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S Volume 1 . Issue 8

COUNCIL OF REFERENCE

Dr. Richard Averbeck THE MYSTERY

Dr. Bill Bright

Dr. Paul Cedar

Mr. Dave Coleman

Dr. Larry Crabb

OF GOD’S WILL
Mr. Roger Cross A Quick Focus
Rev. Samuel Farina
The Book's Purpose
Dr. Kenneth O. Gangel
Emphasize the mystery
Rev. Lud Golz
inherent in God's will
Dr. Howard G. Hendricks

Mr. Olan Hendrix

Dr. David Jeremiah
Rev. Knute Larson
Dr. John C. Maxwell
Dr. Bruce McNicol
Affirm God's absolute
sovereignty
Explain the dynamics of God's
will in the world and in the
individual life
by Charles R. Swindoll
Published by Word Publishing
Nashville
us. We can know how we should respond to
what God is doing.

Mr. Dean Merrill

Relate God's will to important
aspects of His personality
Mrs. Elisa Morgan
Illustrate how believers can
Dr. Ray Ortlund
know and respond to God's
Dr. Luis Palau
will
Dr. Gilbert A. Peterson
Scriptures illustrate God's will in the lives
of His people. These examples teach us about
God's nature, humble us in the face of God's
wisdom, and prepare us to walk the road ahead~
a path hidden in the often surprising mystery of
God's will. CB
S
Six Main Points

6
Rev. Wes Roberts The Book's Message
Mr. Jim Warren The will of God is a rushing river,
Understanding God's Will ...................... 2
tracing God's purposes as it surges through Discovering God's Will .......................... 3
Dr. Rick Warren
human history. We are swept into its
powerful current, but in our humanity, we The Difficulties of God's Will ................. 4
lack the perspective to sort out just why
Publishers
it twists and turns as it does. The God Behind God's Will ..................... 5
David A. Martin
John S. Martin, III Yet we can appreciate something of The Dynamic of God's Will ..................... 6
what the plan tells us about the Planner.
Editor
Michael J. Chiapperino We can discover what His will means for Dealing With the Mystery of God's Will ... 7

A Knotty
Problem
Life is forever UNDERSTANDING
full of inexplicable circumstances
GOD’S
which prompt the question "Why?"
Even we Christians often have no
idea what God is up to, for God's
plan~God's will~is a profound
mystery.
WILL
Doing God's will, however, may
be even more difficult than under-
standing it.
We want to understand God's
will but cannot. On the other hand,
we can do God's will, but we don't
want to.
Doing the will of God means
submitting our own will to His, and
therein lies the rub.
There's so much we don't under-
stand about God's will. We will
attempt to shed some light on these
questions, but the resulting answers
can never be completely satisfying.
Just ask Job.
When one child turns out to be
good and his brother bad, we can't
understand. Or when a gifted Christ-
ian worker dies and there is no one
to continue that ministry. Or when
seemingly good marriages fall apart.
Or when a crazed gunman opens
fire on a school. As difficult as it is
to believe, even these tragedies form
part of the mysterious plan of God.
The best we can hope for is to
know something of God's will and
to trust Him to work it out in our
lives. When we accept that our cir-
cumstances~even the difficult ones~
are from God's hand, we begin to
see how wonderfully faithful He is
to us. We must learn to trust without
knowing the explanation; God is
not looking for critics but for
humble servants.
An Important
Distinction
We like the world we can see,
touch, and control. But living by
faith means seeing life from a whole
different perspective, from a God-
2
centered point of view. This vertical,
theological perspective is difficult
for us.
It was difficult for Jeremiah, too.
God called him to be a prophet, but
he balked. As God answers Jere-
miah's objections, He reveals an
important distinction within His
will, the difference between what
God has decreed and what He per-
mits. Before Jeremiah was even born,
God had decreed that he would be
a prophet. But the Lord had also
determined to permit difficulties to
come into his life. Recognizing this
distinction is a first step to getting
a handle on this matter of God's will.
God's decreed will
Job observed that God has deter-
mined the circumstances of our lives.
We cannot know this plan in advance
but only after the fact. And every-
thing that happens to us, down to
the tiniest detail, is part of God's
plan.
“When
God created
the world and set
the stars in space,
He also established
the course
of this world
and His plan
for humanity.”
Isaiah tells us
that God alone is
in control, "caus-
ing well-being
and calamity." This is not easy to
understand or accept. Why do terri-
ble things happen to some people
and not to others? And how can
that be part of God's decreed will?
Though it's tough to comprehend,
it is the clear teaching of Scripture.
We lack the perspective to know
(much less to judge) why God in
His wisdom has chosen to do things
as He has. The best approach is to
simply accept God's will rather than
trying to figure it out. Otherwise, it
may seem cavalier and uncaring.
We like to argue with God about
His designs, but Isaiah reminds us
that He is the potter and we are the
clay. How ludicrous it would be for
the pot to question the design of
the potter!
Not until we accept His right
and His capacity to shape our lives
as He chooses will we be comforted
by the notion that He's in complete
control.
This decreed will of God is abso-
lute, unchangeable, and uncondi-
tional. It is also in perfect harmony
with His nature. Therefore, it will
always be good and right. It will
always be best both strategically,
accomplishing God's purposes, and
morally, reflecting His character.
Romans 8:28-29 speaks to the
issue of God's decreed will. Accord-
ing to this passage, He is continually
at work, making us more like his
Son, Jesus Christ. He'll never quit,
because that is what he has deter-
mined to do. In order to accom-
plish this he may send one to the
mission field and another to the
corn field. That's His way of shap-
ing us.
How do you know what His
will has been for your life? Just
look in the rear-view mirror.
Everything that has happened to
you has been part of His decreed
will.
continued on page 3

GOD’S WILL continued from page 2
Perhaps you are not comfortable
believing that. You want to think
that you have made the decisions,
that you have determined the course
of events. But who died and put you
in charge? It certainly wasn't the
potter!
The Bible tells us that even the
death of Christ was part of God's
decreed will. Scriptures plainly tell
us that the crucifixion was "by the
predetermined plan and foreknow-
ledge of God" (Acts 2:22-23). Sure,
wicked men nailed him there, but
it happened just as God had planned.
God has a plan, and that is pre-
cisely what will come to pass. No
one can stop Him or even surprise
Him.
But what about all the bad things
that happen~the ones inconsistent
with God's holiness?
God's permissive will
The fact that God has an all-
encompassing plan does not mean
that He is the cause of everything
that happens. Some things He merely
allows to occur. Take the example
of Job. Satan dared God to allow Job
to fall upon hard times as a test of
his faith, and God permitted it.
We encounter another aspect of
God's permissive will in 2 Peter 3:9,
which indicates that God desires for
all men to repent and turn to Him.
But they do not, for they are not all
among God's elect. Some reject the
message. We cannot resolve this
tension between human responsibi-
lity and the will of God. All we can
do is to be faithful to present the
message to everyone.
The whole problem of evil is
difficult to understand in the context
of God's will. Human beings choose
to do wrong things. God doesn't
cause that, but He does permit it.
And yet, He uses even our sins to
accomplish His purposes. Acts 4:27
tells us that those who conspired in
the death of Christ ultimately accom-
plished what God had predestined.
CB
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3
DISCOVERING
GOD’S WILL
Means through
which God reveals
His will
Though we do not know what
will happen to us tomorrow or next
year, certain aspects of God's will
are abundantly clear. Scriptures
identify many commands and direc-
tives, as well as behaviors that God
prohibits. A believer can remove
a portion of "the mystery of God's
will" by merely knowing His Word.
As we explore the Bible, we dis-
cover that God revealed His will in
some unconventional ways to his
early followers.
First, He used miraculous events,
such as the burning bush, the parting
of the Red Sea, and Gideon's fleece.
This, of course, was before the com-
pletion of the written Word of God.
Today God rarely uses miracles to
reveal his will.
The second way God communi-
cated His will in ancient times was
through visions and dreams. Abraham,
Joseph, and Peter all received God's
guidance this way.
Third, God communicated His
will by direct revelation. God spoke
directly to the prophets, who then
transmitted His message to others.
There are no prophets today in
the biblical sense. God does not
reveal His will in that way, so we
shouldn't waste time looking for
something that isn't there. He has
given us His Word, and the Bible
is enough. The key is approaching
it correctly.
Keys to seeking
God’s will
When faced with important
decisions such as the choice of a
college, a mate, or a job, we are
anxious to follow God's direction
and to choose in accordance
with His will. Sometimes, in
fact, we are too anxious. We fall
into the trap of "voodoo theology,"
grasping at any coincidence of cir-
cumstances we think might point
the way.
Before searching for God's will,
heed these basic prerequisites:
1. You must be a child of God.
2. You must be wise.
3. You must desire to do God's will.
4. You must be willing to wait
patiently in prayer.
5. You must be willing to sacrifice.
When these five qualities charac-
terize our lives, we are ready to seek
God's specific direction. But just how
does God lead us in that process?
The Bible. This is the most impor-
tant means. Scripture contains both
precepts and principles that can help
us to understand what His will is for
us in each specific situation.
The inner prompting of the Holy
Spirit. Jude says that while writing
his letter about salvation he "felt the
necessity" to exhort his readers to
contend for the faith. That feeling
d
came from God himself. Such stirring
can be His steering mechanism.
Wise counselors. These are people
who have a track record of under-
standing the ways of God. They are
outside of the situation and are more
objective than we.
Inner peace. Paul speaks of the
peace of Christ ruling in our hearts.
God will give us His peace as a way
of confirming that we are on the
right track.
Henry Blackaby reminds us that
knowing God's will brings us to a
"crisis of belief," a point of decision
in which faith and action must come
together. God often calls us to do
things beyond our human capacities.
Will we trust Him enough to act?
Blackaby also emphasizes that
when we do God's will we can expect
continued on page 4
DISCOVERING GOD’S WILL continued from page 3
to experience major adjustments.
Noah, Abram, Moses, David, and
the disciples were all called to aban-
don their lifestyles. Following the
will of God will mean significant
changes for us as well.
Obstacles
to following
God’s will
If we properly understand the
dynamic of God's will, we realize
that we cannot just wait for it to
become clear. We must be active in
the process, conforming our wills
and our plans to His, and taking
concrete steps to follow His leading.
God’s
This is not easy, nor is it simple,
for God's will is mysterious. We
want something sure, something
tangible. But oftentimes the correct
decision is not the one that seems
THE DIFFICULTIES OF GOD’S WILL
God’s Sovereignty
Knowing God's will requires
us to think theologically, to see life
from God's perspective. And to think
theologically, we must understand
and accept God's sovereignty. Other-
wise, we're destined to struggle with
His plan rather than rest in it.
Wi
Consider the lesson God taught
Nebuchadnezzar, the pagan king of
Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar had a
dream but didn't know what it
meant. Daniel informed the king
that he would live in the fields like
an animal. He also told him that he
would regain his throne once he
acknowledged God's sovereignty.
Everything happened just as pre-
dicted, and Nebuchadnezzar finally
learned what we all must learn~that
God and God alone is in control.
Job, too, recognized that not
even one of God's purposes can
be thwarted (Job. 42:1-2).
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4
logical to us. This means that we
must walk by faith, and when we
do we can expect problems.
God's will may be upsetting to others.
Often those closest to us have
an agenda for our lives and may
not understand God's leading. But,
of course, God put us here to please
Him, not others.
God's will may turn out very differ-
ently than we imagine.
He sometimes calls and trains
gifted people, and even places them
in effective ministry, only to snatch
them home to be with Him before
giving them a chance to finish what
they started. To us this seems coun-
ter-productive, but God's ways are
higher than ours. Remember the
five young missionaries martyred
by the Auca Indians in the mid-
1950s? Their example continues to
inspire countless people to dedicate
their lives to Christian ministry.
Even the seemingly disastrous
is controlled by God, or He would
be only somewhat sovereign.
God alone is qualified to be in
charge. Only He has perfect perspec-
tive, perfect character, perfect wis-
dom, and perfect goodness. And,
unlike ours, God's will cannot be
constrained by outside forces.
“Sovereignty means
our all-wise, all-
knowing God reigns
in realms beyond
our comprehension
to bring about a plan
beyond our ability
to alter, hinder,
or stop.”
Some people have the wrong
reaction to this truth, concluding
God's will may mean persecution.
Remember John Wycliffe, the
14th century scholar who deter-
mined to give people the Scripture
in their own language? In life he
was branded a heretic. In fact, he
was so reviled that they exhumed
his bones, burnt them, and cast
them into a stream. Faith implies
risk, and that risk is not always
rewarded immediately.
God's will may bring major adjust-
ments.
This may mean trading the se-
curity of the familiar for new and
threatening experiences. God called
Abraham from his lifelong home to
go to a faraway, unfamiliar destina-
tion. And God still uproots His
people from the comfort of their
routines. C
SB
that if God controls everything, then
it makes no difference what we do.
Though this mystery is beyond us,
we must maintain the balance between
our responsibility to act and God's
absolute rule. God has given us a long
list of responsibilities. He has allowed
us to choose and to act, and He expects
us to do so.
We can take joy in understanding
these three important benefits of God's
sovereignty:
God's sovereignty comforts us.
No matter how impossible or how
tragic the circumstances, everything
will ultimately result in the glory of
God. This hope is the greatest possible
tranquilizer for the troubled soul.
God's sovereignty sets us free.
We don't have to explain it.
We don't have to “unscrew the
inscrutable” to trust that He's in charge.
God's sovereignty keeps us humble.
If we truly accept this truth, we must
also accept our very limited role in
what He is doing. It puts us and keeps
us in our place.

God’s Speaking
Most of us would like it if God
would just take us aside and say,
"Do this tomorrow." But He doesn't.
God speaks, but he does so silently,
so we must learn to read His lips.
This lip-reading requires both
sensitivity and skill, because God's
will is often unpredictable. We must
know God and respond to the inner
promptings of His Spirit.
Though God does not communi-
cate with us through audible mes-
sages, He nevertheless wants us to
know His will.
Cultivate the following qualities,
attitudes, and disciplines as you
learn to understand God’s leading:
s
A. An accepting mental attitude.
You must spend time with God in
order to remain open and available
before Him.
B. Biblical investigation.
Your decision must be in conformity
with Scripture. So search the Scrip-
tures, looking for relevant precepts
and principles.
C. The clarification and conviction
of the Holy Spirit.
God's Spirit uses His Word to draw
you toward what He wants you to
see. It is often during the process of
waiting that God communicates
with us.
D. Determine if you have peace
Will
about the decision.
God's peace is to rule in our hearts
like an umpire's decision. Making
an important choice without this
sense of peace is a big mistake.
E. Expect struggles and surprises
along the way.
Sometimes we follow God's will to
the best of our ability, but everything
blows up in our faces. Being in His
will does not make us exempt from
problems.
We cannot know God's will if
we're holding on to excuses as to
why we can't do what God has called
us to do. We must remember that
while walking in God's will we are
invincible. And remember that
whatever success comes from doing
God's will depends on God's
blessing, not on our effort. CB
S
5
THE GOD BEHIND
GOD’S WILL
How Does God Spell Relief?
Sometimes the mysterious cross-currents of circumstance
within the will of God simply overwhelm us. It is then that
God himself comes and ministers to us through his mercy.
This mercy is more than pity, more than caring; it is how God
spells relief.
All of us need God's mercy when we are victims. But even
when we are the offenders, God extends His mercy to us. We
have all offended God, and if it were not for His mercy we
would be without hope.
Chesed is the Hebrew word translated mercy, or sometimes
lovingkindness or kindness. We can identify five ways in which
God's mercy spells relief.
God's chesed relieves the distress we feel when we are
treated unfairly.
Remember Joseph, falsely accused and in jail? He received
God's chesed, the same mercy available to us when we are
lonely or forsaken.
God's chesed relieves our grief.
When Ruth's husband died, Naomi, her mother-in-law,
wished her God's chesed, His special mercy for those who
have lost their loved ones. When God permits tragedy to come
our way, he accompanies it with his mercy.
God's chesed relieves the difficulty caused by handicaps.
David desired to show chesed to a family member of his
late friend, Jonathan. He found Mephibosheth, a crippled son
who was living in hiding, and restored him to prosperity. God
has a special mercy reserved for the handicapped.
God's chesed relieves our suffering.
Job was a man in anguish, suffering because of God's
mysterious plan. God, however, granted him chesed (Job
10:12). Suffering is part of God's plan, but so is His incredible
mercy.
God's chesed relieves our guilt.
When we sin we are miserable, but we confess it to God, we
receive his mercy. David, after his sin with Bathsheba, called
upon God to be gracious according to His chesed.
continued on page 6
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THE GOD BEHIND GOD’S WILL continued from page 5
The God Who
Never Changes
God's people have always been
fickle. Remember the nation of
Israel. They didn't maintain the sepa-
ration between themselves and the
pagan nations around them which
God had commanded. So God, in
His faithfulness and without distanc-
ing Himself from His children, afflict-
ed the faithless.
In the book of Lamentations
Jeremiah chronicles the cycle of
complications brought on by Judah's
disobedience. These principles are
just as relevant today for those who
compromise the truth of God.
Compromise brings affliction.
"God doesn't let his children play
in the street."
He brings discipline to correct us.
Compromise triggers a loss of hope.
When we get away from God, life
loses its luster. If we do not respond to
God's affliction it turns to desolation.
THE DYNAMIC OF
God’s Will
GOD’S WILL
Makes Us Holy
Isaiah 6 records a striking vision
of the holiness of God, prompting
the prophet to laud the moral glory
of God. According to 1 Peter 1:14-
16, this holiness, this separation
from all that is imperfect, is to char-
acterize our lives as well.
Those who want to follow God's
will must grasp this concept of God's
holiness. Because He is holy, His
will is good and right. Because He
is holy, we know that His will is not
a bait and switch proposition, for
God is never deceitful.
God's holiness means that He
cannot tempt us to sin. So never say
that your circumstances, which are
controlled by God, caused you to
fall.
6
Compromise means that we, not
God, have moved.
Even when we are far from Him
and hope is at its end, the unchanging
God appears and restores our hope.
The three components of that hope
come directly from Lamentations
3:21-25.
1. The Lord's chesed never ceases.
He doesn't give up on us, not because
we are worth restoring but because
He is faithful.
2. The Lord's compassions never fail.
Like the father of the prodigal son,
He waits for us to come to our senses
and then welcomes us home.
3. The Lord's faithfulness never wanes.
Even when we mess up. Even when
we really mess up.
These three short phrases de-
fine God's immutability. He cannot
change and He will not change.
Regardless of whether we react to
Him in love or anger, disobedience
or praise, He remains constant.
CB
S to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. Talk
Not only does He not tempt us
to sin, but He even imparts His holi-
ness to us. If God did not give us
His holiness, we could not have
communion with Him. We would
be the slaves of our own evil natures,
without any hope of heaven.
We can observe two extreme
attitudes toward holiness. One holds
that holiness depends on our effort,
meaning that we can never really be
holy enough. The other sees us re-
ceiving holiness from God in a pure-
ly passive manner, like having pixie
dust sprinkled over us. Both positions
are misconceptions.
Holiness is a command, and
therefore we must actively purify
our lives. That is our part. On the
other hand, God declares us righteous,
credits Christ's righteousness to our
account, and gives us the capacity
to develop personal holiness.
God provides the power, but we
must recognize and use that power.
We yield
to Him, not
so that He can
make us holy while
we do nothing,
but so that we’ll do
what He wants
instead of what
we want.
God’s Will
Surprises Us
God delights in surprises. Con-
sider the life of Abraham. God put
him to the test by commanding him
about a shock! And when he had
finally come to terms with doing so,
God provided a way out.
Life, even when lived in the will
of God, is full of surprises. Just when
we think we know what God is
doing, He proves that we do not.
We pray in one direction, but God
goes in another. We make a major
life change, thinking we have fol-
lowed God's will. And then every-
thing goes sour.
When this happens we may
question whether God or circum-
stance is really running the show.
But the Bible assures us that God
is intimately involved with all that
happens to us. He simply surprises
us with a myriad of perplexing diffi-
culties, even when we're in the cen-
ter of His will.
Keep in mind these four princi-
ples as God leads you:
1. With God, surprises are the rule
rather than the exception.
continued on page 7

THE DYNAMIC OF GOD’S WILL continued from page 6
2. God's surprises force us to adapt.
3. God's does not surprise us by
doing things which are irrational;
He surprises us by doing things
which are beyond our understanding.
4. God's grace is always sufficient
for God's surprises.
God's surprises can shake us
to the core; but they are designed
to stretch us and to teach us. And
they often show us just how much
we need Him. The key to finding
strength for all of life's circumstances
is to run toward, not away from, the
God of surprises.
7
in order to open up a new one, but
He didn't explain why. He just did it.
Maybe the following insights
will help you when you're dealing
with closed and open doors:
The fact that God is sovereign
means that He is in complete control.
His closed doors cannot be opened
and His open doors cannot be shut.
Since God controls the oppor-
tunities, He also takes responsibility
for the results.
When God opens a door for you,
He will accomplish His purposes
through you. It's not your job to
make His plan work.
When God closes a door, it's in
order to open a better one. Remem-
ber Paul and Silas. He knows what
He's doing.
We will not understand why a
door is closed until we walk through
the next one God opens.
Maybe you're knocking on a
closed door right now. This is the
time to yield to God's will and to
see how He surprises you by open-
ing up a new one. You don't have
to figure it out. Just follow where
He leads. Isn't that comforting?
CB
S

God’s Will Is An
Open and Shut Case
You had your heart set on a
mate, a school, or a job. You were
seeking God's will and everything
DEALING WITH THE
looked positive. And then, kaboom!
He closed the door. Why did he
apparently lead you one way only
to close the door? You don't know.
You may never know. He is the
MYSTERY OF GOD’S WILL
Have you ever When you look at your circum-
potter, and that's it. been on a tour, one with a detailed stances theologically, you realize that
itinerary? You knew exactly what at its core, God's will is not really
Revelation 3 pictures God as was going to happen next. Our about where you go or what you
the one who holds the key, who has experience of God's will is nothing do. Ultimately, God wants to con-
the right and authority to open and like that. We don't know what's next form you to the image of His Son.
close doors, and He does both in on the itinerary. We only know that What happens to us is a test, and
our lives. Sometimes we try to pry it is likely to surprise us. if we respond correctly to that test
open these doors, but it's fruitless, (whether or not we understand it),
We could all make a long list of we will come out of it like refined
because when God shuts a door it things we would not have done had
stays that way. gold.
we been God. In fact, most of the
time God's will is illogical from a We will always struggle with
Imagine the Apostle Paul and human point of view.
his sidekick, Silas. They were a topsy-turvy situation that just
preaching in the region of present- The key is to trust Him and does not make sense, what Winston
day Turkey. God was prospering to follow Him even when we don't Churchill called "a riddle wrapped
their ministry. Then they came to understand, for the final result will in a mystery inside an enigma."
a new and unevangelized region. be God's final result, and it will be
But God would not let them preach wonderful. When the sum does not seem
there, so they went on to yet another to be a total of the parts, we have to
needy place. Same result. Finally, The best way to deal with the learn to say that it's okay, because
they arrived in Troas, where they inexplicable is to spend less time God makes no mistakes.
had to cool their heels. Closed door, analyzing what God is up to and
closed door, closed door. more time obeying Him. When you If we can do so our lives will
can't explain a certain situation, quit be characterized by the following:
And then, in a most surprising trying. Don't try to force it into the continued on page 8
way, God opened a brand-new door mold of human reason. Rather than
through the vision of the man from trying to make it logical, allow it to
Macedonia. God closed certain doors be theological.

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 8
THE MYSTERY OF GOD’S WILL continued from page 7

We wait with perseverance.

XII
stian
Chriook

I II II II II II II

XII
We don't know why or how, but

III

XII
Thinking

III
we trust that God is in control,
X

II
II
XIXI

B
II
IIIIIIII II II II II II II II I I I I

and we walk through the exper- theologically

ience with Him.
means not dwelling ummaries
S
We face the test unflinchingly, on the circumstances
yet on our knees. so much as Volume 1, Number 8
This requires submissive humi- appreciating how Publishers
lity. We face what comes head-
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out to Him. your life through John S. Martin, III
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The Author: Charles R. Swindoll is
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Coming Next Month: The Mystery of God's Will by Charles
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