Understanding God's Will, with Notes on Calvinism (the whole series)
Introduction:
And despite the fact that I seem to have a lot of answers here, I also have my fair share of unanswered questions and doubts still. We will always have deep, hidden doubts and fears, even as Christians. (While I may have doubts and questions about how God acts and moves and answers prayer, I do not have any doubts about God’s existence or love. I’ve come too far to doubt that anymore.) It is normal to have doubts and unanswered questions. The key is to be honest with the Lord about them and to let them drive us closer to Him. The more we do this, the more we will grow in our confidence and faith, and the more we will learn to seek refuge in Him when other doubts spring up.
Anyway, what I want to look at in this series is how we view God’s Will versus how I think the Bible portrays God’s Will. I think there is so much confusion over this, because we have grown up with so many pat answers and assumptions about what it is and about how God works. And I think that this is why “finding His Will” about a house was so stressful for me. Not only were there lots of expectations, misplaced hopes, and fears, but there were also many misconceptions about what “His Will” is and how to find it. And it wasn’t until after this whole time period that I began to see it more clearly. If I had known then what I know now, it wouldn’t have been so painful and stressful for me. But . . . that’s life!
I want to start by looking at these two examples from my life: a job that I got and the first home we rented.
Just after my internship as a counselor, I was looking for a part-time job. I could only work a handful of hours a week since I had a toddler. And they needed to be evening hours so that I could work when my husband, Jason, was home.
As I interviewed for a position, the interviewer assured me that I could do almost all the work in the evening and that there would be minimal interruption during the day. And I asked several times to make sure. As I considered all the facts, everything sounded pretty reasonable. All I had against it was this tiny, little nagging sense that I wasn’t running it all past God. It was just a hint of a feeling that something wasn’t right, that I was going off in my own wisdom, and that God might actually want me to say “no,” or to at least slow down and pray and wait for guidance. But the details all seemed right, and I couldn’t see any real reason not to take it. And I needed the job (or I thought I did). It was an open door, so it must be God’s Will, right?
Well, it was a few weeks after I got the job that I learned that it was very disruptive to my day. This was a crisis-management counseling position, and so I had to be there when called upon. And I was called upon at all hours of the day, several times a week. I had to drop everything and ask my husband to come home from work so that I could attend staff meetings with the teens in the hospitals, sometimes up to an hour away.
I only made it four months before burning out and needing to find a new job. Had I just slowed down and listened to that still, small voice (which I didn’t really recognize as the Holy Spirit at the time), I would have been spared a lot of trouble. Thankfully, God allowed me to find a much more convenient part-time job after that, a position that opened up just as I was leaving the other one.
But, you might be wondering, maybe all this was God’s Will? Maybe He planned it all to happen that way to get me into that second position? Maybe, but I don’t think so. I had the sense that I was rushing ahead of God, and yet I didn’t listen. I believe that He might have had a different plan in mind, but I missed it with my hasty choice. He, however, took my mistake and worked it into a new plan.
And another time that I made a hasty choice was in regards to the first house that we rented. We were in an apartment out by my graduate school, but we were looking to move back home by my husband’s work. My mom and step-dad at the time, Bob, owned some rental houses there. And Bob called me up one day and offered to rent a house out to us. Something inside (or Someone) said, “Wait! Check it out first.” But did I listen? No! My reasoning said, “He’s my step-father. Of course he wouldn’t rent out something to me that wasn’t fit for us. I’ll just have faith that God brought this because it’s for the best.”
Well, after we said “Yes” and made plans to move, we got to see this home. And we were horrified. It was disgusting and filthy. It reeked of animal pee, the carpet was soiled, there was pot paraphernalia in the cabinets, and there were fleas and mice poop all over. (We had to bomb it three times for fleas. And I was eight months pregnant.) And it was like a fun house at a carnival, with walls ever-so-slightly slanted this way and that. And it was tiny, tiny, tiny. It was so filthy that we had to live with my parents for a month so that it could get fixed up enough to not be a health hazard. (Bob hadn’t really kept watch on the previous renters, so he didn’t even really know what condition it was in.)
So was the path that we took God’s Will for us, His preplanned path, to get us to where we are now? Or did we have some responsibility for what happened and where we ended up, especially since I knew that we didn’t seek God’s advice in the first place? Is everything that happens God's Will, preplanned and caused by Him? Or can we do things that God never willed, wanted, or caused?
If you said, “It’s God’s Will that I move to New York,” it could be that you think it’s simply what God desires for you, what He wants you to do ... or that it's the one path He preplanned for you and it was your job to find "the path," the next step He planned for you ... or that since you moved to New York (or are going to) then it must have been "God’s Will" because everything that happens is "God's Will" and has been planned by and caused by Him (Calvinists would fall into this camp).
I think it causes a lot of confusion when we lump them all together as “God’s Will,” because they are all different things. And they all bring different questions to the table.
1. Such as if you say it's what God desires for us, what He wants us to do, then does it always happen, no matter what? Or can we do things He doesn't desire? Can we fail to do things He does desire? What are the consequences of this? If His Will hinges on us somehow, then what are our responsibilities? How can we figure out what He desires for us and from us?
2. If you say it's the path He preplanned for us, then the question is ... Are His plans for us fixed? Are they written in stone? Will they happen no matter what? And if His plans for us don't always automatically happen, then how does He lead us to and down the "right path"? What is our part, our responsibility in finding it? What happens if we miss it? Do we miss out forever? Is there only one path and one opportunity to find it? If we miss it, can we ever get back on that path or does He have to make a new path for us, a lesser one, Plan B?
3. If you say that whatever happens is God's Will because God's Will always happens and is the only thing that happens, then why bother putting thought or energy into making any decisions at all? Because if God actively controls everything that happens (preplans it and carries it out), then we wouldn't be responsible for or have any influence over what happens anyway, good or bad. Nothing we do or think could affect what happens or change the outcome.
This, of course, opens up a whole mess of questions about who's responsible for sin and rebellion and evil and our belief/unbelief and our problems and the consequences of our choices, etc. God or us? Do we really have any choice in the matter if God always causes everything that happens and if everything happens exactly the way God planned it? Does Him being all-powerful and sovereign have to mean that He always uses His sovereign power all the time to control everything?
Possible consequences of believing in option 2 or 3:
Or maybe, if we think His paths are fixed, we'll stress ourselves out over finding "His Will" because we believe that He planned one particular "right path" for us ... and we have to find it or else! This might cause us to freeze up and panic about making decisions because we're so afraid about missing the path He planned for us, about being "out of His Will." (Definitely been there!)
But .. did He plan it? Was it “His Will”? Does He always do whatever He wants? Do our prayers make any difference at all? Or is our understanding of God’s Will off? Is it as fixed and "going to happen no matter what" as we think it is? Or do we have more of a role in and responsibility for getting God’s Will done than we realize?
So, which is it?
In order to better understand “God’s Will,” we need to first define it. Desires? Plans? Or everything that happens?
Personally, I think that “His Will” is most accurately defined as what He desires (not an "official" definition, just my own best way to understand it). It’s what He desires for us (the choices He wants us to make and the path He wants us to take, etc.), and it’s what He desires from us (living God-glorifying lives and being obedient, etc.).
[And something I learned well after writing this series is this: If you look up the word "will" in the concordance - from verses about the things God "wills," about what His "will" is - we see that it's often about His desires, His "preferred-will," about what He wants to have happen or wants us to do, about His "best offer" to people which they then have to decide to accept or reject. And so I was right (and Calvinists are wrong) to define it as what He desires for us and from us and to believe that His Will doesn't always happen because He leaves it up to us to accept it or reject it.]
I think His Will is more about how He wants us to live - abiding in Him and in daily obedience to Him and His Word - than it is about the particular decisions He wants us to make. And I think He has given us the responsibility to decide if we want to know how He wants us to live or if we want to be blind to it, if we want to obey or disobey, if we want to seek Him or ignore Him, if we want to follow His lead or go our own way, etc..
Contrary to Calvinism, which ultimately believes (after removing all the layers they wrap around it to disguise it) that God preplans and controls everything and so we don't have any real influence over our choices, thoughts, or behaviors, I believe we are truly responsible for our choices ... as in our choices and actions are not predetermined by or controlled by God, but by us. He has given us the right and responsibility to make real decisions (within boundaries), and so we are ultimately responsible for whether we accomplish "God's Will" or not. And if His Will doesn't get done, it's because we failed to do it, not because He planned it that way. If we sin or make a mistake, it's because we chose to, not because He planned it that way. If we end up in hell, it's because we chose to reject the only way to heaven, not because He preplanned it that way.
To Be Clear:
So He doesn't force us to make the decisions we do; He just forces us to make our decision. Our thoughts, choices, actions, and sins are up to us, but He knows how to incorporate it all into His plans. Whether we choose to obey or disobey, to seek Him or to ignore Him, to do right or to do wrong, etc. So one way or another, His plans get done, but in a way that we are truly responsible for our choices and actions.
Is there one pre-set path or do we have choices?
So let's focus on option two for now, the idea that God has "pre-set" plans for us.
I think we make problems for ourselves when we confuse seeking His Will with seeking His “pre-set plans” for us. Because He does not (usually) reveal His plans for us ahead of time. And for the most part, I don't think there are pre-set plans for us, for our individual lives. I think He has preset plans for mankind in general, such as creating us, sending Jesus to die for us, offering us salvation, redeeming us in the end, separating the sheep from the goats, etc. But I don't think He necessarily has preset plans for our lives. I think He's given us boundaries we can't pass, but He's also given us an enormous amount of freedom in the decisions we make within those boundaries, options for how we can live our lives. Yes, I think that in His love and wisdom, He has “best plans” for us, and He will guide us in those if we seek Him and obey. But I do not think that His paths and plans for us are pre-set and unchangeable. They hinge on us. Our behavior, choices, prayers, and obedience to Him and His Word have a major effect on if His best plans for us happen or not.
In the Old Testament, we get an idea of how God works with people. And generally, He lays out two paths: the blessing path and the curse path. Each path has consequences tied to it, but the people decide which path they want to take, by their obedience or disobedience. And because they themselves chose the path they took, they are responsible for reaping the consequences. God did not force them to choose what they did; He just forced them to make their choice. Yes, God has some long-term, overarching plans that He is working out over the course of history (salvation and restoration), and we can’t change those. (Thank God!) But He leaves it up to us which path we take in our individual lives to get to that end. He leaves it up to us if we will choose the "obedience path" or the "disobedience path." And this will affect whether we stay in His Will or not.
I do not think that God always does whatever He desires or that He forces His plans on us (in general). I do not think that everything that happens is because God wanted it or planned it to happen. We have responsibilities and an effect on life, and we are responsible for many of the consequences. And this is just how He has set up life, because He wants people who choose to love and obey Him, not who are forced to. So not everything that happens is “God’s Will.” And His Will does not always get done by us. And finding His Will is not about finding “the next step.” (Sometimes, it is, like when it is time for Him to reveal the next step.)
And this is where I got hung up so many times, especially in our search for a new home. I was needlessly exhausting myself in search of His future plans for my life, for "the next step" He wanted me to take, when I should have been focusing on His Will for me today, for how He wants me to live in my daily life in general, as revealed in His Word and in prayer.
I think that as long as we are living the way He wants us to live daily - in obedience, abiding in Him, reading the Word, praying, speaking truth, loving others, doing our daily jobs for His glory, confessing sin, etc. - the "next steps" will become clear as we go along. We don't have to stress ourselves out finding "the path." If we are walking in daily obedience to Him then we will be walking in His Will, on the path He wants us on, and the next step will become clear in time. Not because we are seeking it, but because we are seeking Him. And there's a big difference! We can save ourselves so much headache, heartache, and confusion if we have our focus right.
If we focus mostly on finding His plans for us instead of on finding Him, then we will miss out on both. But if we focus on finding Him first and foremost, then we will get both, without trying too hard or exhausting ourselves or discouraging ourselves.
God doesn’t promise to reveal His path and plans for us because we’re desperately searching for them. He holds the future and doesn’t let us in on that ahead of time. But He does promise to guide us (one step at a time) and care for us when we are abiding in Him, living the way He expects us to live daily, as revealed in the Bible - living in humble submission to Him, fearing Him, seeking wisdom, living righteously, praying, loving others, taking care of the needy, and obeying, among other things. As revealed in the Bible, these things are His Will for us.
Psalm 25:9,12: “He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.... Who, then, is the man that fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way chosen for him.”
Proverbs 2:1-2,9,11: “My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding ... Then you will understand what is right and just and fair - every good path ... Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you.”
Proverbs 11:3: “The integrity of the upright guides them ...”
Isaiah 33:15-16: “He who walks righteously and speaks what is right ... this is the man who will dwell on the heights, whose refuge will be the mountain fortress. His bread will be supplied, and water will not fail him.”
Jeremiah 6:16: “This is what the Lord says: ‘Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’“ (Italics are mine.)
Humility, wisdom, integrity, righteousness, seeking “the good way,” and obeying are what will take us down the good, restful path.
But there isn't one pre-set path for our lives. His Will is not about finding the "one path." It's about how we live daily. And we can choose to obey, to abide in the Lord, or we can choose to disobey and go our own way (and face the consequences). We can choose to follow Him when He does reveal a step He wants us to take, or we can refuse to. We can include Him in our choices, or we can ignore Him. His "best plans" for our individual lives don’t just happen apart from our effort, obedience, prayers, and abiding in Him. But how much time and energy do we waste worrying and fretting and wavering, trying to find "His Will, the next step, the one path" when we should be focused on finding Him, on getting to know Him better in His Word and on finding out how He wants us to live today, His revealed Will for our lives, according to the Word?
And so the sobering thought is ... we have a choice in whether or not we fulfill “His Will.” His Will (how He wants us to live, the things He wants from us and for us) is not a mystery; it’s all there in His Word. But do we take the time to discover it? Do we abide in Him? Do we put aside our own selfish desires and plans, in obedience to Him instead? Are we seeking Him, or do we just want to know what “the next step” for our lives is?
Since His Will is about how we live our lives and our obedience to what He calls us to do, I think that His Will goes undone many, many times. When we don’t seek to know what He expects out of us in His Word, when we don’t obey the Spirit’s nudges, when we don’t pray, when we ignore needs that we see, when we do not do the good that we know we should do, when we violate one of His commands, when we are unforgiving, when we don't watch our tongues, etc., His Will doesn’t get done.
Our problem is that we would much rather seek His plans with all our energy than seek Him with all our heart. We would much rather believe that His Will has to do with finding His "preplanned path" for our lives or the next step than it does with reforming our lives. We want a quick open door, not a deep makeover of our spiritual lives and disciplines. We want the blessings without any work or responsibility on our parts. And we want to believe that everything happens because He made it happen, not because it was some consequence of our own doing.
But we do have responsibilities and we do create consequences. His best plans for us don’t always happen because we can choose to obey or disobey, to pray or not, to seek Him or ignore Him. He allows us to do that. And He allows us the consequences. He honors our free-will and our choices and allows us to have an influence over what happens in life, for good or for bad. We have a hand in (and a responsibility in) making His Will happen and in reaping “blessings or curses.” By obedience, righteous living, and prayer.
Yes, God is all-powerful and He does indeed know what is best. And whatever He does is best. But just because He knows what’s best and wants what’s best doesn’t mean that He always causes those things to happen, apart from man’s cooperation. I believe that He voluntarily limits His use of power in causing things to happen. He does not always use His power to force things. He doesn’t always do “His Will,” regardless of us. Oftentimes, He hinges it on us, choosing to carry out His Will with and through mankind. Not because He's not sovereign enough or anything, but because this is the way He wanted it to be. He is not just some "force"; He is an emotional, relational being who wants a real relationship with people. And He couldn't get that with robots. So He chose to make real people with real feelings, thoughts, and abilities to make decisions. That's the way He wanted it to be, and it's apparent all throughout His Word.
Now, I’m sure this has brought up more questions than it's answered. So in the next posts in this series, I want to look at some of the questions you might want to ask about all this. (Some are so long that I broke them up into parts.) And I want to fill in the answers in more depth and with the Scripture that supports it. Now, I hate to be redundant, I really do. I hate being redundant, saying the same thing over and over again, kicking a dead horse, repeating myself. But in the name of being clear and thorough, I will repeat much of what I’ve already said in this intro. And I know it’s all a bit jumbled and messy because there is a lot to say. So please, bear with me.
But guess how Calvinists would explain verses like this in light of their belief that everything that happens is God's Will, that He controls all?
They would say that Calvi-god (I call their God "Calvi-god" to distinguish him from the true God of the Bible) causes everything that happens for his glory, and that he sometimes wills us (causes us) to do the opposite of his stated Will because it somehow brings him glory.
If you ask them, "Why does God say He wants all men to repent and believe in Him," they'll say "Because it brings Him glory." But if you ask, "Then why does God (Calvi-god) predestine most people for hell, giving them no chance to repent or believe in Him," they'll say "Because it brings Him glory."
You see, Calvi-god has two Wills: the one he states in the Bible and a secret one which includes everything that happens, even if it contradicts his revealed Will. This is why Calvinists can say, "Sure the Bible says God wants all men to repent (God's stated Will), but He predestines most men to not repent and to go to hell for His plans and glory (Calvi-god's secret "other" Will, which contradicts the revealed one)."
But Calvinists say this is okay because they are both "his Will." They say it's okay for God to have two different wills that contradict each other, for God to state one thing but cause the opposite. And how do they excuse all this nonsense? With "Well, He's God and we're not, and so He can do whatever He wants and we don't have to understand it."
So in Calvi-god's eyes, the sin is as glorifying to him as repenting from the sin. Evil is as glorifying to him as good. Giving into temptation is as glorifying as fighting temptation. Causing abuse is as glorifying as fighting against abuse. Not taking care of widows and orphans is as glorifying as taking care of them. Disobeying his stated Will is as glorifying to him as obeying his stated Will. Because Calvi-god causes everything that happens "for his glory."
How can you trust a god like this? A god who says one thing but causes the opposite? A god who says he wants us to do one thing when he might really want us to do the opposite? A god who gives us commands we have no choice about obeying because he's already preplanned what we'll do anyway? A god who gets as much glory from causing good as he does from causing evil? A god who punishes us for the things he preplanned and caused?
There's something seriously wrong with Calvinism's god! It's just too bad that so many good, God-fearing people have been sucked into it through their desire to honor God and be humble. I believe Calvinism is little more than a brilliant strategy of Satan to use God's Word against God, to use our humility against us, to use our desire to glorify God against Him, etc.. All while disguising his lies as truth.
"... for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light." 2 Corinthians 11:14]
Understanding God's Will #1: Our Impact on God's Will
Yes, well, I’m glad you asked. But first, 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, to be discerning? If our choices and actions don’t really matter and don’t have an effect because He's already got everything all planned out and will just do whatever He wants to do anyway [a Calvinist view of things, not my view or what I think the Bible teaches], then it doesn’t matter if we live with wisdom or foolishness. Whatever happens is God’s plan, right?
Understanding God's Will #2: Cause versus Allow
I don’t think that’s what it means. It doesn’t say He causes everything that happens for His own reasons; it says He works them out for His own ends. (I’ll break this down further in later posts.) God has an end goal, and He knows how to take whatever we do and work it together to reach that end. But this doesn’t necessarily mean that He causes us to do what we do for His own reasons (because if He did then He would be responsible for our sins, not us) or that He causes the tragedies that we face for a reason.
Now keep in mind as you read this series that I am not challenging the whole “Everything happens for a reason” idea for those who face trials in the quiet, optimistic assurance that there is some deep, unknown reason for their trial or tragedy. For those who find hope in that idea. I believe that they already have a secure faith in the fact that God will use that tragedy or heartache for good. And they are not overly concerned about the “did He cause it or did He just allow it to happen” debate. They just know that good will come out of it.
I am trying to clarify the “cause vs. allow” debate for those who doubt God or are bitter or angry at Him for the tragedy and pain in their lives. Those who don’t know how a good God could “cause” such bad stuff. Those who aren’t sure they can trust a God like that.
And I am clarifying this for those who believe in (who have been misled by) Calvinism, in the theology that says God is the one who ultimately preplanned and caused all the bad things that happen, even people's sin and unbelief, and yet then He turns around and punishes people for it. This has huge impacts on how we view God, on our faith, on what we think of His character and whether He is trustworthy or not.
And so this is why I want to differentiate between “cause or allow” in the coming questions, to show you that God can be trusted indeed, that He doesn't preplan/cause evil but He can put it to good use, that we make real choices and God holds us accountable for them, not that God causes us to choose what we do and then punishes us for doing what He caused us to do. Your understanding of this issue will have drastic consequences on your faith, on your view of God and the Gospel.
And I am also talking to those who use “Everything happens for a reason” to excuse themselves of any responsibility when a choice of theirs causes a certain consequence. If we cause bad things to happen by our choices, we cannot shrug it off as “God’s Will” or say that He caused us to do it for a reason. We are responsible for our behavior and for the consequences.
But we can trust that whatever bad things come into our lives, by our own doing or not, God will take all that “junk” and work it into something good, something that serves His purposes. And He can tell how to best use this “junk” because He sees all of history before it happens. I don’t necessarily think He alters His plans to incorporate our “bad stuff,” so much as He already knew how He’d use it, because He knew it was coming before we even did.
So to sum up what I'm trying to say here: I think it's generally more accurate to say that, yes, sometimes God causes things (but never sin, evil, or unbelief, never the things He commands us not to do), but most other things God simply allows to happen (life events, our choices, natural events, etc.) because He has given us free-will and has given us (and nature and evil beings) a certain amount of leeway to affect things, to make choices, to create consequences, etc. But whatever happens, God is watching over it all and knows how to turn it into something good. And this is why He can be trusted, because He doesn't cause the sin and evil, He just knows how to turn it into something good.
It makes a huge difference in our trust and faith and obedience if we believe it's "cause" instead of "allow," which is why it's worth the time of sorting this out in our minds.
To explain it more clearly and fully: The reason Calvinists believe it's "cause" is because they misunderstand what it means that God is sovereign.
To them, sovereign has to mean that God preplans, causes, controls all that happens - every tiny detail, from a speck of dust in the air to the decisions men make, even to sin or rebel against Him. Because if God didn't actively control everything, according to them, then He wouldn't be God. (For them, it's not enough for God to be in control, as in "over and above all, managing all that happens, having the final say in all." NO! For them, God has to be actively controlling all, not just in control over all. And that's a big difference!)
And they try to rationalize this and to make it sound good (and to shut up opposition) by saying that God causes things like sin and rebellion for His glory. (Who's gonna argue with them when they claim it's "for God's glory"? Manipulation at its finest!) They believe that God is ultimately glorified by our sins and wickedness. And it's not just that He can get glory from any bad situation or any sin we choose to commit; it's that He specifically preplanned and caused each evil act we do - giving us no choice to do otherwise - in order to get glory from it.
Think about what that says about God's character for one moment!
In fact, Calvinists believe God deliberately created most people with the sole purpose of hating them, causing them to be unbelievers, and putting them in hell ... because it brings Him glory.
How backwards and twisted is this!?!
What damage it does to God's character and the Gospel!
And how then, may I ask, is God any different from Satan ... if God hates people, wants people to sin, wants people in hell, causes people to sin, is glorified by evil, etc.!?!
Calvi-god is simply Satan in disguise.
But ... this is not what sovereign really means. Sovereign doesn't mean "God has to preplan, cause, control everything or else He's not God." That's simply mankind - Calvinists - teling God how He has to be and has to act in order to be God. (And yet, that's how they get you - by saying, "But you believe God is sovereign, don't you? Are you going to deny that God is sovereign? Do you think you are above God?" And people just shut up, stop questioning them, and fall in line. Because who is going to argue with the idea of God being sovereign? Yet no one ever stops to question their definition of sovereign.)
But God Himself shows us in His Word - through biblical examples and verses - how He chooses to act and be. You see ... sovereign is about the position someone holds. It's about being in the position of supreme authority, under the control of no one else, being accountable to no one else, and able to make all final decisions. It's about being the Top Dog. About having all the power.
But it's NOT about how He has to use His power. That is going above and beyond the definition of sovereign. God has all the power, the position of authority, but we don't get to decide how He must use His power and position of authority. We don't get to decide that if He doesn't use it the way we say He should then He must not really be God. But this is what Calvinists do. And it is a huge detriment to their theology, to God's character, to Jesus's sacrifice, to the gospel message, and to people's faith.
God Himself has decided how to use His power and exercise His authority.
And He has chosen - as evidenced all throughout His Word - to give mankind a certain level of freedom. True freedom. The freedom to make our own decisions (and face the consequences). He has chosen to give mankind and Satan certain boundaries, but freedom to act within those boundaries. He has chosen, amazingly enough, to allow His own creation to reject Him.
Goodness gracious, is that incredible or what!?!
The all-powerful Creator of the universe has chosen to restrain His use of power so that He could give men the right to make decisions, to have a real effect on what happens in life, in eternity. Because He wants people to be able to choose to love and obey Him, not to be forced to. God has chosen to work His plans out with and through mankind, not to control every decision we make.
That is so humbling to me! And it makes me love Him even more!
Job 38:11: "Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb... when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, when I said, 'This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt.'?" (This is God Himself talking to Job. But if God controls every tiny wave of every body of water, why would He need to give it "limits," boundaries? Limits and boundaries mean that there is a line you can't cross but that there is freedom within those lines. This is how God has chosen to order things!)
Want one more example of that? "Then God said ... "... let them [mankind] rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." (Genesis 1:26. God Himself has chosen to give His creation a certain amount of dominion, of freedom, of free-will. And the Bible shows this again and again. THIS is where I get my definition of sovereignty from! NOT by deciding for myself that God MUST always be preplanning, causing, controlling everything all the time or else He's not God. Calvinism is mankind telling God how God has to be in order to be God!)
Calvinism cannot explain verses like these (and these are just a few!) in any rational, logical ways that keeps God’s character intact and that maintains the truth found in Scripture as a whole. But they keep trying! Doing more and more damage to God’s character and Gospel Truth!
(And I'm not saying that God doesn't sometimes preplan/cause/control things. Yes, sometimes God does do that. But He NEVER preplans or causes sin. Because that would totally destroy His holy, good, righteous, just character. He can and does allow us to sin and make evil choices. And He can and does put us in situations that force us to make our choices. But He doesn't control us or cause us to choose evil or sin. But if we do choose to be evil and to sin, He can and does work it into His plans for good.)]
I'm also adding this repost of Calvinist Bad Logic #5: We Can Trust A Controlling God:
And so I ask, Can you see why differentiating between "cause" and "allow" is so important?
God's character and the truth and message of the gospel are on the line!
Understanding God's Will #3: God's Will Is A Verb
Understanding God's Will #4: Taking Our Responsibility Seriously
So prayer really does matter when it comes to making sure that God’s Will happens?
Yes, it does! God hinges a lot of things on our prayers and our choices.
But if we (like Calvinists) believe that God always does whatever He wants regardless of us and that He has preplanned and controls all we do and so we don't get a choice anyway, then we won’t realize how much prayer matters in discerning God’s plans for us and in getting His Will done. And our prayer life will be weak.
And there are examples in the Old Testament that support the necessity of prayer and the fact that it affects whether His Will gets done or not.
In Exodus 23:32, God tells Israel to make no covenant with the people in the land of Canaan after they take possession of it. But in Joshua 9, we read about the Gibeonite deception and how they did make a treaty with these people, believing that they were from a distant land. Joshua 9:14 says that in this instance, Israel “did not inquire of the Lord.”
God’s Will and plan was that they didn’t make a treaty with these people. And I believe that God would have uncovered this deception for Israel and would have warned them not to make a treaty with them ... if they had prayed about it. But they didn’t pray about it, so God’s Will didn’t happen in this case.
Can you see what this does to the character of God!?! To His trustworthiness!?! How can we trust any command He gives us if He might secretly want us to do the opposite of what He told us to do? And if we do the opposite of what He commanded us - such as having an affair even though He's told us to keep the marriage bed pure - then it would have to be that God preplanned/caused us to have an affair to fulfill His secret Will, according to Calvinism. How can you trust a God who lies to us about what He wants us to do and then causes us to disobey Him? Can you see the damage that Calvinism does to God and Gospel Truth!?! And yet they excuse it with "But God is sovereign and can do what He wants." See "Calvinism: Abusing God's Sovereignty To Defend Its Heresy."]
Was it God’s Will that all this happened in Saul’s life? Or did Saul have some responsibility in all this, and did lack of prayer and obedience have an effect on what happened to him? “Saul died because ... he did not keep the word of the Lord ... and did not inquire of the Lord.”
For years, I have lived with the idea that because God is all-powerful and sovereign, He will always do whatever He wants, so I really never understood the purpose and power of prayer. I used to see prayer the way that I have heard numerous people (generally Calvinists) describe it: “We are supposed to pray because God told us to pray. Prayer is important just because it shows that we are dependent on God, and it draws us closer to Him because we are spending time with Him.”
That’s all. It has no more effect than just showing our dependence and building our relationship with Him. Because after all, He does whatever He wants to do anyway, right? And everything that happens is because He wanted it and caused it, right? So really, our prayers are just formalities and for our benefit, right?
Wrong!
I think that this is one of Satan’s most effective tools. Because if he can convince people that their prayers aren’t really necessary because God is so in control that He’ll always just do whatever He wants to do anyway and that everything that happens is because God wanted it, planned it, and caused it, then the church will be ineffectual, lacking the kind of prayers and obedience that are necessary to battle the forces of evil and to get God’s Will done.
We'll simply roll over and say, "Well, God's gonna do what God's gonna do, and I can't do anything about it."
Satan is getting us to minimize the importance of prayer and personal responsibility by convincing us (the Calvinists, that is) that there's no real power in it or purpose for it, that we have no real responsibility or influence in anything.
Because, after all, Calvi-god does everything for us, right?
But the Bible shows us otherwise!
The Bible shows us that our actions and choices and whether we "inquire of the Lord" or not makes a difference. He has not planned everything out for us. We are not puppets.
You see, I was confusing "God is all-powerful" with "An all-powerful God must always be using His power all the time to control everything."
But who am I to tell God how He has to use His power!?!
But contrary to what I used to think (to what Calvinists think), the Bible very clearly shows us an all-powerful God who has chosen to not use His power all the time to control everything. A sovereign God who has chosen to give men the real responsibility to make real choices, without His meticulous control.
God has plans for us, but we have to decide to follow Him or not. And He, in His sovereignty and power, will take whatever we do - our obedience or our disobedience - and work it into His plans. But our obedience or disobedience is not preplanned. It's up to us.
If Calvinism is true, then either Samuel or God is lying. Because if God preplans/causes all that happens, then He preplanned/caused that Saul would disobey and lose the kingdom, because that's what happened. So there could be no alternative path that hinged on Saul's choice.
So then if Saul's disobedience was predestined and caused by God, how could Samuel say that God would have established Saul's kingdom if Saul obeyed? Either Samuel is lying or God is, telling Saul that there was an alternative path when there really wasn't, that the outcome hinged on his choice when it really didn't.
So either Samuel and God are lying ... or Calvinism isn't true!
And I'm going with "Calvinism isn't true!"
God does not preplan what we do. He does not make us disobey.
But He does know the outcome of whatever choice we will make, and He knows how to incorporate it into His plans. He knew that if Saul obeyed, his kingdom would have been established. And He knew that if Saul disobeyed, his kingdom would be taken away and go to David. God knows where all our potential paths will lead, and He knows how to work it all into something good, into His plans. He is wise enough, powerful enough, and sovereign enough to work many variable factors into His plans, unlike Calvi-god who can't manage any other factors than the things he himself causes.
And this is why it's so important to always remember to inquire of the Lord, to seek His guidance and wisdom. Because whether or not we do this will impact the path we choose. He doesn't always cause His Will and His best plans for us to happen, regardless of what we do. He hinges them on us.
If they were just formalities, we would be told something more like this: “Prayer is good for a righteous man because it draws him near to God.”
But it doesn’t say that. It says that prayer is “powerful and effective.”
Powerful and effective for what? I believe that it’s powerful against the kingdom of darkness and that it’s effective for getting God’s Will done.
[Calvinists will say that God causes you to pray to get His Will done. That He "ordains the means and well as the end." So then if Calvi-god is the cause of when we pray then he is also the cause of when we don't pray. He's predestined everything that happens ... for his glory and pleasure and plans (according to the Calvinist). Therefore, praying is just as glorifying and purposeful as not praying. And we don't get a choice about it anyway.
So then, why do Calvinists bother to encourage people to pray? If it's going to happen, it's going to happen. If it's not, it won't.
If a Calvinist preacher encourages you to pray, try saying, "If God wills it then I will. But if He doesn't, then I won't. I'm just gonna wait and see what God forces me to do." And see how they respond.
Do this also when they encourage you to tithe, to evangelize, to volunteer at church, to obey a particular commandment of God's, or to join their Calvinist Indoctrination Classes (like a group-study of Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology).
Say "if God wills it, it will happen, but if He doesn't will it, it won't. Who am I to know the mind of God, which one He's planned? Who am I to know if He really wants me to do what He's commanded or if He really wants me to disobey what He's commanded? So let's just wait and see what's predestined, what He causes me to do." ... and watch how quickly they go from "God controls all" to "You are responsible for your choice."
Do you see how self-defeating Calvinism is? How much it minimizes personal responsibility and accountability?]
Now, if God intended to forgive them anyway - if it was His Will and what He planned to do - why didn’t He just do it? Why require and wait for Job to pray?
Because prayer is what gets God’s Will done on earth. Because God intends that we, through our choices and obedience and prayers, get His Will done on earth. God's Will was to forgive Job's friends, but God left the responsibility to pray up to Job. And He didn't forgive them until Job prayed, until Job did his part. And this is just how God has chosen to work, even though He could control everything if He wanted to.
1 John 5:14-15: “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what we asked of him.”
This verse shows us that His Will (what He desires to have happen) doesn’t just happen because He is all-powerful and can make it happen. We have to pray for it, to seek it. And to obey!
God leaves the responsibility with mankind to put His Will (what He desires to have happen) into motion with our prayers.
But if Calvinism is true, then everything that happens is God's Will, even sin. And therefore, there is no need to "ask anything according to His Will." Because His Will is all that ever happens, with or without us asking for it.
But we are not just commanded to pray because it’s good for us or shows our dependence on God. Prayer actually gets God’s Will done. God wills things in heaven, but it’s man’s job to bring that Will to fruition on earth by our prayers, obedience, and righteous living. And it’s when we ask for something He wants for us that we get it. (But this doesn’t mean that we always get what we ask for. It has to be in line with what God wants for us.)
But the flip-side is also true. If we don’t ask for what He wants for us, we won’t get it. He doesn’t lead us down His "best path for us" if we refuse to “inquire of the Lord.” As James 4:2 says, “You do not have, because you do not ask God.”
If we ask for something He doesn’t want, it won’t happen. But also if we don’t pray for and seek out what He does want, it won’t happen. Our prayers and obedience have an effect on getting God’s Will done or not.
And there are times that God does whatever He wants, apart from us. And yes, He does still take care of us and provide for us without our needing to ask for every little thing. I am not going to the extreme of saying that God does nothing and gives nothing unless we pray for it. I am saying that, in general and in many ways, He has chosen to work with and through man's prayers and cooperation to accomplish His plans on earth. And the Bible is full of examples like this.
I think that, yes, prayer is crucial in acknowledging our dependence on God and building our relationship with Him (through honesty and transparency). But it goes so much further than just being a show of dependence and drawing us closer. It gets His Will done!
And this is just how He has chosen to do things, to give mankind a certain level of free-will and responsibility. And contrary to Calvinist claims that He must always be using His power all the time to control everything that happens or else He can't be God, He can do it this way if He wants ... to because He alone is sovereign over all and can decide how to use His sovereign power.
Understanding God's Will #6: But God Can Read Our Minds
But if God can read our minds, isn’t just thinking about what we want to pray good enough? Isn’t saying, “I’ll pray for you” and intending to do it as good as doing it? You know, “It’s the thought that counts,” right?
I used to think this. I used to think that if prayers were just formalities and if He could read my thoughts, then He knew what I wanted to pray. And that was just as good as praying. Right?
Wrong!
Once again, it wasn’t until Job actually prayed for God to forgive his friends that God forgave them. Even though God planned to forgive, He didn’t act on that until Job prayed. And on top of that, it wasn’t until after Job obeyed and prayed that God blessed him again.
Job 42:9-10: “... and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer. After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before.”
Here is a simple illustration that shows the difference between “thinking/intending” and praying:
Imagine that I have a gift in my hands, and I intend to give it to you. Maybe you even know what’s in it. Now, you know that I am thinking about giving it to you. That is my intention. I just don’t get around to doing it.
But isn’t it enough that you knew what my intentions were?
No! It’s not the same as giving it. As long as we are still holding it, it is “ours.” It isn’t until we give it to the other person that it becomes “theirs.”
I think that God waits for us to hand the gift - the prayer - over to Him. It’s not good enough to just think about prayer, to intend to get around to it. There is no power in that. He waits to move until we call Him into action with our prayers, until we move from intending to pray to actually praying.
And He does this because He is allowing us to make the choice to keep it or to give it over to Him. Once again, He’s honoring our free-will. This is why we don't get certain things if we don't ask for them (James 4:2). There are things He will grant, but only if we ask for them. It isn't enough to just want them, to intend to ask God for them. We need to ask!
If we only intend to ask, then God can only intend to give us the answer.
It isn’t until we actually put it into words in prayer that we have presented the prayer to God and invited Him to take action with our concern or request or confession.
Calvinists think God put no power or true responsibility in man's hands. But the Bible shows us that He's put a lot more in our hands than we think, starting at Genesis 1 when He says "Let them rule..." and on up to Revelation when He says "If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me."
Calvinists think all He ever does is intervene all the time to cause and control everything that happens, from every speck of dust floating in the air to every sin we commit to every person who rejects Him.
But I think He intervenes/controls a lot less than we think He does. Because He's decided to work with and through us, in cooperation with us, waiting on us to pray and obey. Our choices are our own. And whether or not we pray matters!
And I don’t just base this belief on my own ideas. Everything should be evaluated by Scripture. First off, look up how many times God says things like, “And when the people pray or cry out to me, I will hear them and act.” You never read, “And when the people think, I will hear and act.”
Praying makes the difference! Crying out to God makes the difference! Our thoughts are our own, but our prayers are for God. We can pray in our minds or out loud, but we need to pray. Just thinking about the things we should pray about or what we wish God would do isn’t the same as praying.
And as we already looked at in an earlier point, the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6 explicitly tells us to pray “your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Like I said, I used to think that it meant “May Your Will come to pass on earth, like it comes to pass in heaven," like we were simply acknowledging that we want His Will to happen.
But now, I see it as a twofold message. One, as I already discussed, implies more responsibility on our parts than passive waiting: “May Your Will get done obediently by us on earth, as it gets done by Your angels in Heaven.” And another way that I read it is as an actual command to pray that His Will gets done, because our prayers will be what gets it done. He’s not saying, “Let’s hope it gets done.” He’s saying, “You need to pray that it gets done.”
And look at all these verses that command us to pray: Matthew 5:44, Luke 18:1, Ephesians 6:18, 1 Thessalonians 5:17, James 5:13, James 5:16, among many others.
I used to think that it was just good advice, meant for our benefit because it was all about drawing closer to God. Now, I think that the reason God takes prayer so seriously is because it makes a difference in whether or not His Will gets done!
In fact, it’s such a powerful tool that we are told this in 1 Peter 4:7: “The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear-minded and self-controlled so that you can ... “
So that you can what? Eternity is bearing down on us, and we need to be clear-minded and self-controlled so that we can ... witness and win as many souls as possible? ... gain as many blessings as possible? ... bring glory to God? ... go out on a high note?
No, we are told that with eternity right around the corner, we need to be clear-minded and self-controlled so that we can ... pray!
That's right ... pray!
This verse is what fully convinced me of the necessity of prayer, the importance of prayer, and the power in it. Maybe when God says we need to pray, He really means we need to pray.
And in Matthew 21:12-13, we read about Jesus getting angry and overturning the money changers tables.
What made Him so angry?
He was angry because they had turned the Father’s house into a crooked business place, whereas it is supposed to be a house of ... that’s right ... prayer!
It’s not called a house of worship or a house of sermons or a house of fellowship. It’s called a house of prayer!
Do we value prayer as much as Jesus and God’s Word does?
How can we value prayer as much as He does if we think it's merely a formality, that our prayers have no real effect, that God will do whatever God's going to do, with or without our prayers?
I believe that God wills certain things: things that He desires for us and from us, and things that He has planned based on His wisdom and love. He has willed these things from His throne-room in heaven, but it’s our job to bring His Will down to earth; by our righteous living and obedience, by abiding in Him, and by our prayers.
And without those prayers, it won’t happen. It won’t happen until God finds someone who is receptive enough to the Spirit to know how He wants them to live and pray. And then who is obedient enough to do it.
However, don’t misunderstand me. I am not saying that man has unlimited power and full control over what happens on earth. God is still sovereign over all, He still holds all things in His hands, all things have to pass through Him, and evil is still limited. And I am not saying that man gets to decide what happens by his prayers. But man has to pray to accomplish what God has already decided. And it is the prayers of righteous people that are powerful and effective.
There are people who are living very unglorifying lives. However, they have convinced themselves that they are okay with God because they have a lot of stuff, yet they are drifting farther and farther away from Him without even realizing it. “Look at how good God has been to me and how He has taken care of me, so clearly He must be pleased with me.”
They are assuming they are spiritually on-track because they have a lot of things or accomplished a lot in life or are popular, even though they barely talk to God or seek His input or ask what He wants them to do or obey His commands. They never consider that maybe this abundance isn't from God, that maybe they are headed away from Him instead of toward Him, that maybe they think they're okay with God just because they want to think they're okay with God instead of having to take a good, long look at their life and the changes they need to make.
Comfort and presumption is a dangerous thing when it causes us to be spiritually lazy, when it distracts us and makes us to think more highly of ourselves than we should and causes us to pursue His blessings instead of pursuing Him.
I think (even when we choose self-sufficiency), to a degree, God does still care for us by sustaining our lives, because our days won’t end until He gives the word. And He sends rain and sunshine for the ungodly as well as the godly. But life could be so much more if we lived in prayer, obedience, and wisdom. If we were driven to pursue Him, instead of just settling for His basic care. Just because He knows our needs doesn’t mean that we will automatically be given abundant life - that we will be truly blessed in the ways that matter - apart from a life of obedience, submission, and abiding in Him.
[Quick note: Calvinists say that Calvi-god meets the needs of the non-elect, showing them kindness by giving them rain and sunshine, so that He can show a little love to them ... before sending them to hell for being the unbelievers he predestined them to be. This is how they trick themselves into thinking they really believe God loves all people: "God shows His love to the elect by saving them, but He shows His love to the non-elect by being kind to them, by giving them food and water while they're alive on earth. See, so God really does love all people. He just expresses it in different ways."
Big, fat, hogwash lie!
Because the Bible says something very different. The Bible says God loves the world (John 3:16) and that Jesus died for sinners (Romans 5:8). And last I checked, all of us in this world are sinners (Romans 3:23).
Romans 5:8 tells us that Jesus dying for sinners is how God shows His love for us: "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
God Himself, in His Word, told us how He shows love for us, for sinners. And I see no verses that specify there are two types of sinners: elected ones and non-elected ones. (Calvinists come to this conclusion by cobbling together other verses, taken out of context.)
But what I do see is God loves the world, Jesus died for sinners, we are all sinners, and so therefore God demonstrates His love to all sinners - to all of us - by sending Jesus to die for us all. This is how God says He shows His love. (Why would Calvinists deny what God clearly said, replacing it with some "mysterious," unclear, cobbled-together theology that says the opposite? Sounds demon-inspired to me!)
And just like there's no verse about two different types of sinners, there is no verse about God having two different types of love, one for elect people and one for non-elect. Calvinists come to this conclusion by building their understanding of Scripture on their wrong idea of election and predestination.
But contrary to Calvinism, the Bible itself tells us why God is kind to people, to the unrighteous ... and it's not just so He can show them some love before sending them to hell like He supposedly predestined.
It's because of this:
"Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?" (Romans 2:4, emphasis is mine)
God intends for His kindness to lead people, the unrighteous, to repentance, not just to show them a little love before He sends them to hell. And this message isn't just for "elected" sinners. It's for those who are stubborn and unrepentant and who are storing up wrath against themselves (vs. 5).
God intends His kindness - His care for our basic needs - to be what leads us to repentance. He doesn't intend to save people through some sort of mysterious "election/predestined before time began/regenerated by the Holy Spirit so they can believe" thing. He intends for unrepentant people to see His kindness and, consequently, to turn to Him, repent, believe in Him, and go to heaven.
This is His intention for those who are unrepentant. He does not intend for them to go to hell. He has not predestined them for hell. He loves all sinners, sent Jesus to die for all sinners, we are all sinners, and God shows kindness to all of us sinners so that we might turn towards Him in repentance. How can the Bible be more clear!?!]
Anyway, back to the post ...
So yes, God is kind to us all and provides a certain level of care for us all, out of love and concern.
But Matthew 6:8 is not telling us that we don’t need to pray because God will always give us whatever He wants us to have. It’s telling us that we are not to be like the pagans who babble on and on to God. They hoped that their many words would gain God’s attention and favor, "Look how righteous I am to pray so long!"
But we don’t need to pray lots of words to get God's attention or to earn some favor with Him or even to notify Him of all the details of our needs (because He knows them before we ask). And God doesn’t owe us blessings because of our “great, lengthy” prayers.
We pray to acknowledge that He is God and we are not, to build and maintain our relationship with Him, to turn our concerns over to Him and invite Him to take action in our lives, to listen to Him, to confess sins and get right with Him, and to get His Will done.
But just because God knows our needs doesn't mean we don’t have to ask. Saying “before you ask” implies that we ask. And immediately following verse 8 is verse 9, which says, “This, then , is how you should pray ...” So prayer is important, even if God can read our minds and knows our needs.
Prayer is our way of inviting God to handle our concerns, to turn our hurts over to Him and receive His healing, to repent and be forgiven, to praise Him, and to ask Him to meet our needs the way He wants to.
And God won't necessarily intervene in our lives if we don't ask Him to.
Notice in the Old Testament, Saul was condemned for not inquiring of the Lord (1 Chronicles 10:14) and Joshua ran into trouble when he failed to inquire of the Lord (Joshua 9:14). And of course, "You do not have because you do not ask God." (James 4:2).
Prayer matters. Because God has chosen to give us a certain level of free-will and responsibility. He lets us decide if we want to live apart from Him or if we want to live under His care, in His Will, in obedience to Him. God's not "just gonna do what He's gonna do." He' chosen to hinge a large part of what happens in this world on us. And He won't necessarily do His part if we aren't doing ours.
(How effective can Calvinist prayer be when they think God has already predestined everything that happens and that He controls their prayers? No wonder so many Calvinists feel defeated in life. Satan has gotten them to roll over and play dead!)
And Matthew 6:25-32 tells us not to worry about our lives and the things we need. “The pagans run after these things, and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them.” (Verse 32) But, once again, it does not tell us that because He knows what we need, we don’t have to ask. It tells us not to spend our energy chasing after these things, and not to worry that we won’t have what we need. For they will be given to us ... as we seek His kingdom and righteousness.
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Verse 33).
We need to be spending our energy chasing after God. And on top of prayer, we need to seek His righteousness and His kingdom if we want to be able to experience the kind of abundant life that He wants to give us. (Eternal abundance, not necessarily temporary. You can be eternally rich while being earthly poor. And if that's the case, you've got the best of the two!)
Shortly after Matthew 6, comes the Ask, Seek, and Knock section (7:7-11), which again shows the importance of prayer. And shortly before it is the Lord’s Prayer, where He teaches us to pray that God meets our daily needs (6:11).
So even though God knows what we need (and so we don't need to spend a lot of time informing Him about all the details), prayer really does matter! It's how we invite Him to do something about our concerns. And contrary to Calvinism which says God will do what God will do without any responsibility on our parts, God oftentimes waits for us to pray, to seek His help, to obey, etc., before He does His part. And this is just how He has decided to run the world.
Understanding God's Will #8: Advice About Prayer
Prayer needs to be less about seeking exactly what we want or think we need, and more about seeking Him and being receptive to Him! And as we do this (and remain in the Word), we’ll be guided along in how to “get His Will done” and what to pray for. In fact, sometimes – when I have no idea how to pray about a situation – all I can do is pray this, “Guide and provide, Lord. Just guide and provide.” And then I leave it up to Him. I prayed this a lot over the years.
(And something that I am just starting to do is to ask Him in the morning, “Is there anything that You want me to know, do, or pray?” And then I try to listen for what He wants to tell me. I have spent way too many years doing all the talking and requesting, and I need to start listening more.)
I’ve heard people say that it doesn’t matter to God what we choose in life, as long as it glorifies Him, and that we don’t need to seek His opinion or His Will on all of our decisions.
I agree that we don’t need to run to Him about every decision, like whether we should have the turkey or roast beef sandwich for lunch. But I do think that if something is important to us, then it’s important to God. And the more of an impact a decision has on our lives, on other people’s lives, and on His kingdom, the more of an opinion God has on it. And we would be wise to seek His advice and opinion on major decisions, like who we marry, where we live, the jobs we take, etc.
And the more significant the decision, the more likely it is that we will have to spend more time in prayer and more time waiting for God to reveal the next step. Large decisions should not be rushed into. But they should not cause us to panic and sweat, either. As long as we are bringing the issue to Him in prayer, abiding in Him, and living in obedience to His Word, He will clearly reveal the next step when it is time.
(Once again, we need to be willing to be obedient when He makes His Will clear. It might have felt good and godly to search for it, but sometimes we get scared when we are finally called to action. Resist the temptation to walk away from the next step. Pray for strength and boldness. And then, step out in faith, knowing that if God set it up and called you to it, He’ll provide all you need to accomplish whatever He’s asking you to do.)
At various times in my life, I caused myself so much stress and confusion believing that I might miss “His Will,” always panicked that I’d do it wrong, and so I'd end up so focused on "finding His Will" instead of simply abiding in Him, enjoying Him, getting to know Him.
But we don't have to worry too hard about "finding His Will." Because if we are abiding Him and living the way He wants us to live, according to His Word, then we will be in His Will. And as we walk with Him, He'll make the "next steps" clear in time, opening the doors as they need to open, closing the ones that should be closed. He'll guide as we abide!
I caused myself so much unnecessary heartache and mental stress over the years! But I didn’t need to be so anxious along the way, because as long as I was tied to Him in prayer and His Word and abiding in Him, He would have come through loud and clear!
8b. And so, the next question becomes, How can I recognize His guidance when He is revealing the next step?
When we were house hunting, I had really wanted the next step to show up in neon lights. But that obviously won’t happen. And then I found a book that gave me some really good advice on how to know when God shows “the next step.” And I really have to thank Gigi Tchividjian here. Through her book, A Woman’s Quest for Serenity, she helped me understand how to discern God’s guidance, when so many other things were making it hard to hear His leading. (If you can find her book, it is well worth reading.)
Though He won’t give us a neon sign, I’m learning that He has given us other “keys” to help us find the next step in His plan for us. (Gigi calls them “lights,” and they are what I based these “keys” on.) To boil it all down, God guides us in three different ways: guidance from the inside, indications from the outside, and confirmation from God’s Word.
1. Guidance from the inside would be what our conscience tells us, what our heart tells us, and, most importantly, what the Holy Spirit tells us. This would be the impressions or convictions that we have from the Holy Spirit about what He wants us to do or what the next step is. Sometimes it coincides with what we want to do, sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes it makes sense, and sometimes it confuses us even more. Sometimes it speaks to the current concern or situation that we are praying about, and sometimes it hits us out of the blue, completely unrelated to anything we were thinking about. But we need to be deliberate about asking for the Holy Spirit's advice and help, about being receptive to Him, about actively listening for Him to speak to us. And we need to expect that He will, in His time and in His way.
2. Indications from the outside would be open doors or circumstances falling into place that seem to be saying “this is the way you should walk.” Maybe it’s about an issue you are praying about, or maybe it’s God interrupting your plans with something new that He wants you to do. It could be a need that comes to your attention or a fork-in-the-road that calls you to make a choice. It could be a call to move forward, or it could be a call to take a step backward. And these indications could also come from other people. It could be impressions that they have had about you, or it could be wise advice from godly people.
3. And confirmation from God’s Word is just what it sounds like. It’s when God leads us, through His Word, in the right path. Sometimes, after praying for guidance, the Spirit leads us to a passage that speaks directly to our problems. And sometimes, we find God’s message to us as we go about our normal Bible reading. We should be regularly reading God’s Word - immersing ourselves in it - so that we can know it as a whole, and not just pulling out the verses that we want when we want them.
Those are the keys to discover God’s Will for us, the next step. And when all three of these “keys” say the same thing, we can confidently take the next step as it has been revealed. But if any one of them says something different, we need to wait. Wait and recheck Scriptures and pray some more until all the keys match. And in the meantime, we need to continue to live the life we have now, faithfully and obediently and for God’s glory, leaving the future and the timing up to God. And then, when the keys match and the timing is right, the doors will open smoothly in time. We are just responsible to do the next step as we best believe that God is leading us.
(But we need to be careful to not be hasty or to interpret subtle or ambiguous signs as saying what we want them to say. We should be cautious about interpreting any guidance we get. And even more so when the decision is a significant one. Proceeding cautiously and wisely also involves asking God to and trusting God to close the door if we are not on the right path. And then, if He does shut the door or change our direction, we need to just trust Him and be willing to follow.)
If we live wisely - abiding in Him and having learned to heed the Spirit’s nudges and “red flags” - then we can go forward in life, making decisions as we go, knowing that He will direct our feet as we walk and that He will send up “pause” signals as we need them. Because the Spirit lives in us. (But we need to learn to recognize the signals and to heed them.)
So for those non-huge, everyday kinds of decisions, I try to do a “Spirit check.” If there’s something that I’m not sure that I should say or do (and that isn’t violating any biblical principles), I pause slightly to check-in with God. “Lord, is it okay if I ...?” Or “Should I ...?” And if I don’t feel any sense of unrest or “Don’t,” then I feel that it’s okay to go ahead with it. I trust that as long as I’m seeking to be obedient, to glorify Him, and to be sensitive to Him, He will close the door if and when it’s not right.
It’s kind of like a husband and a wife that are with a group of people. And as the wife starts to share a story about something that has happened in their family, she looks over at her husband to see what kind of look he is giving her. It’s either the “go ahead” look or “THE LOOK,” the one that says, “You better not go there!” This is what I try to do for the smaller decisions. I look to God, through the Holy Spirit’s guidance, to see if I’m getting the “go ahead” look or “THE LOOK.” And if I get “THE LOOK,” then I know that I need to either not do it or to spend some more time in prayer and in God’s Word over it.
And I do think that it’s important to make a habit of doing this - of seeking to be and learning to be receptive to the Spirit - because sometimes those “insignificant” decisions can have a significant impact on our lives. Maybe we end up going on vacation the same day that there’s a tornado. Maybe we choose the cutest dog, but it ends up being the meanest one in the bunch. Maybe we buy a car that ends up with serious problems. I believe that God is willing to offer His guidance in these “little” decisions if we seek it, but that He doesn’t necessarily offer His guidance if we would rather go ahead in our own wisdom.
Like with the Gibeonite deception, Joshua didn’t inquire of God. And I believe that if he did, it would have been revealed to him. And there is another instance with Joshua that shows me the importance of inquiring of God. Joshua 6 tells the story of the Israelites taking Jericho, with God’s miraculous help. But in Joshua 7, after Jericho, we read how Joshua makes a foolish decision in his own wisdom. He had sent men to spy on Ai. And when the men returned, they said that there were only a few people there and so Joshua should only have to send two or three thousand people to successfully take it.
So Joshua does this. And it probably seemed wise to him, a piece of cake compared to the battle that they just went through taking Jericho. Well, verses 4-5 tell us, “So about three thousand men went up; but they were routed by the men of Ai, who killed about thirty-six of them....”
Now, this happened because of one man’s sin, when Achan took some of the things that were devoted to the Lord.
But what we don’t read in this story, in contrast to many of the other stories during Joshua’s reign, is that he “inquired of the Lord.” In this instance, he did not seek the Lord’s guidance about going after the city of Ai. I believe, once again, that God would have revealed Achan’s sin to Joshua and would have advised them not to go after Ai until the Achan situation was handled ... if Joshua had inquired of the Lord.
It’s important to learn to inquire of the Lord and to learn to be sensitive to the Spirit’s leading. And the closer you walk with the Lord, the more likely you are to remember to inquire and to recognize the Spirit’s nudges along the way. And the more obedient you are, the more likely He is to nudge again in the future. We can deaden ourselves to His nudges by refusing to heed them and to obey.
Not too long ago, I felt a nudge by the Holy Spirit. Actually, it was more like a burning inside of me about something that I should say to someone. I was talking with a woman I never met before at a beach. She told me that she was a Christian but that she was in the beginning of getting a divorce from her husband. She was fed up that he didn’t do anything but sit on the couch, and he had no ambition in life to accomplish anything. And she told me about the kids and about how she felt bad for what a divorce would do to them.
And from inside of me came this burning desire to tell her four words: “It’s not too late!” Just four little words. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that this was the Holy Spirit telling me that I needed to say these words to her. I could tell that she didn’t really want a divorce, but she didn’t know what else to do. She wanted to be talked out of it, I could just tell.
And you know what I did?
Nothing!
I listened sympathetically and said that I hoped it worked out for her, but I never said what the Spirit knew she needed to hear: “It’s not too late.” I had convinced myself that it was my own wisdom talking and that it was not my place to comment on her divorce. And so I didn’t.
And this is one instance where I learned from my own mistake. I always felt bad about that, because I knew that I was supposed to say it. And so I did all that I could do: I prayed that God would nudge another person to tell her what I failed to say, someone who was bold enough and wise enough to obey. It is so important to learn to inquire of God and to learn to heed the Spirit’s nudges. This is how God gets His Will done on earth. By us and our obedience!
[And do you know what happened a couple months later?
I saw that same woman dropping off her kid at Awanas when I was dropping my son off. And so after a quick prayer about whether or not I should say anything, I wrote a note saying that I believe God wanted me to say "It's not too late" to her when I saw her at the beach. And I gave it to her later that night when I picked my son up.
I had never seen her before those two times, and I've never seen her since (because my husband did the picking up and dropping off the other nights). So I have no idea what happened after that. But at least I did what I could to be obedient. Even if it was too late. Who knows how God used that in her life? But it's not our job to know. It's just our job to obey.]
Understanding God's Will #9a: "Name It and Claim It" Nonsense
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 (of a baby of a relative who was possibly going to give her up), 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.
Well, of course, I believed that it would happen. And so, as the book encouraged, I believed that God had already “given” her to us. And all I had to do now was thank Him for it (as proof that I believed) and to wait for it to happen.
But it didn’t happen.
So what went wrong? Was it my faith, God, or my understanding of God? Or will it still happen sometime in the future, as the book would say, even though, as of 2020, it’s been over a decade since that time? (And for the record, I don’t want it to happen now. She’s where she should be - with her parents.)
You know, the funny thing is that it’s a Bible verse that confuses me more than anything. Jesus’ own words. The verse that really trips me up is the “If you believe and don’t doubt” verse.
Mark 11:22-24: “‘Have faith in God,’ Jesus answered. ‘I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.’“
I have to be honest. I struggle with this verse. I really do. I mean, it sounds pretty straightforward to me: believe that you’ll get what you ask for and you’ll get it. Name it and claim it! Sounds great!
But there’s a problem ... that doesn’t always happen. There are things that we pray for and that we are confident are in line with God’s Will, and yet they don’t happen. The mountains didn’t move.
So what went wrong? Is it that I didn’t have enough faith? If I was able to push away all anxiety and calmly say, “I know You can do it, Lord. I trust You,” would it please God enough that He would grant my request? Would He really hold it against me if I waited faithfully for 30 days, but then I faltered and lost faith on day 31?
And can any of us ever move any mountain, or even a molehill, with our prayers if we have to believe ahead of time that it will happen, without any doubts? Is it possible to know for sure what God should do and that He will do it, when we know that God has His own mysterious ways about why and when and how He answers prayer? Is knowing that He can do something as faithfully-effective as claiming that He will do it? Or do we have to “claim” that it will happen without any confirmation, and risk looking like a fool who went out on a limb and put words in God’s mouth? Is it “believing what we say” or “saying what we believe” that makes it happen?
I tell ya, this one confuses me. It really does.
There have been times that I have prayed for things that haven’t happened. And I’m guessing that the “name it and claim it” pushers would say that it was the strength of my faith that was the problem - that I didn’t really believe it enough - or that the time hasn’t yet come.
And I don’t know, maybe at times it was my faith. Maybe I cannot really “claim” anything in faith because I’m so afraid of looking foolish if it doesn’t happen. I don’t want to put words in God’s mouth and run around saying “God told me ...” or “This will happen because I believe it will.” And then, when it doesn’t happen, I become an embarrassment to God and our faith. So I guess there is always a bit of doubt in the back of my mind. I know that He can do it, if He chooses to. I just can’t presumptuously claim that I know for sure that He will do it. Is that okay? Is that still being faithful?
It’s comforting, in a way, to know that even Paul didn’t get the thorn removed from his side by his prayers. And I don’t think anyone would question the strength of his faith. And of course, even Jesus didn’t get the cup taken away from Him after earnestly praying for it. And for them, it wasn’t about their faith or that they didn’t please God, it was simply that it wasn’t God’s Will.
As I think back on things that I have prayed for that haven’t happened, I have had to reevaluate how I understand those verses. Let me see if I can best explain them, in light of the fact that there are times that we don’t get what we ask for, even if we feel our faith is solid.
I think this verse is best understood when we bring it all back to the beginning of what Jesus says - when we look at what it all hinges on. And Jesus sets up those verses with this: “Have faith in God.”
Our problem (at least, my problem) is not with how much faith we have, but with what we set it on. And according to the “name it and claim it” version of Mark 11:22-24, it’s our level of faith and the absence of doubt that will make whatever we say happen. But is that the right interpretation? Is that what faith is - believing that we know what the answer should be and claiming it?
Of course, I would love to be so in line with God that I could be bold and discerning in knowing exactly what to pray for - so that it gets answered. But I am apparently not there yet. I keep trying, though. I really do. I pray for something entirely appropriate (in my view), and I am confident and calm because I know that He can do it. And I believe that what I am asking is His Will, so He will do it. And I feel like a wise, effective prayer-warrior.
And then I wait and I wait and I wait. And I remind Him that I am hanging in there because I have faith in Him to come through for me. I let Him know that I believe that He is a big God who can answer my prayer with one touch of His heavenly finger. And I feel like a tired, but persistent, prayer-warrior.
And then I wait and I wait and I wait. And after awhile, I get depressed and I doubt and I wonder why He won’t just do this one thing that would be so simple for Him to do. Does He not get involved in this world like He used to in Bible Times? Has He just set the world in motion and then sat back and watched? Where is He and how much more do I have to demonstrate my faith in Him to do it? And faith? What is faith anyway? And what does Mark 11 mean if we don’t get what we ask for? And then I feel like a discouraged and defective prayer-worrier.
But it’s usually at this point that God has a lesson to teach me. Because it’s at this point that I learn that it’s not about me. It’s about Him. He doesn’t answer prayers based on my power and wisdom and faith. He answers them based on His power and strength and mercy and grace and wisdom. And however He answers is for His purposes and His glory.
And sometimes, He shows me what a big God He is by not answering my prayers as I think He should. I have come to realize that what I am really trying to do when I believe that my “strong faith” will make things happen is to manipulate God to do what I am asking. I am saying, “See how much I believe in You to do this? So now You can’t let me down.”
I am putting my faith in the strength of my faith to get God to do what I want, instead of putting my faith in God to lead me to do what He wants.
Does that make sense?
But this is not having “faith in God,” as Jesus says. It’s faith in my faith. It’s faith in myself to get something accomplished - based on what I do or don’t do, or believe or don’t believe. And this is misplaced faith!
“Name it and claim it by the strength of your faith” is not a godly way. It’s a spiritual-sounding, super-subtle way of elevating ourselves over God, of turning God into our errand boy. We act like we are in control and that we get it done - by our prayers, beliefs, and level of faith.
But God is so much bigger than that. And Jesus says, “Have faith in God!”
When a lake freezes in the winter, how do you know that it’s strong enough to hold you? You could stand at the edge and do all sorts of tests to determine if it’s safe, but you won’t know for sure until you step out in faith.
And the thing is, it doesn’t matter how strong your faith is. If the ice is not thick enough, no matter how much faith you have in it, it will not hold you up. But a frozen lake will. When the timing and conditions are right, it will hold you up, regardless of your level of faith in it.
Well, God is like that lake. When the timing is right and it is in His Will, you can take a step forward and know that He will hold you up, that He will grant your request. But if it’s not the right time or the right step to take, He will not make the steps you take secure or grant your request, no matter how much you thought He would or wanted Him to.
It’s not about your level of faith, but it’s about where you are putting it. Are you putting it in your own presumptuousness about how God should answer your prayers or are you putting it on God and His wisdom, strength, and timing?
Well, I’m learning that I need to focus less on my faith and if it’s “strong enough” and more on the God who is in control; less on the answer that I want and more on what God is trying to accomplish and to teach me through the trial.
Genuine faith in God is not one that says, “I asked for this and I believe that You can do it, so I’m claiming in faith that You’ll do it.” That’s presumption about what God wants and about how He should answer.
We say, “I have faith in You that You can do what I am asking You to do.”
But God might just be saying, “Yes, but will you still have faith in Me if I don’t do what you’re asking Me to do?”
Because a genuine faith in God is a faith that says, “I can’t see what’s ahead and I may not get what I want, but I still believe in You. I believe that You can do what I am asking; but if You don’t, I know that You are good and that You will work all things out for good. You are God and I am not!”
That is putting our faith in God. That is humility.
This is a huge series that I posted on my other blogs, but I think it's good to explore it in relation to Calvinism. (This will be very long, but I am posting the whole series together in one post because some of us, like myself, want everything in one place. And because some people might not want to wait till December to see the last posts in this series. But if you want the shorter posts, broken up into smaller points, see the "Understanding God's Will series" label in the sidebar. There will be some repeat in these points because they were written to be individual posts.)
I wrote this before I started exploring Calvinism, when I was deeply studying what God's Word says about how God operates in this world and interacts with man and answers prayer and carries out His Will, etc. And I am so glad I deeply studied - and got a clear picture about - what the Bible says about all this (as much as we can know that) before we got our new Calvinist pastor. Because it was knowing what the Word said, clearly and repeatedly, that helped me to recognize the errors of Calvinism from the beginning. Had I not already deeply studied God and His interactions with man, as the Bible clearly teaches it, I may have allowed the Calvinist pastor to put his Calvinist glasses on me, influencing me to see Scripture through his eyes. But, thank God, I had a clear, logical, sensible understanding of Scripture before he joined the church. (I will add new notes that relate to Calvinism when it's relevant.)
I wrote this before I started exploring Calvinism, when I was deeply studying what God's Word says about how God operates in this world and interacts with man and answers prayer and carries out His Will, etc. And I am so glad I deeply studied - and got a clear picture about - what the Bible says about all this (as much as we can know that) before we got our new Calvinist pastor. Because it was knowing what the Word said, clearly and repeatedly, that helped me to recognize the errors of Calvinism from the beginning. Had I not already deeply studied God and His interactions with man, as the Bible clearly teaches it, I may have allowed the Calvinist pastor to put his Calvinist glasses on me, influencing me to see Scripture through his eyes. But, thank God, I had a clear, logical, sensible understanding of Scripture before he joined the church. (I will add new notes that relate to Calvinism when it's relevant.)
Like most Christians, I have struggled long and hard with trying to understand God’s Will. I went through years of stress when I was seeking His Will about buying our first home. (I wrote all about this in the "Child of Mine" posts on the other blog, my life story.) I was terrified of missing His Will. But after that whole time was over, I delved deeply into the Bible to learn what it says about His Will. And it changed my view.
The bottom line is ... I wasted a lot of time and energy needlessly worrying that I would miss His Will. We don’t need to worry about “missing His Will,” as long as we are abiding in Him, sensitive to Him, and living obediently. Because if we focus on this (instead of on finding “the next step”), things will become clear as we walk with Him.
This series here compiles what I have learned about His Will in general, the things I didn’t really know before. And I think they are precious truths worth exploring, worth applying to our lives. But 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.
The bottom line is ... I wasted a lot of time and energy needlessly worrying that I would miss His Will. We don’t need to worry about “missing His Will,” as long as we are abiding in Him, sensitive to Him, and living obediently. Because if we focus on this (instead of on finding “the next step”), things will become clear as we walk with Him.
This series here compiles what I have learned about His Will in general, the things I didn’t really know before. And I think they are precious truths worth exploring, worth applying to our lives. But 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.
For reference, here are the sections I will look at (click on each to be taken to individual posts):
1. Our Impact On God's Will
2. Cause versus Allow
3. God's Will Is A Verb
4. Taking Our Responsibility Seriously
5. Prayer Matters
6. But God Can Read Minds
7. But God Already Knows Our Needs
8. Advice About Prayer
9a. "Name It and Claim It" Nonsense
9b. Help for the Journey
9c. Considering Other Prayer Verses
9d. Idolatrous Prayers
9e. Unanswered Prayer
9f. Maybe God's Not Listening
9g. Other Convicting Verses
9h. Summing Up Effective Prayer
9i. Still Waiting For An Answer
10. Why Do Bad Things Happen?
11. Does Everything Happen For A Reason?
12. God Works All Things For Good
13. Limiting God's Power?
14. Does God Cause Nations To Sin?
15. Is God Sovereign?
16. Can We Change God's Mind?
17. But God Can't Change His Mind
18. Our Responsibilities Regarding God's Will
19. Praying For The Wrong Things
20. Missing The Path
21. Will God Lead Me To Where I Don't Want To Go?
22. So What, Ultimately, Is God's Will?
2. Cause versus Allow
3. God's Will Is A Verb
4. Taking Our Responsibility Seriously
5. Prayer Matters
6. But God Can Read Minds
7. But God Already Knows Our Needs
8. Advice About Prayer
9a. "Name It and Claim It" Nonsense
9b. Help for the Journey
9c. Considering Other Prayer Verses
9d. Idolatrous Prayers
9e. Unanswered Prayer
9f. Maybe God's Not Listening
9g. Other Convicting Verses
9h. Summing Up Effective Prayer
9i. Still Waiting For An Answer
10. Why Do Bad Things Happen?
11. Does Everything Happen For A Reason?
12. God Works All Things For Good
13. Limiting God's Power?
14. Does God Cause Nations To Sin?
15. Is God Sovereign?
16. Can We Change God's Mind?
17. But God Can't Change His Mind
18. Our Responsibilities Regarding God's Will
19. Praying For The Wrong Things
20. Missing The Path
21. Will God Lead Me To Where I Don't Want To Go?
22. So What, Ultimately, Is God's Will?
And despite the fact that I seem to have a lot of answers here, I also have my fair share of unanswered questions and doubts still. We will always have deep, hidden doubts and fears, even as Christians. (While I may have doubts and questions about how God acts and moves and answers prayer, I do not have any doubts about God’s existence or love. I’ve come too far to doubt that anymore.) It is normal to have doubts and unanswered questions. The key is to be honest with the Lord about them and to let them drive us closer to Him. The more we do this, the more we will grow in our confidence and faith, and the more we will learn to seek refuge in Him when other doubts spring up.
Anyway, what I want to look at in this series is how we view God’s Will versus how I think the Bible portrays God’s Will. I think there is so much confusion over this, because we have grown up with so many pat answers and assumptions about what it is and about how God works. And I think that this is why “finding His Will” about a house was so stressful for me. Not only were there lots of expectations, misplaced hopes, and fears, but there were also many misconceptions about what “His Will” is and how to find it. And it wasn’t until after this whole time period that I began to see it more clearly. If I had known then what I know now, it wouldn’t have been so painful and stressful for me. But . . . that’s life!
[In Calvinism, everything that happens is God's Will, what He preplanned and wanted to happen and caused to happen, even things like child abuse and predestining most people to hell. (See the Calvinist quotes on sin and God's Will and predestination/election.) What a horrible assault on God's character, the gospel, and truth!
In contrast, I believe the Bible clearly and repeatedly gives a more complex picture of how God works than that. Yes, there are things He "preplans" and orchestrates, such as preplanning that Jesus would come to earth to die for our sins. But whereas Calvinism would say that God caused the people who crucified Jesus to be evil and to desire to crucify Him and that they had no chance or ability to choose otherwise because God orchestrated it all to be exactly the way it was, I believe the Bible shows us that God doesn't cause people to be evil or to sin but that He allows us to choose to be that way (and He knows ahead of time what we will choose) and then He weaves our self-chosen decisions (whether sinful or not) into His plans. He lets us choose first, and then He works it into His plans.
(And I don't mean the Calvinist version of "self-chosen" where un-regenerated people "choose" to sin because that's the only desire that Calvi-god built into their "sin natures," and so that's all they can "choose" because they have no ability to desire to do anything else. That's not real choice! Having only one choice - only one door to walk through - and not having the opportunity or ability to make any other choice because God didn't give you any other options is NOT choosing or making free-will choices. It's simply doing what Calvi-god preplanned you would do and forced you to do. That's NOT choice! It is Calvinist deception, trying to sound like they believe we make real choices and are truly responsible for our choices when they are really teaching the exact opposite!)
I believe the Bible gives a very different view of how God acts than Calvinism does. In the Bible, God gives a lot of freedom to man to make decisions, to obey or disobey, and He works our choices into His plans. But He doesn't make our choices for us. And since God allows us to disobey, many things that He wills don't get done. (Are all orphans and widows taken care of?) And many things that happen do so because of our bad choices, not because God wanted it to happen or planned it to happen.
In Calvinism, God controls and orchestrates all that happens, every tiny detail, including our sins. But in the Bible, God is over and above all, giving us freedom within boundaries, but then He takes our choices and works them into His plans or makes something good out of them.
It's kinda like the difference between a professional chef (Calvinist) who - to make his meal work out well - has to prewrite his recipes, plan every single ingredient he's going to use, and preplan/control every step of the way and everything that everyone on his kitchen staff thinks, says, and does so that he gets the exact outcome he preplanned, with no influence or input from anyone else... and a professional chef (non-Calvinist) who allows other people to bring in ingredients of their choice and to influence the steps he takes and the way he creates the meal, and yet who is still wise enough and capable enough to work it all into something amazing.
Or maybe you'd prefer a chess example. In that case, it's like the difference between a master chess player (Calvinist) who has to play both sides of the chess board himself, controlling every move made by both sides, in order to win... and a master chess player (non-Calvinist) who can beat any other skilled chess player who challenges him, anticipating their moves and working them to his advantage, whatever they choose.
The God of the Bible is so much more wise and complex than Calvinism gives Him credit for, being able to give us freedom to make choices and still being able to weave it all together into good, into His plans. But the god of Calvinism can only manage the factors he alone creates and can only win if he alone controls and causes everything, meaning that if there were any tiny particle he didn't actively control, he's cease to be a sovereign, all-powerful God.]
I want to start by looking at these two examples from my life: a job that I got and the first home we rented.
Just after my internship as a counselor, I was looking for a part-time job. I could only work a handful of hours a week since I had a toddler. And they needed to be evening hours so that I could work when my husband, Jason, was home.
As I interviewed for a position, the interviewer assured me that I could do almost all the work in the evening and that there would be minimal interruption during the day. And I asked several times to make sure. As I considered all the facts, everything sounded pretty reasonable. All I had against it was this tiny, little nagging sense that I wasn’t running it all past God. It was just a hint of a feeling that something wasn’t right, that I was going off in my own wisdom, and that God might actually want me to say “no,” or to at least slow down and pray and wait for guidance. But the details all seemed right, and I couldn’t see any real reason not to take it. And I needed the job (or I thought I did). It was an open door, so it must be God’s Will, right?
Well, it was a few weeks after I got the job that I learned that it was very disruptive to my day. This was a crisis-management counseling position, and so I had to be there when called upon. And I was called upon at all hours of the day, several times a week. I had to drop everything and ask my husband to come home from work so that I could attend staff meetings with the teens in the hospitals, sometimes up to an hour away.
I only made it four months before burning out and needing to find a new job. Had I just slowed down and listened to that still, small voice (which I didn’t really recognize as the Holy Spirit at the time), I would have been spared a lot of trouble. Thankfully, God allowed me to find a much more convenient part-time job after that, a position that opened up just as I was leaving the other one.
But, you might be wondering, maybe all this was God’s Will? Maybe He planned it all to happen that way to get me into that second position? Maybe, but I don’t think so. I had the sense that I was rushing ahead of God, and yet I didn’t listen. I believe that He might have had a different plan in mind, but I missed it with my hasty choice. He, however, took my mistake and worked it into a new plan.
And another time that I made a hasty choice was in regards to the first house that we rented. We were in an apartment out by my graduate school, but we were looking to move back home by my husband’s work. My mom and step-dad at the time, Bob, owned some rental houses there. And Bob called me up one day and offered to rent a house out to us. Something inside (or Someone) said, “Wait! Check it out first.” But did I listen? No! My reasoning said, “He’s my step-father. Of course he wouldn’t rent out something to me that wasn’t fit for us. I’ll just have faith that God brought this because it’s for the best.”
Well, after we said “Yes” and made plans to move, we got to see this home. And we were horrified. It was disgusting and filthy. It reeked of animal pee, the carpet was soiled, there was pot paraphernalia in the cabinets, and there were fleas and mice poop all over. (We had to bomb it three times for fleas. And I was eight months pregnant.) And it was like a fun house at a carnival, with walls ever-so-slightly slanted this way and that. And it was tiny, tiny, tiny. It was so filthy that we had to live with my parents for a month so that it could get fixed up enough to not be a health hazard. (Bob hadn’t really kept watch on the previous renters, so he didn’t even really know what condition it was in.)
And then, as house prices rose and we had a second child and I decided to stop working and we couldn’t make enough money to move up, we got stuck in that house for several very unhappy, very depressing years. Thankfully, we eventually moved to a better place (the two-bedroom rental that later became a moldy nightmare and heartbreak), but I wonder how things might have turned out had I listened to the Spirit’s quiet nudges or took the time to pray and to wait on God. We might have been able to bypass the whole mold-pit if we had prayed and listened to God's leading from the beginning. But I wasn't aware at the time how God led people and carried out His Will and worked in people's lives. But because of all the mistakes I made and all the research I did in the Word because of it, I learned over time. And so that is the good that came out of the bad.
So was the path that we took God’s Will for us, His preplanned path, to get us to where we are now? Or did we have some responsibility for what happened and where we ended up, especially since I knew that we didn’t seek God’s advice in the first place? Is everything that happens God's Will, preplanned and caused by Him? Or can we do things that God never willed, wanted, or caused?
I think the first thing we need to do when we talk about God’s Will is to define it. When we say, “God’s Will,” I think there are actually three different things we are referring to: God’s desires, God’s plans, and what actually happens.
If you said, “It’s God’s Will that I move to New York,” it could be that you think it’s simply what God desires for you, what He wants you to do ... or that it's the one path He preplanned for you and it was your job to find "the path," the next step He planned for you ... or that since you moved to New York (or are going to) then it must have been "God’s Will" because everything that happens is "God's Will" and has been planned by and caused by Him (Calvinists would fall into this camp).
I think it causes a lot of confusion when we lump them all together as “God’s Will,” because they are all different things. And they all bring different questions to the table.
1. Such as if you say it's what God desires for us, what He wants us to do, then does it always happen, no matter what? Or can we do things He doesn't desire? Can we fail to do things He does desire? What are the consequences of this? If His Will hinges on us somehow, then what are our responsibilities? How can we figure out what He desires for us and from us?
2. If you say it's the path He preplanned for us, then the question is ... Are His plans for us fixed? Are they written in stone? Will they happen no matter what? And if His plans for us don't always automatically happen, then how does He lead us to and down the "right path"? What is our part, our responsibility in finding it? What happens if we miss it? Do we miss out forever? Is there only one path and one opportunity to find it? If we miss it, can we ever get back on that path or does He have to make a new path for us, a lesser one, Plan B?
3. If you say that whatever happens is God's Will because God's Will always happens and is the only thing that happens, then why bother putting thought or energy into making any decisions at all? Because if God actively controls everything that happens (preplans it and carries it out), then we wouldn't be responsible for or have any influence over what happens anyway, good or bad. Nothing we do or think could affect what happens or change the outcome.
This, of course, opens up a whole mess of questions about who's responsible for sin and rebellion and evil and our belief/unbelief and our problems and the consequences of our choices, etc. God or us? Do we really have any choice in the matter if God always causes everything that happens and if everything happens exactly the way God planned it? Does Him being all-powerful and sovereign have to mean that He always uses His sovereign power all the time to control everything?
[Or do Calvinists simply have a wrong view of His all-powerfulness, His sovereignty? I believe God is indeed "all-powerful," just not in the way Calvinists say.
Calvinists insist that for God to be "sovereign," He must always be using His power all the time to control every little detail of everything that happens, even sin, so that it all works out just like He preplanned. According to them, if there's one tiny thing He doesn't preplan/control/cause - even one tiny speck of dust - then it would mean He's not God. Consequently, and despite their insistent denials, this belief of theirs makes God the preplanner, causer, controller of all evil, sin, and unbelief.
But "sovereign" is not about how God must supposedly use His control and power (which is really just Calvinists telling God how God must act in order to be God), but it's about the position of power and authority He holds. God is indeed sovereign and "in control" and all-powerful - the highest authority there it, over and above all - but He gets to decide how and when to use His control and power.
He alone has the last word in everything. He decides what to allow or not allow, when to step in and when to sit back, when to restrain people/demons and when to allow them freedom to act, how to answer our prayers, what boundaries to give us, etc.. And He can take whatever we choose to do (our sins, our disobedience, our obedience, etc.) and work it into His plans. This is how I believe the Bible shows God using His sovereignty and power. Sometimes He actively causing things (but never sin or unbelief) and sometimes He simply allows things (such as our choices and sins) and then He works them into His plans. And so contrary to Calvinism, God can still be sovereign and all-powerful and yet choose to let us have free-will and make real decisions, even ones He doesn't want.
And because our sinful decisions are really our decisions (not preplanned, controlled, caused by God), He is still righteous, just, and holy when He holds us accountable for them - unlike Calvi-god who punishes people for doing what he commanded them not to do but also what he simultaneously predestined/caused them to do, which makes him unrighteous, unjust, and trustworthy.
Sadly, most ordinary Calvinists can't see the damage that Calvinism does to God's character and the gospel. (And they don't even realize they're wearing Calvinist glasses when they read the Bible, and so how can they ever realize they need to take them off? See my anti-Calvinist blog for more.)]
Possible consequences of believing in option 2 or 3:
I think options two and three - believing God's plans are fixed and that He plans everything that happens and that everything that happens is because He planned it and caused it - could cause us to be lazy in our spiritual lives and disciplines. If we think we have no real role or responsibility in what happens, then we won't see the value in prayer or think it really matters. We won't put too much effort into our decisions, into obedience, into seeking righteousness. We'll let whatever happens happen because "everything that happens is what God wanted and God always carries out His Will ... right?" (Been there!)
Or maybe, if we think His paths are fixed, we'll stress ourselves out over finding "His Will" because we believe that He planned one particular "right path" for us ... and we have to find it or else! This might cause us to freeze up and panic about making decisions because we're so afraid about missing the path He planned for us, about being "out of His Will." (Definitely been there!)
This thinking also causes pain and heartache when we face tragedies, like a death or natural disaster or illness. Whatever God plans, happens. Right? And so whatever happens is because God planned it, right? (And if God planned it and caused it, then there is no such thing as free-will. We are just puppets on a string, acting out our prewritten roles. Right?) And we are left with the tragic belief that God wanted these bad things to happen, that He planned them, that there was nothing we could have done about it, that prayer doesn't really do anything because everything's been preplanned, that we have to simply accept these tragedies in "humility" and not be upset about them, etc.
But .. did He plan it? Was it “His Will”? Does He always do whatever He wants? Do our prayers make any difference at all? Or is our understanding of God’s Will off? Is it as fixed and "going to happen no matter what" as we think it is? Or do we have more of a role in and responsibility for getting God’s Will done than we realize?
So, which is it?
Is His Will best understood as His desires (what He wants to have happen), His plans (the path He preplanned for us, and we have to find it), or what actually happens?
In order to better understand “God’s Will,” we need to first define it. Desires? Plans? Or everything that happens?
Personally, I think that “His Will” is most accurately defined as what He desires (not an "official" definition, just my own best way to understand it). It’s what He desires for us (the choices He wants us to make and the path He wants us to take, etc.), and it’s what He desires from us (living God-glorifying lives and being obedient, etc.).
[And something I learned well after writing this series is this: If you look up the word "will" in the concordance - from verses about the things God "wills," about what His "will" is - we see that it's often about His desires, His "preferred-will," about what He wants to have happen or wants us to do, about His "best offer" to people which they then have to decide to accept or reject. And so I was right (and Calvinists are wrong) to define it as what He desires for us and from us and to believe that His Will doesn't always happen because He leaves it up to us to accept it or reject it.]
I think that while He does have plans for our lives - paths He wants us to take, decisions He will guide us in if we seek His help and guidance - His Will isn’t a pre-set, written-in-stone path (preplanned steps He wants us to take and decisions He wants us to make about things like what job to get, who to marry, where to live, etc.). It's not about finding the "next step" He planned for us, as if failing to find that step means we will be out of "His Will." And it's not about "whatever happens is because He planned it that way, therefore we have no real control over our behavior, and nothing different could have happened anyway."
I think His Will is more about how He wants us to live - abiding in Him and in daily obedience to Him and His Word - than it is about the particular decisions He wants us to make. And I think He has given us the responsibility to decide if we want to know how He wants us to live or if we want to be blind to it, if we want to obey or disobey, if we want to seek Him or ignore Him, if we want to follow His lead or go our own way, etc..
Contrary to Calvinism, which ultimately believes (after removing all the layers they wrap around it to disguise it) that God preplans and controls everything and so we don't have any real influence over our choices, thoughts, or behaviors, I believe we are truly responsible for our choices ... as in our choices and actions are not predetermined by or controlled by God, but by us. He has given us the right and responsibility to make real decisions (within boundaries), and so we are ultimately responsible for whether we accomplish "God's Will" or not. And if His Will doesn't get done, it's because we failed to do it, not because He planned it that way. If we sin or make a mistake, it's because we chose to, not because He planned it that way. If we end up in hell, it's because we chose to reject the only way to heaven, not because He preplanned it that way.
To Be Clear:
To be clear, I do believe that God does make plans and that when He plans something, He has ways of making sure it gets done. But not by controlling our thoughts and actions, not by causing sin and evil. If we aren't willing to do what He wants, He might find someone else who is. He might wait until the conditions are right, even waiting generations. He might set up situations in such a way that we have to make a choice, to act out what's in our hearts, and then He incorporates our decisions into His plans, without predestining/controlling what we choose to do.
So He doesn't force us to make the decisions we do; He just forces us to make our decision. Our thoughts, choices, actions, and sins are up to us, but He knows how to incorporate it all into His plans. Whether we choose to obey or disobey, to seek Him or to ignore Him, to do right or to do wrong, etc. So one way or another, His plans get done, but in a way that we are truly responsible for our choices and actions.
(And not the fake Calvinist idea of "Sure you're free to make your own decisions and to do what you want, so you are responsible for your choices"... but what they really mean is "You are free to make the decisions Calvi-god predestined you to make, free to follow the desires Calvi-god built into your nature - desires you can't change - which will cause you to do what Calvi-god predestined you to do... but you're still responsible for your decisions even though they were predetermined and orchestrated by Calvi-god. But, hey, he is the potter and we are the clay, and he can do whatever he wants, and who are we to talk back to him, so be a good, little, humble Calvinist and shut up and get in line"! That's fake freedom and fake responsibility for our decisions!)
Is there one pre-set path or do we have choices?
So I'm going to toss out the third option - the Calvinist idea of "God plans everything and causes everything to happen just as it does" - because it's wrong! Way wrong! And it's a futile option to discuss anyway, because if it's true then there's nothing we can do about anything. And so it wouldn't matter what we think or discuss about it. Everything we do would be a charade and totally pointless.
So let's focus on option two for now, the idea that God has "pre-set" plans for us.
I think we make problems for ourselves when we confuse seeking His Will with seeking His “pre-set plans” for us. Because He does not (usually) reveal His plans for us ahead of time. And for the most part, I don't think there are pre-set plans for us, for our individual lives. I think He has preset plans for mankind in general, such as creating us, sending Jesus to die for us, offering us salvation, redeeming us in the end, separating the sheep from the goats, etc. But I don't think He necessarily has preset plans for our lives. I think He's given us boundaries we can't pass, but He's also given us an enormous amount of freedom in the decisions we make within those boundaries, options for how we can live our lives. Yes, I think that in His love and wisdom, He has “best plans” for us, and He will guide us in those if we seek Him and obey. But I do not think that His paths and plans for us are pre-set and unchangeable. They hinge on us. Our behavior, choices, prayers, and obedience to Him and His Word have a major effect on if His best plans for us happen or not.
In the Old Testament, we get an idea of how God works with people. And generally, He lays out two paths: the blessing path and the curse path. Each path has consequences tied to it, but the people decide which path they want to take, by their obedience or disobedience. And because they themselves chose the path they took, they are responsible for reaping the consequences. God did not force them to choose what they did; He just forced them to make their choice. Yes, God has some long-term, overarching plans that He is working out over the course of history (salvation and restoration), and we can’t change those. (Thank God!) But He leaves it up to us which path we take in our individual lives to get to that end. He leaves it up to us if we will choose the "obedience path" or the "disobedience path." And this will affect whether we stay in His Will or not.
I do not think that God always does whatever He desires or that He forces His plans on us (in general). I do not think that everything that happens is because God wanted it or planned it to happen. We have responsibilities and an effect on life, and we are responsible for many of the consequences. And this is just how He has set up life, because He wants people who choose to love and obey Him, not who are forced to. So not everything that happens is “God’s Will.” And His Will does not always get done by us. And finding His Will is not about finding “the next step.” (Sometimes, it is, like when it is time for Him to reveal the next step.)
And this is where I got hung up so many times, especially in our search for a new home. I was needlessly exhausting myself in search of His future plans for my life, for "the next step" He wanted me to take, when I should have been focusing on His Will for me today, for how He wants me to live in my daily life in general, as revealed in His Word and in prayer.
I think that as long as we are living the way He wants us to live daily - in obedience, abiding in Him, reading the Word, praying, speaking truth, loving others, doing our daily jobs for His glory, confessing sin, etc. - the "next steps" will become clear as we go along. We don't have to stress ourselves out finding "the path." If we are walking in daily obedience to Him then we will be walking in His Will, on the path He wants us on, and the next step will become clear in time. Not because we are seeking it, but because we are seeking Him. And there's a big difference! We can save ourselves so much headache, heartache, and confusion if we have our focus right.
If we focus mostly on finding His plans for us instead of on finding Him, then we will miss out on both. But if we focus on finding Him first and foremost, then we will get both, without trying too hard or exhausting ourselves or discouraging ourselves.
God doesn’t promise to reveal His path and plans for us because we’re desperately searching for them. He holds the future and doesn’t let us in on that ahead of time. But He does promise to guide us (one step at a time) and care for us when we are abiding in Him, living the way He expects us to live daily, as revealed in the Bible - living in humble submission to Him, fearing Him, seeking wisdom, living righteously, praying, loving others, taking care of the needy, and obeying, among other things. As revealed in the Bible, these things are His Will for us.
Psalm 25:9,12: “He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.... Who, then, is the man that fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way chosen for him.”
Proverbs 2:1-2,9,11: “My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding ... Then you will understand what is right and just and fair - every good path ... Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you.”
Proverbs 11:3: “The integrity of the upright guides them ...”
Isaiah 33:15-16: “He who walks righteously and speaks what is right ... this is the man who will dwell on the heights, whose refuge will be the mountain fortress. His bread will be supplied, and water will not fail him.”
Jeremiah 6:16: “This is what the Lord says: ‘Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’“ (Italics are mine.)
Humility, wisdom, integrity, righteousness, seeking “the good way,” and obeying are what will take us down the good, restful path.
But there isn't one pre-set path for our lives. His Will is not about finding the "one path." It's about how we live daily. And we can choose to obey, to abide in the Lord, or we can choose to disobey and go our own way (and face the consequences). We can choose to follow Him when He does reveal a step He wants us to take, or we can refuse to. We can include Him in our choices, or we can ignore Him. His "best plans" for our individual lives don’t just happen apart from our effort, obedience, prayers, and abiding in Him. But how much time and energy do we waste worrying and fretting and wavering, trying to find "His Will, the next step, the one path" when we should be focused on finding Him, on getting to know Him better in His Word and on finding out how He wants us to live today, His revealed Will for our lives, according to the Word?
And so the sobering thought is ... we have a choice in whether or not we fulfill “His Will.” His Will (how He wants us to live, the things He wants from us and for us) is not a mystery; it’s all there in His Word. But do we take the time to discover it? Do we abide in Him? Do we put aside our own selfish desires and plans, in obedience to Him instead? Are we seeking Him, or do we just want to know what “the next step” for our lives is?
Since His Will is about how we live our lives and our obedience to what He calls us to do, I think that His Will goes undone many, many times. When we don’t seek to know what He expects out of us in His Word, when we don’t obey the Spirit’s nudges, when we don’t pray, when we ignore needs that we see, when we do not do the good that we know we should do, when we violate one of His commands, when we are unforgiving, when we don't watch our tongues, etc., His Will doesn’t get done.
Our problem is that we would much rather seek His plans with all our energy than seek Him with all our heart. We would much rather believe that His Will has to do with finding His "preplanned path" for our lives or the next step than it does with reforming our lives. We want a quick open door, not a deep makeover of our spiritual lives and disciplines. We want the blessings without any work or responsibility on our parts. And we want to believe that everything happens because He made it happen, not because it was some consequence of our own doing.
But we do have responsibilities and we do create consequences. His best plans for us don’t always happen because we can choose to obey or disobey, to pray or not, to seek Him or ignore Him. He allows us to do that. And He allows us the consequences. He honors our free-will and our choices and allows us to have an influence over what happens in life, for good or for bad. We have a hand in (and a responsibility in) making His Will happen and in reaping “blessings or curses.” By obedience, righteous living, and prayer.
Yes, God is all-powerful and He does indeed know what is best. And whatever He does is best. But just because He knows what’s best and wants what’s best doesn’t mean that He always causes those things to happen, apart from man’s cooperation. I believe that He voluntarily limits His use of power in causing things to happen. He does not always use His power to force things. He doesn’t always do “His Will,” regardless of us. Oftentimes, He hinges it on us, choosing to carry out His Will with and through mankind. Not because He's not sovereign enough or anything, but because this is the way He wanted it to be. He is not just some "force"; He is an emotional, relational being who wants a real relationship with people. And He couldn't get that with robots. So He chose to make real people with real feelings, thoughts, and abilities to make decisions. That's the way He wanted it to be, and it's apparent all throughout His Word.
Now, I’m sure this has brought up more questions than it's answered. So in the next posts in this series, I want to look at some of the questions you might want to ask about all this. (Some are so long that I broke them up into parts.) And I want to fill in the answers in more depth and with the Scripture that supports it. Now, I hate to be redundant, I really do. I hate being redundant, saying the same thing over and over again, kicking a dead horse, repeating myself. But in the name of being clear and thorough, I will repeat much of what I’ve already said in this intro. And I know it’s all a bit jumbled and messy because there is a lot to say. So please, bear with me.
[Note: Calvinists would have a problem with me saying that God's Will doesn't always get done, because they believe that God always carries out His Will and that everything that happens is His Will. But, for one example, consider James 1:27, which says that God wants us to take care of widows and orphans. This is something God wills, that He wants for us - to take care of widows and orphans. But does this always happen? Are all widows and orphans taken care of? No. Therefore, we have to conclude that God's Will goes undone sometimes because of us, our failure to do it. I would place the ultimate responsibility on man for not doing God's Will.
But guess how Calvinists would explain verses like this in light of their belief that everything that happens is God's Will, that He controls all?
They would say that Calvi-god (I call their God "Calvi-god" to distinguish him from the true God of the Bible) causes everything that happens for his glory, and that he sometimes wills us (causes us) to do the opposite of his stated Will because it somehow brings him glory.
If you ask them, "Why does God say He wants all men to repent and believe in Him," they'll say "Because it brings Him glory." But if you ask, "Then why does God (Calvi-god) predestine most people for hell, giving them no chance to repent or believe in Him," they'll say "Because it brings Him glory."
You see, Calvi-god has two Wills: the one he states in the Bible and a secret one which includes everything that happens, even if it contradicts his revealed Will. This is why Calvinists can say, "Sure the Bible says God wants all men to repent (God's stated Will), but He predestines most men to not repent and to go to hell for His plans and glory (Calvi-god's secret "other" Will, which contradicts the revealed one)."
But Calvinists say this is okay because they are both "his Will." They say it's okay for God to have two different wills that contradict each other, for God to state one thing but cause the opposite. And how do they excuse all this nonsense? With "Well, He's God and we're not, and so He can do whatever He wants and we don't have to understand it."
So in Calvi-god's eyes, the sin is as glorifying to him as repenting from the sin. Evil is as glorifying to him as good. Giving into temptation is as glorifying as fighting temptation. Causing abuse is as glorifying as fighting against abuse. Not taking care of widows and orphans is as glorifying as taking care of them. Disobeying his stated Will is as glorifying to him as obeying his stated Will. Because Calvi-god causes everything that happens "for his glory."
How can you trust a god like this? A god who says one thing but causes the opposite? A god who says he wants us to do one thing when he might really want us to do the opposite? A god who gives us commands we have no choice about obeying because he's already preplanned what we'll do anyway? A god who gets as much glory from causing good as he does from causing evil? A god who punishes us for the things he preplanned and caused?
There's something seriously wrong with Calvinism's god! It's just too bad that so many good, God-fearing people have been sucked into it through their desire to honor God and be humble. I believe Calvinism is little more than a brilliant strategy of Satan to use God's Word against God, to use our humility against us, to use our desire to glorify God against Him, etc.. All while disguising his lies as truth.
"... for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light." 2 Corinthians 11:14]
Understanding God's Will #1: Our Impact on God's Will
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 always "just happen" apart from our cooperation. Do you have Scripture to back that up?
Yes, well, I’m glad you asked. But first, 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, to be discerning? If our choices and actions don’t really matter and don’t have an effect because He's already got everything all planned out and will just do whatever He wants to do anyway [a Calvinist view of things, not my view or what I think the Bible teaches], then it doesn’t matter if we live with wisdom or foolishness. Whatever happens is God’s plan, right?
Proverbs 4:7 tells us “Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost you all you have, get understanding.”
Proverbs 2 tells us to seek wisdom diligently. And when we do, we will “understand what is right and just and fair - every good path.” (Proverbs 2:9) Wisdom is necessary to figure out the “good paths” that God wants us to take. He doesn’t just do what He wills or what He wants to have happen in our lives. We have to be walking in wisdom to figure it out.
[The Calvinist reply to "Why would we need to pray and seek wisdom if God (according to Calvinism) predestines everything that happens anyway" would be something like "Well, God ordains the means as well as the ends," meaning that He predestines (i.e. preplans, causes, forces) the end goal and all the steps to get there, what we do and what our choices are and if we pray or not.
But once again, "Why should we bother caring or trying to seek His Will and obey His Will if He, as Calvinist theology teaches, preplans and controls everything, down to whether or not we even care or try? If we're meant to care or try, He'll cause it to happen, with or without our thoughts, desires, or efforts. If we're not meant to, then He'll make sure we never do. It's all up to Him; we have no influence over it. So why should we sweat it?"
In the end, Calvinism is self-defeating, because nothing we think or do really matters because Calvi-god planned it all and will carry it all out exactly the way he planned. So if we obey and are wise, it's Calvi-god's Will. If we don't obey and are stupid, it's Calvi-god's Will. And we couldn't choose to do anything different than what Calvi-god predestined for us, according to Calvinism. Not only is this self-defeating, but it also destroys God's character and trustworthiness because it makes Him the ultimate cause of all sin and it means that He "ordains" the sin He commands us not to do and punishes us for. Very untrustworthy and unjust!]
I think the problem comes when we misinterpret verses like “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord ...” (Jeremiah 29:11), “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.” (Proverbs 16:9), and “... for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” (Philippians 2:13).
We hear these and think it means that since He has plans, He’ll do what He plans, regardless of us. That His plans are set in stone and it’s going to happen regardless of what we do. Right?
And I’m sure some verses seem to support for this. After all, there are times in the Bible where we read about certain people being called up or raised up by God for a certain purpose, like judges, Pharaohs, and prophets. But I don't think God overrides their free-will. I think He knew which person would be the best fit for His purposes at that particular time in history, and He knew what they would choose in any given situation, and so He foreknew who He could use and how and for what purposes, and He weaved that into His plan. That’s how I best understand it.
[Calvinists would say that God forced Pharaoh to be the hard-hearted person he was so that God could use it for His plans. But I say God let Pharaoh be the hard-hearted person Pharaoh wanted to be, and then after Pharaoh decided who he wanted to be, God made it permanent by hardening Pharaoh so that He could use it for His plans. In fact, according to Strong's concordance with Vine's Expository Dictionary, "hardens" is a retributive hardening, a punishment for first hardening our own hearts, for repeatedly resisting God even though He's been patient and longsuffering with us.
But most of us don’t want to put that kind of effort in. We’d rather just convince ourselves that every open door is from God and that everything that happens is "His Will". It’s a lot easier and a lot less disruptive than transforming our lives and our minds.Proverbs 2 tells us to seek wisdom diligently. And when we do, we will “understand what is right and just and fair - every good path.” (Proverbs 2:9) Wisdom is necessary to figure out the “good paths” that God wants us to take. He doesn’t just do what He wills or what He wants to have happen in our lives. We have to be walking in wisdom to figure it out.
[The Calvinist reply to "Why would we need to pray and seek wisdom if God (according to Calvinism) predestines everything that happens anyway" would be something like "Well, God ordains the means as well as the ends," meaning that He predestines (i.e. preplans, causes, forces) the end goal and all the steps to get there, what we do and what our choices are and if we pray or not.
But once again, "Why should we bother caring or trying to seek His Will and obey His Will if He, as Calvinist theology teaches, preplans and controls everything, down to whether or not we even care or try? If we're meant to care or try, He'll cause it to happen, with or without our thoughts, desires, or efforts. If we're not meant to, then He'll make sure we never do. It's all up to Him; we have no influence over it. So why should we sweat it?"
In the end, Calvinism is self-defeating, because nothing we think or do really matters because Calvi-god planned it all and will carry it all out exactly the way he planned. So if we obey and are wise, it's Calvi-god's Will. If we don't obey and are stupid, it's Calvi-god's Will. And we couldn't choose to do anything different than what Calvi-god predestined for us, according to Calvinism. Not only is this self-defeating, but it also destroys God's character and trustworthiness because it makes Him the ultimate cause of all sin and it means that He "ordains" the sin He commands us not to do and punishes us for. Very untrustworthy and unjust!]
I think the problem comes when we misinterpret verses like “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord ...” (Jeremiah 29:11), “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.” (Proverbs 16:9), and “... for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” (Philippians 2:13).
We hear these and think it means that since He has plans, He’ll do what He plans, regardless of us. That His plans are set in stone and it’s going to happen regardless of what we do. Right?
And I’m sure some verses seem to support for this. After all, there are times in the Bible where we read about certain people being called up or raised up by God for a certain purpose, like judges, Pharaohs, and prophets. But I don't think God overrides their free-will. I think He knew which person would be the best fit for His purposes at that particular time in history, and He knew what they would choose in any given situation, and so He foreknew who He could use and how and for what purposes, and He weaved that into His plan. That’s how I best understand it.
[Calvinists would say that God forced Pharaoh to be the hard-hearted person he was so that God could use it for His plans. But I say God let Pharaoh be the hard-hearted person Pharaoh wanted to be, and then after Pharaoh decided who he wanted to be, God made it permanent by hardening Pharaoh so that He could use it for His plans. In fact, according to Strong's concordance with Vine's Expository Dictionary, "hardens" is a retributive hardening, a punishment for first hardening our own hearts, for repeatedly resisting God even though He's been patient and longsuffering with us.
And Calvinists would say that God "irresistibly called" (forced) Saul to become the apostle Paul, that Paul had no choice about becoming a believer and apostle, to do the job God gave him. But I say that there's nothing in Saul/Paul's conversion story that shows that he didn't have a choice in how he responded to God's blindingly-clear call. I say that when the Lord blinded him and called him, Paul wasn't "forced" to be a believer; he was just smart enough to recognize God when he saw Him and to know that he had better believe and do what he's told. God didn't control what Paul decided; He just made Himself so clear that only a huge fool would refuse to believe. And Paul was not a huge fool.]
I do not believe God controls the decisions we make. But He can and does put us in situations that cause us to make the decisions He knows we will make. And He can and does work circumstances out in such a way to appeal to our personalities to get us to do what He wants us to do.
Such as, imagine a situation where God knows Bill is a faithful, outspoken witness, with a tender heart for hurting people. And Susan is a hurting woman who is searching for some hope, for God, but she doesn't know how to find Him. So God manipulates the circumstances by stalling Bill's car so that Bill decides to take the train to work. And God makes Bill late for Train A so that he ends up on Train B, next to Susan. And in the course of the train ride, Bill and Susan strike up a conversation, and Bill ends up helping Susan find the Lord. God didn't force Bill to be a believer or to be outspoken or to care about hurting people or to talk to Susan. He didn't even force Bill to decide to ride the train, because Bill could have chosen to call in and tell the bosses he couldn't make it that day. But since Bill was the kind of person he was and God knew that he'd decide to take the train and that Susan was on a train too, God orchestrated events to work it all into good, into something eternally useful.
This is how God can work things together without overriding our free-will right to choose, and how He can hold us accountable for our choices (such as to sin and rebel) even though He can use them for His plans and work them into good. He does it by manipulating circumstances in a way to appeal to our free-will, to make the most of the choices He knows we'll make. Not by causing us to decide what we do (which causes a severe problem when Calvinists claim that God "preplans, controls, causes" our sins and unbelief).
Whichever way God chooses to work circumstances out to get us to make a choice, in the end it's our decision to obey or disobey. And since it's our choice, we are responsible for our decisions and the consequences we reap. And whether we obey or disobey, God knew what we'd do and how to incorporate it into His plans.
5. In Acts 27, we read that it was God’s Will to spare all the people who were on the boat with Paul during a storm... but only if they stayed with the ship. God had a Will, a plan, but the people had to decide if they would follow Him in it, if they would stay safely in His Will or stray outside of it.
I do not believe God controls the decisions we make. But He can and does put us in situations that cause us to make the decisions He knows we will make. And He can and does work circumstances out in such a way to appeal to our personalities to get us to do what He wants us to do.
Such as, imagine a situation where God knows Bill is a faithful, outspoken witness, with a tender heart for hurting people. And Susan is a hurting woman who is searching for some hope, for God, but she doesn't know how to find Him. So God manipulates the circumstances by stalling Bill's car so that Bill decides to take the train to work. And God makes Bill late for Train A so that he ends up on Train B, next to Susan. And in the course of the train ride, Bill and Susan strike up a conversation, and Bill ends up helping Susan find the Lord. God didn't force Bill to be a believer or to be outspoken or to care about hurting people or to talk to Susan. He didn't even force Bill to decide to ride the train, because Bill could have chosen to call in and tell the bosses he couldn't make it that day. But since Bill was the kind of person he was and God knew that he'd decide to take the train and that Susan was on a train too, God orchestrated events to work it all into good, into something eternally useful.
This is how God can work things together without overriding our free-will right to choose, and how He can hold us accountable for our choices (such as to sin and rebel) even though He can use them for His plans and work them into good. He does it by manipulating circumstances in a way to appeal to our free-will, to make the most of the choices He knows we'll make. Not by causing us to decide what we do (which causes a severe problem when Calvinists claim that God "preplans, controls, causes" our sins and unbelief).
Whichever way God chooses to work circumstances out to get us to make a choice, in the end it's our decision to obey or disobey. And since it's our choice, we are responsible for our decisions and the consequences we reap. And whether we obey or disobey, God knew what we'd do and how to incorporate it into His plans.
There are several Bible stories that I think help illustrate this.
1. Many times in the Old Testament, we read that God lays out blessings and curses and then tells the people to choose (see Deuteronomy 30). He tells them that their choice to obey or disobey His commands will determine if they take the blessing path or the curse path. Obviously, it’s God’s desire that they take the path to blessings, but He doesn’t force it. He allows them to choose and He allows them to disobey. And then, He allows them to face the consequences.
2. In Exodus 4:24, we read that even though God had called Moses to help free the Israelites from Egypt, God was going to put Moses to death one night before freeing the Israelites because Moses failed to obey the command to circumcise his son. The first time I read this, I thought, "What!?! How could You do that, God? You need Moses!" However, I eventually came to realize that God could easily adjust His plans for us, the roles He gives us, according to our decisions, according to whether or not we obey Him. God didn't need Moses, but God wanted to use Moses because Moses was the best option at that point in time, provided that Moses obeyed and did his part. Yes, God had plans for him, but Moses was still required to do his part in order to be part of those plans. If Moses obeyed (which God knew he'd do), God knew how He'd work it into His plans, but if Moses disobeyed, God would know how to work that into His plans instead. God has plans for us, but whether we end up on the path of blessings/good consequences or the path of curses/bad consequences depends on whether or not we obey what God calls us to do. It's our choice, and God will respond accordingly.
3. Consider the Israelites at Passover. It was God’s Will that they be spared when the Angel of Death came and killed the firstborn of the Egyptians. But in order for God’s Will to be done, they had to be obedient in putting the blood of a lamb on their doorframe. God had a Will (plans) for them, but it was carried out by the people’s obedience. And if they were disobedient, they would miss out on God's Will and have to pay the consequences. [According to the Strong's with Vine's, God's Will is often not about some kind of "preset, written-in-stone plan" but about His "preferred will," what He wants to have happen based on His desires for us. But He leaves it up to us to choose to obey or disobey Him, to follow His Will or rebel against it.]
4. Also regarding the Israelites, it was God's Will to get them to the Promised Land. He desired and planned that for them, but they rebelled and grumbled and disobeyed on the way. So as a consequence of their rebellion, He extended their stay in the desert until all the grumblers died off, and then He led them to the Promised Land. So His over-arching Will/plan to get them to Canaan was accomplished, but the people affected the journey they took to get there, their own role in that plan and the consequences they faced. It didn’t have to work out the way that it did. God didn’t “will” that they die in the desert. They could have had the blessings of His original plan for them, if they had just obeyed and followed Him in faith.
5. In Acts 27, we read that it was God’s Will to spare all the people who were on the boat with Paul during a storm... but only if they stayed with the ship. God had a Will, a plan, but the people had to decide if they would follow Him in it, if they would stay safely in His Will or stray outside of it.
6. In 1 Samuel 23:12-13, David asks the Lord if the people of the town Keilah will hand him over to Saul, who is pursuing him to kill him. And God says that if he stays in that town, they will hand him over to Saul. Armed with this foreknowledge of what will happen, David leaves. God knew what would happen in both options - if David stayed or if David left - but He let David decide.
7. In 1 Samuel 13:13, Samuel tells Saul that if Saul had kept God's commands, then God would have established Saul's kingdom permanently. If Saul had obeyed God, then things would have worked out differently. God had plans for Saul, but they hinged on what Saul chose. If Saul obeyed, he'd get the path of blessings. But Saul disobeyed, and so he got the path of curses. And God shifted the kingship to David, to someone who would obey Him.
8. 1 Kings 20:42 says "He said to the king, 'This is what the Lord says: 'You have set free a man I had determined should die.''" God promised the king of Israel, Ahab, that He would wipe out an enemy nation before them, but it meant that Ahab must kill its king, Ben-Hadad. But Ahab didn't obey and he let Ben-Hadad go free instead. And as a consequence of Ahab's disobedience, Ahab would die in battle. God had plans to bless Israel and fully wipe out their enemy, but Ahab had to choose to do his part, which he didn't. And it changed what God originally intended to do for him.
9. Exodus 13:17: "When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country. For God said 'If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt." If God preplans/orchestrates/controls everything (as Calvinists believe) then why would God say that something different could have happened if the people took a different route?
The answer is: Calvinism is wrong. God doesn't preplan/control everything we do. He has plans for us, a "preferred Will," things He promises to do for us and things He wants to bless us with, but we have to do our parts to get those blessings and promises. He leaves it up to us to decide. And if we disobey, we will miss out on His best plans for us.
If we think that God’s Will for our lives is pre-set and that “whatever happens must be God’s Will because God always does what He wants,” we will be off-track and drifting through life, letting whatever happens happen because we don't think we can do anything to change it or affect it.
Living like we have no effect on whether God’s Will gets done or not will cause us to be lazy in our daily pursuit of God, lazy in prayer, lazy in obedience, lazy in reading and applying His Word, and lazy and ineffective in spiritual warfare. Because "What does it matter anyway?"
But in the Bible, God is very clear that we choose how we respond to Him and how much we pursue Him, His righteousness, His truth, His Will. We make our own choices between good and evil, between obedience and disobedience - and obedience is critical to obtaining the blessings He wants for us, critical to staying in His Will and staying on the path He wants us to take.
I am not saying that we have an influence over everything or complete freedom to do whatever we want (God gives us limits and boundaries - but lots of freedom to move freely within those boundaries - and can override our decisions) or that God always hinges His Will on us (there are times He doesn't, such as God promises that Jesus will come back again, and this will happen regardless of our choices in this life). But there are many times in our own lives that we do have an effect and that He does hinge things on us, many times when He acts/moves/responds according to our choices.
So I don't think there are pre-set paths all planned out for us that we have to find. I don't think that everything that happens is "God's Will." I think God has general plans for us all, such as to serve Him, to be honest, to bring Him glory, to witness to others, to be a good, loving, honest, faithful, compassionate family member and neighbor and employee, etc. And I believe that He is always willing to guide us in the best path for us in our current season and circumstances of life (especially through His Word and prayer). But I also believe that He leaves it up to us if we will follow His path or go our own way (and reap the consequences). And yet whether we obey or disobey, He can still work our choices into His over-all plans somehow, even if it alters the effect it has on our own lives.
But in the Bible, God is very clear that we choose how we respond to Him and how much we pursue Him, His righteousness, His truth, His Will. We make our own choices between good and evil, between obedience and disobedience - and obedience is critical to obtaining the blessings He wants for us, critical to staying in His Will and staying on the path He wants us to take.
I am not saying that we have an influence over everything or complete freedom to do whatever we want (God gives us limits and boundaries - but lots of freedom to move freely within those boundaries - and can override our decisions) or that God always hinges His Will on us (there are times He doesn't, such as God promises that Jesus will come back again, and this will happen regardless of our choices in this life). But there are many times in our own lives that we do have an effect and that He does hinge things on us, many times when He acts/moves/responds according to our choices.
So I don't think there are pre-set paths all planned out for us that we have to find. I don't think that everything that happens is "God's Will." I think God has general plans for us all, such as to serve Him, to be honest, to bring Him glory, to witness to others, to be a good, loving, honest, faithful, compassionate family member and neighbor and employee, etc. And I believe that He is always willing to guide us in the best path for us in our current season and circumstances of life (especially through His Word and prayer). But I also believe that He leaves it up to us if we will follow His path or go our own way (and reap the consequences). And yet whether we obey or disobey, He can still work our choices into His over-all plans somehow, even if it alters the effect it has on our own lives.
I think the verses that talk about God “determining out steps” need to be viewed in light of all the other verses that talk about our steps being guided as we obey God, as we walk in His ways and use wisdom. It’s not that He forces us down certain paths; it’s that He guides us down the path and “determines our steps” when we are living in obedience to Him, walking in His ways, following His commands, seeking Him, abiding in His Word, praying, and using wisdom. It doesn’t just happen, apart from our obedient lifestyle. We cannot just do what we want and expect that it's all "God's Will" or that we are automatically on the best path for us.
Exodus 19:5: “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession.” (If the Israelites obeyed, then they would get the blessing.)
Deuteronomy 6:3: “Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, promised you.” (God’s promises and His best plans for us hinge on our obedience.)
Psalm 119:1-4, 9-10: “Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord. Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart. They do nothing wrong; they walk in his ways. You have laid down precepts that are to be fully obeyed.... How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands.” (Those who walk according to His law are walking in His ways. If we want to find the best “way” and the blessed path, we have to obey Him.)
Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” (Our paths are straightened out by the Lord as we trust Him and acknowledge Him in all our ways, as we walk with Him daily.)
Matthew 6:33: “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Once again, we’ll get the blessings that God wants to give us when we put our focus on seeking His kingdom and His righteousness.)
I think those who believe God's Will always "just happens" and that everything that happens is God's Will fall into the trap of thinking we can do "whatever" and that we'll still end up being in His Will (and they can't understand why prayer matters).
But reading between the lines of Romans 12:1-2 shows me that God doesn’t just force His Will on people (what He desires for/from us), regardless of what man does. Man actually has much greater level of responsibility than just “God's Will always happens, regardless of what I do.”
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Out of thankfulness for the mercy that God has shown us, we are to live holy and pleasing lives as God calls us to (this is what I call seeking righteousness or living righteously). We are to sacrifice our desires and plans for His sake and for His kingdom, offering our bodies to be used by Him and for His purposes. And this includes our minds, which we are to transform and renew by the power of the Holy Spirit.
We need to get our hearts and minds in line with Him. And this can only really happen when we choose to stop conforming to the world. We can’t do both: have our minds conformed to the world and yet transformed by the Holy Spirit. But when we choose to let go of our worldly pursuits and mindsets - when we seek to be holy and pleasing and submissive to God - we give the Spirit room to come in and transform us. And it is then that we can discern God’s perfect Will for our lives, what He wants for us and from us and the ways that He wants us to walk. And then, it’s up to us to obey!
Psalm 37:23 tells us “If the Lord delights in a man’s way, he makes his steps firm.” And Proverbs 11:5 says, “The righteousness of the blameless makes a straight way for them, but the wicked are brought down by their own wickedness.”
We won’t know God’s plans for us by trying to “force” Him to reveal it, by trying to make it happen, or by merely sitting back and waiting for it to come to us, presuming that God will drop blessings in our laps and guide our steps as we self-centeredly go about our business. We have a lot more to do than just "going with the flow," thinking we’ll stumble onto God’s plans for our lives or always be in His Will no matter what. We need to be delighting the Lord with our righteous living and our obedience if we want to remain on His best path for us.
Even Philippians 2:12 echoes this (which is just before the verse that says that God works in us to will and to act according to His purposes). It says that as we have always obeyed, we are to continue to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. We are to continue in our obedience, in fear of the Lord, because God works in us to accomplish His purposes.
For some reason, we always skip the part that talks about our responsibility, and we go right to the part that says that God will work in us according to His purposes. And then we think that He’ll just do whatever He wants in us and through us, that we'll always be in His Will and that whatever happens is always His Will.
Exodus 19:5: “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession.” (If the Israelites obeyed, then they would get the blessing.)
Deuteronomy 6:3: “Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, promised you.” (God’s promises and His best plans for us hinge on our obedience.)
Psalm 119:1-4, 9-10: “Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord. Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart. They do nothing wrong; they walk in his ways. You have laid down precepts that are to be fully obeyed.... How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands.” (Those who walk according to His law are walking in His ways. If we want to find the best “way” and the blessed path, we have to obey Him.)
Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” (Our paths are straightened out by the Lord as we trust Him and acknowledge Him in all our ways, as we walk with Him daily.)
Matthew 6:33: “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Once again, we’ll get the blessings that God wants to give us when we put our focus on seeking His kingdom and His righteousness.)
I think those who believe God's Will always "just happens" and that everything that happens is God's Will fall into the trap of thinking we can do "whatever" and that we'll still end up being in His Will (and they can't understand why prayer matters).
But reading between the lines of Romans 12:1-2 shows me that God doesn’t just force His Will on people (what He desires for/from us), regardless of what man does. Man actually has much greater level of responsibility than just “God's Will always happens, regardless of what I do.”
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Out of thankfulness for the mercy that God has shown us, we are to live holy and pleasing lives as God calls us to (this is what I call seeking righteousness or living righteously). We are to sacrifice our desires and plans for His sake and for His kingdom, offering our bodies to be used by Him and for His purposes. And this includes our minds, which we are to transform and renew by the power of the Holy Spirit.
We need to get our hearts and minds in line with Him. And this can only really happen when we choose to stop conforming to the world. We can’t do both: have our minds conformed to the world and yet transformed by the Holy Spirit. But when we choose to let go of our worldly pursuits and mindsets - when we seek to be holy and pleasing and submissive to God - we give the Spirit room to come in and transform us. And it is then that we can discern God’s perfect Will for our lives, what He wants for us and from us and the ways that He wants us to walk. And then, it’s up to us to obey!
Psalm 37:23 tells us “If the Lord delights in a man’s way, he makes his steps firm.” And Proverbs 11:5 says, “The righteousness of the blameless makes a straight way for them, but the wicked are brought down by their own wickedness.”
We won’t know God’s plans for us by trying to “force” Him to reveal it, by trying to make it happen, or by merely sitting back and waiting for it to come to us, presuming that God will drop blessings in our laps and guide our steps as we self-centeredly go about our business. We have a lot more to do than just "going with the flow," thinking we’ll stumble onto God’s plans for our lives or always be in His Will no matter what. We need to be delighting the Lord with our righteous living and our obedience if we want to remain on His best path for us.
Even Philippians 2:12 echoes this (which is just before the verse that says that God works in us to will and to act according to His purposes). It says that as we have always obeyed, we are to continue to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. We are to continue in our obedience, in fear of the Lord, because God works in us to accomplish His purposes.
For some reason, we always skip the part that talks about our responsibility, and we go right to the part that says that God will work in us according to His purposes. And then we think that He’ll just do whatever He wants in us and through us, that we'll always be in His Will and that whatever happens is always His Will.
But I think the Bible shows that God works His plans out in cooperation with mankind, through our prayers and obedience. They won’t just happen if we are not doing our part. (Of course, He can and does use our disobedience and sins too, without causing them, but then we miss out on the kind of life He wanted us to have.)
Understanding God's Will #2: Cause versus Allow
Well, what about verses like Proverbs 16:4: “The Lord works out everything for his own end ... ” Doesn’t this mean that He causes everything that happens for His own reasons?
I don’t think that’s what it means. It doesn’t say He causes everything that happens for His own reasons; it says He works them out for His own ends. (I’ll break this down further in later posts.) God has an end goal, and He knows how to take whatever we do and work it together to reach that end. But this doesn’t necessarily mean that He causes us to do what we do for His own reasons (because if He did then He would be responsible for our sins, not us) or that He causes the tragedies that we face for a reason.
Now keep in mind as you read this series that I am not challenging the whole “Everything happens for a reason” idea for those who face trials in the quiet, optimistic assurance that there is some deep, unknown reason for their trial or tragedy. For those who find hope in that idea. I believe that they already have a secure faith in the fact that God will use that tragedy or heartache for good. And they are not overly concerned about the “did He cause it or did He just allow it to happen” debate. They just know that good will come out of it.
I am trying to clarify the “cause vs. allow” debate for those who doubt God or are bitter or angry at Him for the tragedy and pain in their lives. Those who don’t know how a good God could “cause” such bad stuff. Those who aren’t sure they can trust a God like that.
And I am clarifying this for those who believe in (who have been misled by) Calvinism, in the theology that says God is the one who ultimately preplanned and caused all the bad things that happen, even people's sin and unbelief, and yet then He turns around and punishes people for it. This has huge impacts on how we view God, on our faith, on what we think of His character and whether He is trustworthy or not.
And so this is why I want to differentiate between “cause or allow” in the coming questions, to show you that God can be trusted indeed, that He doesn't preplan/cause evil but He can put it to good use, that we make real choices and God holds us accountable for them, not that God causes us to choose what we do and then punishes us for doing what He caused us to do. Your understanding of this issue will have drastic consequences on your faith, on your view of God and the Gospel.
And I am also talking to those who use “Everything happens for a reason” to excuse themselves of any responsibility when a choice of theirs causes a certain consequence. If we cause bad things to happen by our choices, we cannot shrug it off as “God’s Will” or say that He caused us to do it for a reason. We are responsible for our behavior and for the consequences.
But we can trust that whatever bad things come into our lives, by our own doing or not, God will take all that “junk” and work it into something good, something that serves His purposes. And He can tell how to best use this “junk” because He sees all of history before it happens. I don’t necessarily think He alters His plans to incorporate our “bad stuff,” so much as He already knew how He’d use it, because He knew it was coming before we even did.
So to sum up what I'm trying to say here: I think it's generally more accurate to say that, yes, sometimes God causes things (but never sin, evil, or unbelief, never the things He commands us not to do), but most other things God simply allows to happen (life events, our choices, natural events, etc.) because He has given us free-will and has given us (and nature and evil beings) a certain amount of leeway to affect things, to make choices, to create consequences, etc. But whatever happens, God is watching over it all and knows how to turn it into something good. And this is why He can be trusted, because He doesn't cause the sin and evil, He just knows how to turn it into something good.
It makes a huge difference in our trust and faith and obedience if we believe it's "cause" instead of "allow," which is why it's worth the time of sorting this out in our minds.
To explain it more clearly and fully: The reason Calvinists believe it's "cause" is because they misunderstand what it means that God is sovereign.
To them, sovereign has to mean that God preplans, causes, controls all that happens - every tiny detail, from a speck of dust in the air to the decisions men make, even to sin or rebel against Him. Because if God didn't actively control everything, according to them, then He wouldn't be God. (For them, it's not enough for God to be in control, as in "over and above all, managing all that happens, having the final say in all." NO! For them, God has to be actively controlling all, not just in control over all. And that's a big difference!)
And they try to rationalize this and to make it sound good (and to shut up opposition) by saying that God causes things like sin and rebellion for His glory. (Who's gonna argue with them when they claim it's "for God's glory"? Manipulation at its finest!) They believe that God is ultimately glorified by our sins and wickedness. And it's not just that He can get glory from any bad situation or any sin we choose to commit; it's that He specifically preplanned and caused each evil act we do - giving us no choice to do otherwise - in order to get glory from it.
Think about what that says about God's character for one moment!
In fact, Calvinists believe God deliberately created most people with the sole purpose of hating them, causing them to be unbelievers, and putting them in hell ... because it brings Him glory.
How backwards and twisted is this!?!
What damage it does to God's character and the Gospel!
And how then, may I ask, is God any different from Satan ... if God hates people, wants people to sin, wants people in hell, causes people to sin, is glorified by evil, etc.!?!
Calvi-god is simply Satan in disguise.
But ... this is not what sovereign really means. Sovereign doesn't mean "God has to preplan, cause, control everything or else He's not God." That's simply mankind - Calvinists - teling God how He has to be and has to act in order to be God. (And yet, that's how they get you - by saying, "But you believe God is sovereign, don't you? Are you going to deny that God is sovereign? Do you think you are above God?" And people just shut up, stop questioning them, and fall in line. Because who is going to argue with the idea of God being sovereign? Yet no one ever stops to question their definition of sovereign.)
But God Himself shows us in His Word - through biblical examples and verses - how He chooses to act and be. You see ... sovereign is about the position someone holds. It's about being in the position of supreme authority, under the control of no one else, being accountable to no one else, and able to make all final decisions. It's about being the Top Dog. About having all the power.
But it's NOT about how He has to use His power. That is going above and beyond the definition of sovereign. God has all the power, the position of authority, but we don't get to decide how He must use His power and position of authority. We don't get to decide that if He doesn't use it the way we say He should then He must not really be God. But this is what Calvinists do. And it is a huge detriment to their theology, to God's character, to Jesus's sacrifice, to the gospel message, and to people's faith.
God Himself has decided how to use His power and exercise His authority.
And He has chosen - as evidenced all throughout His Word - to give mankind a certain level of freedom. True freedom. The freedom to make our own decisions (and face the consequences). He has chosen to give mankind and Satan certain boundaries, but freedom to act within those boundaries. He has chosen, amazingly enough, to allow His own creation to reject Him.
Goodness gracious, is that incredible or what!?!
The all-powerful Creator of the universe has chosen to restrain His use of power so that He could give men the right to make decisions, to have a real effect on what happens in life, in eternity. Because He wants people to be able to choose to love and obey Him, not to be forced to. God has chosen to work His plans out with and through mankind, not to control every decision we make.
That is so humbling to me! And it makes me love Him even more!
If you read your Bible carefully, without Calvinist glasses on, you can see for yourself multitudes of examples of how God chooses to be and act, how He chooses to exercise His power and sovereignty.
And here are a few examples that show how wrong Calvinism is, that show how God chooses to restrain His use of power and His ability to control us, how He has decided to give men a certain level of freedom:
Hosea 8:4: “They set up kings without my [God’s] consent; they choose princes without my approval.” (God’s own words. How is this possible if He plans all things, causes all things, and decides what people decide? Is God lying in this verse?)
And here are a few examples that show how wrong Calvinism is, that show how God chooses to restrain His use of power and His ability to control us, how He has decided to give men a certain level of freedom:
Hosea 8:4: “They set up kings without my [God’s] consent; they choose princes without my approval.” (God’s own words. How is this possible if He plans all things, causes all things, and decides what people decide? Is God lying in this verse?)
Ezekiel 13:22 (KJV): "Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad ..." And the CSB version puts it this way: "Because you have disheartened the righteous person with lies (when I intended no distress)..." (In Calvinism, God would be the one who preplanned and ultimately caused people to lie to the righteous people. He would have preplanned/intended to cause the righteous people to be disheartened, contradicting His claim that He never intended to do that. And so either God lies or Calvinism lies. Which one do you think it is?)
Acts 14:16: “In the past, [God] let nations go their own way.” (How can He "let" people do anything if He is the cause/controller/preplanner of everything? And if He is the cause of all - for His glory - why would He be giving credit to the nations for the decisions they made, when He did it for His glory?)
Isaiah 30:1: “‘Woe to the obstinate children,’ declares the Lord, ‘to those who carry out plans that are not mine …'” (“Plans that are not Mine”! Yet, according to the Calvinist, all plans are His plans. Once again, is God lying? Or are Calvinists wrong?)
1 John 2:22: “Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ.” (If God causes men to deny that Jesus is Christ, wouldn’t that make God complicit in the lie?)
Jeremiah 19:5: “They have built the high places of Baal to burn their children in the fire as offerings to Baal - something I did not command or mention, nor did it enter my mind.” (Once again, God’s own words. How can God cause someone to do something that God Himself says never entered His mind?)
Matthew 23:37: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing." (If Calvinism is true, God caused them to be unwilling, for His glory. Why then would Jesus mourn over it and make it sound like the people are responsible for their rebellion?)
Acts 14:16: “In the past, [God] let nations go their own way.” (How can He "let" people do anything if He is the cause/controller/preplanner of everything? And if He is the cause of all - for His glory - why would He be giving credit to the nations for the decisions they made, when He did it for His glory?)
Isaiah 30:1: “‘Woe to the obstinate children,’ declares the Lord, ‘to those who carry out plans that are not mine …'” (“Plans that are not Mine”! Yet, according to the Calvinist, all plans are His plans. Once again, is God lying? Or are Calvinists wrong?)
1 John 2:22: “Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ.” (If God causes men to deny that Jesus is Christ, wouldn’t that make God complicit in the lie?)
Jeremiah 19:5: “They have built the high places of Baal to burn their children in the fire as offerings to Baal - something I did not command or mention, nor did it enter my mind.” (Once again, God’s own words. How can God cause someone to do something that God Himself says never entered His mind?)
Matthew 23:37: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing." (If Calvinism is true, God caused them to be unwilling, for His glory. Why then would Jesus mourn over it and make it sound like the people are responsible for their rebellion?)
Joshua 24:15: "But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve ..." (If God controls your every thought and choice, then there is no "choosing," which makes a mockery of this verse and of the whole gospel and Bible, in fact.)
Job 38:11: "Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb... when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, when I said, 'This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt.'?" (This is God Himself talking to Job. But if God controls every tiny wave of every body of water, why would He need to give it "limits," boundaries? Limits and boundaries mean that there is a line you can't cross but that there is freedom within those lines. This is how God has chosen to order things!)
Want one more example of that? "Then God said ... "... let them [mankind] rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." (Genesis 1:26. God Himself has chosen to give His creation a certain amount of dominion, of freedom, of free-will. And the Bible shows this again and again. THIS is where I get my definition of sovereignty from! NOT by deciding for myself that God MUST always be preplanning, causing, controlling everything all the time or else He's not God. Calvinism is mankind telling God how God has to be in order to be God!)
Calvinism cannot explain verses like these (and these are just a few!) in any rational, logical ways that keeps God’s character intact and that maintains the truth found in Scripture as a whole. But they keep trying! Doing more and more damage to God’s character and Gospel Truth!
(And I'm not saying that God doesn't sometimes preplan/cause/control things. Yes, sometimes God does do that. But He NEVER preplans or causes sin. Because that would totally destroy His holy, good, righteous, just character. He can and does allow us to sin and make evil choices. And He can and does put us in situations that force us to make our choices. But He doesn't control us or cause us to choose evil or sin. But if we do choose to be evil and to sin, He can and does work it into His plans for good.)]
I'm also adding this repost of Calvinist Bad Logic #5: We Can Trust A Controlling God:
A Calvinist says:
“That being said ... why would anyone trust in God who isn’t in control of all things that come to pass, the only way to have unreserved faith without doubt is to pray, hope and believe in God who is on the throne.”
[My note: Of course, all Christians believe that God is on the throne. But what he means - what Calvinists mean - is "Why would anyone trust a God who isn't actively controlling all things?" Like Calvinist James White basically says in this clip, we supposedly can trust and have faith only if we know that God is controlling all those evil things, such as child rape. But if they happen without God causing them, then they are supposedly meaningless evils, and we would be left in despair knowing that meaningless evils can happen outside of God's "control."
So Calvinists would rather believe that God actively preplans/causes our sins - and yet punishes us for them - than that He just allows us to choose to sin. They think that's a kind of god we should want to trust, love, emulate, and spend eternity with!?! Frickin' insane!
Calvinism: "I know there's horrible abuses going on this world and murders and evil, but at least you can take comfort in knowing that God preplanned and caused them to happen, but that He'll punish the people for it. We don’t have to understand it or like it; we just have to accept it. Now, let's praise Him for His goodness and faithfulness, and let’s go out there and try to be more like Him!"
“That being said ... why would anyone trust in God who isn’t in control of all things that come to pass, the only way to have unreserved faith without doubt is to pray, hope and believe in God who is on the throne.”
[My note: Of course, all Christians believe that God is on the throne. But what he means - what Calvinists mean - is "Why would anyone trust a God who isn't actively controlling all things?" Like Calvinist James White basically says in this clip, we supposedly can trust and have faith only if we know that God is controlling all those evil things, such as child rape. But if they happen without God causing them, then they are supposedly meaningless evils, and we would be left in despair knowing that meaningless evils can happen outside of God's "control."
So Calvinists would rather believe that God actively preplans/causes our sins - and yet punishes us for them - than that He just allows us to choose to sin. They think that's a kind of god we should want to trust, love, emulate, and spend eternity with!?! Frickin' insane!
Calvinism: "I know there's horrible abuses going on this world and murders and evil, but at least you can take comfort in knowing that God preplanned and caused them to happen, but that He'll punish the people for it. We don’t have to understand it or like it; we just have to accept it. Now, let's praise Him for His goodness and faithfulness, and let’s go out there and try to be more like Him!"
Not to mention that, ironically, in Calvinism, the only way a person can have "unreserved faith without doubt" is if God causes them to have it. In Calvinism, nothing we do can affect the level or kind of faith we have - or even whether or not we have faith to begin with - because only God decides and controls that. If we have doubts or weak faith, it's because God causes us to have doubts and weak faith, and there's nothing we can do about it. If we fail to pray, it's because God preplanned and caused it. Calvinism shoots itself in the foot, negating or compromising every instruction or bit of advice it gives.]
My reply to that Calvinist comment:
My reply to that Calvinist comment:
I would say “How can anyone trust Calvi-god when he lies about what his true will is, causes people to sin and to do the opposite of what he commands, gives some people evanescent grace (fake salvation) so that he can more strongly damn them to hell, pretends to offer salvation to all and to give us a choice about it but then denies most people the chance to be saved, makes it sound like Jesus’s death paid for all sins when Calvi-Jesus really just died for a few people, tells us to seek him and believe in him when he knows we can’t seek him or believe in him unless he causes us to, creates most people specifically for hell because it somehow highlights his justice, grace, and love, etc.?”
If that’s God “in control,” I’d hate to see God out of control!
The problem is not with God and His sovereignty. The problem is with the Calvinist view of God’s control, of His sovereignty. The Calvinist assumes that in order for God to be in control, He has to always be controlling/causing everything all the time. Or else He’s not God, according to their ideas of how God should be.
But it’s they who put their own presuppositions on God, who box Him in to how they think He has to be in order to be God.
But the Bible shows us a God who is “in control” and sovereign in a very different way. The God of the Bible has chosen to work in cooperation with mankind in various ways. He has chosen to give us real choices and to work our real decisions into His plans. He sometimes causes things to happen (but never sin or evil) and sometimes simply allows things to happen, but He is over and above it all, knowing how to work all things (even our choices, our self-chosen obedience or disobedience) into His plans.
Calvi-god is a small, weak god who can’t handle any other factors than what he himself causes. But the God of the Bible is a very BIG, wise God who can work all things together for good, even things He doesn’t cause, the things He allows us to do.
And here's a relevant comment someone made at Soteriology 101 (quoted in my post Calvinist Bad Logic #9: "Cause vs Allow: What's the Difference?"): “If God destines something to an end [note: Calvinists mean "preplanned/caused it to happen"] or permits it (a.k.a. "allows it") and sustains it to the same end, what is the difference?”
My reply to that comment:
What’s the difference between a God who allows someone to make their own decision to rape and kill, and who punishes them for their choice … and a God who causes someone to rape and kill, with no option to do anything different, but who then punishes that person for raping and killing?
What’s the difference between a God who genuinely offers salvation to all people, who lets us make our choice about if we want Him in our lives or not, and allows us to face the consequences of our choice … and a God who predestines our eternities and choices, who causes unbelievers to be unbelievers, who never gives unbelievers a chance to seek/find Him or to find salvation, and who then punishes unbelievers in hell for being the unbelievers He caused them to be?
If you can’t see a difference, what does that say about your view of God and the gospel? Either that, or you’re just not thinking about it carefully enough.
God's character and the truth and message of the gospel are on the line!
Understanding God's Will #3: God's Will Is A Verb
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.
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 Calvinists misunderstand what "His Will" means.
Let's look briefly 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 Him. But Saul wasn't faithful and obedient, and so he lost the kingship. God said that He had a good plan that He would've carried out - blessings He would've given Saul - but it hinged on Saul's decision and actions.
But if Calvinism is true - that "God's Will" means He preplans/causes/orchestrates everything that happens and so nothing different could have happened, that everything that happens is "His Will" - then God preplanned and willed that Saul disobeyed and lost the kingship, because that's what happened. And therefore, God (or Samuel) was lying by saying that something different could've happened, that God had different plans that could've happened if Saul had obeyed - because there would've been no chance for Saul to obey if God preplanned/orchestrated his disobedience from the very beginning, if it was "His Will" and had to happen (according to Calvinism's understanding of "God's Will").
Either that, or Calvi-god preplans everything to happen exactly the way it does, but then he also makes alternative plans that he knows will never happen. Why would he do that? Why would he plan what happens but then also plan what doesn't happen? Why would he plan things that never happen if he alone has prewritten everything that happens and nothing can change it? And if he planned both - if he planned what happened and what didn't happen - then which one was really "his Will"?
If it's both, then it means his Will doesn't always happen - because the alternative plan that didn't happen would have also been "his Will." But it didn't happen. Yet Calvinists say his Will always happens. And so how does that work?
Either that, or he makes plans he doesn't really want/will. Calvinists insist that, yes, his Will always happens and everything that happens is his Will... but then that would mean that only what happened was his Will (Saul disobeyed and lost the kingship) and that the alternative wasn't his Will (God's plan to let Saul keep the kingship if Saul had obeyed), which means that Calvi-god makes alternative plans that aren't his Will. And so how does that work?
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 Calvi-god planned every detail from the beginning and caused it to happen exactly how he planned. Either that, or he created two opposing plans that are both "his Will," which means one of his Wills doesn't happen and that he wills things that oppose his other will. Or else the plan that didn't happen wasn't his Will, which means he creates plans he doesn't will.
This is too messy. Trippy. Schizophrenic.
But the easy, most logical answer is this: Calvinism is wrong. God's Will doesn't mean "pre-set plans that must happen." God does not predestine everything that happens. God gives us real choices, and we make real decisions between real options, and then He responds accordingly, incorporating our choices into His plans.
And so "His Will" is about the things He wants us to do but doesn't force us to do. He allows us to either obediently follow Him in His Will or to disobediently reject His Will. And so it's our decision whether we remain in His Will or not. And we'll reap the consequences of our decision.
An important note: According to Strong's Concordance with Vine's Expository Dictionary, God's Will is about His "preferred" plans. It's what He wants to have happen in any given situation. And so when the Bible says something is "God's Will," it usually means that it's what He wants for us. But He allows us to decide if we will follow Him in His Will or not. His Will - the things He wants for us - happens or doesn't happen based on us, on if we obey Him or not. "His Will" is not about pre-set plans He creates that must certainly happen, as Calvinists would say.
[Once again, 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, in Calvinism.
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, as seen all throughout His Word. Clearly and plainly and easily-understood.]
Another example that shows the absurdity of Calvinism is this:
In the Garden of Eden, God told Adam and Eve to not eat from the forbidden tree. But they ate from it anyway. So which one was "God's Will" in Calvinism?
In Calvinism, God's Will always happens because He preplans it and causes it, and nothing different could have happened. And so obviously, it would have to be His Will that they ate the fruit. But then why would He tell them to not eat the fruit, acting like His Will is that they don't eat it? Deceptive.
Calvi-god commands one thing but preplanned/causes the opposite. So which one does he really want, which is his real Will: what he says he wants or the opposite thing that he "preplanned" to happen? How can a god like that be trusted?
Calvinism makes a mess of God's word and God's character. And there's no reason, in Calvinism, to trust that God said what He meant or meant what He said. There's no reason to think that His commands are what He really wants... because He could've actually preplanned that we break His commands because that's what He really wants instead. In Calvinism.
Calvinism makes God a very unstable, untrustworthy, dishonest, divided, two-faced, self-sabotaging, schizophrenic God.
And all Calvinists can say in reply is "Oh, but God has two different levels of what He wills: what He says and what He does/planned. He can want one thing but cause the opposite. 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!)
If Calvi-god tells us his Will is one thing while his actual Will is the opposite, then how can we ever trust any command he gives? Calvinism effectively destroys our trust in God's Word and our need to obey any command He gives - because in Calvinism, if we disobey God's command, it was because it was "God's real Will." This makes God - not us - the true cause of all disobedience and sin.
My recommendation to all Calvinists: 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. He knows what the outcome of any decision we make will be. And so whether we obey or disobey - whatever we choose - He knows how to work all possibilities into His plans. But He does not decide which we choose. He lets us choose, and then He responds to us accordingly, letting us face the consequences of our decisions.
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 decisions, which is fair and just.
This is why God can say that His Will is that all people are saved, that no one perishes. It's His preferred plans for everyone, what He wants to have happen for everyone. But He doesn't force it. His Will, His desire, is that we all are saved, but He gave us the free-will to accept or reject what He desires for us. And then He lets us face the consequences of our decision, even if it means we hurt ourselves by our own choices.]
Okay now, that was quite a tangent, but back to the original post (and keeping in mind that God's Will is about what He prefers to happen):
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. Yes, it's a noun technically, but we decide to do or not do it (verb). 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 or trying to find it, as though it was a pre-set path or plan we have to find or wait around for until it happens. It's not something that happens to us; it's something we choose to do.
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 ...”
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, whether we stay in His Will or not. It's up to us whether or not we know what His Will is, based on whether or not we read and understand and apply His Word.
Of course, He does have some pre-set, overarching plans for mankind that will happen, regardless of our decisions, and He is working everything toward that end. But when it comes to our own individual lives, He doesn’t force His Will or have some pre-set plan that we have to find or that will happen regardless of us.
Yes, He has a best plan for us, one He wants us to follow Him in, for our good and for His glory and purposes. But we don’t have to follow Him in it if we’d rather rebel and go our own way or just float through life, like a bag in the wind. He leaves it up to us.
This is why it's so important to properly understand what "God's Will" is, to truly understand our responsibility in making it happen and in reaping the blessings God wants for us and in staying on the path He wants us on.
And we can only truly understand it by getting to know what God is really like in His Word, by understanding that He gave us the free-will to make our own real decisions among real options, and by learning what He expects from us, the way He wants us to live, the responsibilities He gave us, and the consequences that go with our choices, according to His Word.
And so my advice for those who are always worrying about finding God's future plans for them or worrying about missing "His Will" is this:
Don't worry about searching for His future plans for you, as if it's a pre-set plan you must figure out. Focus first and foremost on obeying what He has already revealed in His Word. Focus on what you do know, on being obedient to what He's already revealed, and then what you don't know will become clear, in God's time and in God's way. This is a part of living by faith.
If we in obedience to what He has already revealed to us in His Word, we will be walking closely in step with Him, safe in His Will, and He will guide our future steps, and we will reap the blessings that come with being faithfully obedient to Him.
So don't worry about looking for His future plans for you. Look for Him instead. Focus on Him. Follow Him and His Word. And as you do so, you'll naturally be walking in the direction He wants you to go, and He'll straighten out the path under your feet as you walk in harmonious obedience to His Word.
But once again, you don't have to do this if you don't want to. You can follow your own wisdom and go your own way, or you can float through life, letting the circumstances take you wherever they may because you're convinced that everything that happens is "God's Will" and that you can't affect it one way or the other.
The choice is yours.
Psalm 143:10: “Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground.”
Psalm 25:4-5,9,12: ”Show me Your ways, O Lord, teach me Your paths; guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are God my Savior, and my hope is in You all day long… He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them His way… Who, then, is the man that fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way chosen for him…”
Psalm 19:7-8-11: “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the Lord are sure and altogether righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb. By them is Your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.”
Psalm 119:105: "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path."
Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”
2 Timothy 2:15: "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth."
Galatians 5:16: "So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature."
Romans 12:2: “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, perfect, and pleasing will."Understanding God's Will #4: Taking Our Responsibility Seriously
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. And I think this is a big pitfall for Calvinists. Because if we think that everything that happens is God's Will, that He'll always work His Will out regardless of what we do or don't do (because in Calvinism, God essentially preplans and controls everything we do, so everything we do is His Will, even our sins), 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 as we should, 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, think or don't think. Because it's all been scripted by Calvi-god anyway, and no-one can go off-script, right.
Right?
1 Kings 20:42: "He said to the king, 'This is what the Lord says: 'You have set free a man I [God] had determined should die.''"
Hosea 8:4 (God's words): "They set up kings without my consent; they choose princes without my approval."
Calvinists would simply say, "Oh, well, God has two different Wills. He can say He wants one thing to happen but then cause the opposite. He can predestine/ordain/cause things He doesn't approve of, for His mysterious plans."
Umm, well, can He predestine/ordain/cause things He never thought of causing?...
Jeremiah 19:5 (God's own words): "They have built the high places to Baal to burn their sons in the fire as offerings to Baal - something I did not command or mention, nor did it enter my mind."
Isaiah 30:1: "Woe to the obstinate children," declares the Lord, "to those who carry out plans that are not mine..." (Once again, Calvinists might simply say, "Well, God has two different plans. In one plan, He didn't want the people to do what they did. But in the other plan, He caused the people to do what He didn't want them to do ... for His glory and mysterious reasons. And He's so far above us that we can't understand it. He is the Potter and we are clay. How can the clay talk back to the Potter or understand the Potter's ways?" Blah, blah, blah. Gobble, gobble, gobble. I wonder then, how can we trust anything God commands us to do, if He might actually want us to do the opposite? If you listen carefully, you'll see how - when it comes to the hard questions and their contradictions - they deflect or switch topics or verse-bomb you with verses taken out of context.)
Psalm 33:10: "The Lord foils the plans of the nations ..." (If all plans are God's plans, and if we can only plan what God causes us to plan, then isn't God foiling His own plans here? Oh but wait, I forgot ... Calvi-god can have two plans that contradict each other. He can ordain one thing but then ordain that people do the opposite of what he ordained. Yep, makes perfect sense!)
Acts 14:16: "In the past, he [God] let nations go their own way." (Impossible ... if every way is God's preplanned way!)
Calvinists have to twist an awful lot of verses to make the Bible teach Calvinism!
But the Bible is clear, in verse after verse, that God has allowed mankind a certain level of freedom - to obey or disobey, to carry out His Will or resist it, to follow Him or reject Him. And we will face the consequences of our choices. But God did not and does not make our choices for us. Not everything we do is because He predestined it and ordained it and caused it.
If, in Calvinism, "ordained" meant "Whatever happens is because God chose to allow it to happen, instead of stopping it," then I could agree. But that's not what Calvinists mean. By "ordain," they mean "God preplans/causes/controls everything that happens, and nothing different could have happened." And I cannot agree with this. It makes God the ultimate cause of all evil and sin. And this destroys God's holiness, character, justice, love, etc. Because then He punishes people for the sins and rebellion He caused, that He gave them no choice about.
And this is simply not truth!
This is Calvinists misunderstanding what sovereignty is. Calvinists have decided that a sovereign God has to control all things, even sin, or else He can't be God. They have decided how He has to use His power and authority, and if He doesn't use it to control all things like they think He has to, then He can't be God. And this is wrong.
Sovereignty is not about how God uses His power and authority. It's about God having the highest power and authority there is. But He can use it any way He wants to. He's God! And in His sovereignty - as the highest authority and greatest power there is - He has decided to give men a certain level of freedom to make real decisions (that He doesn't preplan/control/cause). And since He is also the most all-knowing Being there is, He knows what we are going to choose - whether we will obey or disobey in any given circumstance - and He knows how to work it all into His plans.
And so He doesn't have to preplan/ordain/cause all we do, even our sins. (This makes Him the cause of evil.) All He has to do is let us choose what He knows we will choose, and then He works it into His plans. (This is how evil can happen but He is not responsible for it.)
God can allow evil and still be holy, righteous, just, loving, trustworthy, etc. But He cannot cause evil and still be holy, righteous, just, loving, trustworthy, etc.
Don't get me wrong, God does cause things and He does have plans that He's working out over the course of history. But He doesn't cause us to be evil or to do evil, to want to sin or to sin. Those things come from us. He just knows how to work whatever we pick into His plans.
But we are not locked into choices He "predestined" for us. And we are not locked into a sinful nature that can never want Him or seek Him or choose Him or obey Him or do good. The opportunity to seek Him is available to all people. The option of doing good and believing in Him is open to all. And He lets us make our choices, real choices, from the multitude of options that are available to all of us. He has given us all the opportunity and possibility of picking obedience or disobedience, belief in Him or rejection of Him. He does not make those decisions for us. They are ours, and we will be held accountable for our choices to sin. And rightly so, because He didn't "ordain" it. He just allowed it.
(However, Calvinists will say "We don't say God causes evil." And they're right. They don't SAY it. But their theology, when you connect all the dots, inevitably and undeniable teaches it. Even though they cover it up with so many layers that they trick even themselves into thinking they are not saying God causes evil, when they really are.)
The following is taken from "When Calvinism's 'Bad Logic' Traps Good Christians":
And it's not just "ordains." Whenever a Calvinist uses these words or phrases about God, what they're really saying is that "God preplans and causes everything that happens": ordains, determines, decrees, foreknowledge, foresight, plans, wills/willed, omnipotence, omniscience, sovereign, sovereignty, controls, God "agrees" to it, God "allows" it, God "knew" it would happen, God "understood" what would happen, God is "in control," etc.
They never mean that He just "allows" something to happen (because then He wouldn't fit their view of "sovereign," which is "He has to actively control all things or else He's not God.").
They always mean that He predestined it to happen and caused it to happen exactly the way it happened, and that nothing different could have happened.
(Can you see why a verse like 1 Kings 20:42: "He said to the king, 'This is what the Lord says: 'You have set free a man I [God] had determined should die''" would defeat their theology, even though they try to cover it up any way they can!)
They always mean that He predestined it to happen and caused it to happen exactly the way it happened, and that nothing different could have happened.
(Can you see why a verse like 1 Kings 20:42: "He said to the king, 'This is what the Lord says: 'You have set free a man I [God] had determined should die''" would defeat their theology, even though they try to cover it up any way they can!)
Everything always comes back to "God preplans/causes everything that happens," even if they're trying to make it sound like they're saying that God simply "allows" what happens. (Also see "Do Calvinists Really Believe God Causes Sin? Let Them Speak For Themselves!")
A classic Calvinist tactic (which I will come back to again and again to cement it in your mind because it's foundational to their theology) is to say "God allows us to sin, to carry out the evil desires that are in our hearts." But what they really mean is "God allows us to do the sins He predestined for us (and we could never choose anything differently), to carry out the evil desires that are in our hearts - evil desires that came with the 'sin nature' He predetermined we would have. The 'sin nature' comes only with the desire to do evil and to sin all the time, and you cannot change the nature you have because God Himself predestines which nature we get, and so if He gave you the 'sin nature' you will only have sinful desires and you can only act according to those sinful desires. God 'allows' you to do the sins that result from the sinful desires that came with the sin-nature He predestined you to have, just as He preplanned everything to happen long ago. And if you get the 'sin nature' you can never want to obey Him or do good because you weren't given the nature that comes with those good desires." And yet Calvinists will insist that this is truly mankind "having a choice, making their own decisions, being accountable for their sins." It's messed up! It really is! But this is what Calvinists mean when they say that God 'allows' us to sin and make decisions, that we are 'responsible' for our choices!
In fact, they will do their best to hide their belief that God causes sin (to the point of even convincing themselves that it’s not what they’re really saying) by wrapping it in layers of “truth,” saying things like “There are two causes of sin. God is the proximate/ultimate source of sin, but we are the remote/secondary source of sin. And we willingly choose to carry out the sin that God ordains for us. And so therefore, we are really responsible for our sin, because we wanted to do it (even though we could only want to sin and therefore we could only choose to sin, according to the nature He gave us), and so God is totally just in punishing us for it.” (Even though Calvi-god preplanned our sin long ago and we couldn’t have done it any differently!)
A classic Calvinist tactic (which I will come back to again and again to cement it in your mind because it's foundational to their theology) is to say "God allows us to sin, to carry out the evil desires that are in our hearts." But what they really mean is "God allows us to do the sins He predestined for us (and we could never choose anything differently), to carry out the evil desires that are in our hearts - evil desires that came with the 'sin nature' He predetermined we would have. The 'sin nature' comes only with the desire to do evil and to sin all the time, and you cannot change the nature you have because God Himself predestines which nature we get, and so if He gave you the 'sin nature' you will only have sinful desires and you can only act according to those sinful desires. God 'allows' you to do the sins that result from the sinful desires that came with the sin-nature He predestined you to have, just as He preplanned everything to happen long ago. And if you get the 'sin nature' you can never want to obey Him or do good because you weren't given the nature that comes with those good desires." And yet Calvinists will insist that this is truly mankind "having a choice, making their own decisions, being accountable for their sins." It's messed up! It really is! But this is what Calvinists mean when they say that God 'allows' us to sin and make decisions, that we are 'responsible' for our choices!
In fact, they will do their best to hide their belief that God causes sin (to the point of even convincing themselves that it’s not what they’re really saying) by wrapping it in layers of “truth,” saying things like “There are two causes of sin. God is the proximate/ultimate source of sin, but we are the remote/secondary source of sin. And we willingly choose to carry out the sin that God ordains for us. And so therefore, we are really responsible for our sin, because we wanted to do it (even though we could only want to sin and therefore we could only choose to sin, according to the nature He gave us), and so God is totally just in punishing us for it.” (Even though Calvi-god preplanned our sin long ago and we couldn’t have done it any differently!)
Calvinism is truly sick, completely backwards and utterly deceptive, and it destroys God's good, holy character, not to mention the Gospel!
They go to great lengths to hide the fact that Calvi-god causes sin, to make it sound like he's not really responsible for our sin when he really is, because they know they can't accuse God of sin. And so they come up with all sorts of convoluted ways to put the blame on us and not on Him.
(You could sit under a Calvinist pastor for years and not really know it. Because they are so good at disguising their beliefs and appearing to back up everything they say with Scripture. And they are usually powerful, dynamic, bold speakers who sway the congregation with their zeal and knowledge and confidence. See "How to Tell if a Church, Pastor, or Website is Calvinist.")
Calvinism is nothing less than a slippery, slithery, evil theology!
"Oh," says the Calvinist, "but we don't have to know how it all works out. We just have to believe it because the Bible teaches both God's sovereignty and mankind's responsibility. We don’t have to like or understand this teaching; we just have to accept it." This is how my Calvinist pastor puts it. (And yet no one stops to question his definition of sovereignty.)
They go to great lengths to hide the fact that Calvi-god causes sin, to make it sound like he's not really responsible for our sin when he really is, because they know they can't accuse God of sin. And so they come up with all sorts of convoluted ways to put the blame on us and not on Him.
(You could sit under a Calvinist pastor for years and not really know it. Because they are so good at disguising their beliefs and appearing to back up everything they say with Scripture. And they are usually powerful, dynamic, bold speakers who sway the congregation with their zeal and knowledge and confidence. See "How to Tell if a Church, Pastor, or Website is Calvinist.")
Calvinism is nothing less than a slippery, slithery, evil theology!
Back to this UGW #4 post now:
Another risk of thinking that He’ll always do whatever He wants and that all things happen because He wants them to happen is that we might not be so discerning about the “open doors” that come our way.
Well, this is the first job or house or relationship or offer that came my way, so it must be from God.
Or This is just what fell in my lap when I waited on God, so it must be His Will.
Many times, these “open doors” can take us down paths God never wanted us to go, because we didn’t use wisdom or pray for guidance and discernment to find out if it really was from God. And we will miss out on His best for us.
Sometimes, God’s Will does fall in our laps, like when the path that He desires us to take comes to us very obviously. And when the time is right, the doors do open. (But we still have the choice to walk through the door or not.) But there are open doors that are not from God. And we need to use wisdom to be discerning.
Satan would love nothing more than to trip up Christians and get them off-track with God, out of His Will. Because this makes us vulnerable, easier targets for him to attack.
And we need to be careful that we don’t use “It happened, so it must be God’s Will” to do (or excuse) something selfish. Just because it happened, doesn't mean it was God's Will. Sometimes things that happen are simply a result of our own bad choices, things God never intended for us. And instead of excusing them, we need to seek to make things right with God again. If we do not acknowledge our sins and the consequences of our sins, our relationship with God will continue to be hindered, which will make us more callous to His messages to us, which will lead us further and further away from Him, into sin.
"And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." (Ephesians 4:30)
(If Calvi-god causes us to do the bad things we do for his pleasure and glory and plans, how can anything we do grieve him? Is he grieved to be pleased and glorified and to see his plans done? Do you know how Calvinists would respond to this? "Because God can cause us to do things He doesn't 'want' us to do, things that make Him angry or upset, for His mysterious plans. We can't understand it; we just have to accept it." Nonsense and hogwash!)
I think that some open doors are tests, particularly when it leads to something we really want anyway, like an abundance of money, the chance to get ahead, a relationship with someone who’s not our spouse, or a job that we really want. They could be tests to see if we will seek what God wants or if we will follow our own desires, excusing ourselves from the necessary effort, prayer, and pursuit of holiness that Romans 12:1-2 calls us to.
"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will."
[This makes no sense if Calvinism is true, if it's true that everything that happens is because God willed it and caused it for His glory and pleasure. Because it would mean that God tells people to offer their bodies as living sacrifices because it's pleasing to Him ... while He causes them to disobey Him, for His glory and pleasure. So Calvi-god tells people it pleases him if they live as sacrifices, while causing them to disobey for his glory and pleasure. Doesn't make sense! That's a schizophrenic, untrustworthy god!
And why would we need to be renewed and transformed to figure out His "good, pleasing and perfect" Will ... if everything that happens, even our sins and disobedience, is His "good, pleasing and perfect" Will? Once again, doesn't make sense! But that's Calvinism for ya! Nonsense and hogwash!]
Always remember that God will never guide us to do anything that violates a Biblical principle that He has already revealed in His Word, no matter how much it looks like “God’s Will” to us (and no matter how much Calvinists convince themselves that whatever we do is God's Will and that God causes people to do the opposite of what He commands us to do in His Word).
So it will never be God’s Will for you to divorce your spouse to marry someone who “makes you happier.” (He has allowed some reasons for divorce, but "I want to be happier" isn't one of them.) It’s never God’s Will for you to hoard tithe money because things are tight. (He’s already said that we are to tithe and then He’ll take care of us.) It’s never God’s Will for you to experiment with sexual partners before you get married to see if you are compatible. (He very clearly says that He created sex to be between a husband and wife.) It will never be His Will for you to take a job that is un-glorifying to Him, because we are to do everything to the best of our ability, for His glory!
God, through His Word and the Holy Spirit, will only guide us in paths that glorify Him and uplift His holy name, and not paths that smudge His good name or that are for selfish gain.
Psalm 23:3: “. . . He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” (Emphasis is mine.)
2 Corinthians 3:18: “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
James 4:3: “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”
These are things to keep in mind when you are trying to discern if God is leading you down a certain path or not. We need to be cautious about letting our desires mislead us. And we need to be immersed in prayer and in the Word (and be obedient as God leads) if we want to be sure to stay on the path that God desires we take.
(And if you are a Calvinist, you need to be repenting of your terrible theology and asking God to help you understand His Word correctly! Your witness as a Christian and God's Gospel and good character are at stake! In fact, ask God in prayer to show you if and how your Calvinism hurts His character and His truth. And then listen for the answer over the next several weeks.)
Understanding God's Will #5: Prayer Matters
Understanding God's Will #5: Prayer Matters
So prayer really does matter when it comes to making sure that God’s Will happens?
Yes, it does! God hinges a lot of things on our prayers and our choices.
But if we (like Calvinists) believe that God always does whatever He wants regardless of us and that He has preplanned and controls all we do and so we don't get a choice anyway, then we won’t realize how much prayer matters in discerning God’s plans for us and in getting His Will done. And our prayer life will be weak.
And there are examples in the Old Testament that support the necessity of prayer and the fact that it affects whether His Will gets done or not.
In Exodus 23:32, God tells Israel to make no covenant with the people in the land of Canaan after they take possession of it. But in Joshua 9, we read about the Gibeonite deception and how they did make a treaty with these people, believing that they were from a distant land. Joshua 9:14 says that in this instance, Israel “did not inquire of the Lord.”
God’s Will and plan was that they didn’t make a treaty with these people. And I believe that God would have uncovered this deception for Israel and would have warned them not to make a treaty with them ... if they had prayed about it. But they didn’t pray about it, so God’s Will didn’t happen in this case.
[Calvinists will just use the old "But God has two Wills" thing, saying that God can say He wants one thing while causing the opposite, that God's spoken Will was to not make a treaty while His secret Will was that they made a treaty.
Can you see what this does to the character of God!?! To His trustworthiness!?! How can we trust any command He gives us if He might secretly want us to do the opposite of what He told us to do? And if we do the opposite of what He commanded us - such as having an affair even though He's told us to keep the marriage bed pure - then it would have to be that God preplanned/caused us to have an affair to fulfill His secret Will, according to Calvinism. How can you trust a God who lies to us about what He wants us to do and then causes us to disobey Him? Can you see the damage that Calvinism does to God and Gospel Truth!?! And yet they excuse it with "But God is sovereign and can do what He wants." See "Calvinism: Abusing God's Sovereignty To Defend Its Heresy."]
And likewise, 1 Chronicles 10:13-14 says this “Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord; he did not keep the word of the Lord and even consulted a medium for guidance, and did not inquire of the Lord. So the Lord put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David son of Jesse.”
Was it God’s Will that all this happened in Saul’s life? Or did Saul have some responsibility in all this, and did lack of prayer and obedience have an effect on what happened to him? “Saul died because ... he did not keep the word of the Lord ... and did not inquire of the Lord.”
For years, I have lived with the idea that because God is all-powerful and sovereign, He will always do whatever He wants, so I really never understood the purpose and power of prayer. I used to see prayer the way that I have heard numerous people (generally Calvinists) describe it: “We are supposed to pray because God told us to pray. Prayer is important just because it shows that we are dependent on God, and it draws us closer to Him because we are spending time with Him.”
That’s all. It has no more effect than just showing our dependence and building our relationship with Him. Because after all, He does whatever He wants to do anyway, right? And everything that happens is because He wanted it and caused it, right? So really, our prayers are just formalities and for our benefit, right?
Wrong!
I think that this is one of Satan’s most effective tools. Because if he can convince people that their prayers aren’t really necessary because God is so in control that He’ll always just do whatever He wants to do anyway and that everything that happens is because God wanted it, planned it, and caused it, then the church will be ineffectual, lacking the kind of prayers and obedience that are necessary to battle the forces of evil and to get God’s Will done.
We'll simply roll over and say, "Well, God's gonna do what God's gonna do, and I can't do anything about it."
Satan is getting us to minimize the importance of prayer and personal responsibility by convincing us (the Calvinists, that is) that there's no real power in it or purpose for it, that we have no real responsibility or influence in anything.
Because, after all, Calvi-god does everything for us, right?
But the Bible shows us otherwise!
The Bible shows us that our actions and choices and whether we "inquire of the Lord" or not makes a difference. He has not planned everything out for us. We are not puppets.
You see, I was confusing "God is all-powerful" with "An all-powerful God must always be using His power all the time to control everything."
But who am I to tell God how He has to use His power!?!
But contrary to what I used to think (to what Calvinists think), the Bible very clearly shows us an all-powerful God who has chosen to not use His power all the time to control everything. A sovereign God who has chosen to give men the real responsibility to make real choices, without His meticulous control.
God has plans for us, but we have to decide to follow Him or not. And He, in His sovereignty and power, will take whatever we do - our obedience or our disobedience - and work it into His plans. But our obedience or disobedience is not preplanned. It's up to us.
In 1 Samuel 13:13, we see that Samuel tells Saul that if Saul had kept God's commands then God would have established Saul's kingdom permanently.
If Calvinism is true, then either Samuel or God is lying. Because if God preplans/causes all that happens, then He preplanned/caused that Saul would disobey and lose the kingdom, because that's what happened. So there could be no alternative path that hinged on Saul's choice.
So then if Saul's disobedience was predestined and caused by God, how could Samuel say that God would have established Saul's kingdom if Saul obeyed? Either Samuel is lying or God is, telling Saul that there was an alternative path when there really wasn't, that the outcome hinged on his choice when it really didn't.
So either Samuel and God are lying ... or Calvinism isn't true!
And I'm going with "Calvinism isn't true!"
God does not preplan what we do. He does not make us disobey.
But He does know the outcome of whatever choice we will make, and He knows how to incorporate it into His plans. He knew that if Saul obeyed, his kingdom would have been established. And He knew that if Saul disobeyed, his kingdom would be taken away and go to David. God knows where all our potential paths will lead, and He knows how to work it all into something good, into His plans. He is wise enough, powerful enough, and sovereign enough to work many variable factors into His plans, unlike Calvi-god who can't manage any other factors than the things he himself causes.
God requires us to make our choices, to pick the path we go down, to choose obedience or disobedience. And we will have to face the consequences of our choices.
And this is why it's so important to always remember to inquire of the Lord, to seek His guidance and wisdom. Because whether or not we do this will impact the path we choose. He doesn't always cause His Will and His best plans for us to happen, regardless of what we do. He hinges them on us.
If our prayers are just formalities, why would we be told in James 5:16 that “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective”?
If they were just formalities, we would be told something more like this: “Prayer is good for a righteous man because it draws him near to God.”
But it doesn’t say that. It says that prayer is “powerful and effective.”
Powerful and effective for what? I believe that it’s powerful against the kingdom of darkness and that it’s effective for getting God’s Will done.
[Calvinists will say that God causes you to pray to get His Will done. That He "ordains the means and well as the end." So then if Calvi-god is the cause of when we pray then he is also the cause of when we don't pray. He's predestined everything that happens ... for his glory and pleasure and plans (according to the Calvinist). Therefore, praying is just as glorifying and purposeful as not praying. And we don't get a choice about it anyway.
So then, why do Calvinists bother to encourage people to pray? If it's going to happen, it's going to happen. If it's not, it won't.
If a Calvinist preacher encourages you to pray, try saying, "If God wills it then I will. But if He doesn't, then I won't. I'm just gonna wait and see what God forces me to do." And see how they respond.
Do this also when they encourage you to tithe, to evangelize, to volunteer at church, to obey a particular commandment of God's, or to join their Calvinist Indoctrination Classes (like a group-study of Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology).
Say "if God wills it, it will happen, but if He doesn't will it, it won't. Who am I to know the mind of God, which one He's planned? Who am I to know if He really wants me to do what He's commanded or if He really wants me to disobey what He's commanded? So let's just wait and see what's predestined, what He causes me to do." ... and watch how quickly they go from "God controls all" to "You are responsible for your choice."
Do you see how self-defeating Calvinism is? How much it minimizes personal responsibility and accountability?]
An example illustrating the necessity of prayer to get God's Will done is in Job 42. In this chapter, we read that God is angry with Job’s friends for not speaking of Him what is right. And He says, “My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly.” (Verse 8)
Now, if God intended to forgive them anyway - if it was His Will and what He planned to do - why didn’t He just do it? Why require and wait for Job to pray?
Because prayer is what gets God’s Will done on earth. Because God intends that we, through our choices and obedience and prayers, get His Will done on earth. God's Will was to forgive Job's friends, but God left the responsibility to pray up to Job. And He didn't forgive them until Job prayed, until Job did his part. And this is just how God has chosen to work, even though He could control everything if He wanted to.
1 John 5:14-15: “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what we asked of him.”
This verse shows us that His Will (what He desires to have happen) doesn’t just happen because He is all-powerful and can make it happen. We have to pray for it, to seek it. And to obey!
God leaves the responsibility with mankind to put His Will (what He desires to have happen) into motion with our prayers.
But if Calvinism is true, then everything that happens is God's Will, even sin. And therefore, there is no need to "ask anything according to His Will." Because His Will is all that ever happens, with or without us asking for it.
But we are not just commanded to pray because it’s good for us or shows our dependence on God. Prayer actually gets God’s Will done. God wills things in heaven, but it’s man’s job to bring that Will to fruition on earth by our prayers, obedience, and righteous living. And it’s when we ask for something He wants for us that we get it. (But this doesn’t mean that we always get what we ask for. It has to be in line with what God wants for us.)
But the flip-side is also true. If we don’t ask for what He wants for us, we won’t get it. He doesn’t lead us down His "best path for us" if we refuse to “inquire of the Lord.” As James 4:2 says, “You do not have, because you do not ask God.”
If we ask for something He doesn’t want, it won’t happen. But also if we don’t pray for and seek out what He does want, it won’t happen. Our prayers and obedience have an effect on getting God’s Will done or not.
Of course, when God has plans, He will work them out one way or another. If we won't be obedient, He'll find someone else who will be. So it's not that God's overall plans don't get done; it's just that we miss out on it and will pay the price for our disobedience and for not seeking His guidance in prayer.
And there are times that God does whatever He wants, apart from us. And yes, He does still take care of us and provide for us without our needing to ask for every little thing. I am not going to the extreme of saying that God does nothing and gives nothing unless we pray for it. I am saying that, in general and in many ways, He has chosen to work with and through man's prayers and cooperation to accomplish His plans on earth. And the Bible is full of examples like this.
I think that, yes, prayer is crucial in acknowledging our dependence on God and building our relationship with Him (through honesty and transparency). But it goes so much further than just being a show of dependence and drawing us closer. It gets His Will done!
And this is just how He has chosen to do things, to give mankind a certain level of free-will and responsibility. And contrary to Calvinist claims that He must always be using His power all the time to control everything that happens or else He can't be God, He can do it this way if He wants ... to because He alone is sovereign over all and can decide how to use His sovereign power.
Understanding God's Will #6: But God Can Read Our Minds
But if God can read our minds, isn’t just thinking about what we want to pray good enough? Isn’t saying, “I’ll pray for you” and intending to do it as good as doing it? You know, “It’s the thought that counts,” right?
I used to think this. I used to think that if prayers were just formalities and if He could read my thoughts, then He knew what I wanted to pray. And that was just as good as praying. Right?
Wrong!
Once again, it wasn’t until Job actually prayed for God to forgive his friends that God forgave them. Even though God planned to forgive, He didn’t act on that until Job prayed. And on top of that, it wasn’t until after Job obeyed and prayed that God blessed him again.
Job 42:9-10: “... and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer. After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before.”
Here is a simple illustration that shows the difference between “thinking/intending” and praying:
Imagine that I have a gift in my hands, and I intend to give it to you. Maybe you even know what’s in it. Now, you know that I am thinking about giving it to you. That is my intention. I just don’t get around to doing it.
But isn’t it enough that you knew what my intentions were?
No! It’s not the same as giving it. As long as we are still holding it, it is “ours.” It isn’t until we give it to the other person that it becomes “theirs.”
I think that God waits for us to hand the gift - the prayer - over to Him. It’s not good enough to just think about prayer, to intend to get around to it. There is no power in that. He waits to move until we call Him into action with our prayers, until we move from intending to pray to actually praying.
And He does this because He is allowing us to make the choice to keep it or to give it over to Him. Once again, He’s honoring our free-will. This is why we don't get certain things if we don't ask for them (James 4:2). There are things He will grant, but only if we ask for them. It isn't enough to just want them, to intend to ask God for them. We need to ask!
If we only intend to ask, then God can only intend to give us the answer.
It isn’t until we actually put it into words in prayer that we have presented the prayer to God and invited Him to take action with our concern or request or confession.
Calvinists think God put no power or true responsibility in man's hands. But the Bible shows us that He's put a lot more in our hands than we think, starting at Genesis 1 when He says "Let them rule..." and on up to Revelation when He says "If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me."
Calvinists think all He ever does is intervene all the time to cause and control everything that happens, from every speck of dust floating in the air to every sin we commit to every person who rejects Him.
But I think He intervenes/controls a lot less than we think He does. Because He's decided to work with and through us, in cooperation with us, waiting on us to pray and obey. Our choices are our own. And whether or not we pray matters!
And I don’t just base this belief on my own ideas. Everything should be evaluated by Scripture. First off, look up how many times God says things like, “And when the people pray or cry out to me, I will hear them and act.” You never read, “And when the people think, I will hear and act.”
Praying makes the difference! Crying out to God makes the difference! Our thoughts are our own, but our prayers are for God. We can pray in our minds or out loud, but we need to pray. Just thinking about the things we should pray about or what we wish God would do isn’t the same as praying.
And as we already looked at in an earlier point, the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6 explicitly tells us to pray “your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Like I said, I used to think that it meant “May Your Will come to pass on earth, like it comes to pass in heaven," like we were simply acknowledging that we want His Will to happen.
But now, I see it as a twofold message. One, as I already discussed, implies more responsibility on our parts than passive waiting: “May Your Will get done obediently by us on earth, as it gets done by Your angels in Heaven.” And another way that I read it is as an actual command to pray that His Will gets done, because our prayers will be what gets it done. He’s not saying, “Let’s hope it gets done.” He’s saying, “You need to pray that it gets done.”
And look at all these verses that command us to pray: Matthew 5:44, Luke 18:1, Ephesians 6:18, 1 Thessalonians 5:17, James 5:13, James 5:16, among many others.
I used to think that it was just good advice, meant for our benefit because it was all about drawing closer to God. Now, I think that the reason God takes prayer so seriously is because it makes a difference in whether or not His Will gets done!
In fact, it’s such a powerful tool that we are told this in 1 Peter 4:7: “The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear-minded and self-controlled so that you can ... “
So that you can what? Eternity is bearing down on us, and we need to be clear-minded and self-controlled so that we can ... witness and win as many souls as possible? ... gain as many blessings as possible? ... bring glory to God? ... go out on a high note?
No, we are told that with eternity right around the corner, we need to be clear-minded and self-controlled so that we can ... pray!
That's right ... pray!
This verse is what fully convinced me of the necessity of prayer, the importance of prayer, and the power in it. Maybe when God says we need to pray, He really means we need to pray.
And in Matthew 21:12-13, we read about Jesus getting angry and overturning the money changers tables.
What made Him so angry?
He was angry because they had turned the Father’s house into a crooked business place, whereas it is supposed to be a house of ... that’s right ... prayer!
It’s not called a house of worship or a house of sermons or a house of fellowship. It’s called a house of prayer!
Do we value prayer as much as Jesus and God’s Word does?
How can we value prayer as much as He does if we think it's merely a formality, that our prayers have no real effect, that God will do whatever God's going to do, with or without our prayers?
I believe that God wills certain things: things that He desires for us and from us, and things that He has planned based on His wisdom and love. He has willed these things from His throne-room in heaven, but it’s our job to bring His Will down to earth; by our righteous living and obedience, by abiding in Him, and by our prayers.
And without those prayers, it won’t happen. It won’t happen until God finds someone who is receptive enough to the Spirit to know how He wants them to live and pray. And then who is obedient enough to do it.
However, don’t misunderstand me. I am not saying that man has unlimited power and full control over what happens on earth. God is still sovereign over all, He still holds all things in His hands, all things have to pass through Him, and evil is still limited. And I am not saying that man gets to decide what happens by his prayers. But man has to pray to accomplish what God has already decided. And it is the prayers of righteous people that are powerful and effective.
Understanding God's Will #7: But God Already Knows Our Needs
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 we need it. We can choose to live apart from God, in self-sufficiency. We can choose to live life sitting back, putting our feet up and saying, “Ok, God, bring on the blessings... Look how well He takes care of me!” We can choose to think like Calvinists do, that God's already planned out everything that will happen and we can't really do anything about it, that He is ultimately responsible for what we do and how our life goes and what we pray. We can choose to float through life thinking everything will be okay, even if we do nothing to draw near to Him, to live for Him, to glorify Him.
(Yet Calvinism essentially, when you carry that theology out to its bitter end, believes that everything we do glorifies God because God has predestined everything we do for His good plans, pleasure, and glory. Think about the horrible implications of that for a moment. Think about how that says God is the ultimate cause of evil, despite a Calvinist's self-deceiving insistence that they're not saying that, and how it calls all evil "good, God-pleasing, and God-glorifying." They can deny it all the want and say "We don't say that." But it's what their theology really does teach when you take off all the deceiving layers they cover it up with.)
Or we can choose to believe that when God says we need to pray, He means we need to pray. That when He says we need to seek Him, we need to seek Him.
If we are not seeking God in His Word and in prayer - if we live like He'll give us everything we need/want regardless of what we do or like He'll always do whatever He's going to do and there's nothing we can do about it - then we are probably living in presumption.
We are presuming that God will give us what we need/want without us having to do our part, to humble ourselves before Him, to live in obedience and in close communion with Him, to put our concerns in His hands through prayer.
It's a very effective strategy of Satan's to get people to think they don't really have to do their part or to get people to think they're doing all they need to do just because life is going good for them.
For some of us, as long as we have enough, we are content to believe that God is taking care of us, that our relationship with Him must be hunky-dory, even if we pay little attention to Him and His Kingdom. Because the basics are covered. We float through life from one blessing to the next, unaware of or unconcerned about our spiritual responsibilities, "because God will take care of it all and there's nothing we can do or should do about anything".
And yes, in His goodness, God does provide a lot of things that we haven't asked for.
Yet I wonder how much we miss out on because we failed to ask.
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 we need it. We can choose to live apart from God, in self-sufficiency. We can choose to live life sitting back, putting our feet up and saying, “Ok, God, bring on the blessings... Look how well He takes care of me!” We can choose to think like Calvinists do, that God's already planned out everything that will happen and we can't really do anything about it, that He is ultimately responsible for what we do and how our life goes and what we pray. We can choose to float through life thinking everything will be okay, even if we do nothing to draw near to Him, to live for Him, to glorify Him.
(Yet Calvinism essentially, when you carry that theology out to its bitter end, believes that everything we do glorifies God because God has predestined everything we do for His good plans, pleasure, and glory. Think about the horrible implications of that for a moment. Think about how that says God is the ultimate cause of evil, despite a Calvinist's self-deceiving insistence that they're not saying that, and how it calls all evil "good, God-pleasing, and God-glorifying." They can deny it all the want and say "We don't say that." But it's what their theology really does teach when you take off all the deceiving layers they cover it up with.)
Or we can choose to believe that when God says we need to pray, He means we need to pray. That when He says we need to seek Him, we need to seek Him.
If we are not seeking God in His Word and in prayer - if we live like He'll give us everything we need/want regardless of what we do or like He'll always do whatever He's going to do and there's nothing we can do about it - then we are probably living in presumption.
We are presuming that God will give us what we need/want without us having to do our part, to humble ourselves before Him, to live in obedience and in close communion with Him, to put our concerns in His hands through prayer.
It's a very effective strategy of Satan's to get people to think they don't really have to do their part or to get people to think they're doing all they need to do just because life is going good for them.
For some of us, as long as we have enough, we are content to believe that God is taking care of us, that our relationship with Him must be hunky-dory, even if we pay little attention to Him and His Kingdom. Because the basics are covered. We float through life from one blessing to the next, unaware of or unconcerned about our spiritual responsibilities, "because God will take care of it all and there's nothing we can do or should do about anything".
And yes, in His goodness, God does provide a lot of things that we haven't asked for.
Yet I wonder how much we miss out on because we failed to ask.
There are people who are living very unglorifying lives. However, they have convinced themselves that they are okay with God because they have a lot of stuff, yet they are drifting farther and farther away from Him without even realizing it. “Look at how good God has been to me and how He has taken care of me, so clearly He must be pleased with me.”
They are assuming they are spiritually on-track because they have a lot of things or accomplished a lot in life or are popular, even though they barely talk to God or seek His input or ask what He wants them to do or obey His commands. They never consider that maybe this abundance isn't from God, that maybe they are headed away from Him instead of toward Him, that maybe they think they're okay with God just because they want to think they're okay with God instead of having to take a good, long look at their life and the changes they need to make.
Comfort and presumption is a dangerous thing when it causes us to be spiritually lazy, when it distracts us and makes us to think more highly of ourselves than we should and causes us to pursue His blessings instead of pursuing Him.
I think (even when we choose self-sufficiency), to a degree, God does still care for us by sustaining our lives, because our days won’t end until He gives the word. And He sends rain and sunshine for the ungodly as well as the godly. But life could be so much more if we lived in prayer, obedience, and wisdom. If we were driven to pursue Him, instead of just settling for His basic care. Just because He knows our needs doesn’t mean that we will automatically be given abundant life - that we will be truly blessed in the ways that matter - apart from a life of obedience, submission, and abiding in Him.
[Quick note: Calvinists say that Calvi-god meets the needs of the non-elect, showing them kindness by giving them rain and sunshine, so that He can show a little love to them ... before sending them to hell for being the unbelievers he predestined them to be. This is how they trick themselves into thinking they really believe God loves all people: "God shows His love to the elect by saving them, but He shows His love to the non-elect by being kind to them, by giving them food and water while they're alive on earth. See, so God really does love all people. He just expresses it in different ways."
Big, fat, hogwash lie!
Because the Bible says something very different. The Bible says God loves the world (John 3:16) and that Jesus died for sinners (Romans 5:8). And last I checked, all of us in this world are sinners (Romans 3:23).
Romans 5:8 tells us that Jesus dying for sinners is how God shows His love for us: "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
God Himself, in His Word, told us how He shows love for us, for sinners. And I see no verses that specify there are two types of sinners: elected ones and non-elected ones. (Calvinists come to this conclusion by cobbling together other verses, taken out of context.)
But what I do see is God loves the world, Jesus died for sinners, we are all sinners, and so therefore God demonstrates His love to all sinners - to all of us - by sending Jesus to die for us all. This is how God says He shows His love. (Why would Calvinists deny what God clearly said, replacing it with some "mysterious," unclear, cobbled-together theology that says the opposite? Sounds demon-inspired to me!)
And just like there's no verse about two different types of sinners, there is no verse about God having two different types of love, one for elect people and one for non-elect. Calvinists come to this conclusion by building their understanding of Scripture on their wrong idea of election and predestination.
But contrary to Calvinism, the Bible itself tells us why God is kind to people, to the unrighteous ... and it's not just so He can show them some love before sending them to hell like He supposedly predestined.
It's because of this:
"Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?" (Romans 2:4, emphasis is mine)
God intends for His kindness to lead people, the unrighteous, to repentance, not just to show them a little love before He sends them to hell. And this message isn't just for "elected" sinners. It's for those who are stubborn and unrepentant and who are storing up wrath against themselves (vs. 5).
God intends His kindness - His care for our basic needs - to be what leads us to repentance. He doesn't intend to save people through some sort of mysterious "election/predestined before time began/regenerated by the Holy Spirit so they can believe" thing. He intends for unrepentant people to see His kindness and, consequently, to turn to Him, repent, believe in Him, and go to heaven.
This is His intention for those who are unrepentant. He does not intend for them to go to hell. He has not predestined them for hell. He loves all sinners, sent Jesus to die for all sinners, we are all sinners, and God shows kindness to all of us sinners so that we might turn towards Him in repentance. How can the Bible be more clear!?!]
Anyway, back to the post ...
So yes, God is kind to us all and provides a certain level of care for us all, out of love and concern.
But Matthew 6:8 is not telling us that we don’t need to pray because God will always give us whatever He wants us to have. It’s telling us that we are not to be like the pagans who babble on and on to God. They hoped that their many words would gain God’s attention and favor, "Look how righteous I am to pray so long!"
But we don’t need to pray lots of words to get God's attention or to earn some favor with Him or even to notify Him of all the details of our needs (because He knows them before we ask). And God doesn’t owe us blessings because of our “great, lengthy” prayers.
We pray to acknowledge that He is God and we are not, to build and maintain our relationship with Him, to turn our concerns over to Him and invite Him to take action in our lives, to listen to Him, to confess sins and get right with Him, and to get His Will done.
But just because God knows our needs doesn't mean we don’t have to ask. Saying “before you ask” implies that we ask. And immediately following verse 8 is verse 9, which says, “This, then , is how you should pray ...” So prayer is important, even if God can read our minds and knows our needs.
Prayer is our way of inviting God to handle our concerns, to turn our hurts over to Him and receive His healing, to repent and be forgiven, to praise Him, and to ask Him to meet our needs the way He wants to.
And God won't necessarily intervene in our lives if we don't ask Him to.
Notice in the Old Testament, Saul was condemned for not inquiring of the Lord (1 Chronicles 10:14) and Joshua ran into trouble when he failed to inquire of the Lord (Joshua 9:14). And of course, "You do not have because you do not ask God." (James 4:2).
Prayer matters. Because God has chosen to give us a certain level of free-will and responsibility. He lets us decide if we want to live apart from Him or if we want to live under His care, in His Will, in obedience to Him. God's not "just gonna do what He's gonna do." He' chosen to hinge a large part of what happens in this world on us. And He won't necessarily do His part if we aren't doing ours.
(How effective can Calvinist prayer be when they think God has already predestined everything that happens and that He controls their prayers? No wonder so many Calvinists feel defeated in life. Satan has gotten them to roll over and play dead!)
And Matthew 6:25-32 tells us not to worry about our lives and the things we need. “The pagans run after these things, and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them.” (Verse 32) But, once again, it does not tell us that because He knows what we need, we don’t have to ask. It tells us not to spend our energy chasing after these things, and not to worry that we won’t have what we need. For they will be given to us ... as we seek His kingdom and righteousness.
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Verse 33).
We need to be spending our energy chasing after God. And on top of prayer, we need to seek His righteousness and His kingdom if we want to be able to experience the kind of abundant life that He wants to give us. (Eternal abundance, not necessarily temporary. You can be eternally rich while being earthly poor. And if that's the case, you've got the best of the two!)
Shortly after Matthew 6, comes the Ask, Seek, and Knock section (7:7-11), which again shows the importance of prayer. And shortly before it is the Lord’s Prayer, where He teaches us to pray that God meets our daily needs (6:11).
So even though God knows what we need (and so we don't need to spend a lot of time informing Him about all the details), prayer really does matter! It's how we invite Him to do something about our concerns. And contrary to Calvinism which says God will do what God will do without any responsibility on our parts, God oftentimes waits for us to pray, to seek His help, to obey, etc., before He does His part. And this is just how He has decided to run the world.
Understanding God's Will #8: Advice About Prayer
(I am combining three posts - 8a, 8b, 8c - into one post here.)
8a. If praying for God’s Will is necessary, then do I have to know the specifics of what to ask for? How do we pray so that His Will gets done?
(This is just some of my own thoughts and advice on prayer.)
I think that it’s okay to ask for certain things and to make specific requests, but I also think that God doesn’t always need us to know exactly what to ask for. Because it’s not always about how we want Him to act or answer. God knows the best course of action, so we don’t have to have the details all ironed out before we pray. But we do need to pray. We need to share our concerns with Him and give them over to Him, to be transparent and authentic with Him, to confess our sins, to honestly share our wants and needs, to be sensitive to the Spirit, and to ask for His providence, His wisdom, and His guidance. And we should be asking Him to help us know what to pray - so that when He does impress upon our hearts a specific prayer request, we can hear Him and obey.
8a. If praying for God’s Will is necessary, then do I have to know the specifics of what to ask for? How do we pray so that His Will gets done?
(This is just some of my own thoughts and advice on prayer.)
I think that it’s okay to ask for certain things and to make specific requests, but I also think that God doesn’t always need us to know exactly what to ask for. Because it’s not always about how we want Him to act or answer. God knows the best course of action, so we don’t have to have the details all ironed out before we pray. But we do need to pray. We need to share our concerns with Him and give them over to Him, to be transparent and authentic with Him, to confess our sins, to honestly share our wants and needs, to be sensitive to the Spirit, and to ask for His providence, His wisdom, and His guidance. And we should be asking Him to help us know what to pray - so that when He does impress upon our hearts a specific prayer request, we can hear Him and obey.
Prayer needs to be less about seeking exactly what we want or think we need, and more about seeking Him and being receptive to Him! And as we do this (and remain in the Word), we’ll be guided along in how to “get His Will done” and what to pray for. In fact, sometimes – when I have no idea how to pray about a situation – all I can do is pray this, “Guide and provide, Lord. Just guide and provide.” And then I leave it up to Him. I prayed this a lot over the years.
(And something that I am just starting to do is to ask Him in the morning, “Is there anything that You want me to know, do, or pray?” And then I try to listen for what He wants to tell me. I have spent way too many years doing all the talking and requesting, and I need to start listening more.)
I’ve heard people say that it doesn’t matter to God what we choose in life, as long as it glorifies Him, and that we don’t need to seek His opinion or His Will on all of our decisions.
I agree that we don’t need to run to Him about every decision, like whether we should have the turkey or roast beef sandwich for lunch. But I do think that if something is important to us, then it’s important to God. And the more of an impact a decision has on our lives, on other people’s lives, and on His kingdom, the more of an opinion God has on it. And we would be wise to seek His advice and opinion on major decisions, like who we marry, where we live, the jobs we take, etc.
And the more significant the decision, the more likely it is that we will have to spend more time in prayer and more time waiting for God to reveal the next step. Large decisions should not be rushed into. But they should not cause us to panic and sweat, either. As long as we are bringing the issue to Him in prayer, abiding in Him, and living in obedience to His Word, He will clearly reveal the next step when it is time.
(Once again, we need to be willing to be obedient when He makes His Will clear. It might have felt good and godly to search for it, but sometimes we get scared when we are finally called to action. Resist the temptation to walk away from the next step. Pray for strength and boldness. And then, step out in faith, knowing that if God set it up and called you to it, He’ll provide all you need to accomplish whatever He’s asking you to do.)
At various times in my life, I caused myself so much stress and confusion believing that I might miss “His Will,” always panicked that I’d do it wrong, and so I'd end up so focused on "finding His Will" instead of simply abiding in Him, enjoying Him, getting to know Him.
But we don't have to worry too hard about "finding His Will." Because if we are abiding Him and living the way He wants us to live, according to His Word, then we will be in His Will. And as we walk with Him, He'll make the "next steps" clear in time, opening the doors as they need to open, closing the ones that should be closed. He'll guide as we abide!
I caused myself so much unnecessary heartache and mental stress over the years! But I didn’t need to be so anxious along the way, because as long as I was tied to Him in prayer and His Word and abiding in Him, He would have come through loud and clear!
(And it’s in the process of waiting for Him that a lot of growth takes place. Don’t fight the waiting! Learn from it and use it to draw nearer to Him!)
8b. And so, the next question becomes, How can I recognize His guidance when He is revealing the next step?
When we were house hunting, I had really wanted the next step to show up in neon lights. But that obviously won’t happen. And then I found a book that gave me some really good advice on how to know when God shows “the next step.” And I really have to thank Gigi Tchividjian here. Through her book, A Woman’s Quest for Serenity, she helped me understand how to discern God’s guidance, when so many other things were making it hard to hear His leading. (If you can find her book, it is well worth reading.)
Though He won’t give us a neon sign, I’m learning that He has given us other “keys” to help us find the next step in His plan for us. (Gigi calls them “lights,” and they are what I based these “keys” on.) To boil it all down, God guides us in three different ways: guidance from the inside, indications from the outside, and confirmation from God’s Word.
1. Guidance from the inside would be what our conscience tells us, what our heart tells us, and, most importantly, what the Holy Spirit tells us. This would be the impressions or convictions that we have from the Holy Spirit about what He wants us to do or what the next step is. Sometimes it coincides with what we want to do, sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes it makes sense, and sometimes it confuses us even more. Sometimes it speaks to the current concern or situation that we are praying about, and sometimes it hits us out of the blue, completely unrelated to anything we were thinking about. But we need to be deliberate about asking for the Holy Spirit's advice and help, about being receptive to Him, about actively listening for Him to speak to us. And we need to expect that He will, in His time and in His way.
2. Indications from the outside would be open doors or circumstances falling into place that seem to be saying “this is the way you should walk.” Maybe it’s about an issue you are praying about, or maybe it’s God interrupting your plans with something new that He wants you to do. It could be a need that comes to your attention or a fork-in-the-road that calls you to make a choice. It could be a call to move forward, or it could be a call to take a step backward. And these indications could also come from other people. It could be impressions that they have had about you, or it could be wise advice from godly people.
(But as we consider “open doors” here, remember that not all open doors are from God. Satan would love nothing more than to get us out of God’s perfect Will for us by dangling enticing offers before us. With every open door, we need to seek God’s wisdom, be discerning, and be willing to obey whatever God calls us to do in that situation. Maybe it is an open door from God, or maybe it’s just a test or an opportunity to practice doing those things.)
3. And confirmation from God’s Word is just what it sounds like. It’s when God leads us, through His Word, in the right path. Sometimes, after praying for guidance, the Spirit leads us to a passage that speaks directly to our problems. And sometimes, we find God’s message to us as we go about our normal Bible reading. We should be regularly reading God’s Word - immersing ourselves in it - so that we can know it as a whole, and not just pulling out the verses that we want when we want them.
While we do our regular reading, we should always be alert for any passage that speaks to us, because there is so much more to glean from Scripture than just the answer to a particular problem or prayer request. In the course of reading God’s Word (even if we are looking for specific guidance about something else), we may be led to passages that speak to us about something we weren’t even considering. Such as about forgiveness or how we use our tongue or how we treat others, etc. It may be that God wants us to deal with these areas before He guides us to the answer that we are looking for.
Guidance from God’s Word also means that we check the steps we want to take against His Word. He will never, NEVER, ask or tell us to do anything that violates a biblical command that He has already revealed to us in His Word, no matter how strongly we feel that He wants us to do it.
Therefore, things like affairs, cheating, lying, harshness, premarital sex, jealousy, idol worship, running after wealth, gossiping, dabbling with the occult, contacting the dead, taking an ungodly job, spousal abuse, homosexuality, taking a life, etc., can never be God’s Will for us.
(It's sad to see high-profile Calvinists fall into temptation and sin, rejecting God for temporary pleasures, convincing themselves that they're giving in to sin because they must not be elect. They are failing to realize that they, not God, are responsible for their faith, their choices and sinful lifestyle. But what else could a theology that ultimately says God causes everything that happens lead to but fear that you must not be saved if you sin and possibly resigning yourself to your sinful lifestyle if you "can't" stop sinning, accepting that it means you must not be elected?)
Even if our inner convictions and the outside circumstances are telling us to do it, God’s Word says, “Don’t do these things!” And His Word is the Truth, The Measuring Stick. So to try to find permission in His Word to do these kinds of things would mean that we would have to twist what He has already clearly revealed as His Will in these (and many other) areas. (Hey, I’m just the messenger here. Read the Word for yourself and take it up with God if you think I am wrong.)
(It's sad to see high-profile Calvinists fall into temptation and sin, rejecting God for temporary pleasures, convincing themselves that they're giving in to sin because they must not be elect. They are failing to realize that they, not God, are responsible for their faith, their choices and sinful lifestyle. But what else could a theology that ultimately says God causes everything that happens lead to but fear that you must not be saved if you sin and possibly resigning yourself to your sinful lifestyle if you "can't" stop sinning, accepting that it means you must not be elected?)
Even if our inner convictions and the outside circumstances are telling us to do it, God’s Word says, “Don’t do these things!” And His Word is the Truth, The Measuring Stick. So to try to find permission in His Word to do these kinds of things would mean that we would have to twist what He has already clearly revealed as His Will in these (and many other) areas. (Hey, I’m just the messenger here. Read the Word for yourself and take it up with God if you think I am wrong.)
Those are the keys to discover God’s Will for us, the next step. And when all three of these “keys” say the same thing, we can confidently take the next step as it has been revealed. But if any one of them says something different, we need to wait. Wait and recheck Scriptures and pray some more until all the keys match. And in the meantime, we need to continue to live the life we have now, faithfully and obediently and for God’s glory, leaving the future and the timing up to God. And then, when the keys match and the timing is right, the doors will open smoothly in time. We are just responsible to do the next step as we best believe that God is leading us.
(But we need to be careful to not be hasty or to interpret subtle or ambiguous signs as saying what we want them to say. We should be cautious about interpreting any guidance we get. And even more so when the decision is a significant one. Proceeding cautiously and wisely also involves asking God to and trusting God to close the door if we are not on the right path. And then, if He does shut the door or change our direction, we need to just trust Him and be willing to follow.)
8c. Now as far as smaller, everyday decisions? The less impact it has on our lives, on other’s lives, and on God’s kingdom, the less we need to spend time sweating over it in prayer. It’s not wrong to ask God’s guidance about the route we take home from work, if we should buy the blue dress or the green one, if we should go to the beach today or tomorrow. But we don’t need to dwell on them, either, feeling like we need to get God’s expressed direction in every decision we make. It’s just not possible to live life this way.
If we live wisely - abiding in Him and having learned to heed the Spirit’s nudges and “red flags” - then we can go forward in life, making decisions as we go, knowing that He will direct our feet as we walk and that He will send up “pause” signals as we need them. Because the Spirit lives in us. (But we need to learn to recognize the signals and to heed them.)
So for those non-huge, everyday kinds of decisions, I try to do a “Spirit check.” If there’s something that I’m not sure that I should say or do (and that isn’t violating any biblical principles), I pause slightly to check-in with God. “Lord, is it okay if I ...?” Or “Should I ...?” And if I don’t feel any sense of unrest or “Don’t,” then I feel that it’s okay to go ahead with it. I trust that as long as I’m seeking to be obedient, to glorify Him, and to be sensitive to Him, He will close the door if and when it’s not right.
It’s kind of like a husband and a wife that are with a group of people. And as the wife starts to share a story about something that has happened in their family, she looks over at her husband to see what kind of look he is giving her. It’s either the “go ahead” look or “THE LOOK,” the one that says, “You better not go there!” This is what I try to do for the smaller decisions. I look to God, through the Holy Spirit’s guidance, to see if I’m getting the “go ahead” look or “THE LOOK.” And if I get “THE LOOK,” then I know that I need to either not do it or to spend some more time in prayer and in God’s Word over it.
And I do think that it’s important to make a habit of doing this - of seeking to be and learning to be receptive to the Spirit - because sometimes those “insignificant” decisions can have a significant impact on our lives. Maybe we end up going on vacation the same day that there’s a tornado. Maybe we choose the cutest dog, but it ends up being the meanest one in the bunch. Maybe we buy a car that ends up with serious problems. I believe that God is willing to offer His guidance in these “little” decisions if we seek it, but that He doesn’t necessarily offer His guidance if we would rather go ahead in our own wisdom.
Like with the Gibeonite deception, Joshua didn’t inquire of God. And I believe that if he did, it would have been revealed to him. And there is another instance with Joshua that shows me the importance of inquiring of God. Joshua 6 tells the story of the Israelites taking Jericho, with God’s miraculous help. But in Joshua 7, after Jericho, we read how Joshua makes a foolish decision in his own wisdom. He had sent men to spy on Ai. And when the men returned, they said that there were only a few people there and so Joshua should only have to send two or three thousand people to successfully take it.
So Joshua does this. And it probably seemed wise to him, a piece of cake compared to the battle that they just went through taking Jericho. Well, verses 4-5 tell us, “So about three thousand men went up; but they were routed by the men of Ai, who killed about thirty-six of them....”
Now, this happened because of one man’s sin, when Achan took some of the things that were devoted to the Lord.
But what we don’t read in this story, in contrast to many of the other stories during Joshua’s reign, is that he “inquired of the Lord.” In this instance, he did not seek the Lord’s guidance about going after the city of Ai. I believe, once again, that God would have revealed Achan’s sin to Joshua and would have advised them not to go after Ai until the Achan situation was handled ... if Joshua had inquired of the Lord.
It’s important to learn to inquire of the Lord and to learn to be sensitive to the Spirit’s leading. And the closer you walk with the Lord, the more likely you are to remember to inquire and to recognize the Spirit’s nudges along the way. And the more obedient you are, the more likely He is to nudge again in the future. We can deaden ourselves to His nudges by refusing to heed them and to obey.
Not too long ago, I felt a nudge by the Holy Spirit. Actually, it was more like a burning inside of me about something that I should say to someone. I was talking with a woman I never met before at a beach. She told me that she was a Christian but that she was in the beginning of getting a divorce from her husband. She was fed up that he didn’t do anything but sit on the couch, and he had no ambition in life to accomplish anything. And she told me about the kids and about how she felt bad for what a divorce would do to them.
And from inside of me came this burning desire to tell her four words: “It’s not too late!” Just four little words. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that this was the Holy Spirit telling me that I needed to say these words to her. I could tell that she didn’t really want a divorce, but she didn’t know what else to do. She wanted to be talked out of it, I could just tell.
And you know what I did?
Nothing!
I listened sympathetically and said that I hoped it worked out for her, but I never said what the Spirit knew she needed to hear: “It’s not too late.” I had convinced myself that it was my own wisdom talking and that it was not my place to comment on her divorce. And so I didn’t.
And this is one instance where I learned from my own mistake. I always felt bad about that, because I knew that I was supposed to say it. And so I did all that I could do: I prayed that God would nudge another person to tell her what I failed to say, someone who was bold enough and wise enough to obey. It is so important to learn to inquire of God and to learn to heed the Spirit’s nudges. This is how God gets His Will done on earth. By us and our obedience!
[And do you know what happened a couple months later?
I saw that same woman dropping off her kid at Awanas when I was dropping my son off. And so after a quick prayer about whether or not I should say anything, I wrote a note saying that I believe God wanted me to say "It's not too late" to her when I saw her at the beach. And I gave it to her later that night when I picked my son up.
I had never seen her before those two times, and I've never seen her since (because my husband did the picking up and dropping off the other nights). So I have no idea what happened after that. But at least I did what I could to be obedient. Even if it was too late. Who knows how God used that in her life? But it's not our job to know. It's just our job to obey.]
Understanding God's Will #9a: "Name It and Claim It" Nonsense
(There are no "Calvinism" updates added to this post):
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 (this will be answered in a later post)?
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 (of a baby of a relative who was possibly going to give her up), 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.
Well, of course, I believed that it would happen. And so, as the book encouraged, I believed that God had already “given” her to us. And all I had to do now was thank Him for it (as proof that I believed) and to wait for it to happen.
But it didn’t happen.
So what went wrong? Was it my faith, God, or my understanding of God? Or will it still happen sometime in the future, as the book would say, even though, as of 2020, it’s been over a decade since that time? (And for the record, I don’t want it to happen now. She’s where she should be - with her parents.)
You know, the funny thing is that it’s a Bible verse that confuses me more than anything. Jesus’ own words. The verse that really trips me up is the “If you believe and don’t doubt” verse.
Mark 11:22-24: “‘Have faith in God,’ Jesus answered. ‘I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.’“
I have to be honest. I struggle with this verse. I really do. I mean, it sounds pretty straightforward to me: believe that you’ll get what you ask for and you’ll get it. Name it and claim it! Sounds great!
But there’s a problem ... that doesn’t always happen. There are things that we pray for and that we are confident are in line with God’s Will, and yet they don’t happen. The mountains didn’t move.
So what went wrong? Is it that I didn’t have enough faith? If I was able to push away all anxiety and calmly say, “I know You can do it, Lord. I trust You,” would it please God enough that He would grant my request? Would He really hold it against me if I waited faithfully for 30 days, but then I faltered and lost faith on day 31?
And can any of us ever move any mountain, or even a molehill, with our prayers if we have to believe ahead of time that it will happen, without any doubts? Is it possible to know for sure what God should do and that He will do it, when we know that God has His own mysterious ways about why and when and how He answers prayer? Is knowing that He can do something as faithfully-effective as claiming that He will do it? Or do we have to “claim” that it will happen without any confirmation, and risk looking like a fool who went out on a limb and put words in God’s mouth? Is it “believing what we say” or “saying what we believe” that makes it happen?
I tell ya, this one confuses me. It really does.
There have been times that I have prayed for things that haven’t happened. And I’m guessing that the “name it and claim it” pushers would say that it was the strength of my faith that was the problem - that I didn’t really believe it enough - or that the time hasn’t yet come.
And I don’t know, maybe at times it was my faith. Maybe I cannot really “claim” anything in faith because I’m so afraid of looking foolish if it doesn’t happen. I don’t want to put words in God’s mouth and run around saying “God told me ...” or “This will happen because I believe it will.” And then, when it doesn’t happen, I become an embarrassment to God and our faith. So I guess there is always a bit of doubt in the back of my mind. I know that He can do it, if He chooses to. I just can’t presumptuously claim that I know for sure that He will do it. Is that okay? Is that still being faithful?
It’s comforting, in a way, to know that even Paul didn’t get the thorn removed from his side by his prayers. And I don’t think anyone would question the strength of his faith. And of course, even Jesus didn’t get the cup taken away from Him after earnestly praying for it. And for them, it wasn’t about their faith or that they didn’t please God, it was simply that it wasn’t God’s Will.
As I think back on things that I have prayed for that haven’t happened, I have had to reevaluate how I understand those verses. Let me see if I can best explain them, in light of the fact that there are times that we don’t get what we ask for, even if we feel our faith is solid.
I think this verse is best understood when we bring it all back to the beginning of what Jesus says - when we look at what it all hinges on. And Jesus sets up those verses with this: “Have faith in God.”
Our problem (at least, my problem) is not with how much faith we have, but with what we set it on. And according to the “name it and claim it” version of Mark 11:22-24, it’s our level of faith and the absence of doubt that will make whatever we say happen. But is that the right interpretation? Is that what faith is - believing that we know what the answer should be and claiming it?
Of course, I would love to be so in line with God that I could be bold and discerning in knowing exactly what to pray for - so that it gets answered. But I am apparently not there yet. I keep trying, though. I really do. I pray for something entirely appropriate (in my view), and I am confident and calm because I know that He can do it. And I believe that what I am asking is His Will, so He will do it. And I feel like a wise, effective prayer-warrior.
And then I wait and I wait and I wait. And I remind Him that I am hanging in there because I have faith in Him to come through for me. I let Him know that I believe that He is a big God who can answer my prayer with one touch of His heavenly finger. And I feel like a tired, but persistent, prayer-warrior.
And then I wait and I wait and I wait. And after awhile, I get depressed and I doubt and I wonder why He won’t just do this one thing that would be so simple for Him to do. Does He not get involved in this world like He used to in Bible Times? Has He just set the world in motion and then sat back and watched? Where is He and how much more do I have to demonstrate my faith in Him to do it? And faith? What is faith anyway? And what does Mark 11 mean if we don’t get what we ask for? And then I feel like a discouraged and defective prayer-worrier.
But it’s usually at this point that God has a lesson to teach me. Because it’s at this point that I learn that it’s not about me. It’s about Him. He doesn’t answer prayers based on my power and wisdom and faith. He answers them based on His power and strength and mercy and grace and wisdom. And however He answers is for His purposes and His glory.
And sometimes, He shows me what a big God He is by not answering my prayers as I think He should. I have come to realize that what I am really trying to do when I believe that my “strong faith” will make things happen is to manipulate God to do what I am asking. I am saying, “See how much I believe in You to do this? So now You can’t let me down.”
I am putting my faith in the strength of my faith to get God to do what I want, instead of putting my faith in God to lead me to do what He wants.
Does that make sense?
But this is not having “faith in God,” as Jesus says. It’s faith in my faith. It’s faith in myself to get something accomplished - based on what I do or don’t do, or believe or don’t believe. And this is misplaced faith!
“Name it and claim it by the strength of your faith” is not a godly way. It’s a spiritual-sounding, super-subtle way of elevating ourselves over God, of turning God into our errand boy. We act like we are in control and that we get it done - by our prayers, beliefs, and level of faith.
But God is so much bigger than that. And Jesus says, “Have faith in God!”
When a lake freezes in the winter, how do you know that it’s strong enough to hold you? You could stand at the edge and do all sorts of tests to determine if it’s safe, but you won’t know for sure until you step out in faith.
And the thing is, it doesn’t matter how strong your faith is. If the ice is not thick enough, no matter how much faith you have in it, it will not hold you up. But a frozen lake will. When the timing and conditions are right, it will hold you up, regardless of your level of faith in it.
Well, God is like that lake. When the timing is right and it is in His Will, you can take a step forward and know that He will hold you up, that He will grant your request. But if it’s not the right time or the right step to take, He will not make the steps you take secure or grant your request, no matter how much you thought He would or wanted Him to.
It’s not about your level of faith, but it’s about where you are putting it. Are you putting it in your own presumptuousness about how God should answer your prayers or are you putting it on God and His wisdom, strength, and timing?
Well, I’m learning that I need to focus less on my faith and if it’s “strong enough” and more on the God who is in control; less on the answer that I want and more on what God is trying to accomplish and to teach me through the trial.
Genuine faith in God is not one that says, “I asked for this and I believe that You can do it, so I’m claiming in faith that You’ll do it.” That’s presumption about what God wants and about how He should answer.
We say, “I have faith in You that You can do what I am asking You to do.”
But God might just be saying, “Yes, but will you still have faith in Me if I don’t do what you’re asking Me to do?”
Because a genuine faith in God is a faith that says, “I can’t see what’s ahead and I may not get what I want, but I still believe in You. I believe that You can do what I am asking; but if You don’t, I know that You are good and that You will work all things out for good. You are God and I am not!”
That is putting our faith in God. That is humility.
It’s letting God be God, while we are the children at His feet. We can ask, but we have to let Him decide how to answer. We can desire and plan, but we have to be willing to let Him interrupt and change our desires and plans. And when He wills that a mountain moves, it will move when we pray. But in His time and in His way!
Understanding God's Will #9b: Help For The Journey
And contrary to the “name it and claim” way, I believe that we are off-base when we are “claiming” a particular answer to prayer before He reveals it, when we tell Him the answer that we expect and that we are going to wait for. I think we need to not be claiming specific answers or blessings as much as “instructions” or “help along the way.”
While we can and should pray what's in our heart and place our desires before the Lord, there may come a time when we have to accept the fact that He isn't answering the way we want. And at this point, it would be far more effective to pray for things like strength while waiting or wisdom to know what He's asking us to do than to pray that the wait ends soon or that His answer is such-and-such. We may not necessarily be able to claim healing, but we can claim God’s peace and wisdom while we wait. We can claim His grace to uphold us while we go through the trials or the waiting or when facing a “no” answer.
Sometimes, the problem is just that we are focused on the wrong thing. We are focused on the end, when we should be focused on the journey. And we are asking for what we want, instead of seeking what He wants for us. I think that we can have faith in the promises that God has given us in the Bible, that we can believe in our hearts that He will answer us when we ask for those kinds of things, for wisdom, for help, for guidance, etc. But we cannot always “believe” that He will give us whatever we ask for, if we are asking for things that He has not promised in His Word.
And when it comes to what we think we hear God telling us in our hearts, we need to tread very carefully when we are trying to determine what God has “promised” He’ll do. We can far too easily convince ourselves that God has “spoken” to us and promised us something that we want or something that sounds good and godly to us. Such as healing or financial security or health or marriage or a wide-reaching ministry. We have preconceived ideas of what God should do, what He will do, or how He should be. And we end up “claiming” a promise that He has never made to us. And then when it doesn’t happen, we are crushed and so is our faith.
And we even need to be careful when claiming promises and guidance from Scripture. We can easily find verses to verify and confirm what we want. I mean, we could use Proverbs 15:13 to justify any selfish thing that we want to do: “A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit.”
But did we seek what God wanted to tell us and wait for it? Did we follow the Spirit’s leading in searching the Scriptures? Or did we go right to the verse that we “needed” to hear, and use it to embolden our decision or to try to influence God to answer as we want Him to?
We need to be less about leading and more about following! God doesn’t often reveal His answers ahead of time. Because it’s the journey and the struggle that build godly character.
Another thing that I am learning through the times of unanswered prayer is that our God is not a God who plays games or who messes with us. I don’t think that He makes us unnecessarily wait just so He can go, “See, I knew she’d lose faith if I just made her wait long enough. Now I’m not going to grant her request.”
I used to unconsciously feel like He was doing this, making the wait drag on unnecessarily just to rile me up, so that He could go, “Oh, now she just lost the blessing I was going to give her.”
But I don’t really think He tests us that way - because He knows that we are human and that we will fail Him if we are given a long enough wait. So it’s really not a test. If He’s making us wait, there are reasons.
And it's humbling to read how long some Bible people had to wait for answers or deliverance. Joseph was unjustly prisoned for two years. Abraham was promised a son, but that miracle didn't happen for 25 more years. And yet we think we should get our answer immediately!
We see the big, amazing moments in Scripture, but we fail to realize how much time there was between those moments. And then we feel like there's something wrong with us, our prayers, or our faith when we don't get our answers right away. But that's just not how God works. He is much slower and more calculated than we are. And He has His reasons for taking His time.
Sometimes it’s that there are issues inside of us that we need to discover and work through. Sometimes it’s to help us go deeper in our walk with Him. Sometimes it’s that we are unknowingly blocking Him by our own sins, and we need to recognize them and confess them. Sometimes it’s that our desires need to change because we are asking for the wrong things. And sometimes it’s just because He’s working on the answer, but it’s not ready yet because He works with and through humans to get His Will done.
But we are hasty. We are impatient. And we think everything hinges on us: on our prayers, our strength, our resourcefulness, and our faith. And so we get discouraged with ourselves, our faith, and Him if we have to wait too long. We feel that we let ourselves down, that we let Him down, and that He let us down. All because our prayers “didn’t work.” But it shouldn’t be this way. Our “faith” should not hinge on how and when God chooses to answer.
I should not be limiting God by my expectations and putting parameters around Him and how He works in my life. I cannot determine how He will answer. I cannot know how He should answer. And so I should not be focused on “the answer.” I should be focused more on how I am walking with Him on this journey through life.
(See the post "80+ Bible Verses for Spiritual Warfare" for lots of good verses.)
Understanding God's Will #9c: Considering Other Prayer Verses
When you isolate a verse, such as Mark 11:22-24 (about getting what we ask for if we believe we'll get it) from other Scripture, it’s easy to misunderstand it. It’s easy to make the Mark passage a “name it and claim it in faith” verse when you do not take into account the rest of Scripture. And this then causes me to focus more on my faith’s ability to make things happen and less on drawing near to God and immersing myself in Him and His Word. After all, if my faith is enough to get it done, how much do I need Him?
Yes, Jesus says “whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” And I still haven’t fully grasped what He meant by that. But I think that it is best understood when we take a look at all of Scripture. Verses cannot be taken separately. The Word is not like trail mix, where we can pick and choose the raisins and chocolate, leaving the icky nuts behind. It’s like a cake, where all the ingredients work together to form the end product. All the ingredients work together to make the final product just right. And so we cannot pick and choose the verses we want and leave the others out. We need to take it and study it as a whole. They all work together.
Therefore, in order to best understand Mark 11:22-24, it would be wise to do a quick review on other “prayer verses” (ones we’ve already looked at) and see what it adds to our understanding of how and when God answers. And doing this helps me see some of the pitfalls in the “name it and claim it” interpretation of the Mark verses and the dangers of isolating them.
1 John 5:14-15: “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what we asked of him.”
James 4:2-3: “... You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”
John 14:13-14: “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”
Yes, this last one sounds like the Mark 11 passage: Ask for anything and Jesus will do it. Wow, that sounds great! What an awesome power - to be able to get anything we ask for. But! I don’t think that’s what Jesus really meant. And we have to look at all the verses together to know what He really means. (And there are even more verses that I am not looking at here. It would be a great study if you want to explore it for yourself.)
I cannot just ask for what I want and believe that my faith will make it happen. Because it also says that it has to be in line with His Will. Sure, we can ask for whatever, but He “hears” the things that are in line with His Will. And when He hears the prayers that are in line with His Will, we can be confident that He will do them. But the point is, something He waits for us to ask for the things He wills before He does the things He wills. He has chosen to work with and through mankind to get His Will done! Which means that if we don't ask, we won't necessarily get the things He's willed for us.
[And this is where Calvinism disagrees and goes wrong. Calvinism thinks God always causes what He wills and that everything that happens is because God willed it. God's Will always happens and is the only that thing happens, and we can do nothing differently.
But the Bible repeatedly shows God hinging His plans on mankind to a large degree and man having a real choice about obeying or disobeying. (Find me one verse that says God has predestined whether we obey or disobey, that He has predestined and controls our choices for us. One clear verse, not a mish-mosh of half-verses taken out of context or a verse taken from a "poetic" book of the Bible.)
Calvinism is simply wrong when it comes to how God carries out His Will.
Besides, if Calvinism is true that everything that happens is God's Will then why do we need to ask for His Will to be done as 1 John 5:14-15 shows us. Could His Will not get done if we don't ask for it?
In Calvinism, we couldn't even ask for anything outside of His Will anyway because there are no "alternative options" outside of His Will. His Will doesn't ever not happen. Everything that happens is His Will and it's the only thing that can happen. Plus, even our asking for things outside of His Will would be His Will because God controls even our thoughts and prayers, according to Calvinism. What a mess!]
And those verses also say that we won’t get what we ask for if we have selfish motives, and that we have to ask in Jesus’ name, for the glory of God. But this is not a blank check. We can’t just add “in Jesus’ name, Amen” to the ends of our prayers and expect God to give us what we ask for.
So what does it mean to pray in Jesus’ name? I like to think of it this way. Let’s say that I work for a company, and I go to an office supply store to get some supplies that my boss wants. Now, I am going there in his place - in his name - to get the things that he wants. As long as it’s on his list and in line with his needs and what he wants for his office, then it’s in his name. But if I don’t ask for it, I won’t get it. And as soon as I ask for something off of the list - something that I want, that I think he wants, or that’s out of line with what the office needs - I am asking in my own name. And I can’t put it on his tab or claim that it’s his Will.
When we consider all of these verses together, it weeds out a lot of the requests that we make. How many of our requests are in our own names, for our own desires and purposes? Even prayers for healing or blessings can come from our own desires and our own thoughts of what we need. God doesn’t promise to give us whatever we want, but He will give us what He wants for us, when we ask (and oftentimes not until we ask). And God often has important things to teach us during the wait and during our struggles with unanswered prayers - if only we will take our eyes off of our requests and put them on Him.
[Now, I know that I have just spent time talking about how you can’t just “believe and then you will get whatever you ask for.” And I use this mostly for when we try to convince ourselves that God will give us whatever we want. But I have read other people’s stories about their prayers being answered, and I do have to wonder if there really is something more to the “you will get it if you believe” verse. While we can’t claim whatever we want, if God has given you a deep assurance that He has indeed answered a prayer in a certain way – even if you have no outward proof – then believe Him with all you’ve got in you.
I wonder if “belief and faith” are so important in getting what we asked for because it’s like God is giving us a choice to accept His answer or to reject it. And we accept it by choosing to believe in it. Once again, we need to be sensitive to how God might alter our requests, and we need to give Him the right to answer as He will. But if He has given you an answer in the very depths of your spirit, then believe Him and wait for it. Because giving into despair and doubt and fear might just prevent His answer from becoming a reality in your life – because it gives the devil greater ground in your thoughts, your heart, and your life. And if you don’t believe, you will not take the necessary steps to reach for the answer that God has laid out for you.
Now for more on Calvinism and prayer:
Let's go back really quick to James 4:2-3: “... You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”
How can this be reconciled with Calvinism, which says that God's predestined everything and is the cause of everything and that nothing different could have happened?
How could we get or not get something based on our motives and on whether or not we asked? Because, in Calvinism, God would be the cause of our motives and whether or not we asked.
But this verse clearly sounds like we choose whether or not to pray and that we have an impact on if our prayers are answered or not. This would be the clearest, simplest way to understand it, which lines up with example after example in the Bible.
But Calvinists, to fit it into their idea of "God preplans/controls everything," view it this way: "Well, God ordains the means (our prayers) as well as the ends (the answers to our prayers)," meaning that God's predestined our prayers just like He's predestined the answers.
But is this what the verse is saying? Or do you have to do an awful lot of twisting to get the verse to say that?
Instead of just reading verses as they are, Calvinists embellish and twist and alter verses to get them to fit with Calvinism, and it flies in the face of example and example of how God works in the Bible.
An honest Calvinist rendition of this verse should read:
“... You do not have, because you do not ask God, because God predestined you would not ask Him because He didn't want you to have it anyway. When you ask as God predestined you to ask, you do not receive because you ask with wrong motives that God pre-determined you would have so that He could deny you the thing He predestined you would are ask for, the things God ordained you to want to spend on your God-ordained selfish pleasures.”
Does this make any sense?
I didn't think so.
Why would God predestine you to ask for things He wouldn't grant? Does God predetermine that you would have selfish desires and wrong motives, that you ask for things with wrong motives (which He gave you) so that you can spend them on your selfish desires (which He gave you) ... and then after causing you to have wrong motives and selfish desires and causing you to ask for selfish things, He doesn't grant what you asked for anyway, supposedly because of your selfish desires and wrong motives (which He gave you)? Why would He preplan/ordain/cause people to ask for things He was never going to give them, and then make it sound like it was their fault He wouldn't grant it when it was really all because of Him, supposedly for His glory (the reason He does all things, according to the Calvinists)?
Calvinism and genuine biblical prayer do not go together!
What better way for Satan to get Christians to roll over and play dead than to convince them that nothing they do really matters anyway!
Here is something I wrote in another post about Calvinism and prayer:
I read a quote from a Calvinist once where they said something like "We have to pray because there are some things God has determined to give us only when we pray for them."
Think about this one for just a moment.
A Calvinist believes that Calvi-god controls and causes everything that happens, down to our thoughts. Everything that happens is his Will, which was predestined from before time began. And nothing different can happen than what he willed.
But ... your prayer makes a difference!?! There are things Calvi-god willed for you that you won't get if you don't pray for them!?!
Do you hear how contradictory that is!?!
Of course, I can believe that prayer makes a difference because I believe that God responds to us, that we make real choices that have real consequences, that God is in control over everything (holding it all in His hands) but that He has chosen to not actively control everything, including our decisions and thoughts and actions, and that He works His Will out in cooperation with mankind, through our obedience and prayers (and if we choose to disobey, He'll work our disobedience into His plans because He is wise enough to work with whatever we dish out).
So I can believe that our prayers matter and make a difference and that we won't get certain things if we don't pray for them and that God's Will doesn't always get done if we don't seek it, pray for it, obey in it, etc., because I believe the Bible clearly teaches that God gave mankind a certain level of free-will and real responsibility.
(To be clear, the things He Wills - His plans - will eventually get done through obedient people, but we can refuse to be part of it and we can choose to disobey. We can miss out on it. But He will eventually find someone else to be part of getting His Will done. So His Will does get done, but it’s our choice to be part of it or not. Our choices are ours, and they have a real effect on our lives and eternities, with real consequences.)
But a Calvinist cannot say that prayer makes a difference without contradicting their own theology. Because if God wills you to get something, you'll get it. If He doesn't, you won't. And if He wills you don't get something, no amount of prayer will change that. If He wills you to get something, your lack of prayer won't change it. In fact, if you don’t pray, it would have to be because Calvi-god willed that you don’t pray. So how could he have something he wanted to give you if you had prayed when he is the very reason you didn’t pray?
Do you see what a tangled web this is?
If it’s all been predetermined from before time began and if everything that happens does so exactly the way that Calvi-god planned it and causes it to happen, then there is no “alternative, could-have-happened” plan. Not in Calvinism. Because then that would be Calvi-god making plans against his plans. (And yet Calvinists do say that God does indeed decree that people go against His decrees. And they don't see anything wrong with this or how twisted, schizophrenic, self-defeating, and untrustworthy this makes Him.)
So then why this warning about the necessity of prayer? From a Calvinist?
If a Calvinist believes that prayer makes a difference, they are essentially denying their view of God's sovereignty (that Calvi-god predestines, controls, causes everything that happens). To say that his Will could fail to get done because of our failure to pray is a denial of Calvi-god's sovereign control and predestined Will. To say that we affect what happens with our prayers is to say that we have some sort of influence over what happens, apart from Calvi-god's control/Will. And this is a clear, horrible violation of Calvinism's fundamental beliefs.
"Oh, but God ordained that prayer is how we get the things He willed for us," they say. Basically, that God preplanned that we would pray in order to get the things He willed for us.
Okay, but then why bother warning us of the need to pray if God's already predestined it? As if we have a choice?
If it is certain to happen, regardless of what we think or do or our efforts to obey, then it will happen, regardless of what we think or do or our efforts to obey. And so we don't need to concern ourselves with anything or try to do anything because everything's already been planned and God will cause everything that happens and everything that happens is "His Will," whatever we do.
When a Calvinist - who believes everything's been predestined and that God controls all that happens - warns you of the need to pray, try replying like this, "So then what happens if I don't pray?" And see what they say.
Honestly, the only answer they can give to be consistent with Calvinism is "Then I guess it's God's Will that you don't pray, for His glory and plans."
If they try to convince you of the need to pray, as if it has some effect on what happens, then they are contradicting their view of God’s “sovereignty” and of everything being predetermined by God.
Calvinism essentially leads to a dead faith, fruitless and impotent.
[If a Calvinist preacher tells you that you need to tithe or join a small group or help in a ministry, wouldn’t it be fun to answer “I can’t. God predestined that I wouldn’t do it, for His glory”? Wouldn't it be interesting to throw eggs at the Calvinist pastor's house or to eat his lunch right out from underneath him, and say, "God predestined it for His glory," and watch how they reply, how much they blame you for what you chose to do?
If a Calvinist complains about you questioning or disagreeing with Calvinism, simply tell them "God 'ordained' that I fight against Calvinism, for His glory. I have no control over it." And see how non-Calvinistic they can be!]
I think that there is something else that we need to consider when it comes to our requests. How many times do our requests and our desires for an answer become idolatrous pursuits, taking our focus from God? I think sometimes this is why many of us end up in the furnace of refining, long waits. To purify our hearts, to help us weed out wayward desires and idols, and to help us refocus on what we should be focused on: God!
Immediately, I went from griping and feeling sorry for myself to “Ohhh, I get it now!” With that one word, I realized that God was telling me that this wasn’t “my dream” or “my house.” It was His house on loan to us. It was His gift to us, to be used to glorify Him and to be used for His purposes. I wasn’t supposed to hold it up as highly as I did or hold onto it as tightly as I was. I was supposed to hold it loosely, knowing that it was by Him and for Him. It wasn’t a “dream house” for me to covet. It was ... just a house!
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, then what?
And just because He allows something bad to happen (say, cancer or a tornado) doesn’t mean that He always and necessarily wanted it to happen. Bad things are a part of living in a free-will, fallen world. But He knows that He can take it and use it for something good. If we let Him. If we trust Him.
(Yet let's not fool ourselves. God can and does cause things to happen that we don't like, but not sin or evil, when it serves His purpose. As God, He has that right.)
But pain, illness, and heartache are a part of living in a fallen world. He didn’t plan or desire these things for us. (Not that He can’t or doesn’t ever cause them for a reason.) But they are consequences of our decisions and of Satan’s influence.
But God does promise to work all things, even the pain, for good ... for those who love Him. And this is the promise that you can take comfort in.
And I think this is the verse that people are misconstruing when they say, “All things happen for a reason.”
[But I do want to add a caution here. We should not use God’s promise to "work all things out for good” to be lazy, to let ourselves make mistakes. Ah, so what if I mess up? He’ll use my mistakes for good, and it will all be alright in the end! We will face the consequences for our poor choices and our sins. And it was not predestined by God to happen; it will be our fault. But if we want to live the most abundant, God-glorifying life possible, we should be diligent about living as righteously and obediently as possible, abiding in God daily, heeding the Holy Spirit's guidance. But when we do make mistakes, we don't need to beat ourselves up about them or punish ourselves for it. Jesus already paid the price for all the sins we will ever commit. And so we should simply confess our sins, take responsibility for our mistakes and learn from them, return to God fully, and trust that He’ll make something good out of the messes we make. He promises to do this for those who love Him! You just need to trust Him to do it.]
Things related specifically to Calvinism:
And they do not see a distinction between "cause" and "allow." They think knowing it will happen and allowing it to happen is the same thing as causing it to happen, simply because God could have stopped it but didn't.
But foreknowing it will happen and allowing it to happen is not the same thing as causing it to happen. In the first, God is not the cause of the bad thing, the sin or evil. He didn't necessarily want it to happen or plan it to happen. And it does not glorify Him. He simply gave us freedom to make our own choices, even though He knew we'd make bad ones. But in the second, He preplans and causes the sin or evil that He commands us not to do, that He punishes us for. He wanted it to happen. He gets glory from it. And this makes Him unjust, untrustworthy, a liar, wretched, no different than Satan, etc. Big, big difference!
A Calvinist asked this question on a post at Soteriology 101: “If God destines something to an end or permits it and sustains it to the same end, what is the difference?” (What he's asking is "What's the difference between God causing something or God simply letting it happen?" But Calvinists don't ask this because they really want to know the difference. They ask it rhetorically, as in "There is no difference because it doesn't change what happened.")
This was my reply to him: "What’s the difference between a God who allows someone to make their own decision to rape and kill, and who punishes them for their choice … and a God who causes someone to rape and kill, with no option to do anything different, but who then punishes that person for raping and killing?
What’s the difference between a God who genuinely offers salvation to all people, but who lets us make our own choice about if we want Him in our lives or not, and allows us to face the consequences of our choice … and a God who predestines our eternities and choices, who causes unbelievers to be unbelievers, who never gives unbelievers a chance to seek/find Him or to find salvation, and who then punishes unbelievers in hell for being the unbelievers He caused them to be?
If you can’t see a difference, what does that say about your view of God and the Gospel? Either that, or you’re just not thinking about it carefully enough.
As one Calvinist at Soteriology 101 said, “That being said why would anyone trust in God who isn’t in control of all things that come to pass, the only way to have unreserved faith without doubt is to pray, hope and believe in God who is on the throne.”
There is no comfort in the ridiculous, dangerous Calvinist idea that "God causes all things for a reason."
How could someone who was abused as a child take comfort in that? In knowing that not only did humans want to hurt them, but that their heavenly Father did too, that He wanted and planned for their abuse, that He caused other people to commit violent sins against them and against Him, but that He expects the abused person to trust Him and love Him anyway? Because, after all, He is "so in control" that He even causes our evil sins? And you can "trust a God who causes our evil sins," right?
(Trust Him for what? That He loves you? That He wants your best? That you can take Him at His Word? That He will fix all the evil He Himself caused? What kind of trust does a Calvinist think you are supposed to have in a God like that? And what do we base that trust on if God wants and causes the evil He commands us not to do, if He tells us He wants us to do one thing but causes us to do the opposite, and then punishes us for it? It's nonsense! Destructive, damaging, heretical, evil, God-dishonoring nonsense!)
This wouldn't make God trustworthy or loving or good. It would make Him a wretched, abusive monster who hurts people but demands that they love and trust and worship Him anyway!
And yet, this is the kind of "god" Calvinists worship and try to be like. Scary!
To me, Calvinists are like abused spouses, people who are constantly making up excuses to themselves for the abuser's behavior, excusing it or rationalizing it, certain that the abuser really does love them and is treating them out of love and righteous justice, convinced that they themselves are the ones in the wrong and that they deserve whatever abuse they get, sure that the abuser is trustworthy and will always be faithful to them.
This is the sick relationship between Calvi-god and the Calvinist!
So very, very sad!
But instead of being forced to find comfort in "God causes all things," we should be finding comfort in “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28).
This is the promise that we should be resting on, that God is truly a good, trustworthy God who never wanted evil to happen and who doesn't cause sin. He tells us what He wants us to do in His Word and has made it possible for all of us to do what He says, but He has allowed us to make our own choices, even bad ones. But He is watching over it all and, no matter what happens, He will redeem it in the end and use it for our good. If we trust Him. If we let Him. Evil was never His plan from the beginning but He knew it would happen (a natural result of giving us the free-will to make our own decisions), and so He planned a way to redeem all things, by dying on the cross in our place so that we could live. And someday, He will wipe away all tears and evil and sin and heartache, and all things will be healed and good and whole again. Because that's the life He wants for us!
This is a God you can trust!
But at the end of the day, whether we understand why something happened or not, whether He caused it (but He never causes sin) or allowed it, whether it seemed to have a reason or was seemingly senseless, we have to decide if we will turn our backs on God or if we will trust Him, if we will believe Him when He says that He will work it out for good or if we will get bitter and walk away from Him.
We oftentimes cannot know why God allowed something to happen, and we may never get to see the good that comes from it until eternity, and so we have to choose to go forward in faith, taking God at His Word, instead of viewing God through our bad circumstances and feelings.
If we do not believe that God is good or that He loves us, then we will not trust Him when bad things happen.
(And let's be honest, the Calvinist god is not good and cannot be trusted, no matter how much Calvinists try to deceive themselves into thinking he's good and they they love him and trust him.)
I think the bad times in our lives are some of the best times to figure out what we really think of God and what we think He really thinks of us.
We may not be able to change the bad times, but don't waste them. Use them to help you explore your thoughts and feelings about God. Bring those thoughts and feelings right to God, honestly. Ask Him to help you learn the truth about Him and about yourself, and to help you know how to go forward from here, to learn from the pain and grow through the trials.
(In fact, I wrote a "workbook" kind of study to help people work through the hang-ups and obstacles we have in our relationship with God, to help us get closer to Him. I based it on the things I did to work through my fears and doubts and self-esteem issues, the things that strained my relationship with Him.)
Did you ever see Forest Gump? It’s been a long time since I have, but there’s this part where Lieutenant Dan rails at God from the boat, fist waving in the air, shouting all sorts of angry things at Him. And I don’t remember exactly what he said, I just remember that it was with an attitude of “I’m angry with You. Let’s get it all out in the open now! We’re getting in the ring, gloves off! Bring it on, God! It’s You and me! Let’s do this!”
And I used to think, How horrible and disrespectful toward God. God must hate that! Lieutenant Dan would earn himself some serious punishment with that kind of displeasing, impolite outburst.
But as I’ve gotten older and learned more about God and learned to be more transparent with Him and let Him into the sealed-off parts of my heart, I now realize, Lieutenant Dan is doing it right! That’s what pleases God, more than quietly shrinking away from Him and hiding the hurt parts of our heart in order to be “pleasing” to Him, nursing our wounds in private. He’d rather have us rail at Him in all honesty than to pull back in a false form of trust and humility. He wants us to wrestle with Him, if wrestling is what will create a deeper relationship and stronger faith. He wants us to give it our all, to cling to the very end, to passionately throw ourselves at Him and not let go until He blesses us.
I think wrestling with God is something we will all have to do at some point in our lives, in the trials and heartaches and unanswered prayers and unfulfilled dreams and shattered hopes and the failures and doubts and fears and questions.
And it’s okay to wrestle with Him. In fact, I think He’d rather have us shake our fists at Him and scream out our fears and doubts and grab onto Him tightly, refusing to let go, even if it seems impolite and improper, than to have us put on a fake, compliant smile while our hearts are breaking or to turn away from Him in despair and grab on to something else.
He doesn't want a fake, polished version of us.
He wants us, the real us, messes and all!
Psalm 34:17-18: "The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit."
Understanding God's Will #13: Limiting God's Power?
No, I don’t think so. And yes, He is in control of everything as far as everything that happens to us has to go through Him first. And I am not saying that He’s not all-powerful. I believe that He is indeed all-powerful. If He chose to wipe out the earth in a second, He could. He could do whatever He wants to do. He could control every movement we make, if that's what He wanted to do.
But I don’t think that He does do whatever He wants to do or control every movement we make. Because that's not how He wanted things to be. I think that when He created the world, He decided to make man with a free-will that He (generally) will not override, even though He can. Because He wanted people who would choose to love Him and worship Him, not who have to because they have no choice.
And if you still aren’t sure if it’s biblically accurate that He voluntarily limits His use of power and that He allows people to make choices that affect His Will for them, if you still want to say that God causes everything that happens and always does whatever He wants regardless of us, here’s a few examples from the Bible:
In 1 Samuel 8, we read how Israel asks for a king. This was not God’s desire for them. He even says that they are asking for another king because they have rejected Him as “king.” But after warning them of what a king will do to them, they demand one anyway. And so He provides one. But He makes it clear that this is not best for them. It’s not His Will that they have an earthly king, but He gives them what they asked for.
In Genesis 16, we read how Abraham took it into his own hands to fulfill God’s promise to provide him with an heir. Instead of waiting for God, he slept with Sarah’s maidservant and she conceived Ishmael. Was it God’s Will that Abraham didn’t wait and took matters in his own hands? Did God cause Abraham to do this for some reason? Of course not. We never see that God instructed Abraham to do this or that He agreed with Abraham’s decision. The promised child was Isaac. But God allowed Abraham to sleep with the maidservant. And God, in His supreme wisdom, will take whatever happens (even those things He doesn’t cause) and work them out for good.
Exodus 15:25-26 gives us another example of how God works, as He gives these instructions to the Israelites: “There the Lord made a decree and a law for them, and there he tested them. He said, ‘If you listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.”
What happened to the Israelites hinged on what the Israelites did, on their obedience, whether they listened to the Lord or not. God doesn’t say that He does what He wills, regardless of what man does. He says that we have an influence on the direction of our lives. He gives us a choice and responds to us according to our choice. (And for Calvinists to say otherwise, they have to ignore or alter the plain teaching of Scripture, substituting in some kind of "secret knowledge" about what God really meant to say when He said what He did.)
Think about how many times you've read things in the Bible like this: “If you obey ... If you listen to My voice ... I put before you blessings and curses, now choose.”
If Calvinism were true, then none of these commands or warnings matter, for we couldn't even want to obey them unless God predestined us to. The whole Bible and all of God's instructions to us would be one big joke! Warnings, like what He told Ninevah about destroying them in 40 days, would be lies, telling them they'd be destroyed if they didn't repent when all along He predestined they wouldn't be destroyed.
Leave it to Satan to come up with a theology that destroys God's Word and trustworthiness (just like he did in the Garden of Eden), in the name of "upholding God's sovereignty and bringing Him glory."
I’m not saying that we have authority over God or that we are sovereign or "in control." Once again, I am saying that God voluntarily limits the use of His power by allowing man to have free-will. And instead of overriding man’s free-will (and the consequences that come with it), He tries to get man to work in cooperation with Him to get His Will done, by giving us instructions in His Word, by growing our faith, by helping us to be more like Him, by leading us in wisdom, by prayer, and by teaching us to get our Will in line with His.
At least, He does this with those who are willing to. We are not puppets on a string, under the control of an all-powerful God that has orchestrated every event and detail of our lives. He made us with free minds, free-will, responsibility, and the right to have an effect on what happens in this world and in our lives. For good or bad.
And that's a scary and sobering thought!
Understanding God's Will #14: Does God Cause Nations To Sin?
I had a hard time understanding this, too, to be honest. But keeping in mind His justness, His sovereignty, His fairness, and His decision to allow us free-will (and the consequences), this is the best way I can understand it:
Let’s look at Isaiah 10 as an example. In verse 5, God calls Assyria the “rod of my anger, in whose hand is the club of my wrath!” And God uses Assyria to punish His people who have turned to idols. And then in verse 12, He says that when it is finished, He will punish Assyria for their haughtiness and pride.
So how can God cause a nation to attack another one, but then punish them for it?
Personally, I think that it comes down, once again, to the difference between “cause versus allow”. Or in this case, “cause versus use”. I think it’s not that He caused Assyria to be a certain way and forced them to do what they did. It’s that He used them as they were.
He looked ahead (not technically though, because He is outside of time) and knew what that country was going to be like, and so He saw how they could be used to accomplish His purposes. And so He took them as they were, as they chose to be, (not forcing them to be the way they were) and He worked it into His plan to discipline Jerusalem. And then, since the Assyrians were responsible for the way they were, for the kind of people and nation they had become, God could righteously punish them, after He had used them to accomplish His purposes.
Imagine, as an imperfect illustration, an undercover sting by police. Let’s say that they need to get Big Man X. And they know the best way to get Big Man X is to use Little Man Y, the crummy toady. And so they work out a plan that uses Little Man Y to get access to Big Man X, though Little Man Y is unaware that he is being used to mete out justice. And when the plan works, they arrest Big Man X and Little Man Y.
Now, they didn’t cause Little Man Y to be the way he was, they didn’t force him to be a criminal and do illegal things, they just used what he was to their advantage and to administer justice. And so he could be fairly punished, after being used to catch Big Man X. This, to me, seems to be the best way to view it because it factors in God’s justness and sovereignty and our free-will.
But Calvinism, which believes that God first caused Little Man Y to be wicked and caused him to do wicked things, makes God untrustworthy and unjust because this would mean God causes the very things He punishes us for. And if this is how God is - causing everything we do, giving us no choice to be or act any differently - then why in the world do we bother caring about anything at all and why in the world would we trust/love/worship Him and why in the world would it matter if we trust/love/worship Him or not, because it wouldn't change a thing and we have no control over it anyway?
I can't think of a better way to make life utterly hopeless and God's Word utterly pointless!
Understanding God's Will #15: Is God Sovereign?
Yes, I do. I just define "sovereignty" according to how I see God acting in the Bible, how He reveals Himself to be, keeping in mind His essential characteristics of being holy, just, righteous, loving, etc., instead of doing what Calvinists do, which is pre-deciding that sovereignty has to mean that God controls everything or else He can't be God and then reinterpreting the Bible in light of that misunderstanding, even though it contradicts what's clearly, plainly said in the Bible and turns God into a contradictory, unjust, untrustworthy monster who has little love for his creation.
I've heard something like this before and I like it (I'm not sure where I heard it, probably from Leighton Flowers over at Soteriology 101):
"Calvinists start from 'sovereignty' (their misunderstanding of it) and then determine how a sovereign God (as they define it) shows love. But biblically, we should start from the truth that 'God is love' and then figure out how a truly loving God exercises His sovereignty." (paraphrased)
If you start from a misunderstanding that sovereignty has to mean "controlling all things," then you've got a horrible God who causes the evil things He punishes us for. (And then Calvinists defend this by saying that being sovereign means He can do whatever He wants to, even at the expense of His love for His creation. They first misdefine sovereignty and then they use it to defend their misunderstanding of His sovereignty. Bad form!)
But if you start from the truth that "God is love," that He is being honest when He says He truly loves all people and wants all people to be saved, then you can understand that evil and sin are not caused by Him (because a truly loving, trustworthy God cannot cause evil and sin), and so they must be caused by us and by demons, and so God must have decided to not control everything but to allow us to make real decisions, just as the Bible repeatedly shows in example after example. And so even though bad things happen, God can truly be trusted and is still truly good and loving, because He is not the cause of evil and sin.
It is even more horrible when we understand that, under the Calvi-god system, God could just as easily ascribed a “genuine faith” to them instead of a “temporary faith” (which propels them towards destruction), that Calvi-god wants to deceive them and others and deeply wants them in hell more than anything and so instead of a genuine faith, HE irresistibly gives them a “temporary (fake) faith”.
Under the Calvinist paradigm they forget that God is truly a moral being, and a morally GOOD being. They think their definition of Sovereignty can trump any moral attribute that God has. So the Calvi-god can author evil, can be unloving, unmerciful, unjust, untruthful, as long as you say: “WELL GOD IS SOVEREIGN – HE CAN DO ANYTHING, WE MUST SIMPLY ACCEPT IT AND CALL IT HOLY AND GOOD” even though it contradicts the Scriptures’ own definitions of what is Holy, Good, and Loving.
It is not our own standard of Holy, Good, and Loving that is being contradicted. It is the very SCRIPTURE’S definitions of these terms that is being contradicted.
They think that the term “SOVEREIGN” means He can be as evil and distorted as they want to make HIM out to be and that the Word “Sovereign” takes care of all of those distortions.
“A Sovereign God can do anything. Who are you, O man, to question God?”
BTW – We are not questioning God. We are questioning the Calvinists profaning His Holy name and then thinking by tacking on “Sovereign” it makes their blasphemy go away. It does NOT.
Just like Calvinists use the words “Mystery, Paradox, and Tension” to cover over all kinds of Calvinist contradictions to the Bible (which they assert are true) ... SO ALSO when they use the WORD “SOVEREIGN.” It is often a tactic to cover over the fact that they have in many cases constructed their Calvi-god who is demonstrably unloving, unmerciful, unjust, untruthful, unholy, evil. But they think if they just apply the word Sovereign and say “Sovereign God can do whatever HE wants,” it excuses all the Profaning of God’s Holy name and BLASPHEMY that they have just engaged in.
“Sovereign” is NOT a word that can be employed to cover over the profaning of God’s Holy name that goes on in Calvinism.
Take note how they use the word Sovereign to do just that. It does NOT Glorify God… it is truly profaning His Holy name.
I believe that all things are ultimately in His hands. And all things have to ultimately pass through Him first: what the enemy can do to us, what situations and trials we face, what consequences we reap from our choices, etc. It all has to go through Him, and He will only allow what He is willing to allow. That doesn’t mean that He desires all these things to happen, but in deference to our free-will, He does allow it. And He allows what He knows He can use for our good, for mankind’s good, or for His glory in the near or distant future. But we still have free-will, and God can use the free-will choices that we make to accomplish His purposes.
Contrary to Calvinism's false dichotomies of "Either God controls everything or He controls nothing" and "Either He is sovereign or man is sovereign," the truth is that free-will and God's sovereignty go hand-in-hand. (Calvinist give people lots of false dichotomies, forcing you to reject the one that's clearly wrong and to choose the one that's Calvinist. But they actually leave out the right answer, the biblical one, from the very beginning, forcing you to side with Calvinism. It's cult-like manipulation!)
God has chosen, as seen all throughout the Bible, to restrain His use of power to give men real choices, and then He works His Will out with and through our self-made choices, our obedience or disobedience. He is wise enough and powerful enough that He doesn't have to cause everything that happens in order to bring about His plans. He can take whatever we do, whatever we choose, and work it together into something good. He is just that big of a God!
And this is how He has decided He wants things to be.
As I've heard it said before, "Free-will is God's Will."
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.
If Calvinism is true that God predestines everything that happens, then He would be lying if He said He was going to punish the people if they didn't repent. Because He didn't end up punishing them which meant He was never going to punish them to begin with. It was never part of His "predestined" plan. Calvinism essentially negates every warning God gives in the Bible that He doesn't end up carrying out. They turn God into a liar who makes it seem like the people have a choice when they really don't and who makes it seem like their behavior affects the outcome when He already had everything predestined from the beginning.
"Oh," but the Calvinist says, "God predestined that He would change His mind."
So first Calvi-god makes commands, then he causes people to break his commands, then he warns them that he will punish them for breaking his commands, then he causes them to repent, then he changes his mind about the punishment he said he was going to give?
Do you hear unreliable and untrustworthy this makes him? What a joke it makes of him, like an over-grown man-child playing all alone with his toys? Do you hear what a joke it makes of any effort we put into making a decision, if he controls us anyway? We are just fooling ourselves, then, if we think that anything we think or do or try to do matters or makes any difference? Do you hear what a joke - what a lie! - it makes of his commands and warnings?
But if we truly have free-will, the right to make our own decisions between options that are equally available to us, then the fact that God changes His mind based on what we do makes sense. He is responding to us and our choices. And had we chosen differently, He would have responded differently. But no matter what we choose, He already knew what we would do and how He could use it for His plans. But He truly did leave the choice to obey or disobey up to us, and He would have altered His plans accordingly if we had chosen differently.
Do Calvinists think He is not smart enough to come up with multiple plans, using a huge variety of factors and circumstances that we contribute, to get His plans accomplished? Or do they think He is so simple-minded that He can only handle what He causes, that if anything happens that He didn't preplan and actively cause then it would stump Him, throw Him off, confuse Him so badly that He couldn't get His plans accomplished, and so therefore He has to control everything that happens because if there's anything He didn't control it would mess Him up?
How very small Calvi-god must be!
I said that God foreknows what we will choose to do, and so He knows how to work it into His plans. Yet Calvinists assume that "foreknowing" is the same thing as "preplanning/causing it to happen," and so, according to them, God "foreknowing" something means it's determined/predestined to happen. It's what He wanted to have happen. It's "locked in." It's "His Will."
But just because God foreknows everything that happens doesn’t mean that He preplanned it to happen, caused it to happen, wanted it to happen, that it was His Will, or that the person couldn't have made any other choice.
He knows when we will obey and when we will disobey. And He knows the outcome of each choice we make. But that doesn’t mean He causes us to do what we do, that we couldn't have chosen otherwise. It’s just that He knows it all ahead of time, and He knows how to work it into His plans. But we could have made any choice we wanted. And if we had made a different choice, He would have known it and would have figured out a way to work it into His plans.
Consider for a moment 1 Samuel 23:12-13. (Thanks to Ryan Nelson for pointing this out in his post “Predestination in the Bible: A (Possible) Counter Example.”)
In this passage, David asks the Lord if the people of the town, Keilah, will hand him over to Saul, who is pursuing him to kill him. And God says that they will. Armed with this foreknowledge of what will happen if he stays in that town, David leaves. So this thing that God foreknew would happen – that the townspeople would hand David over to Saul – never happened.
But if “foreknowledge” means “predetermined by God to surely happen” then David would have stayed in that town and been handed over to Saul. David would not have had a choice about leaving the town. Because, as the Calvinist says, "foreknowledge" means "determined to happen," right?
But David did have a choice. He had the choice to heed God’s warning or to ignore it. God didn’t determine David’s choice. He presented David with both options, and God knew what the outcome of both choices would be, and David chose. He knew that if David stayed, he would be handed over to Saul, and He knew that if David left, he wouldn't be. But God let David choose! (Reminds me how important it is to “inquire of the Lord” instead of just making decisions in my own wisdom!)
God's foreknowledge clearly does not mean "determined to happen," because in this case God foreknew the results of two opposite choices, but only one of them could, would, happen.
(Calvinism has no way to understand or excuse this example of God foreknowing something that didn't happen, other than some lame excuse like "Well, God can determine to do the opposite of what He determined to do" or "God preplans that He will change His mind." What a joke they make of God!)
And then there’s 1 Samuel 13:13-14. In this passage, Saul has disobeyed the Lord’s command by improperly performing a burnt offering. And Samuel tells him that if he had kept God’s command and done it properly, God would have established Saul’s kingdom over Israel for all time. But since he disobeyed, God was now taking the kingship from him.
God had a plan, but it hinged on Saul’s obedience. God was willing to secure Saul’s kingship, but Saul changed the plan when he disobeyed.
But Calvinists say that whatever God foreknows is determined to happen and that everything that happens was predetermined by Him.
So then which one did God predetermine/foreknow: That Saul's kingdom would have been established or that Saul lost the kingdom?
God foreknew that Saul's obedience would have secured the kingdom, but Saul disobey and lost the kingdom. Therefore, it cannot be true that foreknowledge means "predetermined/certain to happen," because God foreknew Saul's obedience would lead to him keeping the kingdom but this didn't happen. And it cannot be true that whatever happens is because God predetermined it, because God Himself said He had predetermined to secure Saul's kingdom if he obeyed but Saul ended up disobeying and losing the kingdom. What happened was not what God predetermined and what God predetermined did not happen.
(One more notable verse about this idea: 1 Kings 20:42: "He said to the king, 'This is what the Lord says: 'You have set free a man I had determined should die.''" So God determined something would happen, but then it didn't happen. How is this possible if God determines everything that happens and nothing different could have happened? Calvinists would say, "Well, God sometimes ordains that people disobey what He has ordained." And I am not kidding about this. They really do say this nonsensical garbage. And with a totally straight face.)
If you think that God always does what He has pre-planned, that He does not allow us to make our own choice about obeying or disobeying, and that our choices don’t affect His plans ... then you would have to call Samuel a liar for claiming that God had a different plan in mind that hinged on Saul’s obedience. There would have been and could have been no different plan in God’s mind if it was His pre-planned Will that Saul disobeyed and lost the kingship. After all, if God always did what He pre-planned/foreknew, how could He have a plan in mind that He never carried out?
I believe that, to a degree, God sits back and lets life happen. He lets us decide. He lets us “inquire of Him” or go off in our own wisdom. He lets us heed His warnings or ignore Him. He lets us obey or disobey. He lets us affect His plans and the path we take in life, for good or bad. He lets us accept or reject His invitation to salvation and the gifts of faith and grace and forgiveness. I believe God knows where each of our choices will lead and so He knows how to incorporate them into His plans, but He has not predetermined our choices ahead of time. He lets us decide. And so His commands are able to be obeyed, if we choose to obey them. His warning are able to be heeded, if we choose to heed them. They are real commands and real warnings, and we decide how to respond to them, and then He responds to us based on what we decided. And this just makes sense!
Back to "changing His mind":
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.
I think that, many times, God has to train us for the path that He wants us to take (by pruning, convicting sin, purifying motives, etc.). And this moves us from reluctance to acceptance, from fear to boldness. But He may not necessarily change the “call” that He gives us or the trial that He’s allowed. And it would be better if we let Him grow us for these calls and through the trials, instead of fighting Him.
He can’t be talked into anything He isn’t willing to do (and He has His mysterious reasons for not being willing to do it), no matter how much we pray and plead. An example of this is in 2 Samuel 12. In this chapter, David learns that the child Bathsheba is carrying will die, as a consequence of his sin of adultery.
Verse 14 shows the reason why God “struck the child.” “But because by doing this you have made the enemies of the Lord show utter contempt, the son born to you will die.” The Lord takes the child, not so much to punish David (God had already forgiven him), but because His name and His glory have been run through the mud. And a public consequence like this shows David, the Israelites, and the enemies of the Lord that God does not tolerate this. God’s name will be revered and there are consequences for our actions!
In verse 16, though, we see that David pleads with God to spare the life of the baby, even laying on the ground and refusing food for a week. But David’s prayers, no matter how earnest, could not change what God had decided to do, if God was not willing to change it.
We might desperately wish that God would change something, but we have to rest in the knowledge that if He’s not willing to change it, it’s because He can see how it can be used for greater reasons and purposes than we can know (or because He knows the consequence we caused is necessary for some purpose). And we may never see the good things that come out of it until eternity. It doesn’t necessarily mean that He caused it for those purposes (sometimes He does), but that He looked ahead and saw the good that He can do with it.
God doesn’t like to see us in pain. He doesn’t want to see us sick and dying and heart-broken. I believe that it pains Him to not grant certain requests because it hurts Him to see us in pain, such as not granting prayers for healing. (Think of Jesus’ crying when He saw the pain that Mary and Martha were in when Lazarus died.) But we have to trust that He’ll use it for good, as He promised. And that may be the only bit of comfort that we have in the pain: knowing that God hurts with us, that good will come out of it someday, that He can make something beautiful out of all our messes and mistakes, and that He will wipe away all tears in heaven where evil will be no more.
But now, on the other side of the coin, if what we request is something that He’s willing to do, He will alter things based on our prayers. If we pray according to His Will, He hears it and will do it; as seen in numerous examples in the Bible, when God hears a prayer and changes His plans because of it.
One such example is the story of Hezekiah. In 2 Kings 20, we read how God informed Hezekiah (through the prophet Isaiah) that he was going to die. In verse 2-3, we read this: “Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, ‘Remember, O Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.’ And Hezekiah wept bitterly.”
In response to that prayer, the Lord relents. “I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you ... I will add fifteen years to your life.” (Verses 5-6). We have no indication that God would have given more years if Hezekiah had not prayed and pleaded with Him. But we have every indication that it happened in response to the prayer, that the prayer made the difference. (However, what happens in the extra years he was granted was not good. So maybe it would have been wiser to go with God’s first plan.)
The more I learn, the more I think that prayer makes a difference. Not always, but definitely if it lines up with what God is willing to do. If we do not pray for what God is willing to grant, He is not obligated to grant it. This is a natural consequence of God giving us the right to make our own choices, to include Him or not.
Understanding God's Will #17: But God Can't Change His Mind
1 Samuel 15:29 says, “He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a man, that he should change his mind.”
I grew up believing this as a simple fact about the nature of God: He is incapable of changing His mind. It made sense. I mean, if He knows all things and knows what’s best for all things and always does what’s best in all things, then, of course, we can’t change His mind. How could we talk Him into something other than what He’s going to do?
(Note: I was falling into a typical Calvinist trap, thinking that just because God is all-powerful and knows what's best and wants what's best, then it must mean that He always uses His power all the time, controlling all things to always work out what He wants to have happen. But this is not supported in the Bible. It is an assumption, and then we err greatly in basing the Bible and defining God's character according to our assumptions, even though it flies in the face of so many biblical examples.)
But then I didn’t know how to think of all the Bible passages that talk about how God changed His mind when dealing with the Israelites. He said that He’d bring them to the Promised Land, and then He had them die in the desert. He said that He’d destroy them in His righteous anger, and then someone prayed and so He didn’t. It sure looked like He changed His mind to me. So how could I understand that verse? And what is God’s real nature, then?
This is where an older version of the Bible comes in handy. Older versions do not say that God does not change His mind; they say that He will not “relent.” It’s not that He “does not change His mind ever,” as though He is incapable of doing it. It’s that, in this passage, He had determined a punishment for the continued disobedience of the Israelites and He would not relent (go back on the punishment) this time. And given their hard hearts and continued false repentance, He shouldn’t have to. This, for me, totally changes the meaning of the verse and my understanding of God.
And then there’s Numbers 23:19 that says, “God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind.” In this example, it's important to look at the context. In this chapter, Balaam’s second oracle, Balaam was asked by Balak to curse the people of Israel. But God commanded Balaam to pronounce a blessing on them instead.
If you look at Numbers 23:19-20, it says this: “God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? I have received a command to bless; he has blessed, and I cannot change it.”
Again, I do not think this is saying that He is incapable of changing His mind. I think that, in this context and instance, it means that He will not fail to do what He said He would do. Even though Balak had summoned Balaam to curse the Israelites, God had pronounced blessings and would not change His mind. And He can be trusted to follow through with His promises.
[It’s a neat fact to me that God can be talked into changing His mind when someone prays for His mercy, but that He doesn’t really change His mind when He’s decided to bless. (As long as we do our parts! Our disobedience can delay or alter the fulfillment of promises, such as the Israelites’ trip to Canaan.) He’s so much more willing to be generous and merciful than punishing and hard-nosed.
This is so different from humans. We are usually so quick to make offers or promises that sound good (with good intentions, of course), but then we change our minds and don’t follow through. And we are so good at holding grudges against people for the things they’ve done to us, refusing to extend the kind of abundant mercy that God shows us. Just goes to show what a merciful, loving God we have.]
So, yes, I believe God can and does change His mind when He wants to, based on our choices and prayers. And this is what the Bible clearly shows in many examples. He has not predestined what we choose, what we do. He leaves our choices up to us, and then He takes whatever we do and works it into His plans.
Understanding God's Will #18: Our Responsibilities Regarding God's Will
(No Calvinism stuff added in the rest of these points)
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 as I said before, His Will is a Verb. It's more about the way we live in obedience to Him than it is about finding "His plan" for our 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?
Too often, we blame things for being "God's Will," when it might just be a result of our irresponsibility or willful sin. Maybe it’s not "God’s Will" that someone is struggling financially; maybe it’s that they are not being responsible with their money or following the command to tithe? Maybe it’s not "God’s Will" that someone lost their job; maybe they didn’t put their best effort into it, doing their job for the glory of God? Maybe it’s not God’s plan for someone to follow a certain path; maybe they didn’t really bother to ask for God’s guidance and to wait for God to guide them? And when He did show them what they were to do, maybe they didn’t obey?
My concern here is that it’s far easier for us to call all things “God’s Will” than it is to realize that we have an enormous impact and influence on what happens. If we were to realize that God just doesn’t do what He wills, but that we have an impact and influence on what happens, then we would have to take more seriously our responsibility to search for God, to remain close to Him, to seek righteousness, to be obedient, and to pray.
Because believing that we have more responsibility than that infringes too much on our comfort.
Understanding God's Will #19: Praying For The Wrong Thing?
What if what I’m praying for is not God’s Will or plan for me? What do I do? Like the Israelites begging for and getting meat (Numbers 11), could I end up getting what I ask for as sort of a punishment?
I wondered about this one, too. If I was asking and asking for something that God didn’t want to give me, would He end up giving it to me because I begged so much, but then there would be a punishment attached to it? That’s how I felt as I pleaded with God for a house. Would He give us a bad house just to shut me up, as punishment for begging too much, for not "trusting" Him enough and not being happy with what I had?
I mean, that’s like what happened to the Israelites, right? Or is it?
As I thought about this one, I realized that there is a difference between hardening your heart and rejecting His care for you, and desperately seeking His “Will” in prayer and bringing a request to Him over and over again. Even if I did "sin" by being anxious and depressed and focusing on getting a certain answer, I was (at the very least) bringing all this to God. I was pleading with Him. I was hurting before Him. And I was, ultimately, desperate to know what He wanted for us. My heart was turned toward Him.
This is different than what the Israelites got punished for. The Israelites had rejected God’s care for them. They refused to believe that He was a good God capable of caring for them. And they didn’t draw near to God through the trials; they pulled away and rebelled, complaining to others instead of going to God in prayer.
And so I would have to say that even if what you are asking for is not in line with God’s Will, keep praying with a soft heart. Keep bringing these petitions before God and being transparent before Him. And as long as you are soft-hearted and sensitive to Him and drawing near in the pain, God will eventually transform your desires and your Will to be in line with His, and usually by revealing things that you didn’t even know you needed to work on. And sometimes, through the pain.
But be willing to go with Him where He leads and to let Him make these kinds of changes, and He’ll guide you in the way you should go. And you’ll eventually be desiring what He wants for you. It’s hard-hearted rebellion that gets punished. But soft-hearted seeking (even if we do it wrong at times) gets God’s tender, loving mercy and care.
[On a practical note, when I have to choose between different options – such as doing something vs. not doing it, or Option A vs. Option B - there is a “test” that I try to run the options through to help me try to discern if it is the Lord or myself leading. What I do is run each option through this question: If I was to choose this one, what would my reason be? And then I search my heart for what is fueling the desire to choose that path: pride, fear, boredom, frustration, greed, anger, bitterness, selfish desire, impatience, etc.?
And remember that the Holy Spirit intercedes in prayer for us, so we don't always have to know what to pray or how to pray. Our message will get through because the Holy Spirit helps "clean it up" for us.
And also remember that God will grant our requests when it's in line with His Will, and so we don't have to be too afraid that asking for things out of His Will will change His Will for us. If it's not in His Will, He won't grant it. If it is His Will, He will.
I think a great prayer to pray, besides "If it be Your Will," is "Close the doors You want closed, open the doors You want opened, and give me the wisdom to know the difference." I think sometimes God wants to know that we are willing to let Him say "no" to us, that we will still trust Him and praise Him anyway ... before He will say "yes." And if His answer is really "no," then we'll be much more likely to hear and accept it if we don't get tunnel-vision on getting the "yes" answer we want so badly.
Understanding God's Will #20: Missing The Path
Well, 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 to pray or seek His guidance. 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. It makes you stuck, bitter, depressed.
Ask for forgiveness, return to Him with all your heart, seek righteousness and obedience, and pray. And just know that He will work it out for good. He has many back-up plans. He will use our mistakes and detours to work out something good, if we love Him and if we let Him. It doesn’t mean that it would be the same path He desired in the first place, but it will still be amazing, fulfilling, and God-glorifying.
And remember that He always knew the mistakes that we were going to make. They were no surprise to Him. He’ll never say, “Oh, gee! I didn’t know she was going to do that. Now that really messes up My plan. I guess I’ll have to tinker with some more ideas and see what I can put together to make use of that mistake.” From the beginning of time, He saw the mistakes we would make, and He saw how He could use them. His job is to work it into something good. Our job is to allow Him to, remaining in Him and being obedient from here on out.
This idea really relieved me of the guilty stress I was feeling when I was afraid that I botched up the whole “house buying” process by getting paperwork in late. I felt that I absolutely blew it and that God was now confused and confounded and didn’t know how to spin my human mistake into something good. I felt like I threw Him a curveball. But then, I realized that He knew all along that I would make that mistake. And that if it was still His plan that we get the house He wanted for us, He would be able to cover my mistake. That was such a freeing, merciful, gracious thought. And I could rest in Him, instead of continuing to beat myself up over it.
And you have to remember that you can never really know what would have happened or where you would be right now if you had taken that “other” path. Learn to like the path you are on, to enjoy the blessings and the good in it, and to glorify God in it. And don’t dwell on “what could’ve been.” There is no comfort in that and no glory for God in that. He is with you here-and-now, working the present situations into something good. He is not then-and-there, back on the path that you “should have” taken. He’s moved on to another good path and plan, and He’s asking you to come with Him. Glorify Him wherever you are!
However, I am not talking here about the times that God does indeed want us to go back to the “then and there” to make things right. There are times when God might be waiting on us to stop glossing over some past mistake or failure and to go back and make it right. And our relationship with Him will be hindered until we do.
Are you having an affair? Don’t just sweep it under the rug, thinking, Well, what’s done is done. I’m already this deep into it, may as well keep going with it. Make it right! Clean up your life.
Have you cheated at something? It may be necessary for you to confess and come clean.
Have you broken a vow? Make it right!
Have you chosen a bad path you shouldn't stay on? Figure out how to get off of it and how God wants you to correct it.
Are you neglecting your responsibilities to your family so that you can pursue pleasure? Do the right thing from here on out.
Never get comfortable in sin or on a wrong path. God will help you make it right if you ask for wisdom and are willing to obey.
James 1:5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.”
Lately, a particular part of that verse has jumped out at me, one that I never really noticed before: “without finding fault.” Somehow, I always missed that part, but once I noticed it, I was intrigued. To me, it says not only that God gives wisdom, but that no matter what kind of mess we got ourselves into, God will help us get out ... without condemnation, without rubbing our noses in it. He will not smugly say, “I told you so” or hold back His help just to punish us further. That kind of stuff is from the enemy. But God gives wisdom when we ask, without overemphasizing the fact that we got ourselves into this mess. He just wants to help us get out of it, to make things right again. That should be comforting to all of us.
Understanding God's Will #21: Will He Lead Where I Don't Want To Go?
Yes and no.
Yes, He did drag Jonah to Nineveh. But I don’t think He generally sends along “big fishes” to drag us, kicking and screaming, to places we don’t want to go. I believe that His typical way is not “a big fish,” but to pursue, challenge, call, and convict us. He will knock on the doors of our hearts and ask us to go with Him. And when He does call us to something we don’t like, if we will remain in Him, be obedient, and focus on Him and His glory, our feelings will eventually get in line. But He does allow us to rebel and to be hard-hearted, if we choose. And I think it breaks His heart and grieves Him when we do. He wants so much more for us than we want for ourselves.
I do think that He looks for hearts that are sensitive to the Spirit, that are willing to obey, to pray, to see needs, and do something about them. And He will take anyone who wants to be of use to Him and use them for His goals and His glory. I believe that there are many needs that go unmet and many of His plans and desires that don’t get done, because we shake off any responsibility that we might feel with “God will do whatever He wants.”
No! I believe that God has decided to get His Will done through mankind, in cooperation with us, through our obedience. But if we choose to disobey, His Will won't get done by us and we will miss out on being part of it. But eventually, He'll find someone else who is willing to obey, and they will get the blessings that come with obedience.
God calls, guides, and convicts, but He leaves it up to man to respond and to get His Will done on earth.
There are several examples in the Bible that show us that God calls, but we have to respond.
Exodus 3 tells us about Moses and the burning bush. When Moses saw that the bush wasn’t burning up, he decided to go closer and check it out. Verse 4 says, “When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, ‘Moses! Moses!’“
If God had wanted Moses’ help, He could have just appear in the sky and said, “Hey, Moses, I have a job for you”.
But that’s not what He did. He waited to call him until He saw that Moses went to look at the bush. Why? I think it’s because He waits for our response, to see if we will acknowledge Him or not. He doesn’t call to those who are uninterested and just walk on by.
Same thing with Samuel. In 1 Samuel 3, we read how the Lord called out to Samuel three times one night. And three times, Samuel went to see if Eli called him. Eli told Samuel that if it happened again, he should say, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” (1 Samuel 3:9) And the fourth time that the Lord called to Samuel, he responded as Eli told him to. And then the Lord gave him His message.
I used to wonder why God didn’t just start out saying, “Hey, Samuel! It’s Me, God. I have a message for you.” Why not just say what He wanted to say, instead of making Samuel run all over trying to figure out what was going on? And this is what really convinced me that God calls to us but He waits to speak until He sees if we are listening to Him or not. He doesn’t force His messages on us, but waits until we show our willingness by responding to His call.
Also, in Isaiah 6, we see that Isaiah has a vision where he sees the Lord sitting on His throne, and the angels all around Him. As he’s standing there (after freaking out about his sinful state, “Woe to me! ... I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”), he overhears the Lord say, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
Isaiah responds with that famous line, “Here I am. Send me!”
Now, since Isaiah was just standing there, eavesdropping on the heavenly conversation, God could have just said, “Hey, you over there? Come here and make yourself of some use!” But He didn’t. He mentioned a need for someone to “go” ... and He allowed Isaiah to offer or not.
And I think that this is what He does with us today. He places the calls and needs before us and He knocks on the door of our hearts, but it’s up to us to listen, respond, and open the door. He doesn’t force His way in or His ways on us. He looks for those who are willing.
How many of us miss our “burning bushes” because we don’t make the time or effort to notice? How many of us don’t respond to Him when He calls? How many of us overhear God’s need for someone to do something for Him, and yet we look down at the ground and pretend we didn’t hear anything? How many of us think God's gonna do what God's gonna do and there's nothing I can do about it?
And then we wonder where God is and why the earth is in such a mess!
Understanding God's Will #22: So What, Ultimately, Is God's Will?
So what is the Will of God, according to the Bible? And how do I find the next step in His plan for me?
Well, I’m glad you asked. But do you really want to know? Because once you know then you have a decision to make: obey or disobey. And doing God's Will is not a simple, quick thing. It’s a life-long, life-altering discipline. And that’s part of the problem because we want simple jobs with quick and massive rewards. We want to put in the least amount of effort and get the most benefits possible. We want Him to open the doors, but we don’t want any responsibilities. We want freedom, but no consequences.
But that is not God’s way. I think that the problem with a lot of us is that we want to live our lives the way we want, coasting into God’s “Will,” when we should be diligently living as He instructs us in His Word. And we desperately seek to find God’s “Will” (i.e. His plans), when we should be desperately seeking God.
Our job is not to force God to reveal His “Will” or to force an answer. And that’s one area where I’ve gone wrong before. Many times. There were times when I would bow my head to pray and be like, “Okay, God, I’m listening.” And I basically expected Him to speak simply because I told Him to. And if I was desperate for an answer, I could easily end up “making up” His answers. I wanted quick results when I wanted them.
But I cannot force God to speak. I cannot force Him to answer me when I want Him to, but I can make sure that I live in such a way that I am receptive to Him when He does speak. And this happens by abiding in Him, seeking righteousness, immersing myself in the Word and in prayer, and living in obedience to Him.
If we are doing these things, He'll guide our steps as we go, and we'll be in His Will, and the next step will become clear when it's the right time. (And it's almost always one step at a time. You won't get the guidance until the moment you need it.)
But if you want a generalized list of things that are always His Will for us, things that will help us stay on the path He wants us on ...
“Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me.” (John 14:21)
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33)
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)
“ ... whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:31)
“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” (Psalm 46:10)
Love God and others with all you’ve got. Obey His commands. Seek His kingdom and seek righteousness. Remain in Him always, through prayer and His Word. And if you are living for His glory, your life will be fruitful and God-glorifying. And we don’t have to know everything; just be still in Him, for He is God... and He will be exalted.
May God be with you and bless you on your journey with Him!
Understanding God's Will #9b: Help For The Journey
(No Calvinism information added to this post.)
So, as seen in the point 9a, faith in God isn’t “claiming” something that He hasn’t promised, believing that He’ll do it just because we believe in His ability to do it. Godly faith is trusting that He is the God that He claims to be in the Bible and that He will do what’s best, in His time and in His way. And our job is to follow in obedience, not to lead.
So, as seen in the point 9a, faith in God isn’t “claiming” something that He hasn’t promised, believing that He’ll do it just because we believe in His ability to do it. Godly faith is trusting that He is the God that He claims to be in the Bible and that He will do what’s best, in His time and in His way. And our job is to follow in obedience, not to lead.
And contrary to the “name it and claim” way, I believe that we are off-base when we are “claiming” a particular answer to prayer before He reveals it, when we tell Him the answer that we expect and that we are going to wait for. I think we need to not be claiming specific answers or blessings as much as “instructions” or “help along the way.”
While we can and should pray what's in our heart and place our desires before the Lord, there may come a time when we have to accept the fact that He isn't answering the way we want. And at this point, it would be far more effective to pray for things like strength while waiting or wisdom to know what He's asking us to do than to pray that the wait ends soon or that His answer is such-and-such. We may not necessarily be able to claim healing, but we can claim God’s peace and wisdom while we wait. We can claim His grace to uphold us while we go through the trials or the waiting or when facing a “no” answer.
Sometimes, the problem is just that we are focused on the wrong thing. We are focused on the end, when we should be focused on the journey. And we are asking for what we want, instead of seeking what He wants for us. I think that we can have faith in the promises that God has given us in the Bible, that we can believe in our hearts that He will answer us when we ask for those kinds of things, for wisdom, for help, for guidance, etc. But we cannot always “believe” that He will give us whatever we ask for, if we are asking for things that He has not promised in His Word.
And when it comes to what we think we hear God telling us in our hearts, we need to tread very carefully when we are trying to determine what God has “promised” He’ll do. We can far too easily convince ourselves that God has “spoken” to us and promised us something that we want or something that sounds good and godly to us. Such as healing or financial security or health or marriage or a wide-reaching ministry. We have preconceived ideas of what God should do, what He will do, or how He should be. And we end up “claiming” a promise that He has never made to us. And then when it doesn’t happen, we are crushed and so is our faith.
And we even need to be careful when claiming promises and guidance from Scripture. We can easily find verses to verify and confirm what we want. I mean, we could use Proverbs 15:13 to justify any selfish thing that we want to do: “A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit.”
But did we seek what God wanted to tell us and wait for it? Did we follow the Spirit’s leading in searching the Scriptures? Or did we go right to the verse that we “needed” to hear, and use it to embolden our decision or to try to influence God to answer as we want Him to?
We need to be less about leading and more about following! God doesn’t often reveal His answers ahead of time. Because it’s the journey and the struggle that build godly character.
Another thing that I am learning through the times of unanswered prayer is that our God is not a God who plays games or who messes with us. I don’t think that He makes us unnecessarily wait just so He can go, “See, I knew she’d lose faith if I just made her wait long enough. Now I’m not going to grant her request.”
I used to unconsciously feel like He was doing this, making the wait drag on unnecessarily just to rile me up, so that He could go, “Oh, now she just lost the blessing I was going to give her.”
But I don’t really think He tests us that way - because He knows that we are human and that we will fail Him if we are given a long enough wait. So it’s really not a test. If He’s making us wait, there are reasons.
And it's humbling to read how long some Bible people had to wait for answers or deliverance. Joseph was unjustly prisoned for two years. Abraham was promised a son, but that miracle didn't happen for 25 more years. And yet we think we should get our answer immediately!
We see the big, amazing moments in Scripture, but we fail to realize how much time there was between those moments. And then we feel like there's something wrong with us, our prayers, or our faith when we don't get our answers right away. But that's just not how God works. He is much slower and more calculated than we are. And He has His reasons for taking His time.
Sometimes it’s that there are issues inside of us that we need to discover and work through. Sometimes it’s to help us go deeper in our walk with Him. Sometimes it’s that we are unknowingly blocking Him by our own sins, and we need to recognize them and confess them. Sometimes it’s that our desires need to change because we are asking for the wrong things. And sometimes it’s just because He’s working on the answer, but it’s not ready yet because He works with and through humans to get His Will done.
But we are hasty. We are impatient. And we think everything hinges on us: on our prayers, our strength, our resourcefulness, and our faith. And so we get discouraged with ourselves, our faith, and Him if we have to wait too long. We feel that we let ourselves down, that we let Him down, and that He let us down. All because our prayers “didn’t work.” But it shouldn’t be this way. Our “faith” should not hinge on how and when God chooses to answer.
I should not be limiting God by my expectations and putting parameters around Him and how He works in my life. I cannot determine how He will answer. I cannot know how He should answer. And so I should not be focused on “the answer.” I should be focused more on how I am walking with Him on this journey through life.
While I cannot claim a particular, pre-determined answer, there are many Biblical promises that I can claim to help me on this journey and to encourage me during the waiting. And I should be searching for the Bible’s promises that relate to my character, my walk, my relationship with Him, and His help and comfort and wisdom and guidance, etc. This is where our focus should be while we are waiting for an answer to prayer.
(See the post "80+ Bible Verses for Spiritual Warfare" for lots of good verses.)
Understanding God's Will #9c: Considering Other Prayer Verses
When you isolate a verse, such as Mark 11:22-24 (about getting what we ask for if we believe we'll get it) from other Scripture, it’s easy to misunderstand it. It’s easy to make the Mark passage a “name it and claim it in faith” verse when you do not take into account the rest of Scripture. And this then causes me to focus more on my faith’s ability to make things happen and less on drawing near to God and immersing myself in Him and His Word. After all, if my faith is enough to get it done, how much do I need Him?
Yes, Jesus says “whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” And I still haven’t fully grasped what He meant by that. But I think that it is best understood when we take a look at all of Scripture. Verses cannot be taken separately. The Word is not like trail mix, where we can pick and choose the raisins and chocolate, leaving the icky nuts behind. It’s like a cake, where all the ingredients work together to form the end product. All the ingredients work together to make the final product just right. And so we cannot pick and choose the verses we want and leave the others out. We need to take it and study it as a whole. They all work together.
Therefore, in order to best understand Mark 11:22-24, it would be wise to do a quick review on other “prayer verses” (ones we’ve already looked at) and see what it adds to our understanding of how and when God answers. And doing this helps me see some of the pitfalls in the “name it and claim it” interpretation of the Mark verses and the dangers of isolating them.
1 John 5:14-15: “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what we asked of him.”
James 4:2-3: “... You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”
John 14:13-14: “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”
Yes, this last one sounds like the Mark 11 passage: Ask for anything and Jesus will do it. Wow, that sounds great! What an awesome power - to be able to get anything we ask for. But! I don’t think that’s what Jesus really meant. And we have to look at all the verses together to know what He really means. (And there are even more verses that I am not looking at here. It would be a great study if you want to explore it for yourself.)
I cannot just ask for what I want and believe that my faith will make it happen. Because it also says that it has to be in line with His Will. Sure, we can ask for whatever, but He “hears” the things that are in line with His Will. And when He hears the prayers that are in line with His Will, we can be confident that He will do them. But the point is, something He waits for us to ask for the things He wills before He does the things He wills. He has chosen to work with and through mankind to get His Will done! Which means that if we don't ask, we won't necessarily get the things He's willed for us.
[And this is where Calvinism disagrees and goes wrong. Calvinism thinks God always causes what He wills and that everything that happens is because God willed it. God's Will always happens and is the only that thing happens, and we can do nothing differently.
But the Bible repeatedly shows God hinging His plans on mankind to a large degree and man having a real choice about obeying or disobeying. (Find me one verse that says God has predestined whether we obey or disobey, that He has predestined and controls our choices for us. One clear verse, not a mish-mosh of half-verses taken out of context or a verse taken from a "poetic" book of the Bible.)
Calvinism is simply wrong when it comes to how God carries out His Will.
Besides, if Calvinism is true that everything that happens is God's Will then why do we need to ask for His Will to be done as 1 John 5:14-15 shows us. Could His Will not get done if we don't ask for it?
In Calvinism, we couldn't even ask for anything outside of His Will anyway because there are no "alternative options" outside of His Will. His Will doesn't ever not happen. Everything that happens is His Will and it's the only thing that can happen. Plus, even our asking for things outside of His Will would be His Will because God controls even our thoughts and prayers, according to Calvinism. What a mess!]
And those verses also say that we won’t get what we ask for if we have selfish motives, and that we have to ask in Jesus’ name, for the glory of God. But this is not a blank check. We can’t just add “in Jesus’ name, Amen” to the ends of our prayers and expect God to give us what we ask for.
So what does it mean to pray in Jesus’ name? I like to think of it this way. Let’s say that I work for a company, and I go to an office supply store to get some supplies that my boss wants. Now, I am going there in his place - in his name - to get the things that he wants. As long as it’s on his list and in line with his needs and what he wants for his office, then it’s in his name. But if I don’t ask for it, I won’t get it. And as soon as I ask for something off of the list - something that I want, that I think he wants, or that’s out of line with what the office needs - I am asking in my own name. And I can’t put it on his tab or claim that it’s his Will.
When we consider all of these verses together, it weeds out a lot of the requests that we make. How many of our requests are in our own names, for our own desires and purposes? Even prayers for healing or blessings can come from our own desires and our own thoughts of what we need. God doesn’t promise to give us whatever we want, but He will give us what He wants for us, when we ask (and oftentimes not until we ask). And God often has important things to teach us during the wait and during our struggles with unanswered prayers - if only we will take our eyes off of our requests and put them on Him.
[Now, I know that I have just spent time talking about how you can’t just “believe and then you will get whatever you ask for.” And I use this mostly for when we try to convince ourselves that God will give us whatever we want. But I have read other people’s stories about their prayers being answered, and I do have to wonder if there really is something more to the “you will get it if you believe” verse. While we can’t claim whatever we want, if God has given you a deep assurance that He has indeed answered a prayer in a certain way – even if you have no outward proof – then believe Him with all you’ve got in you.
I wonder if “belief and faith” are so important in getting what we asked for because it’s like God is giving us a choice to accept His answer or to reject it. And we accept it by choosing to believe in it. Once again, we need to be sensitive to how God might alter our requests, and we need to give Him the right to answer as He will. But if He has given you an answer in the very depths of your spirit, then believe Him and wait for it. Because giving into despair and doubt and fear might just prevent His answer from becoming a reality in your life – because it gives the devil greater ground in your thoughts, your heart, and your life. And if you don’t believe, you will not take the necessary steps to reach for the answer that God has laid out for you.
I don’t really know what to the think about all of this; I am still learning about prayer. But if God says that our belief and faith matter in getting our prayers answered – the ones that are in line with His Will - then we need to take Him seriously. Just something to think about.]
Now for more on Calvinism and prayer:
Let's go back really quick to James 4:2-3: “... You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”
How can this be reconciled with Calvinism, which says that God's predestined everything and is the cause of everything and that nothing different could have happened?
How could we get or not get something based on our motives and on whether or not we asked? Because, in Calvinism, God would be the cause of our motives and whether or not we asked.
But this verse clearly sounds like we choose whether or not to pray and that we have an impact on if our prayers are answered or not. This would be the clearest, simplest way to understand it, which lines up with example after example in the Bible.
But Calvinists, to fit it into their idea of "God preplans/controls everything," view it this way: "Well, God ordains the means (our prayers) as well as the ends (the answers to our prayers)," meaning that God's predestined our prayers just like He's predestined the answers.
But is this what the verse is saying? Or do you have to do an awful lot of twisting to get the verse to say that?
Instead of just reading verses as they are, Calvinists embellish and twist and alter verses to get them to fit with Calvinism, and it flies in the face of example and example of how God works in the Bible.
An honest Calvinist rendition of this verse should read:
“... You do not have, because you do not ask God, because God predestined you would not ask Him because He didn't want you to have it anyway. When you ask as God predestined you to ask, you do not receive because you ask with wrong motives that God pre-determined you would have so that He could deny you the thing He predestined you would are ask for, the things God ordained you to want to spend on your God-ordained selfish pleasures.”
Does this make any sense?
I didn't think so.
Why would God predestine you to ask for things He wouldn't grant? Does God predetermine that you would have selfish desires and wrong motives, that you ask for things with wrong motives (which He gave you) so that you can spend them on your selfish desires (which He gave you) ... and then after causing you to have wrong motives and selfish desires and causing you to ask for selfish things, He doesn't grant what you asked for anyway, supposedly because of your selfish desires and wrong motives (which He gave you)? Why would He preplan/ordain/cause people to ask for things He was never going to give them, and then make it sound like it was their fault He wouldn't grant it when it was really all because of Him, supposedly for His glory (the reason He does all things, according to the Calvinists)?
Calvinism and genuine biblical prayer do not go together!
I truly have to wonder how effective Calvinists can be in prayer (or in spiritual warfare) when they think they are just a puppet on a string, that they have no real responsibility and no effect because God has preplanned it all and causes it all to happen just the way He wants it to happen.
What better way for Satan to get Christians to roll over and play dead than to convince them that nothing they do really matters anyway!
Here is something I wrote in another post about Calvinism and prayer:
I read a quote from a Calvinist once where they said something like "We have to pray because there are some things God has determined to give us only when we pray for them."
Think about this one for just a moment.
A Calvinist believes that Calvi-god controls and causes everything that happens, down to our thoughts. Everything that happens is his Will, which was predestined from before time began. And nothing different can happen than what he willed.
But ... your prayer makes a difference!?! There are things Calvi-god willed for you that you won't get if you don't pray for them!?!
Do you hear how contradictory that is!?!
Of course, I can believe that prayer makes a difference because I believe that God responds to us, that we make real choices that have real consequences, that God is in control over everything (holding it all in His hands) but that He has chosen to not actively control everything, including our decisions and thoughts and actions, and that He works His Will out in cooperation with mankind, through our obedience and prayers (and if we choose to disobey, He'll work our disobedience into His plans because He is wise enough to work with whatever we dish out).
So I can believe that our prayers matter and make a difference and that we won't get certain things if we don't pray for them and that God's Will doesn't always get done if we don't seek it, pray for it, obey in it, etc., because I believe the Bible clearly teaches that God gave mankind a certain level of free-will and real responsibility.
(To be clear, the things He Wills - His plans - will eventually get done through obedient people, but we can refuse to be part of it and we can choose to disobey. We can miss out on it. But He will eventually find someone else to be part of getting His Will done. So His Will does get done, but it’s our choice to be part of it or not. Our choices are ours, and they have a real effect on our lives and eternities, with real consequences.)
But a Calvinist cannot say that prayer makes a difference without contradicting their own theology. Because if God wills you to get something, you'll get it. If He doesn't, you won't. And if He wills you don't get something, no amount of prayer will change that. If He wills you to get something, your lack of prayer won't change it. In fact, if you don’t pray, it would have to be because Calvi-god willed that you don’t pray. So how could he have something he wanted to give you if you had prayed when he is the very reason you didn’t pray?
Do you see what a tangled web this is?
If it’s all been predetermined from before time began and if everything that happens does so exactly the way that Calvi-god planned it and causes it to happen, then there is no “alternative, could-have-happened” plan. Not in Calvinism. Because then that would be Calvi-god making plans against his plans. (And yet Calvinists do say that God does indeed decree that people go against His decrees. And they don't see anything wrong with this or how twisted, schizophrenic, self-defeating, and untrustworthy this makes Him.)
So then why this warning about the necessity of prayer? From a Calvinist?
If a Calvinist believes that prayer makes a difference, they are essentially denying their view of God's sovereignty (that Calvi-god predestines, controls, causes everything that happens). To say that his Will could fail to get done because of our failure to pray is a denial of Calvi-god's sovereign control and predestined Will. To say that we affect what happens with our prayers is to say that we have some sort of influence over what happens, apart from Calvi-god's control/Will. And this is a clear, horrible violation of Calvinism's fundamental beliefs.
"Oh, but God ordained that prayer is how we get the things He willed for us," they say. Basically, that God preplanned that we would pray in order to get the things He willed for us.
Okay, but then why bother warning us of the need to pray if God's already predestined it? As if we have a choice?
If it is certain to happen, regardless of what we think or do or our efforts to obey, then it will happen, regardless of what we think or do or our efforts to obey. And so we don't need to concern ourselves with anything or try to do anything because everything's already been planned and God will cause everything that happens and everything that happens is "His Will," whatever we do.
When a Calvinist - who believes everything's been predestined and that God controls all that happens - warns you of the need to pray, try replying like this, "So then what happens if I don't pray?" And see what they say.
Honestly, the only answer they can give to be consistent with Calvinism is "Then I guess it's God's Will that you don't pray, for His glory and plans."
If they try to convince you of the need to pray, as if it has some effect on what happens, then they are contradicting their view of God’s “sovereignty” and of everything being predetermined by God.
Calvinism essentially leads to a dead faith, fruitless and impotent.
[If a Calvinist preacher tells you that you need to tithe or join a small group or help in a ministry, wouldn’t it be fun to answer “I can’t. God predestined that I wouldn’t do it, for His glory”? Wouldn't it be interesting to throw eggs at the Calvinist pastor's house or to eat his lunch right out from underneath him, and say, "God predestined it for His glory," and watch how they reply, how much they blame you for what you chose to do?
If a Calvinist complains about you questioning or disagreeing with Calvinism, simply tell them "God 'ordained' that I fight against Calvinism, for His glory. I have no control over it." And see how non-Calvinistic they can be!]
Understanding God's Will #9d: Idolatrous Prayers
(No Calvinism stuff added to this one. It's just some of my own thoughts.)
I think that there is something else that we need to consider when it comes to our requests. How many times do our requests and our desires for an answer become idolatrous pursuits, taking our focus from God? I think sometimes this is why many of us end up in the furnace of refining, long waits. To purify our hearts, to help us weed out wayward desires and idols, and to help us refocus on what we should be focused on: God!
And most of us don’t do this on our own, not when things are going good and we are getting what we want. Because when things are going our way, we are content to float and to live self-centered, temporally-focused lives. And we think our relationship with Him must be pretty good for things to be going along so nicely. And so He allows us to face “the furnace” of unanswered prayer so that we can discover the selfishness and self-sufficiency and sin in our hearts, so that we learn that we need to be pursuing God - not the answers that we want - and letting Him fill our hearts and lives with what He wants for us.
After a looooong time of waiting on God as we searched for a home to buy, God finally “remembered” us and answered our request. But when we were working through the process of trying to buy it, I was getting very anxious and discouraged. It was a short sale, and the sellers had unexpectedly lost a job and were getting a divorce. So the wait dragged on and on. And I was getting more and more frustrated and antsy.
When we finally got word that the closing date was finalized, I was relieved. Relieved. . . and upset! Because I realized that it had taken so long that I had gotten past the point of being excited about it. I wasn’t overjoyed or thrilled to finally be getting the house that we had wanted for so long; I just wanted to get it over with. And that was upsetting to me. I just wanted it to be the thrilling experience that getting your first home was supposed to be. I felt robbed of joy. And I confessed this discouragement to the Lord one night in a pity-me prayer. (Wow, am I an ingrate or what!)
“Lord, why couldn’t we have gotten this house when I was excited about it and looking forward to it? We had waited so long for it, and I just wanted the chance to be happy about it. But it took so long to finally get it that I’m not excited about it anymore. It’s no longer the ‘fulfillment of the dream’ that it was supposed to be. Now it's ... just a house.”
And I heard one word from God. One word that put it all in perspective: “Exactly!”
Immediately, I went from griping and feeling sorry for myself to “Ohhh, I get it now!” With that one word, I realized that God was telling me that this wasn’t “my dream” or “my house.” It was His house on loan to us. It was His gift to us, to be used to glorify Him and to be used for His purposes. I wasn’t supposed to hold it up as highly as I did or hold onto it as tightly as I was. I was supposed to hold it loosely, knowing that it was by Him and for Him. It wasn’t a “dream house” for me to covet. It was ... just a house!
Oh, how many times I do that to myself! Making an idol out of some thing or some answer that I am waiting for. I pray and wait and struggle and plead and doubt and get discouraged. And then, I get to a point where I get so depressed that I can’t pray about it anymore, where I realize that I’m worse off to keep dwelling on this concern or request. And it’s usually then that God shows me that I have lost focus on Him and that I have been consumed with my request. I have been trying to manipulate God with my prayers and my “faith” in Him to answer the way I want or think I need.
And it’s hard to do, but when I get to this point - when the answer I want or when my desire for an answer has become an “idol” - I need to take my focus off of my request and put it back on God. I need to “give up” and give the Lord permission to answer as He will and to work in His timing. Because whatever His answer is, it’s ultimately by Him and for His glory. And so I pray:
“Lord, forgive me for making an idol of this request and for pursuing the answer when I should be pursuing You. I leave it in Your hands now, and I ask You to do as You will and to give me the strength to face this unanswered prayer gracefully. I know You are good and I trust You. I may not have the great faith that I wish I did, but I am putting my pathetic little faith in You right now. Thank You for being a big God who can see what I can’t see and handle what I can’t handle. I lean on Your strength now. May You be glorified through this.”
Gods knows that we have the ability to do this - the ability to make an idol out of our own lives, our desires. And so maybe He allows enough waiting and enough unanswered prayer so that we get to the point where it becomes “just a ... “ Because when it’s “just a ... ,” we can hold it more loosely, keeping our focus where it belongs, remembering Who it's all about and Who deserves the glory.
Understanding God's Will 9e: Humbled By Unanswered Prayer:
Another problem with the “name it and claim it” interpretation is that we are tempted to bail on God, to criticize ourselves for our “weak” faith, or to question Him when we don’t get the answers that we want or thought we would get. It confuses us, discourages us, and blows our understanding of God and His Word out of the water. And I think that God allows this helplessness and futility so that we can learn that it’s not about us, it’s all about Him! That He is God and we are not! And so that we dig deeper into the Word to see who God really is and what He has to say through all of it - and not just through the few passages that we are familiar with, that tell us we get what we want when we pray.
We want to lead and have control by our prayers, whereas true faith in God says, “Whatever happens, I still believe in You. And I will follow where You lead.”
It’s not that the strength of our faith gets our prayers answered the way we want; it’s that our prayers get answered the way God wants when we put our tiny, weak faith squarely on Him and His glory. And many times, that means that He has to change and mold our prayers to be in line with His Will as we struggle with the wait and the “lack of answer.”
Our hope should not be in some future answer to our prayers, that God will eventually give us what we want if we just hang in there long enough and drum up enough confidence in Him to do it. (Oh, how many times I fall into that!) Our hope should be in the fact that God is here now and that He is working things out in His time and in His way, even if they don’t match our time and way. It’s not letting the darkness and confusion pull us away from God, but letting it draw us even nearer to Him.
When we get past the point of needing our way and our timing to keep our faith alive, when we give up the "need" to get the answer we want and we passionately cling to Him instead, then we have learned to humbly put our faith in God, and not in some idea of who we think God should be and how He should act.
When we get to the point where God - and not some particular answer - has become what we really need, then He has become God in all areas of our lives, even in the pain and unanswered prayer and confusion. And it is then that we find ourselves and our desires transformed. When we are no longer concerned with what we think we need, we are free to be concerned with what God knows we need and with what He wants us to do, for His glory and Kingdom.
Understanding God's Will 9f: Maybe God's Not Listening:
Okay, now this is a lot to think about already. But there is more. (And even more than what I am saying here.) On top of all that I’ve already said, there are many more verses that shed light on why our prayers may not be effective. We have a much greater responsibility than we realize in making sure that our prayers get heard.
For one, maybe part of the reason that our prayers aren’t “working” and that it seems like God isn’t listening is because ... God isn’t listening!
“Whoa! Wait!” you say. “How could you dare to say something like that?”
Well, let me explain. We want God to be there when we want Him, and we want Him to give us what we ask for. And so we single out verses like Mark 11:22-24 to convince ourselves that our only job is to ask and believe, and then He’ll do it. (If this is the case, the best thing that God can do is not answer our prayers as we desire.)
But what we don’t do is consider the many verses that highlight our responsibilities in making sure our prayers are heard. God is not manipulated to do whatever we want by our level of “faith.” (Yes, He wants our faith and requires our faith, but faith is not genuine faith when we use it as a tool to get what we want.) But we do have an effect on the effectiveness of our prayers by how we live and by the condition of our hearts.
Psalm 66:17-19: “I cried out to him with my mouth; his praise was on my tongue. If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; but God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer.”
If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened!
When we cry out to God honestly (not just thinking it, but actually putting it into prayer) and with a sensitive heart and humble spirit, He listens. But if we chose to live in self-sufficiency or if we harbor sin in our hearts, He is not obligated to listen to or answer our prayers. Because we have put up a wall between us. We have chosen distance. We are not seeking His Will but our own. And so we are blocking God from hearing our prayers and from answering them.
This shows me the importance of Psalm 139:23-24: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
This really should be a daily thing, asking God to search our hearts and reveal anything that we need to ask forgiveness for or make amends for. (And admittedly, I don’t do this every day as I should. Usually, I forget to do it until things get to be too much for me to handle. I have to sometimes be forced by helplessness to passionately seek God.)
So if we wonder why our prayer life seems weak or if we are going before Him with a very serious need, maybe we should spend some time evaluating our hearts. Because hiding sin in our hearts is a wall between us and God, and it has an effect on our prayers. In fact, look at the very next verse after Jesus tells us that we will get anything we ask for if we believe ...
Mark 11:25: “And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive your sins.”
And this echoes Matthew 6:14-15: “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”
I don’t know about you, but this is a very hard teaching to absorb. (And it doesn't make any sense in regards to Calvinism which believes that God essentially controls everything we do, which would include not forgiving someone.) I will not be forgiven based on my unforgiveness towards others. And my unforgiving state has an effect on whether or not my prayers get heard, because ongoing, unconfessed sin in my life blocks God from listening to my prayers. And it blocks me from being of any real use to Him.
Now, I do not believe that these verses are saying that we will lose our salvation. I believe that there are two levels of forgiveness. One relates to the moment we chose Jesus as our Savior and we were forgiven of our sins, as a whole, so that we could attain salvation. This is a permanent forgiveness. And we can’t lose that by any sin we commit. Because if we could lose it by our sins then Jesus’ death was not enough. And it would be meaningless if it didn’t fully meet God’s requirements for our salvation. And He would have to die over and over again for every new sin.
Now, the other level of forgiveness, though, relates to the condition of our relationship with the Lord and our daily walk with Him. When we sin, we break fellowship with Him and we prevent ourselves from attaining the abundant, God-glorifying life that we should have. Like in a marriage, a sin doesn’t necessarily mean that you run out and get divorced, but it does interfere with the condition of your relationship with your spouse. And we need to confess these sins as they happen to restore proper fellowship.
There are numerous other passages in the Bible that say the same thing. The fact that we have responsibilities in maintaining a proper, godly relationship with God - that we have an effect on the effectiveness of our prayers - is a very real teaching that should be taken seriously. Whether or not we forgive someone else has an effect on our relationship with God and on if He hears our prayers or not.
And not only do we have the responsibility to forgive others and to seek forgiveness from God, but we are to ask for forgiveness from others for any offenses we have made against them.
Matthew 5:23-24: “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.” Being reconciled to others is so important to God that we are not even supposed to offer our gifts at the altar until we do.
But how many of us harbor bitterness towards others for some offense? How many can’t let it go because it seems so justified? They deserve it, right? Or how many of us won’t seek reconciliation because we don’t think that we should have to? We didn’t do anything wrong; it was all them ... right!?! (Or how many Calvinists feel that they had no control over what they did because Calvi-god ordained it for his plans and glory, and so they shouldn't have to be sorry for it?)
But forgiveness is not so much about the other person; it’s about our relationship with God. The Word makes it clear that the responsibility rests with us to forgive anything that we have against someone else and to seek forgiveness from others and from God, if we want to approach God in prayer. And if we don’t, it blocks God from forgiving us, which blocks God from hearing our prayers.
And even worse, unforgiveness towards others (or any resistance to confessing any sin in our lives, for that matter) shows hard-heartedness, which is diametrically opposed to a healthy, open relationship with God. And we will further block ourselves off from being sensitive to the Holy Spirit. And the longer we resist, the more we will entrench ourselves behind the wall that we have put up between us and the Lord. And the more numb and desensitized - and self-justified - we will feel.
It’s all about your heart and if you humble yourself before a holy God. How many of our prayers go unheard because of our heart’s condition and our attitude towards others?
Pride, bitterness, envy, gossip, idol worship, unforgiveness, ungodly speech, getting drunk, cheating, giving into temptations, lust, affairs, sex outside of marriage, acting out in anger, worry, etc., are all sins that need to be confessed and repented of, if we want God to hear our prayers and to have the most effective life for Christ.
It’s shocking, I know. I mean, God hears all of our prayers, right? So how can I say that He doesn’t? I don’t think it’s so much that He doesn’t “hear” them, but that we bind Him from working in our lives and from answering them because we have chosen to walk away from Him in our sins. We have chosen the roadblock. We have chosen sin. And we can’t hold onto sin and hold onto Him at the same time. (And remember that 1 John 5:14-15 says that God "hears" the prayers that are in line with His Will. All the other prayers are really just us talking to Him, but not calling Him to do His Will. So if you want effective prayers, it would be good to spend time in prayer asking God what He wants you to pray, what His Will is, even if it's different from yours.)
If we pray for forgiveness, which is definitely in His Will for us, He will hear. But if we just think about it, He won't. He's left it up to us.
Here’s one for husbands. 1 Peter 3:7: “Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.”
The degree to which we treat others with consideration and respect, particularly regarding a husband’s treatment of his wife in this verse, is the degree to which our prayers are unhindered.
And here are three that scare me:
Proverbs 21:13: “If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered.”
James 4:17: “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.”
Romans 14:23: “... everything that does not come from faith is sin.”
This really opens up a whole new side of our responsibility, of what God expects from those of us who call ourselves Christians. Do we ignore needs that we see? Do we turn a blind eye at injustice? Do we fail to treat others kindly? Do we fail to do the good that we know we should do? This is sin!
What, in our lives, are we doing that is a result of faithlessness? Do we hoard money because we don’t have faith in God to provide? Do we seek our own ways out of trials because we don’t have faith in God to help us through? Do we look to satisfy our desires outside of the boundaries God has given because we don’t trust that God’s way is best? Do we fail to obey because we are afraid of what obedience will cost us? This is sin, too!
We can open up to just about any passage in the Bible and find something we should be convicted about, something that will lead us toward a deeper relationship with Him and a better idea of how to live righteously, which leads us toward more “powerful and effective” prayers. But how many of us take the time to do that? How many of us read the Bible with the intention of seeking to live more righteously? Of getting to know Him better, as He really is? Or have we become comfortable in our own little world, behind our walls of fear, self-sufficiency, self-centeredness, and sin?
1 John 3:21-23: “Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from Him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.”
Notice that it’s not just an inactive, passive command to avoid doing anything that doesn’t please Him. It’s an active command that instructs us to live our lives doing the things that please Him. But we shouldn’t look at obedience as a way to manipulate Him to get what we want or as something that we have to do out of duty or irrational fear or to earn His love. The desire to obey is the natural response of a heart that properly fears God and that is so full of His love and of love for Him that you want nothing less than to do His Will and bring Him glory.
John 15:7: “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.” Now, if we ended with that verse, it would sound like a blank check. (Notice, though, that we need to be remaining in Him and to store up His words in our hearts. That’s a lot of responsibility.) But we need to go on to the next verse to find out what kind of prayers God is talking about. Is it really “whatever you wish”?
Verse 8: “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” God grants the prayers that are centered on bearing fruit for the Father’s glory, that show others that we are His disciples. And this comes as a result of remaining in Him, which means way more than just reading our Bibles, going to church, and praying every now and then. Remaining in Him, as a tree branch remains connected to the trunk, means being vitally connected to Him. It means absorbing and living in His Word, love, power, grace, etc. It is not a casual thing, and it is not about our wants and desires!
When I consider all these verses together, I can see that it doesn’t mean that He will always grant anything that I ask. Am I abiding in Him daily? Or am I just running to my Vending Machine God to ask for what I want or think I need? Do I have my plans, pleasure, and glory in mind, or God’s? (And here’s a scary question: Does my life currently show obedience and reflect His glory and His love and His Truth? How about in my home, in how I treat others, in how I speak and think, when I am in a crowd, when I am alone, etc.? If I'm not doing that stuff now, what makes God think I'll start doing it if I get what I want?)
Understanding God's Will 9h: Summing Up Effective Prayer
- when we are living righteously,
- when they are in line with God’s Will and are unselfish and are in Jesus’ name (according to what He wants),
- when there are no un-confessed sins blocking our relationship with God (meaning that we need to clear the air with God and others, seeking forgiveness from God and those we have wronged and forgiving those who have wronged us),
- when we (especially husbands) treat others with consideration and respect,
- when we are doing the good we know we need to do,
- when we are living and acting in accordance with our faith and not doing anything that doesn’t come from faith,
- when our hearts don’t condemn us (because we have actively searched them and we have righted any wrongs, and not just because we are ignoring any conviction),
- when we obey His commands and do what pleases Him,
- when we believe in Jesus and are loving one another,
- when we are remaining in Him and His words remain in us,
- and when we are living for and bearing fruit for His glory!
This is a lot to consider. It is very sobering. (And how can all those verses about our responsibilities be explained away with Calvinism's "God's Will always happens and everything that happens is God's Will, and we can't do anything about it"?)
But we need to resist the urge to make this list a formula to get what we want or a check-list that we have to do before we can approach God in prayer. Notice that nowhere in the list does it say anything about having to pray the “right words,” in the “right position,” and with the “right tone-of-voice,” and when you have made yourself “good enough.”
If you don't know where to start with prayer, just talk to Him. Tell Him what's on your heart and mind, what you're concerned about. Ask for His help. Praise Him for the goodness and blessings He's already given you. Ask Him to guide you in knowing what He wants you to do and pray. Just talk to Him, as you would to a trusted friend who values your friendship and who wants the best for you and wants to help you because they love you.
It’s all about our heart’s sensitivity to God and our desire to live life with Him, as well as for Him, doing our best to continue transforming ourselves to be more and more like Him. And this will take our whole lives.
So we should never let a “check-list” come between us and God. More important to Him than the particular words we pray or how we pray is simply that we pray - that we let Him deep into our hearts and lives, drawing near to Him in genuineness and humility and dependency on Him, and that we let Him into our plans and join Him in His plans, growing in our understanding of what He wants for our lives and what He wants us to do as we learn to seek His glory and His Kingdom above all.
And this is why we should pray. Because He's chosen to work out His Will in cooperation with mankind, through our choices and actions. And because we need Him. And because He wants us to let Him near. He desires an open, honest relationship with every one of us. That's why Jesus came and died for us, to bridge the gap so that we could once again have an intimate relationship with Him. (Unlike Calvi-god who only wants more and more glory for himself, at the expense of his creation.)
He can handle anything we bring His way; we just need to learn to be willing to accept His answers. And this becomes a lot easier when we learn that He really does love us. (Unlike Calvi-god who says he loves everyone but who only really loves a very few "elected" people and who created the multitude of people, the non-elect, simply so that he could hate them, cause them to reject him, and then punish them for it in hell because it brings him some kind of sick glory. Who would trust the love of a god like that? If he's capable of that then he's capable of deceiving even the elect into thinking they're saved but then sending them to hell anyway. Just because he wants to. Because it makes him happy or brings him glory or whatever. Calvi-god is a sick, demonic god!)
Now, no matter how “righteously” we live, we will still struggle from time to time with our own desires, some selfish ones and some for good things that He is not willing to grant for His own reasons. But the longer and closer we walk with Him, the “easier” it gets to refocus and to allow Him to answer the way He wants. But it takes remembering His goodness to us and His love and His displays of power in the past. It’s so easy to get discouraged when we take our eyes off of Him and what He is capable of. So we need to be immersing ourselves in Him daily if we want to have the greatest amount of peace and joy possible. Peace and joy in the midst of heartbreaking unanswered prayer do not come to us apart from abiding in Him daily.
And I think that’s what I’m learning to do, through all of the unanswered prayers and waiting. I’m learning to not let my faith in Him hinge on how He chooses to answer. I’m learning to let Him be God!
In the name of transparency and dependence on Him, it’s okay to pray for something specific. I believe that He can do what I am asking ... if He chooses to. I have no doubt that He is capable. But in the name of humility, I have to allow Him to answer as He wants. (And this is not always easy to do, even though it should be when you realize what a good, loving, wise God He is.)
I need to be sensitive and moldable and to allow God to purify my requests and change my desires to be more in line with His Will. When I get hung up on a specific answer or on what I think I “need” then I get tunnel-vision and I lose my ability to see what God may actually be doing in response to my request.
But to be honest, it is hard sometimes to lay our requests down before the Lord - to place them in His hands fully - when the answer is so important to us. And it’s especially hard when the Lord seems to be taking His time, and we want our answer NOW! (And I realize that I cause stress for myself because there are many times that I want my answer early – earlier than it needs to come. I want the assurance that it is already there, when instead God is telling me to trust that He can and will handle it, that the right answer will be there when it is the right time, that He won't let me down.)
But these times are very important, teachable moments in our lives. Difficult and heartbreaking, but important and teachable. And they can either be times to get bitter and angry, or times to draw near to God and experience enormous growth in our Christian character.
Maybe that’s part of the reason why God seems so silent, hidden, and unresponsive most of the time – to force us to decide if we will turn our backs on Him when we don't get what we want, if we will remain half-hearted “what’s-in-it-for-me” Christians ... or to decide that we will commit to Him fully, even though He is a mysterious and confusing and sometimes frustrating God who can't be manipulated by us and who doesn't always give us what we want when we want it.
There's a lot more to pray (even unanswered prayer) than we realize!
(And far more than Calvinists realize when they essentially view prayer as nothing more than a formality.)
Understanding God's Will #9i: Still Waiting For An Answer:
So how long do we continue to hang in there and pray for something that doesn’t seem to be happening? When it seems like God is not listening and it hurts us to have to plead again about a certain request?
I’ve pleaded with God for things that haven’t happened or that were a long time in coming. And this is the best advice I can offer right now.
If you have given your concern over to Him in prayer and invited Him to open or close the doors as He sees fit, if you have confessed any known sin and asked Him to reveal any hidden sin, if you are abiding in Him and seeking His guidance in His Word and in prayer, if you have examined your heart to see if you really trust Him (and have worked through any distrust or doubt with Him), and if you are willing to hear the answer whatever it may be and to obey whatever He asks you to do ... and if it still seems like God is not answering you and the wait is getting long and you don't know what to do next, I would suggest this:
Hang in there and keep praying about your concern until one of five things happens. Until ...
2) God says, “No, My grace is sufficient for you.”
[And sometimes a “no” is actually a blessing in disguise. If you get a "no" answer, then tell Him in prayer that even if it hurts and you're heartbroken, you still trust Him. And if you don't trust Him, if you are too angry at Him, tell Him. Talk it over with Him. He understands. Even Jesus got a "no" when He prayed to have the cup of death taken from Him. And He was so broken over it that He sweated blood as He poured out His pain all night in the garden. Thank Him for listening to you and answering you. Ask Him to help you let go of your desires and to figure out what He wants for you. And then just spend some time with Him, getting to know Him again, faithfully doing your daily job. And as you do, He will guide you to where He wants you to be. If you are living obediently and faithfully today, you are in His Will! And the more faithful He sees that you are in the little things, the more He can trust you with the big things.)
3) God has strengthened your conviction that this is indeed the way you are to continue praying, the path you are to pursue, and you simply need to persist in prayer and wait patiently until it happens.
[If this is the case, just be sensitive to God's leading and to any changes He makes in your path or any new thing He asks you to do. And always just do the next thing that God brings across your path, those small everyday jobs that come your way. If you are not doing what you are supposed to be doing now, why would He bring you a new, bigger opportunity? Also pray and ask God if there is anything you are doing or not doing that is delaying your answer. And listen for His reply over the next so many days and weeks.]
4) God has purified your desires through the trial and the waiting, and He has shown you how to change your request to be more in line with His Will. Or ...
5) You realize that you have made an idol out of the request and the answer that you want.
[And if that has happened, I think it is wise to put the prayer request aside, for a time at least. When we learn that we have been so focused on a request or on the pursuit of the answer that we want - to the point that we have lost our focus on God, lost our confidence in God, and have caused ourselves emotional distress - then we need to confess it and to fully hand the request over to Him to do with as He pleases. Tell God that you have lost focus on Him, that you can't stress about your concern anymore, and that you are trusting Him to worry about it for you. And this, when we can do nothing else about this request, is the time to praise Him. And to keep praising Him - until we have Him so clearly in focus and at the forefront of our minds that our desire to get what we want pales in comparison to His glory and His love.
In the end, I have to wonder if God doesn’t always give us everything we ask for simply so none of us can feel like we have an inside track to God and so that we give up our “pat” answers about faith and God and life. So that we can never shake our heads at others in condescending pity when their prayers aren’t answered the way they want, thinking, Poor things. If only they prayed like me or had my strong faith. And so that we remember that none of us can really understand or control God. (And isn’t this exactly what most of us get hung up on in a crisis of faith? But a God that can really be totally understood or controlled by us is not really God at all.)
Summing it all up, when it comes to unanswered prayer and faith, what we should want more than anything else is to get to the place where we can take His hand and walk forward into the darkness in faith. Faith in Him! Because even if we don’t get what we want, we know that He is a good, loving, trustworthy Father who loves us, who cares about us and for us, and who will work all things together for good.
And that is more wonderful and more faith-sustaining than getting what we want when we want it.
Understanding God's Will #10: Why Do Bad Things Happen?
We fell, didn’t we? Because of our sin in the Garden of Eden, we introduced death and sin into the human race and the world. (I say "we" because we all stem from Adam and Eve and because any one of us, given enough time in the Garden of Eden, would have done the same thing.) And this is something God didn't want when He created the world good. It's why He warned Adam and Eve to not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Because it would make them aware of evil. It would unleash evil in the world because they would essentially be choosing Satan over God, giving Satan part of their dominion over the earth that God gave them. And He didn't want this to happen.
Yes, God gave them the ability to eat from the tree, so that they weren't robots forced to obey Him, so that their obedience to Him and love for Him would be a choice of their own free-will, but He didn't want it to happen. He didn't plan that they do it (as my Calvinist pastor claims) or cause them to do it. He took steps to keep it from happening, severely warning them not to do it.
But He allowed them to make their own choice. And since He knew they would choose to eat from it, He already had a plan in mind to redeem their sin, to pay the penalty for it so that we could live again - through Jesus' death on the cross.
From the beginning, God planned to make amends for their sin, incorporating it into His plans, but He did not plan their sin or cause them to sin. Contrary to what my Calvinist pastor says, God did not want them to fall.
You see, in Calvinism, God can want one thing, even "decree" one thing, but cause the opposite. He decrees people to disobey His decrees. And yes, Calvinists will say this outright with a straight face, seeing nothing wrong with it.
They simply say, "Well, God has two different Wills that oppose each other." So He can say He wants Adam and Eve to not eat the fruit, even commanding them to not eat the fruit, and yet turn around and cause them to eat the fruit. And they think this is okay, that God can be like this and still be considered righteous and just and trustworthy. "After all," they say, "He is mysterious and causes everything that happens for His pleasure and glory, so it's okay."
But is it really okay? Is it righteous to cause people to sin, to give them no ability to obey? Is it justice to cause someone to break your commandments and then to punish them for it? Can someone who says they want you to do one thing when they really want you to do (and cause you to do) the opposite be considered trustworthy? How then can we trust anything God commands us to do when He might really want us to sin and break His commands, "for His pleasure and glory"? Isn't our sin then glorifying to God, just as much as our obedience? What difference then is there between sin and obedience, evil and good?
This wouldn't be God being "mysterious."
It would be God being a horrible, lying, unrighteous, unjust, untrustworthy monster who wants people in hell, who lies to them, who is pleased when people sin, and who causes them to disobey Him just so He can send them to hell because it brings Him some kind of sick glory. And that's not okay!
And, I wonder then, what difference is there really between Satan and Calvi-god?
Throughout history, persecuted Christians praise God and give Him glory in spite of sin and suffering. But Calvinism praises God and gives Him glory for sin and suffering.
(FYI, Calvinists will say, "We don't say God causes sin." And they're right ... they don't SAY it. In fact, they find all sorts of ways to hide it. But their theology does indeed believe it, when you cut through all the layers they cover it up with!)
But thank God that this is not really how the God of the Bible is. It's just how Calvinism's god is. And Calvi-god is NOT the God of the Bible.
Calvinism does great harm to God's character and truth, while claiming that they are truly honoring and glorifying Him above all!
It's demonic, that's what it is. Flipping the Gospel and God's character on its head, reversing everything God said, and then claiming that it's everyone else who's wrong, that they are the ones who are "only preaching right from the Scriptures and glorifying God the way He should be glorified."
Anyway, let's get back on track. I bring up this question because people want to know why a good God would allow evil if God is all-powerful and can stop it.
The problem, from the very beginning, is two-fold. First, they are assuming that an all-powerful God has to always be using His power all the time to cause/control everything that happens ... or else He's not God. And they assume that God has to always step in to stop the bad things from happening ... or else He's not good. They assume that this is the only way a "good, sovereign God" can act.
(However, it's funny how most people don't want God's interference when things are going good in their lives, when they've got things under control and are getting what they want, but the minute something goes wrong, they blame Him. They give no credit to Him for the good things in their lives, but give Him all the credit for the bad. And this is not right! No wonder God sometimes leaves us to ourselves, to make our own messes. Because we've ignored Him or told Him to "Get Out!" our whole lives.)
But they are letting their assumptions about God control their view of God. They have decided that God has to be who they think He is ... or else He can't be God. And so the problem is not with God, it's with us. (You'd be amazed at all the assumptions you have about God, if you just stopped to think about it and pray about it.)
But this is not how God is, according to the Bible.
God is indeed good and all-powerful, but He has chosen to give people free-will, a lot of room to make decisions, even bad ones. And with this freedom comes great responsibility and cause-and-effect. We are responsible for so much that happens in this world. It's not God's fault.
And He has decided, as part of letting us have this real freedom and responsibility, to allow things to happen, to let our choices affect things to a large degree. He has chosen to give us freedom to make choices ... and He lets us face the consequences of our choices, good or bad.
This doesn't make Him "not good." It makes Him wise and fair. He lets us make real decisions that have real consequences, and He let's us face the real consequences, not often sparing us from them.
I think if we are abiding in Him daily and being faithful to Him, He protects us much more than if we are living apart from Him. And He does this because we've invited Him into our daily lives, we are sensitive to His leading and doing our best to live obediently. And if we are walking in His Will for us, the way He wants us to live, He has His hand of protection over us. But if we have walked away from Him, we remove ourselves from His protection and He does not necessarily protect us from the bad consequences.
The safest spot to be is close to Lord, walking in obedience to Him, abiding in Him daily.
That's what His Word is all about. What the need for obedience is all about. It's about helping us live as He knows is best so that we can have the best life possible, good consequences instead of bad. He has written down all we need to do, the ways we need to live to have the best life. It's all there in His Word, if we want it. And He is there for all of us, if we want Him.
But we don't want to hear what He has to say. We don't want to obey His rules or change our ways or serve any other "Lord" but ourselves. We want to do what we want without any of the responsibility. We want to make our own decisions and live life our own way, but then we want Him to step in and spare us from any unpleasant consequences of our decisions.
But we can't have it both ways. Freedom without responsibility. Making choices without consequences.
And while God has tried to spare us the negative consequence by telling us how to live in His Word, He still does step in to help when we call on Him, even when we make a mess of our lives. That's what forgiveness and grace and mercy is for, to pick us up when we fall apart and to help put us back together again.
But He will let us make a mess of our lives and face the unpleasant consequences if we reject His help, if we don't want Him in our lives, and if that's what it takes to get us to call on Him, to realize we need Him, that we can't handle life on our own.
Does a parent step in to fix all the consequences of a child's bad choices? Do they smooth out every path for the child so that the child faces no trouble in their life, no bad results of their behavior? What would we say about such parents? What kind of people do those kids grow up to be?
We all know there is wisdom in letting people face the consequences of their choices, to a degree. And yet for some reason, we expect God to step in and fix every mistake for us, to never let our behavior or choices have any bad consequences for us. We sure do like having our freedom, don't we? But the minute we have to face an unpleasant consequence of our choice, we blame God. For the things we caused. This is us being "not good," not God.
[And unfortunately, part of having the ability to make real choices is that people can make real choices that hurt others. This is something God never wanted, something He tries to prevent by telling us over and over again in His Word how we should live, how we should treat others, how we should raise our kids, etc. But we don't listen. And so we - not He - cause problems and pain for other people.
But God, in His love, is always ready to help anyone who's been hurt and who calls on Him for help. But He will let us live apart from Him if we want to. He'll let us try to fix our hurts ourselves, creating more problems in our lives. Because He didn't create robots who had to do things His Way, who are forced to love Him and worship Him. Where is the glory in forcing someone to love you? He created people with free-will because He wants a relationship with people who genuinely want to be with Him, who choose of their own free-will to love Him and obey Him, not who are forced to.
And this is something Calvinists get wrong. God is not just a supreme, way-up-high, too-far-above-us, sovereign God. He is a relational Being who wants a real relationship with people. He doesn't just want glory and praise. He wants our love, real love. And He wants us to let Him love us.
Why else do you think God chose to come down here, into our messy world, becoming like one of us mere humans, when He could have just stayed up there, surrounded Himself with a bunch of robot-people, and pulled strings in our backs that made us worship Him?
Calvinists elevate God's sovereignty so high, to unbiblical levels, that they do great damage to God's love and His desire for a relationship with His creation.]
Another problem, particularly for Calvinists, is that they take one verse - Proverbs 21:1: "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases." - and they say, "See, God controls all our choices, even our bad ones." And then they define God and misinterpret the rest of the Bible through their bad understanding of this verse.
But the Bible overall shows us a very different picture of how God has chosen to be. And in the Bible, He doesn’t use His power to control our choices. (He uses His power to cause us to make our choice and to work our choices into His plans, but not to control our choices.)
He has allowed us to make our own real decisions, even bad ones ... and He allows there to be real consequences to our decisions. And this is why bad things happen. Because of us, our choices, the Fall of Adam and Eve, Satan and demons, and the deterioration of the natural world after Adam and Eve sinned.
However, if Calvinism is true about God predestining/causing/controlling everything that happens, then how did these verses get into the Bible:
1 Kings 20:42: "He said to the king, 'This is what the Lord says: 'You have set free a man I had determined should die.''"
Hosea 8:4 (God's words): "They set up kings without my consent; they choose princes without my approval."
Jeremiah 19:5 (God's own words): "They have built the high places to Baal to burn their sons in the fire as offerings to Baal - something I did not command or mention, nor did it enter my mind."
Isaiah 30:1: "Woe to the obstinate children," declares the Lord, "to those who carry out plans that are not mine..."
Psalm 33:10: "The Lord foils the plans of the nations ..." (If all plans are God's plans, and if we can only plan what God causes us to plan, then isn't God foiling His own plans here?)
Acts 14:16: "In the past, he [God] let nations go their own way." (Impossible ... if every way is God's preplanned way!)
And if God alone controls every single movement His creation makes, then why would He need to give "boundaries" to people, Satan, and nature (such as putting a boundary around the one forbidden tree in the Garden of Eden, and putting a limit on how far the sea can move in Job 38:11, and putting a hedge around Job and limits to how much Satan can do to him in Job 1)? Boundaries are only needed when there is freedom to move within those boundaries.
I have never yet heard a Calvinist give an answer for these verses. At least one that makes sense, one that doesn't resort to, "Well, we can't understand it anyway because God is mysterious. And God can have two Wills that oppose each other, so He can want one thing but cause the opposite. Who are you to think you can understand God or talk back to Him?" (Yeah, but in Calvinism, even our talking back to Him would be "controlled" by Him, so then He is really just talking back to Himself.)
Look at all the nonsense they weave - the theological twisting they do - to make the Bible fit with their wrong theology, instead of simply correcting their wrong theology to fit the plain, simple, consistent, easily-understood message of the Bible! They take a vague verse from a poetic "wise sayings" book of the Bible, like Proverbs 21:1, and base everything on that, instead of basing their views on what God said about Himself through the prophets in verses like the ones above.
God is indeed all-powerful and in-control, but contrary to what Calvinism teaches, He has chosen to not always use His power to control everything. He has chosen to give us a certain amount of real freedom and real responsibility. And we mess it up time and time again. And that's why bad things happen.
But God, in His goodness, is always ready to step in and help us when we call on Him. He walks through the pain with us. He holds us up when we can't stand anymore. He hurts when we hurt, even if we caused our pain ourselves. He promises to work good out of the bad for those who love Him. And He will eventually right all wrongs, redeem all the brokenness in this world that resulted from our sin, and get rid of all sin, death, and tears forever.
In fact, even before He made us, before we sinned, He planned to pay the price for our sins. Jesus came to earth so that He could die in our place, to pay the penalty for our sins, so that we could be forgiven and have eternal life. He did not have to love us that much. He did not have to leave heaven and put on human skin and die a violent death for people who ignore Him, reject Him, mock Him. He could have left us to face the consequences of our choices with no hope of redemption, forgiveness, grace, or healing, instead of coming down to our messy world and taking our sins upon Himself on the cross so that we could live.
But He did it anyway. Because He loves us. Just because He does. Because He wants us all with Him in heaven for all of eternity.
And I'd say that makes Him very good!
The twisted thing is that Calvinists will say we make "real choices," right after saying that God sovereignly controls everything that happens.
But, you see, in Calvinism we can only make the choices that go with the desires of the nature God gave us. This means that if He predestined you to have the "sinner/unrepentant" nature, then you can only and always desire to sin, which means you can only and always choose to sin. There are no other options available to you.
But Calvinists still say, with complete sincerity, that you made a "real choice" to sin (to reject God) because you "desired" to do it, even though you could only desire to sin and only choose to sin, because Calvi-god caused you to be this way because he predestined you to hell.
Basically, Calvi-god tells you that you have to pick a door. But he only puts one door - the "sin door" - in front of you. There are no other doors to choose from. And he gives you the desire to walk through that door, and only that door. You have no desires to resist it or to choose good or to want another door. And since you are a "slave" to your Calvi-god-given desires, you have to walk through the "sin door." But because you "desired" to walk through the sin door, Calvinists say that you "freely chose what you wanted to do," even though you had no real choice because there were no other options. And they call this "making your own choice" and so, therefore, you "deserve the punishment you get for choosing to sin." It's sick and twisted! It really is!
Folks, this is Calvinism! And it is a different gospel than the Bible. It is a different God, a different Jesus, a different way to salvation, etc. And this makes it evil!
But in the Bible, in example after example, God has chosen to not control everything. He has chosen to give us a wide range of options, all of which we are capable of choosing, and He lets us decide what we want to do. And so when we sin, it's because we truly chose it, over any other choices we could have made. And so we bring about the consequences of our bad choices. God is not responsible for them; we are.
Of course, everything that happens has to go through Him first, such as how Satan and demons tempt people and which consequences to allow and which to not allow. But I think, more often than not, God lets things take their own "natural" course. I don't think He steps in and controls things nearly as much as we think He does. He lets things run their course, having given much room and "authority" and responsibility over to us. But He is always watching over it all, deciding what to allow and what to block and how to work things into His plans.
But until God redeems it all, we will have to face all the things brought on by our own choices, by other people, by the Fall, and by Satan: natural disasters, illnesses, death, heartache, trauma, etc.
But just because God doesn’t step in and take away all the consequences from our choices (individual choices and mankind’s choices) doesn’t mean that He wants all these bad things to happen. I think it breaks His heart to see what we’ve done to His creation and to ourselves. And once again, in the end, He will redeem it all. (This isn’t to say that He doesn’t step in and help from time to time, in answer to our prayers. If we pray anything in line with His Will, He will do it. It’s just that not everything we ask for is in His Will for us.)
As I said, I think people (Calvinists) mistakenly believe that because God is all-powerful and sovereign, it means that He micromanages every detail, that He causes everything that happens.
Those who think this way then have the burden of explaining why bad things happen and why people sin without sounding like they are accusing God of causing sin and evil.
(This is what causes all the nonsensical, round-and-round, Calvinist rambling, with a bunch of verses taken out of context. Deep down, they know their theology says God is the cause of all evil and sin, but they have to find ways to make it sound like they're not saying it. But from the beginning, it's their own mistaken view of sovereignty that causes their problems. See "What Does 'God is Sovereign' Mean?" for more on this.)
However, when it comes to sin, Scripture (James 1:13-14) says that God does not tempt anyone to sin. Yet obviously people sin. But if God is not responsible for people’s sin, who is?
Well, Satan and people, obviously.
“Each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.”
This would be the clearest, simplest, most biblical way to view it. That people desire to sin and choose to sin all on their own, not that God causes them to desire to sin or choose to sin. That would be adding things to Scripture that aren't there, basing it on their own Calvinist assumptions.
[Calvinists find a few random verses that could seem slightly Calvinistic, take them out of context, and then use them to reinterpret other verses to say things they aren't saying, instead of just reading the verses as God wrote them. People have to be taught to see Calvinism in the Bible, because it isn't there if you read it plainly, as it is written. Calvinism is a big web of cleverly cobbled-together verses that they alter and take out of context and read into and add double layers to, and this traps many well-meaning Christians, training them to see Calvinism in the Bible even though it contradicts the simple, plain reading of it. It takes a wise, strong person, caught in the web of Calvinism, to say, "I want to know what the Bible says without my own Calvinist assumptions getting in the way, even if it means learning I've been wrong this whole time."]
If, as Calvinists believe, God causes everything that happens then He is indeed responsible for making us sin, despite their desperate attempts to cover it up.
But God truly isn't responsible for our sin because He truly gave us the right and responsibility to make our own choices. And so when we sin, it’s not because God wanted it to happen. It's because we chose it. And God lets things happen that He doesn’t want to have happen, because that's a natural, unavoidable result of giving people free-will.
(And yet, I think He is much more active in this world than many of us realize! If we all could see just how much He does "behind the scenes", in the spiritual world, while we are ignoring Him and busily going about our day, we might be shocked into belief.)
God doesn’t like sin. He doesn’t want sin. He doesn’t cause us to sin. He didn’t cause us to ruin His perfect creation. But He allowed it. And this doesn’t mean He is less powerful or less sovereign or at our mercy or under our control. It just means that He has voluntarily restrained Himself and His power, choosing instead to given certain rights and privileges and responsibilities to mankind. Because that's how He wanted things to be. Because the only way for people to be able to willingly choose to love Him and obey Him and worship Him is if they truly have the choice to choose what they want, which necessarily comes with the choice to choose wrong.
And that is a sobering thought!
But in no way does it diminish His strength or His God-ness. He is still sovereign. He is still in control over all (just not controlling all). And in His sovereignty, He promises to weave all the bad into something good, for those of us who love Him. He is still on the throne!
Added Post:
Now, I know this was a really long post already, but I am going to add this other post of mine because it fits right in here (there will be some repeated information because this is a separate post, and I made a few minor changes in it here, and the color change between gray and black wasn't intentional but I can't undo it for some reason):
"Are Tragedies Gifts From God?"
James 1:2-4: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
I am reading a book right now by a woman who lost her mother to cancer. And she is struggling with Christians (Calvinists?) telling her that all trials and tragedies are “gifts from God, meant for our good” and that we are to be thankful for them.
Are we really supposed to accept infertility, fatal car accidents, chronically-ill children, divorce, disease, cancer, natural disasters, the death of loved ones, etc. as “gifts from God” that He has deliberately given us for our good? Are we required to push away any pain or heartache or frustration and just "be happy and thankful" because these are “gifts from God”?
I would say “No”!
It seems to me that many Christians feel that it is the “good Christian’s” duty to thankfully accept trials and tragedies because “God made this happen for your own good.” And we are to never get doubtful or upset or angry because that wouldn’t be showing faith and trust and thankfulness. Because God obviously knows what He’s doing, and He did this on purpose for our spiritual best. Right?
You know something what was a surprising realization to me?
"Everything happens for a reason" is not a verse from the Bible.
Neither is "God causes everything for a reason."
Yes, I believe God knows what He's doing ... and He works everything together for good ... and He is wise and sovereign in whatever He allows to happen ... and we can and should find things to be thankful for in all situations ... and we can consider it joy that trials will strengthen our faith.
But I do not think it's right or biblical to make people feel like they have to be "happy" about tragedies, that they have to thank God for them because He "did it to them on purpose." This is where things get messy and wrong.
Personally, I think this "God did it to you on purpose" thing is a Calvinist idea, stemming from their wrong view of God's sovereignty, that God causes all things on purpose for His glory and His plans. But they are wrong. And they do great damage to the Gospel and the character of God, and they end up destroying people's hearts, faith, and trust in God!
Remember that pain, death, and decay were curses that came as a result of man’s disobedience in the Garden. These were not part of God’s original plan for us, His best plan for us. We brought them into the picture, consequences of the Fall, of mankind's bad choices. They are not “gifts from God.” In fact, God warned Adam and Eve not to eat from Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil so that He could spare us from knowing what evil was. But we ate from the tree anyway, and God allowed us to face the consequence of our choices.
The Fall wasn't His best plan for us.
The Fall ruined His best plan for us.
And yet from the beginning, in His wisdom and sovereignty, He knew how He would incorporate the Fall into His plans and turn it into something good. But it involved Him leaving heaven, putting on frail human skin, and dying a horrible death on the cross that He didn't deserve so that He could take our place and pay the penalty that we owe for our sins. But He loved us enough to do it, even though we rebelled from Him and made a mess of His world. But thank God that He's in the business of helping us clean up our messes!
Also, in the Bible, we read often of tragedies, disasters, and war as being a punishment from God or discipline to get people back on the right track. In the Old Testament, God oftentimes set out a “blessing path” and a “curse path.” And He says that the people are to choose which path they want to take. Obedience will lead them down the “blessing path” and disobedience leads them down the “curse path.” And so, many tragedies were the result of the people choosing disobedience.
In our day, we have sexually-transmitted diseases brought on by sexual sin, broken hearts and shattered children created by divorce, devastated spouses because of affairs, financial ruin because of poor choices, unhealthy bodies because of poor eating habits, ruined lives and bodies because of irresponsibility and human evil, natural disasters and genetic problems because sin was introduced into the world and ruined God’s perfect creation, etc. And I do not think we can rightly call these kinds of things “gifts from God.”
While many Christians believe that God causes everything that happens for a reason, I think it is more accurate to say that, in general, He “allows” things to happen for a reason. I know it seems like a minor distinction: cause or allow. But to the hurting person, there is a big difference between the two, one that can drastically affect our view of God.
(And if it does, in fact, bring you more comfort to think He causes all tragedies for a reason, then keep thinking that. I am writing this for the people who don’t find comfort in that idea, the ones whose faith is faltering or shattered because they've been told that God caused the bad things that happened to them, the ones who are hurting on the inside but trying to put on a "good Christian" smile on the outside so that they don't offend God. You don't have to accept the idea that God is always the cause of all bad things. That is a misrepresentation of God and of how He works.)
To say “cause” means that God deliberately makes each heartache, trial, tragedy, and sin happen. But this does not take into account the fall of man, the fall of God’s perfect creation, personal disobedience, bad choices, human carelessness, and Satan, the instigator of all things evil.
But to say “allow” reminds us that bad things happen as a result of the Fall and of Satan and of our own choices and sins.
[To be accurate, sometimes God might actually cause things we consider "bad," maybe natural disasters or illnesses or something like that. (But He never causes sin or unbelief or causes us to do things He commands us not to do. He can cause us pain in various ways for His plans for us and yet still be considered good and trustworthy. But He cannot cause us to sin or be wicked and yet still be considered good and trustworthy. So when a Calvinist points out a Bible verse where God controls the weather and says, "See, the Bible shows God controls even the weather, and so that means He controls all things, including our decisions," point out the difference between God causing the weather to do something bad and God causing people to sin. One doesn't destroy His character and one does. One is taught in Scripture and one isn't.)
But we can't know when He's just allowed something to happen or when He caused something to happen. And my point here is about not letting someone convince you that God definitely caused whatever tragedy you faced and so you have to be thankful for it and happy about it (but we should learn from it and grow through it), or else you're being a "bad Christian." That adds a huge painful burden to an already hurting person.
Healing and perspective and peace come in time, but they will have a much harder time coming if you feel you have to hide your bad feelings and thoughts from God. When there are bad feelings, don't stuff them or feel guilty about them or force yourself to "be happy." That only makes things worse. Instead, be real with God about them. Pour out your pain to Him. Your questions. He can handle your pain and doubts and even your anger. He understands and wants to help. And this is the quicker road to healing. Besides, He already knows all that we're thinking and feeling anyway, so we are not fooling Him by hiding it. We are just putting up walls between Him and us, preventing His love from healing our broken hearts.]
In the book of Job, Satan asked to test Job. And God gave Satan a boundary (such as “Do not touch Job himself”), but He allowed Satan a certain “free reign” to cause trouble within that boundary. God allowed Satan to choose the tragedies and cause the tragedies. And while He did not specifically cause them Himself or choose which tragedies to give Job, He was aware of everything that happened and He allowed it. And the reason He allowed these tragedies was because He knew that they would be used for His glory and that He could make something good out of them for Job’s sake and for the sake of mankind.
Everything that Satan wants to do to us has to get God’s consent first (at least I think this is how it works, although I haven't found a verse that says this, just the example of Satan messing with Job). Everything that happens to us and on this earth goes through Him first. And while He doesn’t always specifically choose which tragedies to give us, He does decide what to allow and what to not allow. And everything that God allows He does so because He knows how He can weave it into something good in our lives and for His glory.
This still might not comfort people all that much - thinking that God could have stopped the tragedy but didn't - but it is biblical. It shows how bad things happen but God can still be considered a good God. (And contrary to what Calvinists say, knowing what will happen but not stopping it is NOT the same thing as causing it to happen or predestining it to happen. In the first one God is not the reason for or cause of the bad thing, but in the second one He is. And this is a big difference, especially when that bad thing is a sin or evil thing.)
God doesn't always cause the tragedies. He has allowed people to affect His world, to affect others, to affect their own lives. He has given us choices and a responsibility over what happens in this world. So not everything that happens is His fault or His doing. Many times, it's ours. God wants and commands us to do the right thing but He lets us make our own choices. And bad things can happen as a result of our choices. And when they do, He hurts with us because pain and tragedy and heartache were never part of His plan for us. And yet He will eventually work all bad things into something good, right all wrongs, and heal it all in the end.
A God like this - one who doesn't want us to make bad choices and who never wanted pain for us, but who lets us make decisions and affect things, and yet promises to work it all into something good - is a God that can still be trusted, even when things go wrong.
But if God is the cause of all evil - of all sin and wickedness - then He would be a Monster God, causing us to do the things He commands us not to do and then turning around and punishing us for it. This is the Calvinist God! A God who is not just or righteous or trustworthy or truly loving. Not when He causes the sins He forbids, and then punishes us for committing the sins He caused us to do. Not when He causes wicked things "for His glory." It's nonsense! And it shows why a correct view of God and how He works is so important. It deeply affects our faith and our relationship with God.
Yes, God is all-powerful and He could prevent any and every tragedy from happening. And yes, God is all-loving and wants the best for us. But I believe God has decided to voluntarily limit His use of power. He will not (generally) over-ride our right to make choices. He allows us the option to disobey, to bring pain and consequences on ourselves, because He gave us the right to choose Him or to reject Him.
[And He gave us this right because He doesn’t want to spend eternity with robots who are forced to choose Him and love Him. He wants to spend eternity with those who want to love Him and who voluntarily choose Him. And any of us can understand that because we all want to be with people who want to be with us, not who are forced to be with us. Why would God be any different, especially given that we were made in His image? Would we be pleased with and glorified by people loving us only because they were forced to, because they had no other choice? Then why do Calvinists think God would be?]
But unfortunately, free-will comes with painful consequences when we choose to disobey, which started at the Fall in the Garden when Satan gained a certain level of power and control over the earth, because we gave it to him when we listened to him over God, bringing with it curses against our bodies, our health, nature, and our relationship with God.
God gave Adam and Eve the command to “not eat the fruit of the tree” and He warns all people to “choose obedience over disobedience” because He wants to spare us negative consequences, pain, and heartbreak. I think it causes God pain, too, to see us hurt. He never intended that this was the way it should be when He first created the world.
But our gracious God, however, has not abandoned us to our sin and bad choices, even if He does allow tragedies. He will walk with us through them and bring good out of them and turn them into something eternally-good. And we can trust Him for that! And He offers salvation and forgiveness and wants us to grasp how great His love is for us so we can have the kind of eternity in the end that we were originally made for, even if He won’t protect us from the consequences of sin right now.
When it comes to many of the bad things that happen in life, I think it’s more likely that God is “allowing” them, not necessarily “causing” them.
[But if you are living a disobedient life, God may indeed cause/allow bad things to happen to get you back on track, as He did in the Old Testament. So don’t just think it’s “bad luck.” It may just be God disciplining you and calling you back to Him. Causing you pain to correct your waywardness. It’s not out of the realm of possibility.]
Sometimes accidents are accidents. And tragedies just happen. Not because God caused them but because they are part of the fallen world. And God has allowed them as consequences of our personal choices and of mankind’s fall. But if He has allowed them, we can trust that He has His reasons, that He will carry us through it, and that He will work it into something good.
Personally, I think God sits back to watch what we will do much more than we realize, much more than Calvinists say. They think He micromanages everything, that everything that happens is because He caused it to happen. But I think that He watches over all things but doesn't always intervene. Sometimes He does, of course, if there is something specific He wants to do or if we call on Him for help. And sometimes He intervenes to discipline. But I think there are a lot of other times when God simply watches to see what we will do, if we will pray and invite Him into our circumstances, if we will call on Him, if we want Him in our lives or not, if we will obey or disobey, etc.
This is one reason why prayer is so important. It's calling on God, inviting Him into our world, into our circumstances. I think, in general, God has chosen to let us decide if we want Him in our world, in our lives, or not. And He will generally wait to be invited in. So much of the wickedness and tragedies we see around us are because people have chosen to live life without God. We don't call on Him. We don't seek His help. We don't live obediently. We live our own little lives without Him. We don't even thank Him for the blessings and health and basic essentials we would die without.
But then ... when things go wrong ... we turn on Him and blame Him and accuse Him of causing the bad things, of not being there for us. But all along, it was simply that we never invited Him into our worlds. We kept Him out. We ignored Him - our good heavenly Father who is so willing to step in and help and heal, if only we would invite Him in!
"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." (2 Chronicles 7:14)
Tragedy is not a gift. Death is not a gift. It is an enemy. The enemy that will be the last one to be destroyed in the end. (Revelation 20:14) (And yet, even though it was a curse, death is also kind of a gift, looking at it from a purely human perspective. Because if mankind was able to live forever after the Fall, we would be in a fallen state eternally. Death is what releases us from that fallen state, bringing us into the perfect eternal state we were meant for. If you are a believer! Because it ushers us from the broken, fallen, decaying body to eternal life in heaven with Christ. So while death itself is not a blessing, there is a great blessing after death for those who trust in the Lord.)
The “gift” isn’t the tragedies and trials; it’s the good that God creates out of the tragedies and trials and the strength that He gives us to get through them. The “gift” isn’t the test; it’s the character development, spiritual development, and wisdom that grow from the test. The “gift” is God walking with us through the hard times and using them to mature our faith, to grow our trust in Him, to soften our hearts to the pain of others, to make us more compassionate people, to help us sort out our priorities, to humble us at His feet, and to create a more glorious eternity for us.
This is what we can be thankful for. These, not the tragedies, are the gifts from God!
[I was FURIOUS after hearing our Calvinist pastor give a sermon about how all the bad things, the tragedies, in your life were "ordained" by God - as in "planned and caused by God" - for your good and His glory and to humble you. Even, he said, childhood abuse.
WHAT!?! WHAT THE #$@%!?!
I ... WAS ... LIVID! Still am! (It's why I bring it up so much.) How wretched to tell hurting, abused people that God caused their abuse, that He wanted it to happen to them, and that they simply have to trust that He had His reasons and that He did it out love and for their best and for His glory.
FRICKIN' HOGWASH!!!
That was the sermon when I decided I was done with that pastor! I will not listen to someone preaching such wretched lies - which is what I believe Calvinism is - about the God I love and trust!
But, I digress. So calming down now ... getting back to the issue at hand ...]
We shouldn’t scold them to “be thankful for the tragedy, not sad, because God did this for your own good.”
We can't know which things God caused and which He just allowed (but we know He doesn't cause sin!). But we can come alongside hurting people to offer help, prayers, and a shoulder to lean on. We can cry with them. We can say, "This really sucks." We can remind them that God will walk with them through the pain, that He will bring good out of the bad someday, that He can be trusted no matter what, that He hurts with them, and that someday God will make all wrongs right again.
Romans 8:28: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
During the tragedy, we might not be able to see or understand the blessings that can come out of it. All we see is the pain. And we might not be able to find any joy or hidden blessings in it yet. (That usually comes a lot later.)
During the tragedy, when the pain is fresh and new, is not usually the time to focus on "being thankful and counting your blessings." Polishing up that "good Christian" mask. Trying to talk yourself into a better mood.
It's the time to pour out your pain to the Lord, to throw yourself at His feet in despair and humility, to tell Him that you have no strength left to face the day, to fall apart in His arms.
And that’s okay. It's okay to fall apart in front of the One who can put you back together again. And God understands that we are human and that we hurt. He can handle our anger and pain and fear. He can handle "the real you." He wants the real you. He wants you to need Him, to be real with Him, and to open all hurting parts of your heart up to Him. He wants you to invite Him into your life.
Counting the blessings and seeing the good and being thankful will come later. But you don’t have to worry about polishing up your “joyful, good-Christian mask” when you are in the midst of deep heartache. During the pain, just fall on Him and cry and know that He can handle the doubts and anger and pain. Know that He hurts with you and for you and that someday He will make everything right again. Be honest with Him about your pain and keep your heart open to Him. This is what will grow your faith and help you persevere and help you eventually say, “It is well with my soul. Whether You give or take away, blessed be Your name.”
And eventually, if you continue to draw nearer to Him instead of pulling away, there will be a deep peace, even in the midst of ache. There will be a deep joy rooted in God and not in life’s circumstances, even if you are not “happy.” And there will be a sweetness (a bittersweetness) in your soul, where you will be able to thank God for the things you learned during the painful trials.
And those will be the gifts! Blessings in disguise!
Psalm 86:1-6: “Hear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.... Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I call to you all day long. Bring joy to your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call on you. Hear my prayer, O Lord; listen to my cry for mercy.”
Psalm 34:17-18: “The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
Romans 8:28: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
Sometimes, maybe. I wish that I could say no ... and yes. No, because I don’t want to think that God causes bad things to happen. And yes, because I want to believe that all bad things have a purpose and that He is in total control. It makes the bad things a lot easier to face then. (And for the record, I think that our view of what’s “bad” can and does differ from God’s. Our perspective is so, so cloudy and flawed compared to God’s.)
I think that the Bible does show times when He causes something “bad” for a reason (but He never causes sin or evil). Sometimes it’s because of discipline and judgment, such as when He causes rebellious nations to be overthrown and destroyed. And sometimes it’s to gain glory for Himself, such as when He hemmed the Israelites in by the Sea with Pharaoh’s army closing in on them. That would seem pretty bad to me, but He did that so that He could show His power and gain glory for Himself. He even hardened Pharaoh’s heart to get this done. (But, importantly, He only hardened Pharaoh's heart after Pharaoh chose to repeatedly harden it himself first. In the concordance, "hardens" is a punishment for first hardening our own hearts, resisting God's patience and love and correction. Basically, biblically, when God hardens someone's heart He is simply giving that person what they want, what they chose, and making it permanent.)
Exodus 14:4: “And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.”
(And contrary to Calvinism's belief that God preplanned to harden Pharaoh's heart through no fault or choice of Pharaoh's, the reason God says here that He will harden Pharaoh's heart in the future is because He already knows that Pharaoh will choose to be hard-hearted. And God has already decided to make Pharaoh's decision permanent so that He can use it for His plans. The fault lies with Pharaoh choosing to be hard-hearted, not with God choosing to make Pharaoh hard-hearted all on His own. God simply chose to give Pharaoh what he wanted, permanently, and to use it for His plans. Big difference!)
It seems that whatever “bad” He does cause is because He has to discipline, to pass judgment, to gain glory for Himself, to maintain His good name, or because He has a greater good in mind. (And once you really get a glimpse of God’s holiness and glory, you know that it’s only right that He is glorified, even if it takes “bad” times to do it.)
But when we ask this question, what we really want to know is if He causes the tsunamis or cancer or an accident or a death for a particular reason. “Everything happens for a reason” is our way of dealing with these things.
And the answer is ... I don’t know. He probably causes some of them. But He doesn’t run His reasons past us, and so we can’t get hung up on figuring out something that is not ours to know.
[And we cannot dare make any judgments or pronouncements about tragedies that happen, saying things like “God brought that disaster on you (or your city) because of your (or your city’s) sin.”
How dare any Christian act as though they know for sure what was going on in God’s mind when He allowed a certain tragedy to happen! It is smug, self-elevating, condescending pride that causes one to sit on God’s throne and point fingers. Where is the humility and grace in that? It certainly doesn’t sound to me like it comes from a godly heart. (We can call people to draw near to God during times of tragedy, to seek a relationship with Him, His forgiveness and grace and mercy, but we cannot say for sure that we know their sins brought that tragedy about.)
I just have to say this for the record because it makes me sick when I hear smug, judgmental Christians acting like know-it-all “moral police officers” who think of themselves as God’s little enforcers sent to scold and condemn everyone else, who act as though they are not also sinners in need of grace and forgiveness, who fail to extend to others the grace and forgiveness that God has given us, who fail to humble themselves before God while they try to weasel their way onto the throne right next to Him.
Christians, there is a reason why society can’t stand us sometimes. And sometimes it doesn’t have anything to do with our beliefs but with the fact that we try to force them on others, that we use our faith against others in judgmental condescension, and that we act like we have some special inside-information from God, above and beyond what the Bible says, when we really don't.
We are called to live out our faith in love and grace and humility, with the hope of drawing others to Christ through these things. And yet, we turn it into an “us against them” kind of thing. But “they” are not the enemy. They are the people that God dearly loves and wants to draw near to Himself. Yet we push them away by our lack of grace and gentleness and love.
But we are all on the same level-ground at the foot of the cross. And God is the judge, not us. So let us reach out to others in love, live out our faith in gentle, quiet strength, humble ourselves before God, and remember that others are not accountable to us. We will all stand before Him one day and give an account for how we lived. So let’s be more concerned with how we are living before the Lord than with how others are living before the Lord. I just have to say this because Christian history is full of terrible examples of what happens when we forget all of this.]
But yes, everything does happen for a reason.
And now I’m going to branch off a moment from those tragedies that we are not responsible for, like natural disasters, accidents, etc. And I’m going to say this: Sometimes the reason bad things happen has less to do with God and more to do with us. Sometimes it’s because we disobeyed, chose our own path, chose unwisely, or sinned. It is amazing how we will live life however we want, but then the moment something goes wrong, we go, “Oh, God, why? Why did You let this happen?”
We have sex outside of marriage and get pregnant, get an STD, or have future marital problems, and we go, “Why, God?”
We have affairs or don’t work to keep our marriages healthy and strong, and it’s, “Why are we facing divorce?”
We don’t care what we eat or if we exercise, but then we plead with God, “Why are we sick?”
We fill our homes with all sorts of toxins, like candles, air “fresheners,” chemical cleaners, and then go, “Why aren’t You healing my breathing problems or allergies?”
We sit on our rear-ends all day, eating our take-out food, and then ask God why we have heart problems, fatty stomachs, costly medication, and shortened life spans.
We text, drink, or talk on our phones while driving, and then cry, “Where were You when this accident happened, God?”
We pursue whatever makes us happy and the success and attention we crave in whatever way we want, and then when we are still not satisfied and life doesn't turn out the way we want, we complain, “Why are You doing this to me, God? Don't You just want me to be happy?”
We won’t let go of our expensive toys, multiple phones, multiple cars, cable and other “crucial” entertainment, restaurant dinners, and packaged food (when we could be learning to cook more cheaply, from scratch) and then we cry out, “Lord, we can’t pay our bills!” (Let’s face it, our excessive spending habits and our misunderstanding of what is “essential and important” have helped to get us into the economic mess that we are in.)
So yes, things do happen for a reason ...
and sometimes that reason is us!
(I'm not going to repost 11b, c, or d, because it's just some advice on some specific "take responsibility for yourself" issues and a repeat of what I've already talked about a lot. So if you want to read them, click on the links:
Understanding God's Will 9e: Humbled By Unanswered Prayer:
Another problem with the “name it and claim it” interpretation is that we are tempted to bail on God, to criticize ourselves for our “weak” faith, or to question Him when we don’t get the answers that we want or thought we would get. It confuses us, discourages us, and blows our understanding of God and His Word out of the water. And I think that God allows this helplessness and futility so that we can learn that it’s not about us, it’s all about Him! That He is God and we are not! And so that we dig deeper into the Word to see who God really is and what He has to say through all of it - and not just through the few passages that we are familiar with, that tell us we get what we want when we pray.
We want to lead and have control by our prayers, whereas true faith in God says, “Whatever happens, I still believe in You. And I will follow where You lead.”
It’s not that the strength of our faith gets our prayers answered the way we want; it’s that our prayers get answered the way God wants when we put our tiny, weak faith squarely on Him and His glory. And many times, that means that He has to change and mold our prayers to be in line with His Will as we struggle with the wait and the “lack of answer.”
Our hope should not be in some future answer to our prayers, that God will eventually give us what we want if we just hang in there long enough and drum up enough confidence in Him to do it. (Oh, how many times I fall into that!) Our hope should be in the fact that God is here now and that He is working things out in His time and in His way, even if they don’t match our time and way. It’s not letting the darkness and confusion pull us away from God, but letting it draw us even nearer to Him.
When we get past the point of needing our way and our timing to keep our faith alive, when we give up the "need" to get the answer we want and we passionately cling to Him instead, then we have learned to humbly put our faith in God, and not in some idea of who we think God should be and how He should act.
When we get to the point where God - and not some particular answer - has become what we really need, then He has become God in all areas of our lives, even in the pain and unanswered prayer and confusion. And it is then that we find ourselves and our desires transformed. When we are no longer concerned with what we think we need, we are free to be concerned with what God knows we need and with what He wants us to do, for His glory and Kingdom.
Understanding God's Will 9f: Maybe God's Not Listening:
Okay, now this is a lot to think about already. But there is more. (And even more than what I am saying here.) On top of all that I’ve already said, there are many more verses that shed light on why our prayers may not be effective. We have a much greater responsibility than we realize in making sure that our prayers get heard.
For one, maybe part of the reason that our prayers aren’t “working” and that it seems like God isn’t listening is because ... God isn’t listening!
“Whoa! Wait!” you say. “How could you dare to say something like that?”
Well, let me explain. We want God to be there when we want Him, and we want Him to give us what we ask for. And so we single out verses like Mark 11:22-24 to convince ourselves that our only job is to ask and believe, and then He’ll do it. (If this is the case, the best thing that God can do is not answer our prayers as we desire.)
But what we don’t do is consider the many verses that highlight our responsibilities in making sure our prayers are heard. God is not manipulated to do whatever we want by our level of “faith.” (Yes, He wants our faith and requires our faith, but faith is not genuine faith when we use it as a tool to get what we want.) But we do have an effect on the effectiveness of our prayers by how we live and by the condition of our hearts.
Psalm 66:17-19: “I cried out to him with my mouth; his praise was on my tongue. If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; but God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer.”
If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened!
When we cry out to God honestly (not just thinking it, but actually putting it into prayer) and with a sensitive heart and humble spirit, He listens. But if we chose to live in self-sufficiency or if we harbor sin in our hearts, He is not obligated to listen to or answer our prayers. Because we have put up a wall between us. We have chosen distance. We are not seeking His Will but our own. And so we are blocking God from hearing our prayers and from answering them.
This shows me the importance of Psalm 139:23-24: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
This really should be a daily thing, asking God to search our hearts and reveal anything that we need to ask forgiveness for or make amends for. (And admittedly, I don’t do this every day as I should. Usually, I forget to do it until things get to be too much for me to handle. I have to sometimes be forced by helplessness to passionately seek God.)
So if we wonder why our prayer life seems weak or if we are going before Him with a very serious need, maybe we should spend some time evaluating our hearts. Because hiding sin in our hearts is a wall between us and God, and it has an effect on our prayers. In fact, look at the very next verse after Jesus tells us that we will get anything we ask for if we believe ...
Mark 11:25: “And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive your sins.”
And this echoes Matthew 6:14-15: “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”
I don’t know about you, but this is a very hard teaching to absorb. (And it doesn't make any sense in regards to Calvinism which believes that God essentially controls everything we do, which would include not forgiving someone.) I will not be forgiven based on my unforgiveness towards others. And my unforgiving state has an effect on whether or not my prayers get heard, because ongoing, unconfessed sin in my life blocks God from listening to my prayers. And it blocks me from being of any real use to Him.
Now, I do not believe that these verses are saying that we will lose our salvation. I believe that there are two levels of forgiveness. One relates to the moment we chose Jesus as our Savior and we were forgiven of our sins, as a whole, so that we could attain salvation. This is a permanent forgiveness. And we can’t lose that by any sin we commit. Because if we could lose it by our sins then Jesus’ death was not enough. And it would be meaningless if it didn’t fully meet God’s requirements for our salvation. And He would have to die over and over again for every new sin.
Now, the other level of forgiveness, though, relates to the condition of our relationship with the Lord and our daily walk with Him. When we sin, we break fellowship with Him and we prevent ourselves from attaining the abundant, God-glorifying life that we should have. Like in a marriage, a sin doesn’t necessarily mean that you run out and get divorced, but it does interfere with the condition of your relationship with your spouse. And we need to confess these sins as they happen to restore proper fellowship.
There are numerous other passages in the Bible that say the same thing. The fact that we have responsibilities in maintaining a proper, godly relationship with God - that we have an effect on the effectiveness of our prayers - is a very real teaching that should be taken seriously. Whether or not we forgive someone else has an effect on our relationship with God and on if He hears our prayers or not.
(I wonder, what sense does forgiveness really make, if Calvinism is true? So we are supposed to forgive people for the bad things that God supposedly made them do for His glory. He caused whatever they did, for His glory, and yet we're supposed to see what they did as wrong and forgive them for it? Interesting! So essentially, whatever wrong they did to us is actually a God-glorifying thing, which makes it a good, godly thing. So evil things are good and God-glorifying. So then what is it that they did that actually needs forgiving? They were just doing God's Will, for His glory. Why would they need forgiveness for that?)
And not only do we have the responsibility to forgive others and to seek forgiveness from God, but we are to ask for forgiveness from others for any offenses we have made against them.
Matthew 5:23-24: “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.” Being reconciled to others is so important to God that we are not even supposed to offer our gifts at the altar until we do.
But how many of us harbor bitterness towards others for some offense? How many can’t let it go because it seems so justified? They deserve it, right? Or how many of us won’t seek reconciliation because we don’t think that we should have to? We didn’t do anything wrong; it was all them ... right!?! (Or how many Calvinists feel that they had no control over what they did because Calvi-god ordained it for his plans and glory, and so they shouldn't have to be sorry for it?)
But forgiveness is not so much about the other person; it’s about our relationship with God. The Word makes it clear that the responsibility rests with us to forgive anything that we have against someone else and to seek forgiveness from others and from God, if we want to approach God in prayer. And if we don’t, it blocks God from forgiving us, which blocks God from hearing our prayers.
And even worse, unforgiveness towards others (or any resistance to confessing any sin in our lives, for that matter) shows hard-heartedness, which is diametrically opposed to a healthy, open relationship with God. And we will further block ourselves off from being sensitive to the Holy Spirit. And the longer we resist, the more we will entrench ourselves behind the wall that we have put up between us and the Lord. And the more numb and desensitized - and self-justified - we will feel.
It’s all about your heart and if you humble yourself before a holy God. How many of our prayers go unheard because of our heart’s condition and our attitude towards others?
Pride, bitterness, envy, gossip, idol worship, unforgiveness, ungodly speech, getting drunk, cheating, giving into temptations, lust, affairs, sex outside of marriage, acting out in anger, worry, etc., are all sins that need to be confessed and repented of, if we want God to hear our prayers and to have the most effective life for Christ.
It’s shocking, I know. I mean, God hears all of our prayers, right? So how can I say that He doesn’t? I don’t think it’s so much that He doesn’t “hear” them, but that we bind Him from working in our lives and from answering them because we have chosen to walk away from Him in our sins. We have chosen the roadblock. We have chosen sin. And we can’t hold onto sin and hold onto Him at the same time. (And remember that 1 John 5:14-15 says that God "hears" the prayers that are in line with His Will. All the other prayers are really just us talking to Him, but not calling Him to do His Will. So if you want effective prayers, it would be good to spend time in prayer asking God what He wants you to pray, what His Will is, even if it's different from yours.)
And once again, we need to bring this back to actually praying for forgiveness (for us and for when we need to forgive others) and healing our relationship with God, not just thinking about it. Look at this verse 2 Chronicles 7:14-15: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.”
If we pray for forgiveness, which is definitely in His Will for us, He will hear. But if we just think about it, He won't. He's left it up to us.
Understanding God's Will #9g: Other Convicting Verses
Now, that’s a lot to take, I know! But ... there’s more! If we really want to examine what sins we might be harboring in our hearts, we would be wise to consider these verses.
Now, that’s a lot to take, I know! But ... there’s more! If we really want to examine what sins we might be harboring in our hearts, we would be wise to consider these verses.
Here’s one for husbands. 1 Peter 3:7: “Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.”
The degree to which we treat others with consideration and respect, particularly regarding a husband’s treatment of his wife in this verse, is the degree to which our prayers are unhindered.
And here are three that scare me:
Proverbs 21:13: “If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered.”
James 4:17: “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.”
Romans 14:23: “... everything that does not come from faith is sin.”
Yikes! The first verse tells me that God does not listen to us if we ignore those in need. And the second two broaden the definition of sin. Sin is not just doing things that we know we shouldn’t do; it’s also sin to not do what we know we should do and to do anything that doesn’t come from faith. And sin hinders prayer.
This really opens up a whole new side of our responsibility, of what God expects from those of us who call ourselves Christians. Do we ignore needs that we see? Do we turn a blind eye at injustice? Do we fail to treat others kindly? Do we fail to do the good that we know we should do? This is sin!
What, in our lives, are we doing that is a result of faithlessness? Do we hoard money because we don’t have faith in God to provide? Do we seek our own ways out of trials because we don’t have faith in God to help us through? Do we look to satisfy our desires outside of the boundaries God has given because we don’t trust that God’s way is best? Do we fail to obey because we are afraid of what obedience will cost us? This is sin, too!
We can open up to just about any passage in the Bible and find something we should be convicted about, something that will lead us toward a deeper relationship with Him and a better idea of how to live righteously, which leads us toward more “powerful and effective” prayers. But how many of us take the time to do that? How many of us read the Bible with the intention of seeking to live more righteously? Of getting to know Him better, as He really is? Or have we become comfortable in our own little world, behind our walls of fear, self-sufficiency, self-centeredness, and sin?
1 John 3:21-23: “Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from Him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.”
Notice that it’s not just an inactive, passive command to avoid doing anything that doesn’t please Him. It’s an active command that instructs us to live our lives doing the things that please Him. But we shouldn’t look at obedience as a way to manipulate Him to get what we want or as something that we have to do out of duty or irrational fear or to earn His love. The desire to obey is the natural response of a heart that properly fears God and that is so full of His love and of love for Him that you want nothing less than to do His Will and bring Him glory.
John 15:7: “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.” Now, if we ended with that verse, it would sound like a blank check. (Notice, though, that we need to be remaining in Him and to store up His words in our hearts. That’s a lot of responsibility.) But we need to go on to the next verse to find out what kind of prayers God is talking about. Is it really “whatever you wish”?
Verse 8: “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” God grants the prayers that are centered on bearing fruit for the Father’s glory, that show others that we are His disciples. And this comes as a result of remaining in Him, which means way more than just reading our Bibles, going to church, and praying every now and then. Remaining in Him, as a tree branch remains connected to the trunk, means being vitally connected to Him. It means absorbing and living in His Word, love, power, grace, etc. It is not a casual thing, and it is not about our wants and desires!
When I consider all these verses together, I can see that it doesn’t mean that He will always grant anything that I ask. Am I abiding in Him daily? Or am I just running to my Vending Machine God to ask for what I want or think I need? Do I have my plans, pleasure, and glory in mind, or God’s? (And here’s a scary question: Does my life currently show obedience and reflect His glory and His love and His Truth? How about in my home, in how I treat others, in how I speak and think, when I am in a crowd, when I am alone, etc.? If I'm not doing that stuff now, what makes God think I'll start doing it if I get what I want?)
Understanding God's Will 9h: Summing Up Effective Prayer
After really searching the Word for verses on prayer, I’m beginning to believe that God doesn’t just answer prayer based on how much faith we have and on whether or not we claim that it will happen ahead of time. Yes, we need faith. That is a necessity. But it’s not about “performing” or about jumping through hoops to prove how much faith we have. It’s about the condition of our lives and hearts, about our relationship with Him and with others, and about how closely we are walking with Him and living in His love. Do we have faith in Him to handle our request? And no matter how He chooses to answer, do we have enough faith in Him as a good, loving Father to remain close to Him and to praise Him, even if we don't get what we want?
Summing up all that I’ve learned so far, I’d have to say that our prayers are most effective …
Summing up all that I’ve learned so far, I’d have to say that our prayers are most effective …
- when we are living righteously,
- when they are in line with God’s Will and are unselfish and are in Jesus’ name (according to what He wants),
- when there are no un-confessed sins blocking our relationship with God (meaning that we need to clear the air with God and others, seeking forgiveness from God and those we have wronged and forgiving those who have wronged us),
- when we (especially husbands) treat others with consideration and respect,
- when we are doing the good we know we need to do,
- when we are living and acting in accordance with our faith and not doing anything that doesn’t come from faith,
- when our hearts don’t condemn us (because we have actively searched them and we have righted any wrongs, and not just because we are ignoring any conviction),
- when we obey His commands and do what pleases Him,
- when we believe in Jesus and are loving one another,
- when we are remaining in Him and His words remain in us,
- and when we are living for and bearing fruit for His glory!
This is a lot to consider. It is very sobering. (And how can all those verses about our responsibilities be explained away with Calvinism's "God's Will always happens and everything that happens is God's Will, and we can't do anything about it"?)
But we need to resist the urge to make this list a formula to get what we want or a check-list that we have to do before we can approach God in prayer. Notice that nowhere in the list does it say anything about having to pray the “right words,” in the “right position,” and with the “right tone-of-voice,” and when you have made yourself “good enough.”
If you don't know where to start with prayer, just talk to Him. Tell Him what's on your heart and mind, what you're concerned about. Ask for His help. Praise Him for the goodness and blessings He's already given you. Ask Him to guide you in knowing what He wants you to do and pray. Just talk to Him, as you would to a trusted friend who values your friendship and who wants the best for you and wants to help you because they love you.
It’s all about our heart’s sensitivity to God and our desire to live life with Him, as well as for Him, doing our best to continue transforming ourselves to be more and more like Him. And this will take our whole lives.
So we should never let a “check-list” come between us and God. More important to Him than the particular words we pray or how we pray is simply that we pray - that we let Him deep into our hearts and lives, drawing near to Him in genuineness and humility and dependency on Him, and that we let Him into our plans and join Him in His plans, growing in our understanding of what He wants for our lives and what He wants us to do as we learn to seek His glory and His Kingdom above all.
And this is why we should pray. Because He's chosen to work out His Will in cooperation with mankind, through our choices and actions. And because we need Him. And because He wants us to let Him near. He desires an open, honest relationship with every one of us. That's why Jesus came and died for us, to bridge the gap so that we could once again have an intimate relationship with Him. (Unlike Calvi-god who only wants more and more glory for himself, at the expense of his creation.)
He can handle anything we bring His way; we just need to learn to be willing to accept His answers. And this becomes a lot easier when we learn that He really does love us. (Unlike Calvi-god who says he loves everyone but who only really loves a very few "elected" people and who created the multitude of people, the non-elect, simply so that he could hate them, cause them to reject him, and then punish them for it in hell because it brings him some kind of sick glory. Who would trust the love of a god like that? If he's capable of that then he's capable of deceiving even the elect into thinking they're saved but then sending them to hell anyway. Just because he wants to. Because it makes him happy or brings him glory or whatever. Calvi-god is a sick, demonic god!)
Now, no matter how “righteously” we live, we will still struggle from time to time with our own desires, some selfish ones and some for good things that He is not willing to grant for His own reasons. But the longer and closer we walk with Him, the “easier” it gets to refocus and to allow Him to answer the way He wants. But it takes remembering His goodness to us and His love and His displays of power in the past. It’s so easy to get discouraged when we take our eyes off of Him and what He is capable of. So we need to be immersing ourselves in Him daily if we want to have the greatest amount of peace and joy possible. Peace and joy in the midst of heartbreaking unanswered prayer do not come to us apart from abiding in Him daily.
And I think that’s what I’m learning to do, through all of the unanswered prayers and waiting. I’m learning to not let my faith in Him hinge on how He chooses to answer. I’m learning to let Him be God!
In the name of transparency and dependence on Him, it’s okay to pray for something specific. I believe that He can do what I am asking ... if He chooses to. I have no doubt that He is capable. But in the name of humility, I have to allow Him to answer as He wants. (And this is not always easy to do, even though it should be when you realize what a good, loving, wise God He is.)
I need to be sensitive and moldable and to allow God to purify my requests and change my desires to be more in line with His Will. When I get hung up on a specific answer or on what I think I “need” then I get tunnel-vision and I lose my ability to see what God may actually be doing in response to my request.
But to be honest, it is hard sometimes to lay our requests down before the Lord - to place them in His hands fully - when the answer is so important to us. And it’s especially hard when the Lord seems to be taking His time, and we want our answer NOW! (And I realize that I cause stress for myself because there are many times that I want my answer early – earlier than it needs to come. I want the assurance that it is already there, when instead God is telling me to trust that He can and will handle it, that the right answer will be there when it is the right time, that He won't let me down.)
But these times are very important, teachable moments in our lives. Difficult and heartbreaking, but important and teachable. And they can either be times to get bitter and angry, or times to draw near to God and experience enormous growth in our Christian character.
Maybe that’s part of the reason why God seems so silent, hidden, and unresponsive most of the time – to force us to decide if we will turn our backs on Him when we don't get what we want, if we will remain half-hearted “what’s-in-it-for-me” Christians ... or to decide that we will commit to Him fully, even though He is a mysterious and confusing and sometimes frustrating God who can't be manipulated by us and who doesn't always give us what we want when we want it.
There's a lot more to pray (even unanswered prayer) than we realize!
(And far more than Calvinists realize when they essentially view prayer as nothing more than a formality.)
Understanding God's Will #9i: Still Waiting For An Answer:
So how long do we continue to hang in there and pray for something that doesn’t seem to be happening? When it seems like God is not listening and it hurts us to have to plead again about a certain request?
I’ve pleaded with God for things that haven’t happened or that were a long time in coming. And this is the best advice I can offer right now.
If you have given your concern over to Him in prayer and invited Him to open or close the doors as He sees fit, if you have confessed any known sin and asked Him to reveal any hidden sin, if you are abiding in Him and seeking His guidance in His Word and in prayer, if you have examined your heart to see if you really trust Him (and have worked through any distrust or doubt with Him), and if you are willing to hear the answer whatever it may be and to obey whatever He asks you to do ... and if it still seems like God is not answering you and the wait is getting long and you don't know what to do next, I would suggest this:
Hang in there and keep praying about your concern until one of five things happens. Until ...
1) God says “Yes.”
[Remember to thank Him and praise Him, to give Him the glory and the credit for it.]
[Remember to thank Him and praise Him, to give Him the glory and the credit for it.]
2) God says, “No, My grace is sufficient for you.”
[And sometimes a “no” is actually a blessing in disguise. If you get a "no" answer, then tell Him in prayer that even if it hurts and you're heartbroken, you still trust Him. And if you don't trust Him, if you are too angry at Him, tell Him. Talk it over with Him. He understands. Even Jesus got a "no" when He prayed to have the cup of death taken from Him. And He was so broken over it that He sweated blood as He poured out His pain all night in the garden. Thank Him for listening to you and answering you. Ask Him to help you let go of your desires and to figure out what He wants for you. And then just spend some time with Him, getting to know Him again, faithfully doing your daily job. And as you do, He will guide you to where He wants you to be. If you are living obediently and faithfully today, you are in His Will! And the more faithful He sees that you are in the little things, the more He can trust you with the big things.)
3) God has strengthened your conviction that this is indeed the way you are to continue praying, the path you are to pursue, and you simply need to persist in prayer and wait patiently until it happens.
[If this is the case, just be sensitive to God's leading and to any changes He makes in your path or any new thing He asks you to do. And always just do the next thing that God brings across your path, those small everyday jobs that come your way. If you are not doing what you are supposed to be doing now, why would He bring you a new, bigger opportunity? Also pray and ask God if there is anything you are doing or not doing that is delaying your answer. And listen for His reply over the next so many days and weeks.]
4) God has purified your desires through the trial and the waiting, and He has shown you how to change your request to be more in line with His Will. Or ...
5) You realize that you have made an idol out of the request and the answer that you want.
[And if that has happened, I think it is wise to put the prayer request aside, for a time at least. When we learn that we have been so focused on a request or on the pursuit of the answer that we want - to the point that we have lost our focus on God, lost our confidence in God, and have caused ourselves emotional distress - then we need to confess it and to fully hand the request over to Him to do with as He pleases. Tell God that you have lost focus on Him, that you can't stress about your concern anymore, and that you are trusting Him to worry about it for you. And this, when we can do nothing else about this request, is the time to praise Him. And to keep praising Him - until we have Him so clearly in focus and at the forefront of our minds that our desire to get what we want pales in comparison to His glory and His love.
Also, if it seems as though God is not answering your prayer, ask yourself if there is anything that you should be doing or not doing. Sometimes, we pray “lazy prayers.” We ask God to do something for us while ignoring the resources and wisdom He gave us to do it ourselves, such as praying that God gives us a healthy body when we won't exercise or eat right. Or we pray prayers from the wrong angle, and we need to slightly shift what we are asking for. Instead of praying, “Lord, change my spouse,” it would be far more effective to pray, “Lord, help me see what I can do/think/change to make this marriage better.” Sometimes, to get our prayers answered, it takes tweaking them a little or praying that God opens our eyes to the answer that is already there.]
In the end, I have to wonder if God doesn’t always give us everything we ask for simply so none of us can feel like we have an inside track to God and so that we give up our “pat” answers about faith and God and life. So that we can never shake our heads at others in condescending pity when their prayers aren’t answered the way they want, thinking, Poor things. If only they prayed like me or had my strong faith. And so that we remember that none of us can really understand or control God. (And isn’t this exactly what most of us get hung up on in a crisis of faith? But a God that can really be totally understood or controlled by us is not really God at all.)
Summing it all up, when it comes to unanswered prayer and faith, what we should want more than anything else is to get to the place where we can take His hand and walk forward into the darkness in faith. Faith in Him! Because even if we don’t get what we want, we know that He is a good, loving, trustworthy Father who loves us, who cares about us and for us, and who will work all things together for good.
And that is more wonderful and more faith-sustaining than getting what we want when we want it.
Understanding God's Will #10: Why Do Bad Things Happen?
(This will be a long one as I look at what the Bible says compared to what Calvinism says. And I included another post on mine on the end of this one, "Are Tragedies Gifts From God?")
Why Do Bad Things Happen?
Can bad things happen that God doesn’t want to happen?
Obviously, yes!
Why Do Bad Things Happen?
Can bad things happen that God doesn’t want to happen?
Obviously, yes!
We fell, didn’t we? Because of our sin in the Garden of Eden, we introduced death and sin into the human race and the world. (I say "we" because we all stem from Adam and Eve and because any one of us, given enough time in the Garden of Eden, would have done the same thing.) And this is something God didn't want when He created the world good. It's why He warned Adam and Eve to not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Because it would make them aware of evil. It would unleash evil in the world because they would essentially be choosing Satan over God, giving Satan part of their dominion over the earth that God gave them. And He didn't want this to happen.
Yes, God gave them the ability to eat from the tree, so that they weren't robots forced to obey Him, so that their obedience to Him and love for Him would be a choice of their own free-will, but He didn't want it to happen. He didn't plan that they do it (as my Calvinist pastor claims) or cause them to do it. He took steps to keep it from happening, severely warning them not to do it.
But He allowed them to make their own choice. And since He knew they would choose to eat from it, He already had a plan in mind to redeem their sin, to pay the penalty for it so that we could live again - through Jesus' death on the cross.
From the beginning, God planned to make amends for their sin, incorporating it into His plans, but He did not plan their sin or cause them to sin. Contrary to what my Calvinist pastor says, God did not want them to fall.
You see, in Calvinism, God can want one thing, even "decree" one thing, but cause the opposite. He decrees people to disobey His decrees. And yes, Calvinists will say this outright with a straight face, seeing nothing wrong with it.
They simply say, "Well, God has two different Wills that oppose each other." So He can say He wants Adam and Eve to not eat the fruit, even commanding them to not eat the fruit, and yet turn around and cause them to eat the fruit. And they think this is okay, that God can be like this and still be considered righteous and just and trustworthy. "After all," they say, "He is mysterious and causes everything that happens for His pleasure and glory, so it's okay."
But is it really okay? Is it righteous to cause people to sin, to give them no ability to obey? Is it justice to cause someone to break your commandments and then to punish them for it? Can someone who says they want you to do one thing when they really want you to do (and cause you to do) the opposite be considered trustworthy? How then can we trust anything God commands us to do when He might really want us to sin and break His commands, "for His pleasure and glory"? Isn't our sin then glorifying to God, just as much as our obedience? What difference then is there between sin and obedience, evil and good?
This wouldn't be God being "mysterious."
It would be God being a horrible, lying, unrighteous, unjust, untrustworthy monster who wants people in hell, who lies to them, who is pleased when people sin, and who causes them to disobey Him just so He can send them to hell because it brings Him some kind of sick glory. And that's not okay!
And, I wonder then, what difference is there really between Satan and Calvi-god?
Throughout history, persecuted Christians praise God and give Him glory in spite of sin and suffering. But Calvinism praises God and gives Him glory for sin and suffering.
(FYI, Calvinists will say, "We don't say God causes sin." And they're right ... they don't SAY it. In fact, they find all sorts of ways to hide it. But their theology does indeed believe it, when you cut through all the layers they cover it up with!)
But thank God that this is not really how the God of the Bible is. It's just how Calvinism's god is. And Calvi-god is NOT the God of the Bible.
Calvinism does great harm to God's character and truth, while claiming that they are truly honoring and glorifying Him above all!
It's demonic, that's what it is. Flipping the Gospel and God's character on its head, reversing everything God said, and then claiming that it's everyone else who's wrong, that they are the ones who are "only preaching right from the Scriptures and glorifying God the way He should be glorified."
Anyway, let's get back on track. I bring up this question because people want to know why a good God would allow evil if God is all-powerful and can stop it.
The problem, from the very beginning, is two-fold. First, they are assuming that an all-powerful God has to always be using His power all the time to cause/control everything that happens ... or else He's not God. And they assume that God has to always step in to stop the bad things from happening ... or else He's not good. They assume that this is the only way a "good, sovereign God" can act.
(However, it's funny how most people don't want God's interference when things are going good in their lives, when they've got things under control and are getting what they want, but the minute something goes wrong, they blame Him. They give no credit to Him for the good things in their lives, but give Him all the credit for the bad. And this is not right! No wonder God sometimes leaves us to ourselves, to make our own messes. Because we've ignored Him or told Him to "Get Out!" our whole lives.)
But they are letting their assumptions about God control their view of God. They have decided that God has to be who they think He is ... or else He can't be God. And so the problem is not with God, it's with us. (You'd be amazed at all the assumptions you have about God, if you just stopped to think about it and pray about it.)
But this is not how God is, according to the Bible.
God is indeed good and all-powerful, but He has chosen to give people free-will, a lot of room to make decisions, even bad ones. And with this freedom comes great responsibility and cause-and-effect. We are responsible for so much that happens in this world. It's not God's fault.
And He has decided, as part of letting us have this real freedom and responsibility, to allow things to happen, to let our choices affect things to a large degree. He has chosen to give us freedom to make choices ... and He lets us face the consequences of our choices, good or bad.
This doesn't make Him "not good." It makes Him wise and fair. He lets us make real decisions that have real consequences, and He let's us face the real consequences, not often sparing us from them.
I think if we are abiding in Him daily and being faithful to Him, He protects us much more than if we are living apart from Him. And He does this because we've invited Him into our daily lives, we are sensitive to His leading and doing our best to live obediently. And if we are walking in His Will for us, the way He wants us to live, He has His hand of protection over us. But if we have walked away from Him, we remove ourselves from His protection and He does not necessarily protect us from the bad consequences.
The safest spot to be is close to Lord, walking in obedience to Him, abiding in Him daily.
That's what His Word is all about. What the need for obedience is all about. It's about helping us live as He knows is best so that we can have the best life possible, good consequences instead of bad. He has written down all we need to do, the ways we need to live to have the best life. It's all there in His Word, if we want it. And He is there for all of us, if we want Him.
But we don't want to hear what He has to say. We don't want to obey His rules or change our ways or serve any other "Lord" but ourselves. We want to do what we want without any of the responsibility. We want to make our own decisions and live life our own way, but then we want Him to step in and spare us from any unpleasant consequences of our decisions.
But we can't have it both ways. Freedom without responsibility. Making choices without consequences.
And while God has tried to spare us the negative consequence by telling us how to live in His Word, He still does step in to help when we call on Him, even when we make a mess of our lives. That's what forgiveness and grace and mercy is for, to pick us up when we fall apart and to help put us back together again.
But He will let us make a mess of our lives and face the unpleasant consequences if we reject His help, if we don't want Him in our lives, and if that's what it takes to get us to call on Him, to realize we need Him, that we can't handle life on our own.
Does a parent step in to fix all the consequences of a child's bad choices? Do they smooth out every path for the child so that the child faces no trouble in their life, no bad results of their behavior? What would we say about such parents? What kind of people do those kids grow up to be?
We all know there is wisdom in letting people face the consequences of their choices, to a degree. And yet for some reason, we expect God to step in and fix every mistake for us, to never let our behavior or choices have any bad consequences for us. We sure do like having our freedom, don't we? But the minute we have to face an unpleasant consequence of our choice, we blame God. For the things we caused. This is us being "not good," not God.
[And unfortunately, part of having the ability to make real choices is that people can make real choices that hurt others. This is something God never wanted, something He tries to prevent by telling us over and over again in His Word how we should live, how we should treat others, how we should raise our kids, etc. But we don't listen. And so we - not He - cause problems and pain for other people.
But God, in His love, is always ready to help anyone who's been hurt and who calls on Him for help. But He will let us live apart from Him if we want to. He'll let us try to fix our hurts ourselves, creating more problems in our lives. Because He didn't create robots who had to do things His Way, who are forced to love Him and worship Him. Where is the glory in forcing someone to love you? He created people with free-will because He wants a relationship with people who genuinely want to be with Him, who choose of their own free-will to love Him and obey Him, not who are forced to.
And this is something Calvinists get wrong. God is not just a supreme, way-up-high, too-far-above-us, sovereign God. He is a relational Being who wants a real relationship with people. He doesn't just want glory and praise. He wants our love, real love. And He wants us to let Him love us.
Why else do you think God chose to come down here, into our messy world, becoming like one of us mere humans, when He could have just stayed up there, surrounded Himself with a bunch of robot-people, and pulled strings in our backs that made us worship Him?
Calvinists elevate God's sovereignty so high, to unbiblical levels, that they do great damage to God's love and His desire for a relationship with His creation.]
Another problem, particularly for Calvinists, is that they take one verse - Proverbs 21:1: "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases." - and they say, "See, God controls all our choices, even our bad ones." And then they define God and misinterpret the rest of the Bible through their bad understanding of this verse.
But the Bible overall shows us a very different picture of how God has chosen to be. And in the Bible, He doesn’t use His power to control our choices. (He uses His power to cause us to make our choice and to work our choices into His plans, but not to control our choices.)
He has allowed us to make our own real decisions, even bad ones ... and He allows there to be real consequences to our decisions. And this is why bad things happen. Because of us, our choices, the Fall of Adam and Eve, Satan and demons, and the deterioration of the natural world after Adam and Eve sinned.
However, if Calvinism is true about God predestining/causing/controlling everything that happens, then how did these verses get into the Bible:
1 Kings 20:42: "He said to the king, 'This is what the Lord says: 'You have set free a man I had determined should die.''"
Hosea 8:4 (God's words): "They set up kings without my consent; they choose princes without my approval."
Jeremiah 19:5 (God's own words): "They have built the high places to Baal to burn their sons in the fire as offerings to Baal - something I did not command or mention, nor did it enter my mind."
Isaiah 30:1: "Woe to the obstinate children," declares the Lord, "to those who carry out plans that are not mine..."
Psalm 33:10: "The Lord foils the plans of the nations ..." (If all plans are God's plans, and if we can only plan what God causes us to plan, then isn't God foiling His own plans here?)
Acts 14:16: "In the past, he [God] let nations go their own way." (Impossible ... if every way is God's preplanned way!)
And if God alone controls every single movement His creation makes, then why would He need to give "boundaries" to people, Satan, and nature (such as putting a boundary around the one forbidden tree in the Garden of Eden, and putting a limit on how far the sea can move in Job 38:11, and putting a hedge around Job and limits to how much Satan can do to him in Job 1)? Boundaries are only needed when there is freedom to move within those boundaries.
I have never yet heard a Calvinist give an answer for these verses. At least one that makes sense, one that doesn't resort to, "Well, we can't understand it anyway because God is mysterious. And God can have two Wills that oppose each other, so He can want one thing but cause the opposite. Who are you to think you can understand God or talk back to Him?" (Yeah, but in Calvinism, even our talking back to Him would be "controlled" by Him, so then He is really just talking back to Himself.)
Look at all the nonsense they weave - the theological twisting they do - to make the Bible fit with their wrong theology, instead of simply correcting their wrong theology to fit the plain, simple, consistent, easily-understood message of the Bible! They take a vague verse from a poetic "wise sayings" book of the Bible, like Proverbs 21:1, and base everything on that, instead of basing their views on what God said about Himself through the prophets in verses like the ones above.
God is indeed all-powerful and in-control, but contrary to what Calvinism teaches, He has chosen to not always use His power to control everything. He has chosen to give us a certain amount of real freedom and real responsibility. And we mess it up time and time again. And that's why bad things happen.
But God, in His goodness, is always ready to step in and help us when we call on Him. He walks through the pain with us. He holds us up when we can't stand anymore. He hurts when we hurt, even if we caused our pain ourselves. He promises to work good out of the bad for those who love Him. And He will eventually right all wrongs, redeem all the brokenness in this world that resulted from our sin, and get rid of all sin, death, and tears forever.
In fact, even before He made us, before we sinned, He planned to pay the price for our sins. Jesus came to earth so that He could die in our place, to pay the penalty for our sins, so that we could be forgiven and have eternal life. He did not have to love us that much. He did not have to leave heaven and put on human skin and die a violent death for people who ignore Him, reject Him, mock Him. He could have left us to face the consequences of our choices with no hope of redemption, forgiveness, grace, or healing, instead of coming down to our messy world and taking our sins upon Himself on the cross so that we could live.
But He did it anyway. Because He loves us. Just because He does. Because He wants us all with Him in heaven for all of eternity.
And I'd say that makes Him very good!
The twisted thing is that Calvinists will say we make "real choices," right after saying that God sovereignly controls everything that happens.
But, you see, in Calvinism we can only make the choices that go with the desires of the nature God gave us. This means that if He predestined you to have the "sinner/unrepentant" nature, then you can only and always desire to sin, which means you can only and always choose to sin. There are no other options available to you.
But Calvinists still say, with complete sincerity, that you made a "real choice" to sin (to reject God) because you "desired" to do it, even though you could only desire to sin and only choose to sin, because Calvi-god caused you to be this way because he predestined you to hell.
Basically, Calvi-god tells you that you have to pick a door. But he only puts one door - the "sin door" - in front of you. There are no other doors to choose from. And he gives you the desire to walk through that door, and only that door. You have no desires to resist it or to choose good or to want another door. And since you are a "slave" to your Calvi-god-given desires, you have to walk through the "sin door." But because you "desired" to walk through the sin door, Calvinists say that you "freely chose what you wanted to do," even though you had no real choice because there were no other options. And they call this "making your own choice" and so, therefore, you "deserve the punishment you get for choosing to sin." It's sick and twisted! It really is!
Folks, this is Calvinism! And it is a different gospel than the Bible. It is a different God, a different Jesus, a different way to salvation, etc. And this makes it evil!
But in the Bible, in example after example, God has chosen to not control everything. He has chosen to give us a wide range of options, all of which we are capable of choosing, and He lets us decide what we want to do. And so when we sin, it's because we truly chose it, over any other choices we could have made. And so we bring about the consequences of our bad choices. God is not responsible for them; we are.
Of course, everything that happens has to go through Him first, such as how Satan and demons tempt people and which consequences to allow and which to not allow. But I think, more often than not, God lets things take their own "natural" course. I don't think He steps in and controls things nearly as much as we think He does. He lets things run their course, having given much room and "authority" and responsibility over to us. But He is always watching over it all, deciding what to allow and what to block and how to work things into His plans.
But until God redeems it all, we will have to face all the things brought on by our own choices, by other people, by the Fall, and by Satan: natural disasters, illnesses, death, heartache, trauma, etc.
But just because God doesn’t step in and take away all the consequences from our choices (individual choices and mankind’s choices) doesn’t mean that He wants all these bad things to happen. I think it breaks His heart to see what we’ve done to His creation and to ourselves. And once again, in the end, He will redeem it all. (This isn’t to say that He doesn’t step in and help from time to time, in answer to our prayers. If we pray anything in line with His Will, He will do it. It’s just that not everything we ask for is in His Will for us.)
As I said, I think people (Calvinists) mistakenly believe that because God is all-powerful and sovereign, it means that He micromanages every detail, that He causes everything that happens.
Those who think this way then have the burden of explaining why bad things happen and why people sin without sounding like they are accusing God of causing sin and evil.
(This is what causes all the nonsensical, round-and-round, Calvinist rambling, with a bunch of verses taken out of context. Deep down, they know their theology says God is the cause of all evil and sin, but they have to find ways to make it sound like they're not saying it. But from the beginning, it's their own mistaken view of sovereignty that causes their problems. See "What Does 'God is Sovereign' Mean?" for more on this.)
However, when it comes to sin, Scripture (James 1:13-14) says that God does not tempt anyone to sin. Yet obviously people sin. But if God is not responsible for people’s sin, who is?
Well, Satan and people, obviously.
“Each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.”
This would be the clearest, simplest, most biblical way to view it. That people desire to sin and choose to sin all on their own, not that God causes them to desire to sin or choose to sin. That would be adding things to Scripture that aren't there, basing it on their own Calvinist assumptions.
[Calvinists find a few random verses that could seem slightly Calvinistic, take them out of context, and then use them to reinterpret other verses to say things they aren't saying, instead of just reading the verses as God wrote them. People have to be taught to see Calvinism in the Bible, because it isn't there if you read it plainly, as it is written. Calvinism is a big web of cleverly cobbled-together verses that they alter and take out of context and read into and add double layers to, and this traps many well-meaning Christians, training them to see Calvinism in the Bible even though it contradicts the simple, plain reading of it. It takes a wise, strong person, caught in the web of Calvinism, to say, "I want to know what the Bible says without my own Calvinist assumptions getting in the way, even if it means learning I've been wrong this whole time."]
If, as Calvinists believe, God causes everything that happens then He is indeed responsible for making us sin, despite their desperate attempts to cover it up.
But God truly isn't responsible for our sin because He truly gave us the right and responsibility to make our own choices. And so when we sin, it’s not because God wanted it to happen. It's because we chose it. And God lets things happen that He doesn’t want to have happen, because that's a natural, unavoidable result of giving people free-will.
(And yet, I think He is much more active in this world than many of us realize! If we all could see just how much He does "behind the scenes", in the spiritual world, while we are ignoring Him and busily going about our day, we might be shocked into belief.)
God doesn’t like sin. He doesn’t want sin. He doesn’t cause us to sin. He didn’t cause us to ruin His perfect creation. But He allowed it. And this doesn’t mean He is less powerful or less sovereign or at our mercy or under our control. It just means that He has voluntarily restrained Himself and His power, choosing instead to given certain rights and privileges and responsibilities to mankind. Because that's how He wanted things to be. Because the only way for people to be able to willingly choose to love Him and obey Him and worship Him is if they truly have the choice to choose what they want, which necessarily comes with the choice to choose wrong.
And that is a sobering thought!
But in no way does it diminish His strength or His God-ness. He is still sovereign. He is still in control over all (just not controlling all). And in His sovereignty, He promises to weave all the bad into something good, for those of us who love Him. He is still on the throne!
Added Post:
Now, I know this was a really long post already, but I am going to add this other post of mine because it fits right in here (there will be some repeated information because this is a separate post, and I made a few minor changes in it here, and the color change between gray and black wasn't intentional but I can't undo it for some reason):
"Are Tragedies Gifts From God?"
James 1:2-4: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
I am reading a book right now by a woman who lost her mother to cancer. And she is struggling with Christians (Calvinists?) telling her that all trials and tragedies are “gifts from God, meant for our good” and that we are to be thankful for them.
Are we really supposed to accept infertility, fatal car accidents, chronically-ill children, divorce, disease, cancer, natural disasters, the death of loved ones, etc. as “gifts from God” that He has deliberately given us for our good? Are we required to push away any pain or heartache or frustration and just "be happy and thankful" because these are “gifts from God”?
I would say “No”!
It seems to me that many Christians feel that it is the “good Christian’s” duty to thankfully accept trials and tragedies because “God made this happen for your own good.” And we are to never get doubtful or upset or angry because that wouldn’t be showing faith and trust and thankfulness. Because God obviously knows what He’s doing, and He did this on purpose for our spiritual best. Right?
You know something what was a surprising realization to me?
"Everything happens for a reason" is not a verse from the Bible.
Neither is "God causes everything for a reason."
Yes, I believe God knows what He's doing ... and He works everything together for good ... and He is wise and sovereign in whatever He allows to happen ... and we can and should find things to be thankful for in all situations ... and we can consider it joy that trials will strengthen our faith.
But I do not think it's right or biblical to make people feel like they have to be "happy" about tragedies, that they have to thank God for them because He "did it to them on purpose." This is where things get messy and wrong.
Personally, I think this "God did it to you on purpose" thing is a Calvinist idea, stemming from their wrong view of God's sovereignty, that God causes all things on purpose for His glory and His plans. But they are wrong. And they do great damage to the Gospel and the character of God, and they end up destroying people's hearts, faith, and trust in God!
Remember that pain, death, and decay were curses that came as a result of man’s disobedience in the Garden. These were not part of God’s original plan for us, His best plan for us. We brought them into the picture, consequences of the Fall, of mankind's bad choices. They are not “gifts from God.” In fact, God warned Adam and Eve not to eat from Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil so that He could spare us from knowing what evil was. But we ate from the tree anyway, and God allowed us to face the consequence of our choices.
The Fall wasn't His best plan for us.
The Fall ruined His best plan for us.
And yet from the beginning, in His wisdom and sovereignty, He knew how He would incorporate the Fall into His plans and turn it into something good. But it involved Him leaving heaven, putting on frail human skin, and dying a horrible death on the cross that He didn't deserve so that He could take our place and pay the penalty that we owe for our sins. But He loved us enough to do it, even though we rebelled from Him and made a mess of His world. But thank God that He's in the business of helping us clean up our messes!
Also, in the Bible, we read often of tragedies, disasters, and war as being a punishment from God or discipline to get people back on the right track. In the Old Testament, God oftentimes set out a “blessing path” and a “curse path.” And He says that the people are to choose which path they want to take. Obedience will lead them down the “blessing path” and disobedience leads them down the “curse path.” And so, many tragedies were the result of the people choosing disobedience.
In our day, we have sexually-transmitted diseases brought on by sexual sin, broken hearts and shattered children created by divorce, devastated spouses because of affairs, financial ruin because of poor choices, unhealthy bodies because of poor eating habits, ruined lives and bodies because of irresponsibility and human evil, natural disasters and genetic problems because sin was introduced into the world and ruined God’s perfect creation, etc. And I do not think we can rightly call these kinds of things “gifts from God.”
While many Christians believe that God causes everything that happens for a reason, I think it is more accurate to say that, in general, He “allows” things to happen for a reason. I know it seems like a minor distinction: cause or allow. But to the hurting person, there is a big difference between the two, one that can drastically affect our view of God.
(And if it does, in fact, bring you more comfort to think He causes all tragedies for a reason, then keep thinking that. I am writing this for the people who don’t find comfort in that idea, the ones whose faith is faltering or shattered because they've been told that God caused the bad things that happened to them, the ones who are hurting on the inside but trying to put on a "good Christian" smile on the outside so that they don't offend God. You don't have to accept the idea that God is always the cause of all bad things. That is a misrepresentation of God and of how He works.)
To say “cause” means that God deliberately makes each heartache, trial, tragedy, and sin happen. But this does not take into account the fall of man, the fall of God’s perfect creation, personal disobedience, bad choices, human carelessness, and Satan, the instigator of all things evil.
But to say “allow” reminds us that bad things happen as a result of the Fall and of Satan and of our own choices and sins.
[To be accurate, sometimes God might actually cause things we consider "bad," maybe natural disasters or illnesses or something like that. (But He never causes sin or unbelief or causes us to do things He commands us not to do. He can cause us pain in various ways for His plans for us and yet still be considered good and trustworthy. But He cannot cause us to sin or be wicked and yet still be considered good and trustworthy. So when a Calvinist points out a Bible verse where God controls the weather and says, "See, the Bible shows God controls even the weather, and so that means He controls all things, including our decisions," point out the difference between God causing the weather to do something bad and God causing people to sin. One doesn't destroy His character and one does. One is taught in Scripture and one isn't.)
But we can't know when He's just allowed something to happen or when He caused something to happen. And my point here is about not letting someone convince you that God definitely caused whatever tragedy you faced and so you have to be thankful for it and happy about it (but we should learn from it and grow through it), or else you're being a "bad Christian." That adds a huge painful burden to an already hurting person.
Healing and perspective and peace come in time, but they will have a much harder time coming if you feel you have to hide your bad feelings and thoughts from God. When there are bad feelings, don't stuff them or feel guilty about them or force yourself to "be happy." That only makes things worse. Instead, be real with God about them. Pour out your pain to Him. Your questions. He can handle your pain and doubts and even your anger. He understands and wants to help. And this is the quicker road to healing. Besides, He already knows all that we're thinking and feeling anyway, so we are not fooling Him by hiding it. We are just putting up walls between Him and us, preventing His love from healing our broken hearts.]
In the book of Job, Satan asked to test Job. And God gave Satan a boundary (such as “Do not touch Job himself”), but He allowed Satan a certain “free reign” to cause trouble within that boundary. God allowed Satan to choose the tragedies and cause the tragedies. And while He did not specifically cause them Himself or choose which tragedies to give Job, He was aware of everything that happened and He allowed it. And the reason He allowed these tragedies was because He knew that they would be used for His glory and that He could make something good out of them for Job’s sake and for the sake of mankind.
Everything that Satan wants to do to us has to get God’s consent first (at least I think this is how it works, although I haven't found a verse that says this, just the example of Satan messing with Job). Everything that happens to us and on this earth goes through Him first. And while He doesn’t always specifically choose which tragedies to give us, He does decide what to allow and what to not allow. And everything that God allows He does so because He knows how He can weave it into something good in our lives and for His glory.
This still might not comfort people all that much - thinking that God could have stopped the tragedy but didn't - but it is biblical. It shows how bad things happen but God can still be considered a good God. (And contrary to what Calvinists say, knowing what will happen but not stopping it is NOT the same thing as causing it to happen or predestining it to happen. In the first one God is not the reason for or cause of the bad thing, but in the second one He is. And this is a big difference, especially when that bad thing is a sin or evil thing.)
God doesn't always cause the tragedies. He has allowed people to affect His world, to affect others, to affect their own lives. He has given us choices and a responsibility over what happens in this world. So not everything that happens is His fault or His doing. Many times, it's ours. God wants and commands us to do the right thing but He lets us make our own choices. And bad things can happen as a result of our choices. And when they do, He hurts with us because pain and tragedy and heartache were never part of His plan for us. And yet He will eventually work all bad things into something good, right all wrongs, and heal it all in the end.
A God like this - one who doesn't want us to make bad choices and who never wanted pain for us, but who lets us make decisions and affect things, and yet promises to work it all into something good - is a God that can still be trusted, even when things go wrong.
But if God is the cause of all evil - of all sin and wickedness - then He would be a Monster God, causing us to do the things He commands us not to do and then turning around and punishing us for it. This is the Calvinist God! A God who is not just or righteous or trustworthy or truly loving. Not when He causes the sins He forbids, and then punishes us for committing the sins He caused us to do. Not when He causes wicked things "for His glory." It's nonsense! And it shows why a correct view of God and how He works is so important. It deeply affects our faith and our relationship with God.
Yes, God is all-powerful and He could prevent any and every tragedy from happening. And yes, God is all-loving and wants the best for us. But I believe God has decided to voluntarily limit His use of power. He will not (generally) over-ride our right to make choices. He allows us the option to disobey, to bring pain and consequences on ourselves, because He gave us the right to choose Him or to reject Him.
[And He gave us this right because He doesn’t want to spend eternity with robots who are forced to choose Him and love Him. He wants to spend eternity with those who want to love Him and who voluntarily choose Him. And any of us can understand that because we all want to be with people who want to be with us, not who are forced to be with us. Why would God be any different, especially given that we were made in His image? Would we be pleased with and glorified by people loving us only because they were forced to, because they had no other choice? Then why do Calvinists think God would be?]
But unfortunately, free-will comes with painful consequences when we choose to disobey, which started at the Fall in the Garden when Satan gained a certain level of power and control over the earth, because we gave it to him when we listened to him over God, bringing with it curses against our bodies, our health, nature, and our relationship with God.
God gave Adam and Eve the command to “not eat the fruit of the tree” and He warns all people to “choose obedience over disobedience” because He wants to spare us negative consequences, pain, and heartbreak. I think it causes God pain, too, to see us hurt. He never intended that this was the way it should be when He first created the world.
But our gracious God, however, has not abandoned us to our sin and bad choices, even if He does allow tragedies. He will walk with us through them and bring good out of them and turn them into something eternally-good. And we can trust Him for that! And He offers salvation and forgiveness and wants us to grasp how great His love is for us so we can have the kind of eternity in the end that we were originally made for, even if He won’t protect us from the consequences of sin right now.
When it comes to many of the bad things that happen in life, I think it’s more likely that God is “allowing” them, not necessarily “causing” them.
[But if you are living a disobedient life, God may indeed cause/allow bad things to happen to get you back on track, as He did in the Old Testament. So don’t just think it’s “bad luck.” It may just be God disciplining you and calling you back to Him. Causing you pain to correct your waywardness. It’s not out of the realm of possibility.]
Sometimes accidents are accidents. And tragedies just happen. Not because God caused them but because they are part of the fallen world. And God has allowed them as consequences of our personal choices and of mankind’s fall. But if He has allowed them, we can trust that He has His reasons, that He will carry us through it, and that He will work it into something good.
Personally, I think God sits back to watch what we will do much more than we realize, much more than Calvinists say. They think He micromanages everything, that everything that happens is because He caused it to happen. But I think that He watches over all things but doesn't always intervene. Sometimes He does, of course, if there is something specific He wants to do or if we call on Him for help. And sometimes He intervenes to discipline. But I think there are a lot of other times when God simply watches to see what we will do, if we will pray and invite Him into our circumstances, if we will call on Him, if we want Him in our lives or not, if we will obey or disobey, etc.
This is one reason why prayer is so important. It's calling on God, inviting Him into our world, into our circumstances. I think, in general, God has chosen to let us decide if we want Him in our world, in our lives, or not. And He will generally wait to be invited in. So much of the wickedness and tragedies we see around us are because people have chosen to live life without God. We don't call on Him. We don't seek His help. We don't live obediently. We live our own little lives without Him. We don't even thank Him for the blessings and health and basic essentials we would die without.
But then ... when things go wrong ... we turn on Him and blame Him and accuse Him of causing the bad things, of not being there for us. But all along, it was simply that we never invited Him into our worlds. We kept Him out. We ignored Him - our good heavenly Father who is so willing to step in and help and heal, if only we would invite Him in!
"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." (2 Chronicles 7:14)
Tragedy is not a gift. Death is not a gift. It is an enemy. The enemy that will be the last one to be destroyed in the end. (Revelation 20:14) (And yet, even though it was a curse, death is also kind of a gift, looking at it from a purely human perspective. Because if mankind was able to live forever after the Fall, we would be in a fallen state eternally. Death is what releases us from that fallen state, bringing us into the perfect eternal state we were meant for. If you are a believer! Because it ushers us from the broken, fallen, decaying body to eternal life in heaven with Christ. So while death itself is not a blessing, there is a great blessing after death for those who trust in the Lord.)
The “gift” isn’t the tragedies and trials; it’s the good that God creates out of the tragedies and trials and the strength that He gives us to get through them. The “gift” isn’t the test; it’s the character development, spiritual development, and wisdom that grow from the test. The “gift” is God walking with us through the hard times and using them to mature our faith, to grow our trust in Him, to soften our hearts to the pain of others, to make us more compassionate people, to help us sort out our priorities, to humble us at His feet, and to create a more glorious eternity for us.
This is what we can be thankful for. These, not the tragedies, are the gifts from God!
[I was FURIOUS after hearing our Calvinist pastor give a sermon about how all the bad things, the tragedies, in your life were "ordained" by God - as in "planned and caused by God" - for your good and His glory and to humble you. Even, he said, childhood abuse.
WHAT!?! WHAT THE #$@%!?!
I ... WAS ... LIVID! Still am! (It's why I bring it up so much.) How wretched to tell hurting, abused people that God caused their abuse, that He wanted it to happen to them, and that they simply have to trust that He had His reasons and that He did it out love and for their best and for His glory.
FRICKIN' HOGWASH!!!
That was the sermon when I decided I was done with that pastor! I will not listen to someone preaching such wretched lies - which is what I believe Calvinism is - about the God I love and trust!
But, I digress. So calming down now ... getting back to the issue at hand ...]
We shouldn’t scold them to “be thankful for the tragedy, not sad, because God did this for your own good.”
We can't know which things God caused and which He just allowed (but we know He doesn't cause sin!). But we can come alongside hurting people to offer help, prayers, and a shoulder to lean on. We can cry with them. We can say, "This really sucks." We can remind them that God will walk with them through the pain, that He will bring good out of the bad someday, that He can be trusted no matter what, that He hurts with them, and that someday God will make all wrongs right again.
Romans 8:28: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
During the tragedy, we might not be able to see or understand the blessings that can come out of it. All we see is the pain. And we might not be able to find any joy or hidden blessings in it yet. (That usually comes a lot later.)
During the tragedy, when the pain is fresh and new, is not usually the time to focus on "being thankful and counting your blessings." Polishing up that "good Christian" mask. Trying to talk yourself into a better mood.
It's the time to pour out your pain to the Lord, to throw yourself at His feet in despair and humility, to tell Him that you have no strength left to face the day, to fall apart in His arms.
And that’s okay. It's okay to fall apart in front of the One who can put you back together again. And God understands that we are human and that we hurt. He can handle our anger and pain and fear. He can handle "the real you." He wants the real you. He wants you to need Him, to be real with Him, and to open all hurting parts of your heart up to Him. He wants you to invite Him into your life.
Counting the blessings and seeing the good and being thankful will come later. But you don’t have to worry about polishing up your “joyful, good-Christian mask” when you are in the midst of deep heartache. During the pain, just fall on Him and cry and know that He can handle the doubts and anger and pain. Know that He hurts with you and for you and that someday He will make everything right again. Be honest with Him about your pain and keep your heart open to Him. This is what will grow your faith and help you persevere and help you eventually say, “It is well with my soul. Whether You give or take away, blessed be Your name.”
And eventually, if you continue to draw nearer to Him instead of pulling away, there will be a deep peace, even in the midst of ache. There will be a deep joy rooted in God and not in life’s circumstances, even if you are not “happy.” And there will be a sweetness (a bittersweetness) in your soul, where you will be able to thank God for the things you learned during the painful trials.
And those will be the gifts! Blessings in disguise!
Psalm 86:1-6: “Hear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.... Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I call to you all day long. Bring joy to your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call on you. Hear my prayer, O Lord; listen to my cry for mercy.”
Psalm 34:17-18: “The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
Romans 8:28: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
Understanding God's Will #11a: Does Everything Happen For A Reason?
But doesn't everything happen for a reason? Don’t you think that God could’ve caused bad things to happen for a reason, even if He didn’t really want them to happen?
But doesn't everything happen for a reason? Don’t you think that God could’ve caused bad things to happen for a reason, even if He didn’t really want them to happen?
Sometimes, maybe. I wish that I could say no ... and yes. No, because I don’t want to think that God causes bad things to happen. And yes, because I want to believe that all bad things have a purpose and that He is in total control. It makes the bad things a lot easier to face then. (And for the record, I think that our view of what’s “bad” can and does differ from God’s. Our perspective is so, so cloudy and flawed compared to God’s.)
I think that the Bible does show times when He causes something “bad” for a reason (but He never causes sin or evil). Sometimes it’s because of discipline and judgment, such as when He causes rebellious nations to be overthrown and destroyed. And sometimes it’s to gain glory for Himself, such as when He hemmed the Israelites in by the Sea with Pharaoh’s army closing in on them. That would seem pretty bad to me, but He did that so that He could show His power and gain glory for Himself. He even hardened Pharaoh’s heart to get this done. (But, importantly, He only hardened Pharaoh's heart after Pharaoh chose to repeatedly harden it himself first. In the concordance, "hardens" is a punishment for first hardening our own hearts, resisting God's patience and love and correction. Basically, biblically, when God hardens someone's heart He is simply giving that person what they want, what they chose, and making it permanent.)
Exodus 14:4: “And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.”
(And contrary to Calvinism's belief that God preplanned to harden Pharaoh's heart through no fault or choice of Pharaoh's, the reason God says here that He will harden Pharaoh's heart in the future is because He already knows that Pharaoh will choose to be hard-hearted. And God has already decided to make Pharaoh's decision permanent so that He can use it for His plans. The fault lies with Pharaoh choosing to be hard-hearted, not with God choosing to make Pharaoh hard-hearted all on His own. God simply chose to give Pharaoh what he wanted, permanently, and to use it for His plans. Big difference!)
It seems that whatever “bad” He does cause is because He has to discipline, to pass judgment, to gain glory for Himself, to maintain His good name, or because He has a greater good in mind. (And once you really get a glimpse of God’s holiness and glory, you know that it’s only right that He is glorified, even if it takes “bad” times to do it.)
But when we ask this question, what we really want to know is if He causes the tsunamis or cancer or an accident or a death for a particular reason. “Everything happens for a reason” is our way of dealing with these things.
And the answer is ... I don’t know. He probably causes some of them. But He doesn’t run His reasons past us, and so we can’t get hung up on figuring out something that is not ours to know.
[And we cannot dare make any judgments or pronouncements about tragedies that happen, saying things like “God brought that disaster on you (or your city) because of your (or your city’s) sin.”
How dare any Christian act as though they know for sure what was going on in God’s mind when He allowed a certain tragedy to happen! It is smug, self-elevating, condescending pride that causes one to sit on God’s throne and point fingers. Where is the humility and grace in that? It certainly doesn’t sound to me like it comes from a godly heart. (We can call people to draw near to God during times of tragedy, to seek a relationship with Him, His forgiveness and grace and mercy, but we cannot say for sure that we know their sins brought that tragedy about.)
I just have to say this for the record because it makes me sick when I hear smug, judgmental Christians acting like know-it-all “moral police officers” who think of themselves as God’s little enforcers sent to scold and condemn everyone else, who act as though they are not also sinners in need of grace and forgiveness, who fail to extend to others the grace and forgiveness that God has given us, who fail to humble themselves before God while they try to weasel their way onto the throne right next to Him.
Christians, there is a reason why society can’t stand us sometimes. And sometimes it doesn’t have anything to do with our beliefs but with the fact that we try to force them on others, that we use our faith against others in judgmental condescension, and that we act like we have some special inside-information from God, above and beyond what the Bible says, when we really don't.
We are called to live out our faith in love and grace and humility, with the hope of drawing others to Christ through these things. And yet, we turn it into an “us against them” kind of thing. But “they” are not the enemy. They are the people that God dearly loves and wants to draw near to Himself. Yet we push them away by our lack of grace and gentleness and love.
But we are all on the same level-ground at the foot of the cross. And God is the judge, not us. So let us reach out to others in love, live out our faith in gentle, quiet strength, humble ourselves before God, and remember that others are not accountable to us. We will all stand before Him one day and give an account for how we lived. So let’s be more concerned with how we are living before the Lord than with how others are living before the Lord. I just have to say this because Christian history is full of terrible examples of what happens when we forget all of this.]
But yes, everything does happen for a reason.
And now I’m going to branch off a moment from those tragedies that we are not responsible for, like natural disasters, accidents, etc. And I’m going to say this: Sometimes the reason bad things happen has less to do with God and more to do with us. Sometimes it’s because we disobeyed, chose our own path, chose unwisely, or sinned. It is amazing how we will live life however we want, but then the moment something goes wrong, we go, “Oh, God, why? Why did You let this happen?”
We have sex outside of marriage and get pregnant, get an STD, or have future marital problems, and we go, “Why, God?”
We have affairs or don’t work to keep our marriages healthy and strong, and it’s, “Why are we facing divorce?”
We don’t care what we eat or if we exercise, but then we plead with God, “Why are we sick?”
We fill our homes with all sorts of toxins, like candles, air “fresheners,” chemical cleaners, and then go, “Why aren’t You healing my breathing problems or allergies?”
We sit on our rear-ends all day, eating our take-out food, and then ask God why we have heart problems, fatty stomachs, costly medication, and shortened life spans.
We text, drink, or talk on our phones while driving, and then cry, “Where were You when this accident happened, God?”
We pursue whatever makes us happy and the success and attention we crave in whatever way we want, and then when we are still not satisfied and life doesn't turn out the way we want, we complain, “Why are You doing this to me, God? Don't You just want me to be happy?”
I mean, think about how many times we say things like, “Well, I know that I should ... but ...” I’ve said things like this myself. And we close our eyes to the things that we should be doing and should be concerned about, and we continue to live the way that we want. And then when we face consequences later, we blame God, when - more accurately - we should be saying, “I caused this by my bad decisions or by ignoring my responsibility to make wise, self-controlled choices.” If we started to take responsibility for our decisions and actions, maybe we wouldn’t have so many problems in our lives.
So yes, things do happen for a reason ...
and sometimes that reason is us!
(I'm not going to repost 11b, c, or d, because it's just some advice on some specific "take responsibility for yourself" issues and a repeat of what I've already talked about a lot. So if you want to read them, click on the links:
11d: Bad Things Beyond Our Responsibility)
Understanding God's Will #12: God Works All Things For Good
Understanding God's Will #12: God Works All Things For Good
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, then what?
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.
Now, if he chose to make mistakes, they would not have caused him to do it. They were allowing him to do it, but they weren’t causing it. But they allowed him the opportunity to make mistakes because they knew that they could use it to teach him life-lessons. Since he was still at home and under their care, they could use his mistakes to challenge him and grow him and help him find the right path, before he was let go into the world.
And that’s kind of how I believe God works with mankind. God gave us this world, told us the best way to live, and then let us decide to listen or not. But He does not cause our disobedience and the consequences of our bad choices and of the Fall. While it’s a fine distinction, I think that it is more accurate (in many instances) to say that God allows things for a reason, instead of causing things for a reason. And whatever God does allow, He allows because He knows that it can be can used for His good purposes, whether for us, for others, or for mankind, in general.
So, He might not cause it for His purposes, but He can and will use it for His purposes. And He can do this since He sees all of history at one time and can see how things can be worked together to accomplish His goals, something good. Of course, He wants us to choose the best way the first time around (and that will spare us a lot of heartache and trouble), but He can and will use our mistakes to make something good and He will incorporate them into His overall plans for us.
And just because He allows something bad to happen (say, cancer or a tornado) doesn’t mean that He always and necessarily wanted it to happen. Bad things are a part of living in a free-will, fallen world. But He knows that He can take it and use it for something good. If we let Him. If we trust Him.
(Yet let's not fool ourselves. God can and does cause things to happen that we don't like, but not sin or evil, when it serves His purpose. As God, He has that right.)
And if I may point out, God is definitely a God of healing in the Bible. We read so much about how He wants health for us, how Jesus healed and how the disciples were sent to heal. About how He desires that we have abundant lives, goodness, wholeness, as opposed to pain, illness, and heartache. How He desires eternal life for us all (as opposed to Calvi-god who wants eternal damnation for most).
But pain, illness, and heartache are a part of living in a fallen world. He didn’t plan or desire these things for us. (Not that He can’t or doesn’t ever cause them for a reason.) But they are consequences of our decisions and of Satan’s influence.
But God does promise to work all things, even the pain, for good ... for those who love Him. And this is the promise that you can take comfort in.
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28).
And I think this is the verse that people are misconstruing when they say, “All things happen for a reason.”
[But I do want to add a caution here. We should not use God’s promise to "work all things out for good” to be lazy, to let ourselves make mistakes. Ah, so what if I mess up? He’ll use my mistakes for good, and it will all be alright in the end! We will face the consequences for our poor choices and our sins. And it was not predestined by God to happen; it will be our fault. But if we want to live the most abundant, God-glorifying life possible, we should be diligent about living as righteously and obediently as possible, abiding in God daily, heeding the Holy Spirit's guidance. But when we do make mistakes, we don't need to beat ourselves up about them or punish ourselves for it. Jesus already paid the price for all the sins we will ever commit. And so we should simply confess our sins, take responsibility for our mistakes and learn from them, return to God fully, and trust that He’ll make something good out of the messes we make. He promises to do this for those who love Him! You just need to trust Him to do it.]
Things related specifically to Calvinism:
Calvinists constantly go wrong by taking the phrase "God causes all things to work together for good" and reading it as "God causes all things." And they do this all the time. But there is a big difference between the two. But they do not see a distinction. Their misunderstanding of "sovereignty" tells them that God has to cause all things, even sin and evil, or else He's not God.
And they do not see a distinction between "cause" and "allow." They think knowing it will happen and allowing it to happen is the same thing as causing it to happen, simply because God could have stopped it but didn't.
But foreknowing it will happen and allowing it to happen is not the same thing as causing it to happen. In the first, God is not the cause of the bad thing, the sin or evil. He didn't necessarily want it to happen or plan it to happen. And it does not glorify Him. He simply gave us freedom to make our own choices, even though He knew we'd make bad ones. But in the second, He preplans and causes the sin or evil that He commands us not to do, that He punishes us for. He wanted it to happen. He gets glory from it. And this makes Him unjust, untrustworthy, a liar, wretched, no different than Satan, etc. Big, big difference!
A Calvinist asked this question on a post at Soteriology 101: “If God destines something to an end or permits it and sustains it to the same end, what is the difference?” (What he's asking is "What's the difference between God causing something or God simply letting it happen?" But Calvinists don't ask this because they really want to know the difference. They ask it rhetorically, as in "There is no difference because it doesn't change what happened.")
This was my reply to him: "What’s the difference between a God who allows someone to make their own decision to rape and kill, and who punishes them for their choice … and a God who causes someone to rape and kill, with no option to do anything different, but who then punishes that person for raping and killing?
What’s the difference between a God who genuinely offers salvation to all people, but who lets us make our own choice about if we want Him in our lives or not, and allows us to face the consequences of our choice … and a God who predestines our eternities and choices, who causes unbelievers to be unbelievers, who never gives unbelievers a chance to seek/find Him or to find salvation, and who then punishes unbelievers in hell for being the unbelievers He caused them to be?
If you can’t see a difference, what does that say about your view of God and the Gospel? Either that, or you’re just not thinking about it carefully enough.
Unfortunately and to the detriment of God's character and the Gospel, Calvinists think that a God who controls all things, even sin and evil, is more trustworthy, not less, because this makes Him so powerful that He even controls (they mean "causes") the bad things. They think if God didn't control all things, even sin and evil, then He wouldn't be totally powerful, which means we couldn't really totally trust Him.
As one Calvinist at Soteriology 101 said, “That being said why would anyone trust in God who isn’t in control of all things that come to pass, the only way to have unreserved faith without doubt is to pray, hope and believe in God who is on the throne.”
[My note: Of course, all Christians believe that God is on the throne. But what he means - what Calvinists mean - is "Why would anyone trust a God who isn't actively controlling all things?" Like weasely Calvinist James White basically says in this clip, we supposedly can trust and have faith only if we know that God is controlling all those evil things, such as child rape. But if they happen without God causing them, then they are supposedly meaningless evils and we would be left in despair knowing that meaningless evils can happen outside of God's "control."
Umm, yeah, so instead it's SO MUCH BETTER to believe that we have a God who actively causes us to sin in the ways He forbids, who causes someone to rape an innocent child because (as my Calvinist pastor said about child abuse) "it's for your good, for His glory, and because He knew what needed to happen to you to humble you," and who then punishes us for the sins He forces us to do ... than to think that He simply allows people to make their own bad choices!?!
And that's the kind of God we are supposed to trust, love, and want to spend eternity with!?!
Frickin' insane!
And that's the kind of God we are supposed to trust, love, and want to spend eternity with!?!
Frickin' insane!
Essentially, Calvinism is "I know there's horrible abuses going on in this world and murders and evil, but at least you can take comfort in knowing that God caused them to happen. But that He'll punish them for it. We don’t have to understand it or like it; we just have to accept it. Now, let's praise Him for His goodness and faithfulness, and let’s go out there and try to be more like Him!"
And I repeat... "Frickin' insane!"
And I repeat... "Frickin' insane!"
Not to mention that, ironically, in Calvinism, the only way a person can have "unreserved faith without doubt" is if God causes them to have it. In Calvinism, nothing we do can affect the level or kind of faith we have - or even whether or not we have faith to begin with - because only God decides and controls that. If we have doubts or weak faith, it's because God causes us to have doubts and weak faith, and there's nothing we can do about it. If we fail to pray, it's because God preplanned and caused it. Calvinism shoots itself in the foot, negating or compromising every instruction or bit of advice it gives.]
Here is my reply to that Calvinist:
I would say “How can anyone trust Calvi-god when he lies about what his true Will is, when he causes people to sin and to do the opposite of what he commands, when he gives some people evanescent grace (fake salvation) so that he can more strongly damn them to hell, when he pretends to offer salvation to all and to give us a choice about it but then denies most people the chance to be saved, when he makes it sound like Jesus’s death paid for all sins when Calvi-Jesus really just died for a few people, when he tells us to seek him and believe in him even though he knows we can’t seek him or believe in him unless he causes us to, when he creates most people specifically for hell because it somehow highlights his justice, grace, and love, etc.?”
If that’s God “in control,” I’d hate to see God out of control!
The problem is not with God and His sovereignty. The problem is with the Calvinist view of God’s control, of His sovereignty. The Calvinist assumes that in order for God to be in control, He has to always be controlling/causing everything all the time. Or else He’s not God, according to their ideas of how God should be.
But it’s they who put their own presuppositions on God, who box Him in to how they think He has to be in order to be God.
But the Bible shows us a God who is “in control” and sovereign in a very different way. The God of the Bible has chosen to work in cooperation with mankind in various ways. He has chosen to give us real choices and to work our real decisions into His plans. He sometimes causes things to happen (but never sin) and sometimes simply allows things to happen, but He is over and above it all, knowing how to work all things (even our choices, our self-chosen obedience or disobedience) into His plans.
Calvi-god is a small, weak god who can’t handle any other factors than what he himself causes. But the God of the Bible is a very BIG, wise God who can work all things together for good, even things He doesn’t cause, the things He allows us to do all on our own, thing He never wanted to have happen.
There is no comfort in the ridiculous, dangerous Calvinist idea that "God causes all things for a reason."
How could someone who was abused as a child take comfort in that? In knowing that not only did humans want to hurt them, but that their heavenly Father did too, that He wanted and planned for their abuse, that He caused other people to commit violent sins against them and against Him, but that He expects the abused person to trust Him and love Him anyway? Because, after all, He is "so in control" that He even causes our evil sins? And you can "trust a God who causes our evil sins," right?
(Trust Him for what? That He loves you? That He wants your best? That you can take Him at His Word? That He will fix all the evil He Himself caused? What kind of trust does a Calvinist think you are supposed to have in a God like that? And what do we base that trust on if God wants and causes the evil He commands us not to do, if He tells us He wants us to do one thing but causes us to do the opposite, and then punishes us for it? It's nonsense! Destructive, damaging, heretical, evil, God-dishonoring nonsense!)
This wouldn't make God trustworthy or loving or good. It would make Him a wretched, abusive monster who hurts people but demands that they love and trust and worship Him anyway!
And yet, this is the kind of "god" Calvinists worship and try to be like. Scary!
To me, Calvinists are like abused spouses, people who are constantly making up excuses to themselves for the abuser's behavior, excusing it or rationalizing it, certain that the abuser really does love them and is treating them out of love and righteous justice, convinced that they themselves are the ones in the wrong and that they deserve whatever abuse they get, sure that the abuser is trustworthy and will always be faithful to them.
This is the sick relationship between Calvi-god and the Calvinist!
So very, very sad!
But instead of being forced to find comfort in "God causes all things," we should be finding comfort in “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28).
This is the promise that we should be resting on, that God is truly a good, trustworthy God who never wanted evil to happen and who doesn't cause sin. He tells us what He wants us to do in His Word and has made it possible for all of us to do what He says, but He has allowed us to make our own choices, even bad ones. But He is watching over it all and, no matter what happens, He will redeem it in the end and use it for our good. If we trust Him. If we let Him. Evil was never His plan from the beginning but He knew it would happen (a natural result of giving us the free-will to make our own decisions), and so He planned a way to redeem all things, by dying on the cross in our place so that we could live. And someday, He will wipe away all tears and evil and sin and heartache, and all things will be healed and good and whole again. Because that's the life He wants for us!
This is a God you can trust!
But at the end of the day, whether we understand why something happened or not, whether He caused it (but He never causes sin) or allowed it, whether it seemed to have a reason or was seemingly senseless, we have to decide if we will turn our backs on God or if we will trust Him, if we will believe Him when He says that He will work it out for good or if we will get bitter and walk away from Him.
We oftentimes cannot know why God allowed something to happen, and we may never get to see the good that comes from it until eternity, and so we have to choose to go forward in faith, taking God at His Word, instead of viewing God through our bad circumstances and feelings.
And so the question becomes, "Do we really think God is good and that He loves us?"
If we do not believe that God is good or that He loves us, then we will not trust Him when bad things happen.
(And let's be honest, the Calvinist god is not good and cannot be trusted, no matter how much Calvinists try to deceive themselves into thinking he's good and they they love him and trust him.)
I think the bad times in our lives are some of the best times to figure out what we really think of God and what we think He really thinks of us.
We may not be able to change the bad times, but don't waste them. Use them to help you explore your thoughts and feelings about God. Bring those thoughts and feelings right to God, honestly. Ask Him to help you learn the truth about Him and about yourself, and to help you know how to go forward from here, to learn from the pain and grow through the trials.
(In fact, I wrote a "workbook" kind of study to help people work through the hang-ups and obstacles we have in our relationship with God, to help us get closer to Him. I based it on the things I did to work through my fears and doubts and self-esteem issues, the things that strained my relationship with Him.)
Did you ever see Forest Gump? It’s been a long time since I have, but there’s this part where Lieutenant Dan rails at God from the boat, fist waving in the air, shouting all sorts of angry things at Him. And I don’t remember exactly what he said, I just remember that it was with an attitude of “I’m angry with You. Let’s get it all out in the open now! We’re getting in the ring, gloves off! Bring it on, God! It’s You and me! Let’s do this!”
And I used to think, How horrible and disrespectful toward God. God must hate that! Lieutenant Dan would earn himself some serious punishment with that kind of displeasing, impolite outburst.
But as I’ve gotten older and learned more about God and learned to be more transparent with Him and let Him into the sealed-off parts of my heart, I now realize, Lieutenant Dan is doing it right! That’s what pleases God, more than quietly shrinking away from Him and hiding the hurt parts of our heart in order to be “pleasing” to Him, nursing our wounds in private. He’d rather have us rail at Him in all honesty than to pull back in a false form of trust and humility. He wants us to wrestle with Him, if wrestling is what will create a deeper relationship and stronger faith. He wants us to give it our all, to cling to the very end, to passionately throw ourselves at Him and not let go until He blesses us.
I think wrestling with God is something we will all have to do at some point in our lives, in the trials and heartaches and unanswered prayers and unfulfilled dreams and shattered hopes and the failures and doubts and fears and questions.
And it’s okay to wrestle with Him. In fact, I think He’d rather have us shake our fists at Him and scream out our fears and doubts and grab onto Him tightly, refusing to let go, even if it seems impolite and improper, than to have us put on a fake, compliant smile while our hearts are breaking or to turn away from Him in despair and grab on to something else.
He doesn't want a fake, polished version of us.
He wants us, the real us, messes and all!
Psalm 34:17-18: "The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit."
Understanding God's Will #13: Limiting God's Power?
But aren’t you limiting God’s power when you say that He’s not in total control of everything?
No, I don’t think so. And yes, He is in control of everything as far as everything that happens to us has to go through Him first. And I am not saying that He’s not all-powerful. I believe that He is indeed all-powerful. If He chose to wipe out the earth in a second, He could. He could do whatever He wants to do. He could control every movement we make, if that's what He wanted to do.
But I don’t think that He does do whatever He wants to do or control every movement we make. Because that's not how He wanted things to be. I think that when He created the world, He decided to make man with a free-will that He (generally) will not override, even though He can. Because He wanted people who would choose to love Him and worship Him, not who have to because they have no choice.
And if you still aren’t sure if it’s biblically accurate that He voluntarily limits His use of power and that He allows people to make choices that affect His Will for them, if you still want to say that God causes everything that happens and always does whatever He wants regardless of us, here’s a few examples from the Bible:
In 1 Samuel 8, we read how Israel asks for a king. This was not God’s desire for them. He even says that they are asking for another king because they have rejected Him as “king.” But after warning them of what a king will do to them, they demand one anyway. And so He provides one. But He makes it clear that this is not best for them. It’s not His Will that they have an earthly king, but He gives them what they asked for.
In Genesis 16, we read how Abraham took it into his own hands to fulfill God’s promise to provide him with an heir. Instead of waiting for God, he slept with Sarah’s maidservant and she conceived Ishmael. Was it God’s Will that Abraham didn’t wait and took matters in his own hands? Did God cause Abraham to do this for some reason? Of course not. We never see that God instructed Abraham to do this or that He agreed with Abraham’s decision. The promised child was Isaac. But God allowed Abraham to sleep with the maidservant. And God, in His supreme wisdom, will take whatever happens (even those things He doesn’t cause) and work them out for good.
Exodus 15:25-26 gives us another example of how God works, as He gives these instructions to the Israelites: “There the Lord made a decree and a law for them, and there he tested them. He said, ‘If you listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.”
What happened to the Israelites hinged on what the Israelites did, on their obedience, whether they listened to the Lord or not. God doesn’t say that He does what He wills, regardless of what man does. He says that we have an influence on the direction of our lives. He gives us a choice and responds to us according to our choice. (And for Calvinists to say otherwise, they have to ignore or alter the plain teaching of Scripture, substituting in some kind of "secret knowledge" about what God really meant to say when He said what He did.)
Think about how many times you've read things in the Bible like this: “If you obey ... If you listen to My voice ... I put before you blessings and curses, now choose.”
If Calvinism were true, then none of these commands or warnings matter, for we couldn't even want to obey them unless God predestined us to. The whole Bible and all of God's instructions to us would be one big joke! Warnings, like what He told Ninevah about destroying them in 40 days, would be lies, telling them they'd be destroyed if they didn't repent when all along He predestined they wouldn't be destroyed.
Leave it to Satan to come up with a theology that destroys God's Word and trustworthiness (just like he did in the Garden of Eden), in the name of "upholding God's sovereignty and bringing Him glory."
I’m not saying that we have authority over God or that we are sovereign or "in control." Once again, I am saying that God voluntarily limits the use of His power by allowing man to have free-will. And instead of overriding man’s free-will (and the consequences that come with it), He tries to get man to work in cooperation with Him to get His Will done, by giving us instructions in His Word, by growing our faith, by helping us to be more like Him, by leading us in wisdom, by prayer, and by teaching us to get our Will in line with His.
At least, He does this with those who are willing to. We are not puppets on a string, under the control of an all-powerful God that has orchestrated every event and detail of our lives. He made us with free minds, free-will, responsibility, and the right to have an effect on what happens in this world and in our lives. For good or bad.
And that's a scary and sobering thought!
Understanding God's Will #14: Does God Cause Nations To Sin?
So what about in the Old Testament when we read things like God sending a nation to destroy another nation as a punishment, but then He turns around and punishes the nation that He just used as a tool of discipline? How could He cause this - force a nation to be His tool of discipline - and then punish them for it? Isn’t that unfair?
I had a hard time understanding this, too, to be honest. But keeping in mind His justness, His sovereignty, His fairness, and His decision to allow us free-will (and the consequences), this is the best way I can understand it:
Let’s look at Isaiah 10 as an example. In verse 5, God calls Assyria the “rod of my anger, in whose hand is the club of my wrath!” And God uses Assyria to punish His people who have turned to idols. And then in verse 12, He says that when it is finished, He will punish Assyria for their haughtiness and pride.
So how can God cause a nation to attack another one, but then punish them for it?
Personally, I think that it comes down, once again, to the difference between “cause versus allow”. Or in this case, “cause versus use”. I think it’s not that He caused Assyria to be a certain way and forced them to do what they did. It’s that He used them as they were.
He looked ahead (not technically though, because He is outside of time) and knew what that country was going to be like, and so He saw how they could be used to accomplish His purposes. And so He took them as they were, as they chose to be, (not forcing them to be the way they were) and He worked it into His plan to discipline Jerusalem. And then, since the Assyrians were responsible for the way they were, for the kind of people and nation they had become, God could righteously punish them, after He had used them to accomplish His purposes.
Imagine, as an imperfect illustration, an undercover sting by police. Let’s say that they need to get Big Man X. And they know the best way to get Big Man X is to use Little Man Y, the crummy toady. And so they work out a plan that uses Little Man Y to get access to Big Man X, though Little Man Y is unaware that he is being used to mete out justice. And when the plan works, they arrest Big Man X and Little Man Y.
Now, they didn’t cause Little Man Y to be the way he was, they didn’t force him to be a criminal and do illegal things, they just used what he was to their advantage and to administer justice. And so he could be fairly punished, after being used to catch Big Man X. This, to me, seems to be the best way to view it because it factors in God’s justness and sovereignty and our free-will.
But Calvinism, which believes that God first caused Little Man Y to be wicked and caused him to do wicked things, makes God untrustworthy and unjust because this would mean God causes the very things He punishes us for. And if this is how God is - causing everything we do, giving us no choice to be or act any differently - then why in the world do we bother caring about anything at all and why in the world would we trust/love/worship Him and why in the world would it matter if we trust/love/worship Him or not, because it wouldn't change a thing and we have no control over it anyway?
I can't think of a better way to make life utterly hopeless and God's Word utterly pointless!
Understanding God's Will #15: Is God Sovereign?
So you do believe that He is sovereign over all things?
Yes, I do. I just define "sovereignty" according to how I see God acting in the Bible, how He reveals Himself to be, keeping in mind His essential characteristics of being holy, just, righteous, loving, etc., instead of doing what Calvinists do, which is pre-deciding that sovereignty has to mean that God controls everything or else He can't be God and then reinterpreting the Bible in light of that misunderstanding, even though it contradicts what's clearly, plainly said in the Bible and turns God into a contradictory, unjust, untrustworthy monster who has little love for his creation.
I've heard something like this before and I like it (I'm not sure where I heard it, probably from Leighton Flowers over at Soteriology 101):
"Calvinists start from 'sovereignty' (their misunderstanding of it) and then determine how a sovereign God (as they define it) shows love. But biblically, we should start from the truth that 'God is love' and then figure out how a truly loving God exercises His sovereignty." (paraphrased)
If you start from a misunderstanding that sovereignty has to mean "controlling all things," then you've got a horrible God who causes the evil things He punishes us for. (And then Calvinists defend this by saying that being sovereign means He can do whatever He wants to, even at the expense of His love for His creation. They first misdefine sovereignty and then they use it to defend their misunderstanding of His sovereignty. Bad form!)
But if you start from the truth that "God is love," that He is being honest when He says He truly loves all people and wants all people to be saved, then you can understand that evil and sin are not caused by Him (because a truly loving, trustworthy God cannot cause evil and sin), and so they must be caused by us and by demons, and so God must have decided to not control everything but to allow us to make real decisions, just as the Bible repeatedly shows in example after example. And so even though bad things happen, God can truly be trusted and is still truly good and loving, because He is not the cause of evil and sin.
The following is a comment from a commenter, Graceadict (a non/anti-Calvinist), which I found in a post at Soteriology 101 called "5 Reasons Why I Stayed Out of Calvinism". This comment zeroed in on how Calvinists use "sovereignty" to excuse some of their worst heresies and distortions of God's character.
Graceadict starts by referring to a quote from John Calvin that goes like this: “Hence it is not strange, that by the Apostle a taste of heavenly gifts, and by Christ himself a temporary faith, is ascribed to them. Not that they truly perceive the power of spiritual grace and the sure light of faith; but the Lord, the better to convict them, and leave them without excuse.”
(This quote is about Calvin's belief that Calvi-god sometimes tricks unelected people into thinking they are elected, truly saved, when they aren't, just so that He has even more reason to damn them to hell. So I guess sending them to eternal torment in hell for the unbelief He Himself caused in them, through no fault or choice of their own, just isn't enough, huh!?!)
And this is where Graceadict starts commenting (altered slightly for clarification):
"BY CHRIST HIMSELF A TEMPORARY FAITH, IS ASCRIBED TO THEM…THE BETTER TO CONVICT THEM, AND LEAVE THEM WITHOUT EXCUSE."
This is such a disgraceful distortion of who God is… Just think of God’s moral attributes of TRUTHFULNESS, HOLINESS, LOVE, MERCY, JUSTICE, KINDNESS, GOODNESS, LONGSUFFERING, SHOWS NO PARTIALITY. It (Calvinism's god) is nothing like the God of the Bible.
Graceadict starts by referring to a quote from John Calvin that goes like this: “Hence it is not strange, that by the Apostle a taste of heavenly gifts, and by Christ himself a temporary faith, is ascribed to them. Not that they truly perceive the power of spiritual grace and the sure light of faith; but the Lord, the better to convict them, and leave them without excuse.”
(This quote is about Calvin's belief that Calvi-god sometimes tricks unelected people into thinking they are elected, truly saved, when they aren't, just so that He has even more reason to damn them to hell. So I guess sending them to eternal torment in hell for the unbelief He Himself caused in them, through no fault or choice of their own, just isn't enough, huh!?!)
"BY CHRIST HIMSELF A TEMPORARY FAITH, IS ASCRIBED TO THEM…THE BETTER TO CONVICT THEM, AND LEAVE THEM WITHOUT EXCUSE."
This is such a disgraceful distortion of who God is… Just think of God’s moral attributes of TRUTHFULNESS, HOLINESS, LOVE, MERCY, JUSTICE, KINDNESS, GOODNESS, LONGSUFFERING, SHOWS NO PARTIALITY. It (Calvinism's god) is nothing like the God of the Bible.
It is even more horrible when we understand that, under the Calvi-god system, God could just as easily ascribed a “genuine faith” to them instead of a “temporary faith” (which propels them towards destruction), that Calvi-god wants to deceive them and others and deeply wants them in hell more than anything and so instead of a genuine faith, HE irresistibly gives them a “temporary (fake) faith”.
In their system no one can have faith apart from God “effectually giving” (forcibly giving) it to them at some point in their lives. So the fact that God gives a damning faith to them instead of the genuine faith reflects on the nature of their Calvi-god, a morally distorted being who does not align with the Biblical definition of Good, Loving, Merciful, and Holy.
Under the Calvinist paradigm they forget that God is truly a moral being, and a morally GOOD being. They think their definition of Sovereignty can trump any moral attribute that God has. So the Calvi-god can author evil, can be unloving, unmerciful, unjust, untruthful, as long as you say: “WELL GOD IS SOVEREIGN – HE CAN DO ANYTHING, WE MUST SIMPLY ACCEPT IT AND CALL IT HOLY AND GOOD” even though it contradicts the Scriptures’ own definitions of what is Holy, Good, and Loving.
It is not our own standard of Holy, Good, and Loving that is being contradicted. It is the very SCRIPTURE’S definitions of these terms that is being contradicted.
They think that the term “SOVEREIGN” means He can be as evil and distorted as they want to make HIM out to be and that the Word “Sovereign” takes care of all of those distortions.
“A Sovereign God can do anything. Who are you, O man, to question God?”
BTW – We are not questioning God. We are questioning the Calvinists profaning His Holy name and then thinking by tacking on “Sovereign” it makes their blasphemy go away. It does NOT.
Just like Calvinists use the words “Mystery, Paradox, and Tension” to cover over all kinds of Calvinist contradictions to the Bible (which they assert are true) ... SO ALSO when they use the WORD “SOVEREIGN.” It is often a tactic to cover over the fact that they have in many cases constructed their Calvi-god who is demonstrably unloving, unmerciful, unjust, untruthful, unholy, evil. But they think if they just apply the word Sovereign and say “Sovereign God can do whatever HE wants,” it excuses all the Profaning of God’s Holy name and BLASPHEMY that they have just engaged in.
“Sovereign” is NOT a word that can be employed to cover over the profaning of God’s Holy name that goes on in Calvinism.
Take note how they use the word Sovereign to do just that. It does NOT Glorify God… it is truly profaning His Holy name.
I believe that all things are ultimately in His hands. And all things have to ultimately pass through Him first: what the enemy can do to us, what situations and trials we face, what consequences we reap from our choices, etc. It all has to go through Him, and He will only allow what He is willing to allow. That doesn’t mean that He desires all these things to happen, but in deference to our free-will, He does allow it. And He allows what He knows He can use for our good, for mankind’s good, or for His glory in the near or distant future. But we still have free-will, and God can use the free-will choices that we make to accomplish His purposes.
Contrary to Calvinism's false dichotomies of "Either God controls everything or He controls nothing" and "Either He is sovereign or man is sovereign," the truth is that free-will and God's sovereignty go hand-in-hand. (Calvinist give people lots of false dichotomies, forcing you to reject the one that's clearly wrong and to choose the one that's Calvinist. But they actually leave out the right answer, the biblical one, from the very beginning, forcing you to side with Calvinism. It's cult-like manipulation!)
God has chosen, as seen all throughout the Bible, to restrain His use of power to give men real choices, and then He works His Will out with and through our self-made choices, our obedience or disobedience. He is wise enough and powerful enough that He doesn't have to cause everything that happens in order to bring about His plans. He can take whatever we do, whatever we choose, and work it together into something good. He is just that big of a God!
And this is how He has decided He wants things to be.
As I've heard it said before, "Free-will is God's Will."
Understanding God's Will #16: Can We Change God's Mind?
Can we change God’s mind with our prayers?
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.
If Calvinism is true that God predestines everything that happens, then He would be lying if He said He was going to punish the people if they didn't repent. Because He didn't end up punishing them which meant He was never going to punish them to begin with. It was never part of His "predestined" plan. Calvinism essentially negates every warning God gives in the Bible that He doesn't end up carrying out. They turn God into a liar who makes it seem like the people have a choice when they really don't and who makes it seem like their behavior affects the outcome when He already had everything predestined from the beginning.
"Oh," but the Calvinist says, "God predestined that He would change His mind."
So first Calvi-god makes commands, then he causes people to break his commands, then he warns them that he will punish them for breaking his commands, then he causes them to repent, then he changes his mind about the punishment he said he was going to give?
Do you hear unreliable and untrustworthy this makes him? What a joke it makes of him, like an over-grown man-child playing all alone with his toys? Do you hear what a joke it makes of any effort we put into making a decision, if he controls us anyway? We are just fooling ourselves, then, if we think that anything we think or do or try to do matters or makes any difference? Do you hear what a joke - what a lie! - it makes of his commands and warnings?
But if we truly have free-will, the right to make our own decisions between options that are equally available to us, then the fact that God changes His mind based on what we do makes sense. He is responding to us and our choices. And had we chosen differently, He would have responded differently. But no matter what we choose, He already knew what we would do and how He could use it for His plans. But He truly did leave the choice to obey or disobey up to us, and He would have altered His plans accordingly if we had chosen differently.
Do Calvinists think He is not smart enough to come up with multiple plans, using a huge variety of factors and circumstances that we contribute, to get His plans accomplished? Or do they think He is so simple-minded that He can only handle what He causes, that if anything happens that He didn't preplan and actively cause then it would stump Him, throw Him off, confuse Him so badly that He couldn't get His plans accomplished, and so therefore He has to control everything that happens because if there's anything He didn't control it would mess Him up?
How very small Calvi-god must be!
I said that God foreknows what we will choose to do, and so He knows how to work it into His plans. Yet Calvinists assume that "foreknowing" is the same thing as "preplanning/causing it to happen," and so, according to them, God "foreknowing" something means it's determined/predestined to happen. It's what He wanted to have happen. It's "locked in." It's "His Will."
But just because God foreknows everything that happens doesn’t mean that He preplanned it to happen, caused it to happen, wanted it to happen, that it was His Will, or that the person couldn't have made any other choice.
He knows when we will obey and when we will disobey. And He knows the outcome of each choice we make. But that doesn’t mean He causes us to do what we do, that we couldn't have chosen otherwise. It’s just that He knows it all ahead of time, and He knows how to work it into His plans. But we could have made any choice we wanted. And if we had made a different choice, He would have known it and would have figured out a way to work it into His plans.
Consider for a moment 1 Samuel 23:12-13. (Thanks to Ryan Nelson for pointing this out in his post “Predestination in the Bible: A (Possible) Counter Example.”)
In this passage, David asks the Lord if the people of the town, Keilah, will hand him over to Saul, who is pursuing him to kill him. And God says that they will. Armed with this foreknowledge of what will happen if he stays in that town, David leaves. So this thing that God foreknew would happen – that the townspeople would hand David over to Saul – never happened.
But if “foreknowledge” means “predetermined by God to surely happen” then David would have stayed in that town and been handed over to Saul. David would not have had a choice about leaving the town. Because, as the Calvinist says, "foreknowledge" means "determined to happen," right?
But David did have a choice. He had the choice to heed God’s warning or to ignore it. God didn’t determine David’s choice. He presented David with both options, and God knew what the outcome of both choices would be, and David chose. He knew that if David stayed, he would be handed over to Saul, and He knew that if David left, he wouldn't be. But God let David choose! (Reminds me how important it is to “inquire of the Lord” instead of just making decisions in my own wisdom!)
God's foreknowledge clearly does not mean "determined to happen," because in this case God foreknew the results of two opposite choices, but only one of them could, would, happen.
(Calvinism has no way to understand or excuse this example of God foreknowing something that didn't happen, other than some lame excuse like "Well, God can determine to do the opposite of what He determined to do" or "God preplans that He will change His mind." What a joke they make of God!)
And then there’s 1 Samuel 13:13-14. In this passage, Saul has disobeyed the Lord’s command by improperly performing a burnt offering. And Samuel tells him that if he had kept God’s command and done it properly, God would have established Saul’s kingdom over Israel for all time. But since he disobeyed, God was now taking the kingship from him.
God had a plan, but it hinged on Saul’s obedience. God was willing to secure Saul’s kingship, but Saul changed the plan when he disobeyed.
But Calvinists say that whatever God foreknows is determined to happen and that everything that happens was predetermined by Him.
So then which one did God predetermine/foreknow: That Saul's kingdom would have been established or that Saul lost the kingdom?
God foreknew that Saul's obedience would have secured the kingdom, but Saul disobey and lost the kingdom. Therefore, it cannot be true that foreknowledge means "predetermined/certain to happen," because God foreknew Saul's obedience would lead to him keeping the kingdom but this didn't happen. And it cannot be true that whatever happens is because God predetermined it, because God Himself said He had predetermined to secure Saul's kingdom if he obeyed but Saul ended up disobeying and losing the kingdom. What happened was not what God predetermined and what God predetermined did not happen.
(One more notable verse about this idea: 1 Kings 20:42: "He said to the king, 'This is what the Lord says: 'You have set free a man I had determined should die.''" So God determined something would happen, but then it didn't happen. How is this possible if God determines everything that happens and nothing different could have happened? Calvinists would say, "Well, God sometimes ordains that people disobey what He has ordained." And I am not kidding about this. They really do say this nonsensical garbage. And with a totally straight face.)
If you think that God always does what He has pre-planned, that He does not allow us to make our own choice about obeying or disobeying, and that our choices don’t affect His plans ... then you would have to call Samuel a liar for claiming that God had a different plan in mind that hinged on Saul’s obedience. There would have been and could have been no different plan in God’s mind if it was His pre-planned Will that Saul disobeyed and lost the kingship. After all, if God always did what He pre-planned/foreknew, how could He have a plan in mind that He never carried out?
I believe that, to a degree, God sits back and lets life happen. He lets us decide. He lets us “inquire of Him” or go off in our own wisdom. He lets us heed His warnings or ignore Him. He lets us obey or disobey. He lets us affect His plans and the path we take in life, for good or bad. He lets us accept or reject His invitation to salvation and the gifts of faith and grace and forgiveness. I believe God knows where each of our choices will lead and so He knows how to incorporate them into His plans, but He has not predetermined our choices ahead of time. He lets us decide. And so His commands are able to be obeyed, if we choose to obey them. His warning are able to be heeded, if we choose to heed them. They are real commands and real warnings, and we decide how to respond to them, and then He responds to us based on what we decided. And this just makes sense!
Back to "changing His mind":
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.
I think that, many times, God has to train us for the path that He wants us to take (by pruning, convicting sin, purifying motives, etc.). And this moves us from reluctance to acceptance, from fear to boldness. But He may not necessarily change the “call” that He gives us or the trial that He’s allowed. And it would be better if we let Him grow us for these calls and through the trials, instead of fighting Him.
He can’t be talked into anything He isn’t willing to do (and He has His mysterious reasons for not being willing to do it), no matter how much we pray and plead. An example of this is in 2 Samuel 12. In this chapter, David learns that the child Bathsheba is carrying will die, as a consequence of his sin of adultery.
Verse 14 shows the reason why God “struck the child.” “But because by doing this you have made the enemies of the Lord show utter contempt, the son born to you will die.” The Lord takes the child, not so much to punish David (God had already forgiven him), but because His name and His glory have been run through the mud. And a public consequence like this shows David, the Israelites, and the enemies of the Lord that God does not tolerate this. God’s name will be revered and there are consequences for our actions!
In verse 16, though, we see that David pleads with God to spare the life of the baby, even laying on the ground and refusing food for a week. But David’s prayers, no matter how earnest, could not change what God had decided to do, if God was not willing to change it.
We might desperately wish that God would change something, but we have to rest in the knowledge that if He’s not willing to change it, it’s because He can see how it can be used for greater reasons and purposes than we can know (or because He knows the consequence we caused is necessary for some purpose). And we may never see the good things that come out of it until eternity. It doesn’t necessarily mean that He caused it for those purposes (sometimes He does), but that He looked ahead and saw the good that He can do with it.
God doesn’t like to see us in pain. He doesn’t want to see us sick and dying and heart-broken. I believe that it pains Him to not grant certain requests because it hurts Him to see us in pain, such as not granting prayers for healing. (Think of Jesus’ crying when He saw the pain that Mary and Martha were in when Lazarus died.) But we have to trust that He’ll use it for good, as He promised. And that may be the only bit of comfort that we have in the pain: knowing that God hurts with us, that good will come out of it someday, that He can make something beautiful out of all our messes and mistakes, and that He will wipe away all tears in heaven where evil will be no more.
But now, on the other side of the coin, if what we request is something that He’s willing to do, He will alter things based on our prayers. If we pray according to His Will, He hears it and will do it; as seen in numerous examples in the Bible, when God hears a prayer and changes His plans because of it.
One such example is the story of Hezekiah. In 2 Kings 20, we read how God informed Hezekiah (through the prophet Isaiah) that he was going to die. In verse 2-3, we read this: “Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, ‘Remember, O Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.’ And Hezekiah wept bitterly.”
In response to that prayer, the Lord relents. “I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you ... I will add fifteen years to your life.” (Verses 5-6). We have no indication that God would have given more years if Hezekiah had not prayed and pleaded with Him. But we have every indication that it happened in response to the prayer, that the prayer made the difference. (However, what happens in the extra years he was granted was not good. So maybe it would have been wiser to go with God’s first plan.)
The more I learn, the more I think that prayer makes a difference. Not always, but definitely if it lines up with what God is willing to do. If we do not pray for what God is willing to grant, He is not obligated to grant it. This is a natural consequence of God giving us the right to make our own choices, to include Him or not.
Understanding God's Will #17: But God Can't Change His Mind
But what about the Bible verse that says that God can’t change His mind?
1 Samuel 15:29 says, “He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a man, that he should change his mind.”
I grew up believing this as a simple fact about the nature of God: He is incapable of changing His mind. It made sense. I mean, if He knows all things and knows what’s best for all things and always does what’s best in all things, then, of course, we can’t change His mind. How could we talk Him into something other than what He’s going to do?
(Note: I was falling into a typical Calvinist trap, thinking that just because God is all-powerful and knows what's best and wants what's best, then it must mean that He always uses His power all the time, controlling all things to always work out what He wants to have happen. But this is not supported in the Bible. It is an assumption, and then we err greatly in basing the Bible and defining God's character according to our assumptions, even though it flies in the face of so many biblical examples.)
But then I didn’t know how to think of all the Bible passages that talk about how God changed His mind when dealing with the Israelites. He said that He’d bring them to the Promised Land, and then He had them die in the desert. He said that He’d destroy them in His righteous anger, and then someone prayed and so He didn’t. It sure looked like He changed His mind to me. So how could I understand that verse? And what is God’s real nature, then?
This is where an older version of the Bible comes in handy. Older versions do not say that God does not change His mind; they say that He will not “relent.” It’s not that He “does not change His mind ever,” as though He is incapable of doing it. It’s that, in this passage, He had determined a punishment for the continued disobedience of the Israelites and He would not relent (go back on the punishment) this time. And given their hard hearts and continued false repentance, He shouldn’t have to. This, for me, totally changes the meaning of the verse and my understanding of God.
And then there’s Numbers 23:19 that says, “God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind.” In this example, it's important to look at the context. In this chapter, Balaam’s second oracle, Balaam was asked by Balak to curse the people of Israel. But God commanded Balaam to pronounce a blessing on them instead.
If you look at Numbers 23:19-20, it says this: “God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? I have received a command to bless; he has blessed, and I cannot change it.”
Again, I do not think this is saying that He is incapable of changing His mind. I think that, in this context and instance, it means that He will not fail to do what He said He would do. Even though Balak had summoned Balaam to curse the Israelites, God had pronounced blessings and would not change His mind. And He can be trusted to follow through with His promises.
[It’s a neat fact to me that God can be talked into changing His mind when someone prays for His mercy, but that He doesn’t really change His mind when He’s decided to bless. (As long as we do our parts! Our disobedience can delay or alter the fulfillment of promises, such as the Israelites’ trip to Canaan.) He’s so much more willing to be generous and merciful than punishing and hard-nosed.
This is so different from humans. We are usually so quick to make offers or promises that sound good (with good intentions, of course), but then we change our minds and don’t follow through. And we are so good at holding grudges against people for the things they’ve done to us, refusing to extend the kind of abundant mercy that God shows us. Just goes to show what a merciful, loving God we have.]
So, yes, I believe God can and does change His mind when He wants to, based on our choices and prayers. And this is what the Bible clearly shows in many examples. He has not predestined what we choose, what we do. He leaves our choices up to us, and then He takes whatever we do and works it into His plans.
Understanding God's Will #18: Our Responsibilities Regarding God's Will
(No Calvinism stuff added in the rest of these points)
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 as I said before, His Will is a Verb. It's more about the way we live in obedience to Him than it is about finding "His plan" for our 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?
Too often, we blame things for being "God's Will," when it might just be a result of our irresponsibility or willful sin. Maybe it’s not "God’s Will" that someone is struggling financially; maybe it’s that they are not being responsible with their money or following the command to tithe? Maybe it’s not "God’s Will" that someone lost their job; maybe they didn’t put their best effort into it, doing their job for the glory of God? Maybe it’s not God’s plan for someone to follow a certain path; maybe they didn’t really bother to ask for God’s guidance and to wait for God to guide them? And when He did show them what they were to do, maybe they didn’t obey?
My concern here is that it’s far easier for us to call all things “God’s Will” than it is to realize that we have an enormous impact and influence on what happens. If we were to realize that God just doesn’t do what He wills, but that we have an impact and influence on what happens, then we would have to take more seriously our responsibility to search for God, to remain close to Him, to seek righteousness, to be obedient, and to pray.
“All things happen for a reason” and “God always does what He wants” are not always true. Sometimes they are just ways to relieve ourselves of the guilt over the consequences that we created, to not take responsibility for our own actions and choices. So often, we want the blessings without doing the work. We want to believe that we are in God’s Will, while we coast through life on “It happened, so it must be God’s Will” and “Everything happens for a reason.”
Because believing that we have more responsibility than that infringes too much on our comfort.
Understanding God's Will #19: Praying For The Wrong Thing?
What if what I’m praying for is not God’s Will or plan for me? What do I do? Like the Israelites begging for and getting meat (Numbers 11), could I end up getting what I ask for as sort of a punishment?
I wondered about this one, too. If I was asking and asking for something that God didn’t want to give me, would He end up giving it to me because I begged so much, but then there would be a punishment attached to it? That’s how I felt as I pleaded with God for a house. Would He give us a bad house just to shut me up, as punishment for begging too much, for not "trusting" Him enough and not being happy with what I had?
I mean, that’s like what happened to the Israelites, right? Or is it?
As I thought about this one, I realized that there is a difference between hardening your heart and rejecting His care for you, and desperately seeking His “Will” in prayer and bringing a request to Him over and over again. Even if I did "sin" by being anxious and depressed and focusing on getting a certain answer, I was (at the very least) bringing all this to God. I was pleading with Him. I was hurting before Him. And I was, ultimately, desperate to know what He wanted for us. My heart was turned toward Him.
This is different than what the Israelites got punished for. The Israelites had rejected God’s care for them. They refused to believe that He was a good God capable of caring for them. And they didn’t draw near to God through the trials; they pulled away and rebelled, complaining to others instead of going to God in prayer.
And so I would have to say that even if what you are asking for is not in line with God’s Will, keep praying with a soft heart. Keep bringing these petitions before God and being transparent before Him. And as long as you are soft-hearted and sensitive to Him and drawing near in the pain, God will eventually transform your desires and your Will to be in line with His, and usually by revealing things that you didn’t even know you needed to work on. And sometimes, through the pain.
But be willing to go with Him where He leads and to let Him make these kinds of changes, and He’ll guide you in the way you should go. And you’ll eventually be desiring what He wants for you. It’s hard-hearted rebellion that gets punished. But soft-hearted seeking (even if we do it wrong at times) gets God’s tender, loving mercy and care.
[On a practical note, when I have to choose between different options – such as doing something vs. not doing it, or Option A vs. Option B - there is a “test” that I try to run the options through to help me try to discern if it is the Lord or myself leading. What I do is run each option through this question: If I was to choose this one, what would my reason be? And then I search my heart for what is fueling the desire to choose that path: pride, fear, boredom, frustration, greed, anger, bitterness, selfish desire, impatience, etc.?
And generally, there will be one option that will make me answer something like this, “The only real reason that I would choose this one is because I feel like this is the one God is telling me to choose.” And this helps me know which one is the right one, until God brings further guidance. And, interestingly, it’s usually the one that seems the most unreasonable or difficult or scary or impossible. God does His best work with “the impossible.” It’s like when I was wondering if I should continue waiting for God to bring us a house or if I should just go out and find one. When I asked myself, Why would I keep waiting?, the only answer that I could come up with is, Because I feel that’s what God is telling me to do. And that reason had to be good enough for me!]
And remember that the Holy Spirit intercedes in prayer for us, so we don't always have to know what to pray or how to pray. Our message will get through because the Holy Spirit helps "clean it up" for us.
And also remember that God will grant our requests when it's in line with His Will, and so we don't have to be too afraid that asking for things out of His Will will change His Will for us. If it's not in His Will, He won't grant it. If it is His Will, He will.
I think a great prayer to pray, besides "If it be Your Will," is "Close the doors You want closed, open the doors You want opened, and give me the wisdom to know the difference." I think sometimes God wants to know that we are willing to let Him say "no" to us, that we will still trust Him and praise Him anyway ... before He will say "yes." And if His answer is really "no," then we'll be much more likely to hear and accept it if we don't get tunnel-vision on getting the "yes" answer we want so badly.
Understanding God's Will #20: Missing The Path
What if I missed the path that God wanted me to take?
Well, 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 to pray or seek His guidance. 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. It makes you stuck, bitter, depressed.
Ask for forgiveness, return to Him with all your heart, seek righteousness and obedience, and pray. And just know that He will work it out for good. He has many back-up plans. He will use our mistakes and detours to work out something good, if we love Him and if we let Him. It doesn’t mean that it would be the same path He desired in the first place, but it will still be amazing, fulfilling, and God-glorifying.
And remember that He always knew the mistakes that we were going to make. They were no surprise to Him. He’ll never say, “Oh, gee! I didn’t know she was going to do that. Now that really messes up My plan. I guess I’ll have to tinker with some more ideas and see what I can put together to make use of that mistake.” From the beginning of time, He saw the mistakes we would make, and He saw how He could use them. His job is to work it into something good. Our job is to allow Him to, remaining in Him and being obedient from here on out.
This idea really relieved me of the guilty stress I was feeling when I was afraid that I botched up the whole “house buying” process by getting paperwork in late. I felt that I absolutely blew it and that God was now confused and confounded and didn’t know how to spin my human mistake into something good. I felt like I threw Him a curveball. But then, I realized that He knew all along that I would make that mistake. And that if it was still His plan that we get the house He wanted for us, He would be able to cover my mistake. That was such a freeing, merciful, gracious thought. And I could rest in Him, instead of continuing to beat myself up over it.
And you have to remember that you can never really know what would have happened or where you would be right now if you had taken that “other” path. Learn to like the path you are on, to enjoy the blessings and the good in it, and to glorify God in it. And don’t dwell on “what could’ve been.” There is no comfort in that and no glory for God in that. He is with you here-and-now, working the present situations into something good. He is not then-and-there, back on the path that you “should have” taken. He’s moved on to another good path and plan, and He’s asking you to come with Him. Glorify Him wherever you are!
However, I am not talking here about the times that God does indeed want us to go back to the “then and there” to make things right. There are times when God might be waiting on us to stop glossing over some past mistake or failure and to go back and make it right. And our relationship with Him will be hindered until we do.
Are you having an affair? Don’t just sweep it under the rug, thinking, Well, what’s done is done. I’m already this deep into it, may as well keep going with it. Make it right! Clean up your life.
Have you cheated at something? It may be necessary for you to confess and come clean.
Have you broken a vow? Make it right!
Have you chosen a bad path you shouldn't stay on? Figure out how to get off of it and how God wants you to correct it.
Are you neglecting your responsibilities to your family so that you can pursue pleasure? Do the right thing from here on out.
Never get comfortable in sin or on a wrong path. God will help you make it right if you ask for wisdom and are willing to obey.
James 1:5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.”
Lately, a particular part of that verse has jumped out at me, one that I never really noticed before: “without finding fault.” Somehow, I always missed that part, but once I noticed it, I was intrigued. To me, it says not only that God gives wisdom, but that no matter what kind of mess we got ourselves into, God will help us get out ... without condemnation, without rubbing our noses in it. He will not smugly say, “I told you so” or hold back His help just to punish us further. That kind of stuff is from the enemy. But God gives wisdom when we ask, without overemphasizing the fact that we got ourselves into this mess. He just wants to help us get out of it, to make things right again. That should be comforting to all of us.
Understanding God's Will #21: Will He Lead Where I Don't Want To Go?
Will He take me somewhere I don’t want to go or make me follow His Will if I don’t want to?
Yes and no.
Yes, He did drag Jonah to Nineveh. But I don’t think He generally sends along “big fishes” to drag us, kicking and screaming, to places we don’t want to go. I believe that His typical way is not “a big fish,” but to pursue, challenge, call, and convict us. He will knock on the doors of our hearts and ask us to go with Him. And when He does call us to something we don’t like, if we will remain in Him, be obedient, and focus on Him and His glory, our feelings will eventually get in line. But He does allow us to rebel and to be hard-hearted, if we choose. And I think it breaks His heart and grieves Him when we do. He wants so much more for us than we want for ourselves.
I do think that He looks for hearts that are sensitive to the Spirit, that are willing to obey, to pray, to see needs, and do something about them. And He will take anyone who wants to be of use to Him and use them for His goals and His glory. I believe that there are many needs that go unmet and many of His plans and desires that don’t get done, because we shake off any responsibility that we might feel with “God will do whatever He wants.”
No! I believe that God has decided to get His Will done through mankind, in cooperation with us, through our obedience. But if we choose to disobey, His Will won't get done by us and we will miss out on being part of it. But eventually, He'll find someone else who is willing to obey, and they will get the blessings that come with obedience.
God calls, guides, and convicts, but He leaves it up to man to respond and to get His Will done on earth.
There are several examples in the Bible that show us that God calls, but we have to respond.
Exodus 3 tells us about Moses and the burning bush. When Moses saw that the bush wasn’t burning up, he decided to go closer and check it out. Verse 4 says, “When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, ‘Moses! Moses!’“
If God had wanted Moses’ help, He could have just appear in the sky and said, “Hey, Moses, I have a job for you”.
But that’s not what He did. He waited to call him until He saw that Moses went to look at the bush. Why? I think it’s because He waits for our response, to see if we will acknowledge Him or not. He doesn’t call to those who are uninterested and just walk on by.
Same thing with Samuel. In 1 Samuel 3, we read how the Lord called out to Samuel three times one night. And three times, Samuel went to see if Eli called him. Eli told Samuel that if it happened again, he should say, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” (1 Samuel 3:9) And the fourth time that the Lord called to Samuel, he responded as Eli told him to. And then the Lord gave him His message.
I used to wonder why God didn’t just start out saying, “Hey, Samuel! It’s Me, God. I have a message for you.” Why not just say what He wanted to say, instead of making Samuel run all over trying to figure out what was going on? And this is what really convinced me that God calls to us but He waits to speak until He sees if we are listening to Him or not. He doesn’t force His messages on us, but waits until we show our willingness by responding to His call.
Also, in Isaiah 6, we see that Isaiah has a vision where he sees the Lord sitting on His throne, and the angels all around Him. As he’s standing there (after freaking out about his sinful state, “Woe to me! ... I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”), he overhears the Lord say, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
Isaiah responds with that famous line, “Here I am. Send me!”
Now, since Isaiah was just standing there, eavesdropping on the heavenly conversation, God could have just said, “Hey, you over there? Come here and make yourself of some use!” But He didn’t. He mentioned a need for someone to “go” ... and He allowed Isaiah to offer or not.
And I think that this is what He does with us today. He places the calls and needs before us and He knocks on the door of our hearts, but it’s up to us to listen, respond, and open the door. He doesn’t force His way in or His ways on us. He looks for those who are willing.
How many of us miss our “burning bushes” because we don’t make the time or effort to notice? How many of us don’t respond to Him when He calls? How many of us overhear God’s need for someone to do something for Him, and yet we look down at the ground and pretend we didn’t hear anything? How many of us think God's gonna do what God's gonna do and there's nothing I can do about it?
And then we wonder where God is and why the earth is in such a mess!
Understanding God's Will #22: So What, Ultimately, Is God's Will?
So what is the Will of God, according to the Bible? And how do I find the next step in His plan for me?
Well, I’m glad you asked. But do you really want to know? Because once you know then you have a decision to make: obey or disobey. And doing God's Will is not a simple, quick thing. It’s a life-long, life-altering discipline. And that’s part of the problem because we want simple jobs with quick and massive rewards. We want to put in the least amount of effort and get the most benefits possible. We want Him to open the doors, but we don’t want any responsibilities. We want freedom, but no consequences.
But that is not God’s way. I think that the problem with a lot of us is that we want to live our lives the way we want, coasting into God’s “Will,” when we should be diligently living as He instructs us in His Word. And we desperately seek to find God’s “Will” (i.e. His plans), when we should be desperately seeking God.
Our job is not to force God to reveal His “Will” or to force an answer. And that’s one area where I’ve gone wrong before. Many times. There were times when I would bow my head to pray and be like, “Okay, God, I’m listening.” And I basically expected Him to speak simply because I told Him to. And if I was desperate for an answer, I could easily end up “making up” His answers. I wanted quick results when I wanted them.
But I cannot force God to speak. I cannot force Him to answer me when I want Him to, but I can make sure that I live in such a way that I am receptive to Him when He does speak. And this happens by abiding in Him, seeking righteousness, immersing myself in the Word and in prayer, and living in obedience to Him.
If we are doing these things, He'll guide our steps as we go, and we'll be in His Will, and the next step will become clear when it's the right time. (And it's almost always one step at a time. You won't get the guidance until the moment you need it.)
But if you want a generalized list of things that are always His Will for us, things that will help us stay on the path He wants us on ...
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.... Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37,39)
“Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me.” (John 14:21)
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33)
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)
“ ... whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:31)
“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” (Psalm 46:10)
Love God and others with all you’ve got. Obey His commands. Seek His kingdom and seek righteousness. Remain in Him always, through prayer and His Word. And if you are living for His glory, your life will be fruitful and God-glorifying. And we don’t have to know everything; just be still in Him, for He is God... and He will be exalted.
May God be with you and bless you on your journey with Him!
