not the case, what then?       

            I once heard about a mom and dad who were going away for vacation.  They had to leave their nearly-adult teenager at home.  They knew that he might end up making bad decisions; he might throw a party and do things that they didn’t want him to do.  And they had the power to prevent that.  They could have stayed home or sent Grandma over to watch him. 

            But in their wisdom, they knew that he was going to be an adult and on his own in college in just a year or so.  And they realized that this was a good opportunity to test him and to see what decisions he would make.  They encouraged him to choose wisely, and they hoped that he would choose wisely.  Because they knew that was the best for him. 

UGW 16-17: Changing God's Mind

            16.  Can we change God’s mind with our prayers? 

            Yes and No.  There are Old Testament examples of people who pleaded with God in prayer to not apply a punishment that He said He would do.  And as a consequence of their intercessory prayers, God relents and doesn’t do what He said He’d do.  It seems to me that the times that He has changed His mind in the Bible were almost all because of appeals to His merciful side, to spare the people the terrible consequences of their sins. 

            The thing is, I don’t think this “mind-changing” necessarily applies to whatever we want it to apply to.  I think that we can still appeal to God’s mercy in intercessory prayer, but I don’t think we can just alter God’s best path or plans for us with our prayers, whenever we want.  We can refuse to go His way, but this will take us out of His best Will for our lives. 

UGW 18-19: Our Responsibilities, Praying for Wrong Things

            18.  You keep saying that we have responsibilities in getting God’s Will done?  What kinds of responsibilities? 

            I’ve already gone through many of them, but if you read the Bible, you’ll find lots more.  Because His Will is more like a verb; it's about living an obedient life.  He says to seek wisdom.  Do we?  He tells us things that He wants us to do in His Word, things that are always His Will for us, like loving our neighbor, tithing, not gossiping, etc.  Do we obey?  Are we guarding our tongues and building others up, instead of tearing them down?  Are we honoring our marriage vows, and putting up strong protective boundaries around our marriage?  Do we pray or do we think it’s good enough that He can read our minds?  Do we forgive or harbor bitterness?  Do we rationalize the first bit of flirting with temptation that we do?  After the first unintentional glimpse, do we look again?  Do we search the Scriptures and meditate on them as we are called to, or do we just pick the Bible up every now and then for a little boost?  Do we seek godly counsel or go off in our own wisdom?  Are we honest and transparent with ourselves and with Him, or are we hoping He doesn’t notice the “sins” we are covering up and the distance between us and Him?  Have we learned to be thankful, even in the hard times?

UGW 20-22: God's Leading, What is His Will

            20.  What if I missed the path that God wanted me to take? 

            Get on the new path!  I think that it is indeed possible to miss the first and best path that God wants us to take, by our refusing to obey and follow Him or by our negligence.  And I think this happens more than we realize.  But God is a wise, sovereign God and He can see how any situation can be turned into good.  And He’s always opening up new paths.  So I would say that if you feel that you’ve missed an opportunity or a path that you knew God wanted you to take, don’t dwell on it.  This prevents you from being of further use to Him.