Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church, pastor
The WILL OF GOD is a multifaceted reality of God’s being that includes God’s thinking, choosing, and doing that flows from His omnipotence and His sovereignty. God’s will always is perfect and right and true and appropriate. God does what He wants all the time in accordance with His perfect will and sovereign decrees. God raised up David, a man after God’s own heart who “will do all my will” (Acts 13.22).
Consider how theologians have referred to the will of God in a few ways. First: the DECREED will of God. This is God’s sovereign, efficacious, unhindered, never-thwarted plans and decrees of God. The LORD does whatever He pleases (Psalm 115.3). Second: the PRECEPTIVE will of God. This is the will of God that is revealed in His Word, the Bible. Teach me your statutes (Psalm 119.12). Teach me discernment and knowledge (Psalm 119.66). Teach me to do your will, for you are my God (Psalm 143.10). This speaks to the revealed will of God as found in the sufficient Scriptures. These are the things revealed so that we may know and do them and teach them to our children (Deuteronomy 29.29). Third: the PERMISSIVE will of God. This is the will and plan of God whereby He allows and permits all that happens in the world to occur — even evil and lawlessness. God does not sanction sin but He has decreed it and He allows it (to further His sovereign and perfect will for His glory in His infinite wisdom). Fourth: the DESIRED will of God. God has desires and longings for His people to know Him, obey Him, trust Him, and be saved. God desires all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the Truth (1 Timothy 2.4).
The will of God most often refers to the sovereign, decreed, predetermined, unchanging plans and purposes of God that can never be thwarted. No angel, or army, or person, or circumstance can ever hinder God’s purposes. The will of God shall always be fulfilled for his sovereign purposes shall come to pass. He alone receives glory, ultimate glory, as He unfolds His perfect plan in human history.
Also, we must strive to know and learn the will of God so as to obey Him. This is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality (1 Thessalonians 4.3). The will of God in Christ Jesus is for you to give thanks in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5.18). And God must be praised for He glories in His own perfect plans and will that will be accomplished, even through His creatures who obey and follow Him (Isaiah 46.10).
This should lead to 3 responses: devotion, delight, and duty. We must be devoted truly and fully to God’s Word. The will of God, the mind of Christ, the voice of God is found in the Word of God, the Scriptures. We must strive to diligently study the Word, be devoted to the Word, and hide it in our hearts. For therein will we learn and grow in understanding the will of God. Second, we must delight in God. We must delight in our God who is absolutely sovereign and perfect. Nothing shall ever change or alter or thwart His mighty and majestic and foreordained decrees (Psalm 93.1; Job 42.2). How awesome to think of this God of Almighty power who is in control unswervingly! Third, we must seek to fulfill our duty in walking in obedience to God’s Will as revealed in the Bible. We must present ourselves to God fully as living sacrifices — to do His will (Romans 12.1-2).
Rest confidently in your God and in His perfect will! Study His Word, the revealed will, and make every intention to know Him deeply, obey Him fully, and worship Him daily for His wisdom, power, glory, and strength! Consider His will and be drawn to worship!
