UGW #3 : God's Will is a Verb

Understanding God's Will #3:

What Scriptural support is there for the idea that “His Will” is synonymous with what He desires from us and for us (what He wants us to do), and is not the same thing as His plans for us? 

            
First of all, I do think that “His Will” also relates to His plans for us, in addition to what He desires from us and for us.  But it does not refer to some pre-set, fixed plan that we have to find or (contrary to Calvinism) one that will happen no matter what.  

“His Will” has more to do with the plans that He desires for us, plans that happen if we walk in obedience.




Getting off on an anti-Calvinist tangent here (not in the original post): 

Calvinism says that everything that happens does so because God pre-planned it that way.  Everything that happens is "His Plan, His Will" planned in advance and then carried out by Him.  

But let's look at 1 Samuel 13:13-14.  In this passage, God says (through the prophet Samuel) that He would have established King Saul's reign if only Saul had been fully obedient to the Lord.  But Saul wasn't faithful and obedient, and so he lost the kingship.  God said that He had a plan that He would have carried out, but it hinged on Saul's choices.

Calvinism would have to say that God was lying (or that the prophet Samuel was lying when he relayed God's message).  

In Calvinism, God preplans/causes everything that happens, and everything that happens is because God preplanned/caused it, and nothing different could have happened, and people have no real effect on what happens because it's all been preplanned from the beginning.  And in Calvinism, God "foreknowing" that something will happen is the same thing as God preplanning it and causing it to happen, so whatever God "foreknows" is destined to happen.

So then ... which did God preplan?  That Saul obeyed and kept the kingship or that Saul disobeyed and lost the kingship?  Because both were "foreknown" by God.  He foreknew Saul would have kept the kingship if he obeyed and yet He also foreknew that Saul would not obey and would lose the kingship.  Two conflicting, opposite events, both foreknown by God.  So which one was God's plan, His Will?  

If what actually happened (Saul losing the kingship) was predestined to happen, as Calvinists would say, then God (or Samuel) was lying when He said that Saul would have kept the kingship if only he had obeyed.  There would be no possible alternative ending if God preplans and causes everything that happens.  

If Calvinism is true, then anytime the Bible says that something different "could have" happened, it would have to be a lie, a fake "could have."  Because in Calvinism, nothing else was ever possible because God planned every detail from the beginning and caused it to happen exactly how He planned.  

And if God always causes what He foreknows will happen, then how is it that Saul didn't keep the kingship (an outcome that God foreknew would happen if Saul obeyed)?  In this case, God foreknew something that never happened.  

How can that be possible if "foreknowing" is the same thing as "preplanning/causing," as Calvinism believes (but rarely admits to)?  How could there be any other possible outcomes if everything is tightly, thoroughly planned by God and caused by God and nothing different could happen and if people don't really have an effect on what God preplanned?  And why in the world would God plan out everything exactly as He wanted it, and then deceive us by making it sound like other endings were possible "if only we did such-and-such"?  What a lie that would be!  To make it sound like we really had an effect on what happened when we don't (according to Calvinism) and like something different could have happened than what God originally planned and like we "deserved" the bad consequences we got because we failed to do something God wanted us to do when He planned what we would do and how things would go from the very beginning?  

What hogwash!  

Do you see what this does to God's character!?!


[Calvinists are so concerned with elevating God's sovereignty (to unbiblical heights) that they can't even see the horrible damage they do to His character, His trustworthiness, His Gospel!  

Instead, they just explain away the horrible damage with "Oh, but we can't understand how it all works out.  We just have to trust that God does all of this for His own glory.  We can't understand His ways.  We just have to humbly accept it."  

This is a brilliant satanic scheme, using God's glory and a Christian's desire to be humble against God and His gospel, to destroy God's character and the truth of the Gospel.  

Well done, Satan!  Destroying the church from the inside out!

And when I say "unbiblical heights" what I mean is that Calvinism defines God's sovereignty all wrong.  "Sovereign" is about the position God holds, the highest power and authority above all else, uncontrolled by anyone else, making all the final decisions and figuring out how to work everything together into His plans.  

But Calvinism has redefined "sovereign" to be about how God has to use His power and authority in order to be God.  They say that since He is all-powerful then it must mean that He uses His power all the time to control everything ... or else He wouldn't be an all-powerful God.  If He doesn't act the way they say He has to then He can't really be God.  

But God Himself has shown us in His Word how He has chosen to use His power and authority.  And - like it or not, Calvinists - God has chosen to give mankind a certain amount of freedom, within boundaries.  He has chosen to restrain His use of power, in order to give people real choices that have real consequences.  He has chosen NOT to control all things, all people, every decision we make.  He has chosen to let us decide many things.  And yet, in His sovereignty and power and authority, He knows how to work it all together for good, into His plans.

This is how God has chosen to act and to be, while in His position of sovereignty, as seen all throughout His Word.  Clearly and plainly and easily-understood.

But Calvinism determines for itself how God has to be and act in order to be a "sovereign" God ... and then they twist the Bible to fit their view.  They start with their definition of "sovereign" and build their theology on it.  (And this is how they suck a lot of people into their theology - "But you believe God is sovereign, don't you?  Are you really going to claim that man is sovereign over God!?!"  And what Christian is going to argue with God's sovereignty.  And so we shut up and let them tell us how to read the Bible, what God really intended to say, according to Calvinism.  Yet sadly and to our detriment, no one stops to question their definition of "sovereign.")

But when you start with a backwards method of understanding the Gospel - basing the Bible on your own views and definitions, instead of basing your views and definitions on what God clearly tells us in His Word - then you will flip the Gospel's message and God's character on its head.  And this is what I am attempting to expose in my writing!)]




Anyway, back to King Saul ...

Think about the absurdity of this story if Calvinism is true:

If people don't have an effect on what God preplans/causes, then God alone preplanned that Saul would be king, and then God alone caused Saul to disobey and lose the kingship.  And then God tells Saul that he would have remained king if he had obeyed, even though God preplanned that he would disobey and not remain king.  

It doesn't make sense.  And it's self-defeating for Calvinism.

And how about this example: In the Garden of Eden, God told Adam and Eve to not eat from the forbidden tree.  But they ate from it anyway.  So if Calvinism is true that God always preplans what happens and that what happens is because God planned it and caused it, then which one was "His Will": That Adam and Eve didn't eat from it (what He commanded them) or that they did eat from it (what actually happened)?

If Calvinism is true that what God plans always happens, then God planned they ate the fruit.  It would be His Will that they are the fruit.  But then God would be lying to them that His Will was that they didn't eat the fruit.

But God can't lie.  So if He was telling the truth that His Will was that they didn't eat the fruit, then why would He go and cause the opposite of His Will?  But if His Will was that they ate the fruit, why would He lie and tell them He didn't want them to eat the fruit?  Why would He command something and then cause someone to break His commands?  


This makes God a very unstable, untrustworthy, dishonest God.  

But all Calvinism can do is say "Oh, but God has two different levels of what He wills.  There's what He tells us He wants us to do and then there's what He causes to happen.  He can want one thing but cause another.  And God made the commands specifically so that people would break His commands so that He could punish them and send them to hell, like He planned from the beginning ... for His mysterious purposes and for His glory.  We can't understand it because God is so far above us, and so we just have to accept it.  Who are you to talk back to God!"

(Nonsense and hogwash!  Besides, if I am talking back to Him, wouldn't it be because God preplanned/caused that I talk back to Him ... for His glory!?!  According to Calvinism.  So "Who are you, Calvinist, to question God's right to cause me to talk back to Him, to deny His right to get glory through me questioning Him!?!")

So does this mean that God (Calvinism's God) tells us His Will is one thing while His Will is actually the opposite?  How then can we ever trust any command He gives us when His real Will might be the opposite, that we disobey what He told us He wanted us to do?  

And in Calvinism, we are not even really responsible for our own choices anyway because God controls every thought we have, so why should we even bother attempting to figure out what He commands us or to choose between obeying or disobeying?  Our thoughts and desires don't matter because we don't control them anyway, according to Calvinism.  It's all been preplanned from the beginning, and He might have told us one thing but planned another, and we can't even really make our own decisions anyway because He pre-decided everything for us ... and so why bother caring about anything!?!

But what I would say is ... "Toss out the incorrect Calvinism altogether and figure out how God is based on what the Bible says.  When looked at correctly, God and His Word actually make sense, and His character and truth and gospel is kept intact.  God never causes us to do what He commands us not to do.  And He never prevents us from doing what He commands us to do.  He tells us what He expects of us, but then He gives us the choice of whether we will obey or not.  And He knows what the outcome of both choices will be.  And whether we obey or disobey, He knows how to work both possibilities into His plans."  

This makes sense and it keeps God's good, holy, righteous, just, loving, trustworthy nature intact.  Because He commands us to do what He wants us to do (He tells us what His Will for us is in the Bible).  And it's possible for all of us to obey.  But He leaves the choice up to us.  And He lets us face the consequences of our choices, which is fair and just.



            

Okay now, that was quite a tangent (two tangents actually), but back to the original post, if you can remember that far back:  

When I look up verses that relate to us concerning God’s Will, I mostly see that His Will is a more like a verb, not a noun.  The Bible talks about doing the things that God wills, things that He desires us to do.  It does not as often talk about waiting for His Will (as though God always causes His Will to happen, as Calvinists would say) or trying to find it as though it is a pre-set path or plan.

Matthew 7:21:  “‘Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven....’“

            
John 7:17:  “If anyone chooses to do God’s will ...”

            
Psalm 143:10:  “Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground.”

            
Ephesians 5:17,18:  “Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.... be filled with the Spirit.” 

            
1 Thessalonians 4:3:  “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified . . .”

            
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18:  “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

            
And a line in the Lord’s Prayer says, “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”  (Matthew 6:10)  I used to read this as “May Your plans come to pass,” as though we had no real responsibility for that happening and that it would happen no matter what.  We were simply acknowledging that we wanted His plans to happen.  But I’m beginning to wonder if it really means, “May Your Will be obediently done by us on earth, as it is done up in heaven by your angels.  May we do what You want us to do, and may what You want to have happen, happen; by our obedience and prayer.”          

            
It seems that, in general, His Will for us is how He desires us to live, in obedience to His Word.  And doing this will lead us in the paths He wants us to take.  Therefore, it’s up to us whether His Will gets done or not.  He doesn’t force His Will or have some pre-made plan that we have to find.  (Yes, He has a best plan for us, but we don’t have to follow Him in it, if we’d rather rebel.)

I think it's important to understand what God says about His Will in His Word if we are going to truly understand God's Will and our part in making it happen.



For the posts in this series, see the "Understanding God's Will" label in the sidebar (or find the original series, without the Calvinism info, by clicking here).