all things done in the dark will soon come to light

You don’t need handwriting in the sky to be able to “remain in God’s will.” God’s will is that we put aside both passivity and perfectionism where it comes to decision-making, seek guidance in His Word (supplemented by the wisdom of wise Christians around us), and then, when all is said and done, trust Him. John Calvin said that when God “closes his holy mouth, let us also stop the way, that we may not go farther.” These “secret things” belong to the Lord, and God does not intend for us to know them, no matter how hard we might pray that He would reveal them to us. As it says in Deuteronomy 29:29, there are “The secret things belong to the Lord”-this is what theologians are referring to when they talk about the hidden will of God.īut the thing about the hidden will of God is that it is hidden. But there’s also the hidden will of God.Īnd it’s true: God does have a secret will for your life.

Rather it consists of a sober life, living in the power of the Holy Spirit, and offering praise and gratitude to God for his goodness.” One writer summed it up like this: “What is the will ? Is it some specific, secret plan God has for us and wants us to spend days, weeks, even years discovering? Not at all.

Search for the phrase “God’s will” in the New Testament, and you’ll find passages such as 1 Thessalonians 4:3, which tells us: “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified.” The overwhelming testimony of Scripture is not that we lose sleep desperately looking inside ourselves for God’s mysterious “prompting,” but rather that we look to His Word for guidance as to how we should live. As long as you are obeying His commands as you make your decisions, you have great freedom in the specific options you can choose. What is His will for your life? That you should obey His commands. “The things that are revealed”-this is what theologians mean when they talk about “the revealed will of God.” God has revealed His will for our lives by giving us His law, His commandments. There’s what theologians call “the revealed will of God,” and there’s also what’s known as “the hidden will of God.” You see both referred to in Deuteronomy chapter 29, verse 29, which says: “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” So how can we know God’s will for our lives in any given situation?īiblically speaking, God’s will is spoken of in two ways. I did feel a bit guilty about making Evan cry, but actually, that is an entirely appropriate response to this idea that we somehow can’t make decisions about who to date, who to marry, where to live, and where to work unless God gives us some kind of clear supernatural “nudge” or inward “impression.” Dang if I didn’t have to get up and walk around in the middle of reading this tragic post. Take this comment, left by a Christian man called Evan: “Oh man, this hit me hard. Some visitors to my blog didn’t realize it was a joke. It was meant to be a joke poking fun at the way many Christians think that we need to pray and pray and pray for God to supernaturally and unmistakably reveal His will for our life before we can actually do anything. The headline was “Man, 91, Dies Waiting for Will of God.” On my website once, I posted a spoof news item which was taken from a satirical website. How can you discover God’s will for your life?

All things done in the dark will soon come to light