Biblical Decision Making: Seeking “The Will of God”
Benjamin Flegal
As a teacher at a Christian college, I frequently speak with students concerned about finding “God’s will for my life.” On the one hand, such a desire is a sign of the Spirit’s work in an individual’s heart (Phil. 2:12–13). On the other hand, I also interact with students who have fallen into faithless anxiety; they are loathe to step out in faith because they fear they will either miss God’s will or disqualify themselves from it. This is not how we ought to think of God’s will.
Such a view of God’s direction betrays a failure to know Him. The God who is “merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin” (Exod. 34:6–7) does not capriciously hide blessings. It is regarding His abundant goodness that God states, “My ways [are] higher than your ways” (Isa. 55:8–9). “He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Heb. 11:6). We serve a good God who delights in pouring out His blessing upon us. In this article, I present a pattern for biblical decision making grounded in this revealed character of God.
DEFINING “GOD’S WILL”
For many, “God’s will” is nebulous and frightening. They know God is good (Ps. 34:8), gives only good gifts (James 1:13), actively works for good in suffering (Rom. 8:29), and is good even in His chastening (Heb. 12:10). Yet having known believers who suffered terrible trials, they fear God’s will, lest it be the via dolorosa of our Savior and others: Job, Joseph, David, Elijah, and Paul, to name only a few. Truly, “many are the afflictions of the righteous” (Ps. 34:19). Others face the opposite struggle: they see God’s will as a mystical, hidden path they must divine with anxiety-inducing attentiveness, lest they miss the reward for lack of perfect timing. Still others worry they have done something to ruin God’s will for their life. These are all errors.