Ephesians 1:1: The Will of God

Recently the whole idea of the will of God has occupied a prominent place on my mental desktop. I'll admit that I grew up thinking God's will was some secret plan that only God knew, but that somehow I was responsible to find it, understand it, and live accordingly. It even seemed that anything I found enjoyable couldn't be God's will since apparently God's will always hurt, or cost you everything. Sadly, I grew up thinking that, if it was alright with everybody, I'd just as soon not spend my life searching for it.

Paul has an entirely different take. He looks at the single most important and impressive thing in his life and attributes it to "the will of God." Paul was an apostle. He was incredibly important and significant in the extension of the Gospel from Jerusalem out to the Gentile world. In his first letter to the Thessalonians Paul is overjoyed at the fact that he has been "entrusted with the Gospel" (2:4) which he elsewhere says came as a direct commandment from the Savior (Titus 1:3). That means that the will of God, by which Paul was drafted to be an Apostle, and entrusted with the Gospel was made abundantly clear to Paul, and he found God's will to be a delight rather than a burden.

I maintain that the greatest part of God's will for our lives has already been made clear to us, in black and white, in the teaching of the Bible. I also believe that doing the will of God brings life's greatest delights. In fact, "blessings" are actually those divine enjoyments that are ours from God's hand, and fall to us on the other side of obedience to his commands, his divine will.

Sadly, we spend most of our time worrying about, and actually praying about, that very small percentage of our time that apparently doesn't concern God as much as it concerns us. But this I mean the things of everyday life. We are much more concerned about the events of our day, our health, our wellbeing and that of our friends and family than we are about the extent to which the clear commands of God are conspicuous in our lives. Does God care about whether or not we get a good grade, get that account, or are safe as we drive? I expect that, since he is the perfect Father, he cares a great deal. But does he care much more about the extent to which the clear commands of Scripture are both evident and increasingly obeyed? I am certain he does. And I believe he desires us to raise our focus away from our own desire to focus on his.

He has displayed his heart and will for us over and over, in the commands and teaching of the Bible, and this is what he really cares about. He wants us to abound more and more in "real knowledge and discernment" (Philippians 1:9) so that regardless of our test score, or the outcome of the sales presentation we are conspicuously reflecting his character and his glory. His will is for us to "conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ" (Philippians 1:27) so that our unity will be protected in the church. His will is for us to be sexually pure (1 Thessalonians 4:3), generous (1 Timothy 6:17,18), joyful and thankful (Ephesians 5:18-20) and I could go on and on.

The will of God is not hidden; neither is it horrible. Rather, it is easy to find, and what can be found in the pages of Scripture ought to occupy us so much that the small percentage of things that aren't specifically addressed will come to be seen for what they are: the temporal concerns of hearts focused inward. This doesn't make them wrong; but it does mean that we can't afford to make them more significant than they should be. When we focus on our daily desires, and fill up our minds and prayers with anxiety about the unknown, we can start to believe that God's will is mostly a mystery, and all we can do is plead with him to make our lives work.

But the reality is far different. God's will for us is clearly found in the pages of Scripture. In fact, I believe to a large extent that "the Word of God is the will of God." There certainly is more of his will than what he has given us in written form, but the written stuff is pretty comprehensive, and enough to capture our attention for as long as we're alive. What God does for us, wants of us, and promises to us is abundantly evident in the pages of the Bible. Look for yourself. You'll find that God is pretty clear about how we should live, and also pretty clear about the delights that abound to those who love him, trust him, and obey him. The will of God in the Word of God is the way of life, and always will be. It's there, you can find it, and it is delightful.