How God Guides — Part 5 April 23, 2012
Remember “Rob”? For over a month, I’ve been writingabout how God guides, and it all began with Rob, who lost his keys that onefictitious day here in Pastor’s Heart World. After searching everywhere andeven growing a little frantic, he ultimately found them in response to a suddenhunch he had after a moment of prayer.
Is Rob a paradigm for God’s guidance and biblicaldecision making? For weeks, I’ve been strenuously arguing “NO!” Yes, we shouldalways pray for God’s help; but other than that, Rob’s story fails in multipleways to offer a model for God’s guidance in our decisions. For one thing, Goddoes not direct our paths through hunches or sudden feelings; He speaks throughHis word. For another thing, God’s will involves matters of moral obligation;Rob’s situation, however, was hardly a matter of right and wrong. Rob would nothave sinned if he failed to follow his hunch, but it is a sin to fail to follow God’s will. Finally and mostimportantly, God’s word does not demonstrate this model of decision making. Itnever models a hunch-driven or feeling-based decision making procedure.Furthermore, it never commands us to find “God’s perfect will,” nor does itinstruct us as to how such a “perfect will” might be found.
So what does the Bible teach about decision making andthe will of God? The biblical teaching on following God’s will is simple andstraightforward:
1) Obey theBible.
2) For non-moral decisions, we are free andresponsible to choose our own course of action.
3) Our goal isto make choices based on what would be most wise and most spirituallyadvantageous, for God’s glory and others’ joy.
That’sit. Nothing mystical about it. Obey the Bible, use your head, love God, andlove people. If you’re doing that, you’re in God’s will.
I have one more column in mind for this series; we’llsee if it materializes next week. Either way, please talk to me if you havequestions or objections about what I’ve said. If I get enough feedback, perhapswe’ll offer an opportunity for some interaction on this subject in the AdultEquipping Class. Let me know.