UGW #1: Our Impact on God's Will
Understanding God's Will #1:
You say that we have an effect on the path that we walk in this life, that God’s “best path and best plans” don’t always "just happen" apart from our cooperation. Do you have Scripture to back that up?Yes, well, I’m glad you asked. But first, let me ask this: If God always did whatever He wanted to do in our lives, regardless of us, why are we told so often in the Bible to pray for wisdom, to seek it, to be discerning? If our choices and actions don’t really matter and don’t have an effect because He's already got everything all planned out and will just do whatever He wants to do anyway [a Calvinist view of things, not my view or what I think the Bible teaches], then it doesn’t matter if we live with wisdom or foolishness. Whatever happens is God’s plan, right?
Proverbs 4:7 tells us “Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost you all you have, get understanding.”
Proverbs 2 tells us to seek wisdom diligently. And when we do, we will “understand what is right and just and fair - every good path.” (Proverbs 2:9) Wisdom is necessary to figure out the “good paths” that God wants us to take. He doesn’t just do what He wills or what He wants to have happen in our lives. We have to be walking in wisdom to figure it out.
[The Calvinist reply to "Why would we need to pray and seek wisdom if God (according to Calvinism) predestines everything that happens anyway" would be something like "Well, God ordains the means as well as the ends," meaning that He predestines (i.e. preplans, causes, forces) the end goal and all the steps to get there, what we do and what our choices are and if we pray or not.
But once again, "Why should we bother caring or trying to seek His Will and obey His Will if He, as Calvinist theology teaches, preplans and controls everything, down to whether or not we even care or try? If we're meant to care or try, He'll cause it to happen, with or without our thoughts, desires, or efforts. If we're not meant to, then He'll make sure we never do. It's all up to Him; we have no influence over it. So why should we sweat it?"
In the end, Calvinism is self-defeating, because nothing we think or do really matters because Calvi-god planned it all and will carry it all out exactly the way he planned. So if we obey and are wise, it's Calvi-god's Will. If we don't obey and are stupid, it's Calvi-god's Will. And we couldn't choose to do anything different than what Calvi-god predestined for us, according to Calvinism. Not only is this self-defeating, but it also destroys God's character and trustworthiness because it makes Him the ultimate cause of all sin and it means that He "ordains" the sin He commands us not to do and punishes us for. Very untrustworthy and unjust!]
I think the problem comes when we misinterpret verses like “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord ...” (Jeremiah 29:11), “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.” (Proverbs 16:9), and “... for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” (Philippians 2:13).
We hear these and think it means that since He has plans, He’ll do what He plans, regardless of us. That His plans are set in stone and it’s going to happen regardless of what we do. Right?
And I’m sure some verses seem to support for this. After all, there are times in the Bible where we read about certain people being called up or raised up by God for a certain purpose, like judges, Pharaohs, and prophets. But I don't think God overrides their free-will. I think He knew which person would be the best fit for His purposes at that particular time in history, and He knew what they would choose in any given situation, and so He foreknew who He could use and how and for what purposes, and He weaved that into His plan. That’s how I best understand it.
[Calvinists would say that God forced Pharaoh to be the hard-hearted person he was so that God could use it for His plans. But I say God let Pharaoh be the hard-hearted person Pharaoh wanted to be, and then after Pharaoh decided who he wanted to be, God made it permanent by hardening Pharaoh so that He could use it for His plans. In fact, according to Strong's concordance with Vine's Expository Dictionary, "hardens" is a retributive hardening, a punishment for first hardening our own hearts, for repeatedly resisting God even though He's been patient and longsuffering with us.
Proverbs 2 tells us to seek wisdom diligently. And when we do, we will “understand what is right and just and fair - every good path.” (Proverbs 2:9) Wisdom is necessary to figure out the “good paths” that God wants us to take. He doesn’t just do what He wills or what He wants to have happen in our lives. We have to be walking in wisdom to figure it out.
[The Calvinist reply to "Why would we need to pray and seek wisdom if God (according to Calvinism) predestines everything that happens anyway" would be something like "Well, God ordains the means as well as the ends," meaning that He predestines (i.e. preplans, causes, forces) the end goal and all the steps to get there, what we do and what our choices are and if we pray or not.
But once again, "Why should we bother caring or trying to seek His Will and obey His Will if He, as Calvinist theology teaches, preplans and controls everything, down to whether or not we even care or try? If we're meant to care or try, He'll cause it to happen, with or without our thoughts, desires, or efforts. If we're not meant to, then He'll make sure we never do. It's all up to Him; we have no influence over it. So why should we sweat it?"
In the end, Calvinism is self-defeating, because nothing we think or do really matters because Calvi-god planned it all and will carry it all out exactly the way he planned. So if we obey and are wise, it's Calvi-god's Will. If we don't obey and are stupid, it's Calvi-god's Will. And we couldn't choose to do anything different than what Calvi-god predestined for us, according to Calvinism. Not only is this self-defeating, but it also destroys God's character and trustworthiness because it makes Him the ultimate cause of all sin and it means that He "ordains" the sin He commands us not to do and punishes us for. Very untrustworthy and unjust!]
I think the problem comes when we misinterpret verses like “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord ...” (Jeremiah 29:11), “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.” (Proverbs 16:9), and “... for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” (Philippians 2:13).
We hear these and think it means that since He has plans, He’ll do what He plans, regardless of us. That His plans are set in stone and it’s going to happen regardless of what we do. Right?
And I’m sure some verses seem to support for this. After all, there are times in the Bible where we read about certain people being called up or raised up by God for a certain purpose, like judges, Pharaohs, and prophets. But I don't think God overrides their free-will. I think He knew which person would be the best fit for His purposes at that particular time in history, and He knew what they would choose in any given situation, and so He foreknew who He could use and how and for what purposes, and He weaved that into His plan. That’s how I best understand it.
[Calvinists would say that God forced Pharaoh to be the hard-hearted person he was so that God could use it for His plans. But I say God let Pharaoh be the hard-hearted person Pharaoh wanted to be, and then after Pharaoh decided who he wanted to be, God made it permanent by hardening Pharaoh so that He could use it for His plans. In fact, according to Strong's concordance with Vine's Expository Dictionary, "hardens" is a retributive hardening, a punishment for first hardening our own hearts, for repeatedly resisting God even though He's been patient and longsuffering with us.
And Calvinists would say that God "irresistibly called" (forced) Saul to become the apostle Paul, that Paul had no choice about becoming a believer and apostle, to do the job God gave him. But I say that there's nothing in Saul/Paul's conversion story that shows that he didn't have a choice in how he responded to God's blindingly-clear call. I say that when the Lord blinded him and called him, Paul wasn't "forced" to be a believer; he was just smart enough to recognize God when he saw Him and to know that he had better believe and do what he's told. God didn't control what Paul decided; He just made Himself so clear that only a huge fool would refuse to believe. And Paul was not a huge fool.]
I do not believe God controls the decisions we make. But He can and does put us in situations that cause us to make the decisions He knows we will make. And He can and does work circumstances out in such a way to appeal to our personalities to get us to do what He wants us to do.
Such as, imagine a situation where God knows Bill is a faithful, outspoken witness, with a tender heart for hurting people. And Susan is a hurting woman who is searching for some hope, for God, but she doesn't know how to find Him. So God manipulates the circumstances by stalling Bill's car so that Bill decides to take the train to work. And God makes Bill late for Train A so that he ends up on Train B, next to Susan. And in the course of the train ride, Bill and Susan strike up a conversation, and Bill ends up helping Susan find the Lord. God didn't force Bill to be a believer or to be outspoken or to care about hurting people or to talk to Susan. He didn't even force Bill to decide to ride the train, because Bill could have chosen to call in and tell the bosses he couldn't make it that day. But since Bill was the kind of person he was and God knew that he'd decide to take the train and that Susan was on a train too, God orchestrated events to work it all into good, into something eternally useful.
This is how God can work things together without overriding our free-will right to choose, and how He can hold us accountable for our choices (such as to sin and rebel) even though He can use them for His plans and work them into good. He does it by manipulating circumstances in a way to appeal to our free-will, to make the most of the choices He knows we'll make. Not by causing us to decide what we do (which causes a severe problem when Calvinists claim that God "preplans, controls, causes" our sins and unbelief).
Whichever way God chooses to work circumstances out to get us to make a choice, in the end it's our decision to obey or disobey. And since it's our choice, we are responsible for our decisions and the consequences we reap. And whether we obey or disobey, God knew what we'd do and how to incorporate it into His plans.
5. In Acts 27, we read that it was God’s Will to spare all the people who were on the boat with Paul during a storm... but only if they stayed with the ship. God had a Will, a plan, but the people had to decide if they would follow Him in it, if they would stay safely in His Will or stray outside of it.
I do not believe God controls the decisions we make. But He can and does put us in situations that cause us to make the decisions He knows we will make. And He can and does work circumstances out in such a way to appeal to our personalities to get us to do what He wants us to do.
Such as, imagine a situation where God knows Bill is a faithful, outspoken witness, with a tender heart for hurting people. And Susan is a hurting woman who is searching for some hope, for God, but she doesn't know how to find Him. So God manipulates the circumstances by stalling Bill's car so that Bill decides to take the train to work. And God makes Bill late for Train A so that he ends up on Train B, next to Susan. And in the course of the train ride, Bill and Susan strike up a conversation, and Bill ends up helping Susan find the Lord. God didn't force Bill to be a believer or to be outspoken or to care about hurting people or to talk to Susan. He didn't even force Bill to decide to ride the train, because Bill could have chosen to call in and tell the bosses he couldn't make it that day. But since Bill was the kind of person he was and God knew that he'd decide to take the train and that Susan was on a train too, God orchestrated events to work it all into good, into something eternally useful.
This is how God can work things together without overriding our free-will right to choose, and how He can hold us accountable for our choices (such as to sin and rebel) even though He can use them for His plans and work them into good. He does it by manipulating circumstances in a way to appeal to our free-will, to make the most of the choices He knows we'll make. Not by causing us to decide what we do (which causes a severe problem when Calvinists claim that God "preplans, controls, causes" our sins and unbelief).
Whichever way God chooses to work circumstances out to get us to make a choice, in the end it's our decision to obey or disobey. And since it's our choice, we are responsible for our decisions and the consequences we reap. And whether we obey or disobey, God knew what we'd do and how to incorporate it into His plans.
There are several Bible stories that I think help illustrate this.
1. Many times in the Old Testament, we read that God lays out blessings and curses and then tells the people to choose (see Deuteronomy 30). He tells them that their choice to obey or disobey His commands will determine if they take the blessing path or the curse path. Obviously, it’s God’s desire that they take the path to blessings, but He doesn’t force it. He allows them to choose and He allows them to disobey. And then, He allows them to face the consequences.
2. In Exodus 4:24, we read that even though God had called Moses to help free the Israelites from Egypt, God was going to put Moses to death one night before freeing the Israelites because Moses failed to obey the command to circumcise his son. The first time I read this, I thought, "What!?! How could You do that, God? You need Moses!" However, I eventually came to realize that God could easily adjust His plans for us, the roles He gives us, according to our decisions, according to whether or not we obey Him. God didn't need Moses, but God wanted to use Moses because Moses was the best option at that point in time, provided that Moses obeyed and did his part. Yes, God had plans for him, but Moses was still required to do his part in order to be part of those plans. If Moses obeyed (which God knew he'd do), God knew how He'd work it into His plans, but if Moses disobeyed, God would know how to work that into His plans instead. God has plans for us, but whether we end up on the path of blessings/good consequences or the path of curses/bad consequences depends on whether or not we obey what God calls us to do. It's our choice, and God will respond accordingly.
3. Consider the Israelites at Passover. It was God’s Will that they be spared when the Angel of Death came and killed the firstborn of the Egyptians. But in order for God’s Will to be done, they had to be obedient in putting the blood of a lamb on their doorframe. God had a Will (plans) for them, but it was carried out by the people’s obedience. And if they were disobedient, they would miss out on God's Will and have to pay the consequences. [According to the Strong's with Vine's, God's Will is often not about some kind of "preset, written-in-stone plan" but about His "preferred will," what He wants to have happen based on His desires for us. But He leaves it up to us to choose to obey or disobey Him, to follow His Will or rebel against it.]
4. Also regarding the Israelites, it was God's Will to get them to the Promised Land. He desired and planned that for them, but they rebelled and grumbled and disobeyed on the way. So as a consequence of their rebellion, He extended their stay in the desert until all the grumblers died off, and then He led them to the Promised Land. So His over-arching Will/plan to get them to Canaan was accomplished, but the people affected the journey they took to get there, their own role in that plan and the consequences they faced. It didn’t have to work out the way that it did. God didn’t “will” that they die in the desert. They could have had the blessings of His original plan for them, if they had just obeyed and followed Him in faith.
5. In Acts 27, we read that it was God’s Will to spare all the people who were on the boat with Paul during a storm... but only if they stayed with the ship. God had a Will, a plan, but the people had to decide if they would follow Him in it, if they would stay safely in His Will or stray outside of it.
6. In 1 Samuel 23:12-13, David asks the Lord if the people of the town Keilah will hand him over to Saul, who is pursuing him to kill him. And God says that if he stays in that town, they will hand him over to Saul. Armed with this foreknowledge of what will happen, David leaves. God knew what would happen in both options - if David stayed or if David left - but He let David decide.
7. In 1 Samuel 13:13, Samuel tells Saul that if Saul had kept God's commands, then God would have established Saul's kingdom permanently. If Saul had obeyed God, then things would have worked out differently. God had plans for Saul, but they hinged on what Saul chose. If Saul obeyed, he'd get the path of blessings. But Saul disobeyed, and so he got the path of curses. And God shifted the kingship to David, to someone who would obey Him.
8. 1 Kings 20:42 says "He said to the king, 'This is what the Lord says: 'You have set free a man I had determined should die.''" God promised the king of Israel, Ahab, that He would wipe out an enemy nation before them, but it meant that Ahab must kill its king, Ben-Hadad. But Ahab didn't obey and he let Ben-Hadad go free instead. And as a consequence of Ahab's disobedience, Ahab would die in battle. God had plans to bless Israel and fully wipe out their enemy, but Ahab had to choose to do his part, which he didn't. And it changed what God originally intended to do for him.
9. Exodus 13:17: "When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country. For God said 'If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt." If God preplans/orchestrates/controls everything (as Calvinists believe) then why would God say that something different could have happened if the people took a different route?
The answer is: Calvinism is wrong. God doesn't preplan/control everything we do. He has plans for us, a "preferred Will," things He promises to do for us and things He wants to bless us with, but we have to do our parts to get those blessings and promises. He leaves it up to us to decide. And if we disobey, we will miss out on His best plans for us.
If we think that God’s Will for our lives is pre-set and that “whatever happens must be God’s Will because God always does what He wants,” we will be off-track and drifting through life, letting whatever happens happen because we don't think we can do anything to change it or affect it.
Living like we have no effect on whether God’s Will gets done or not will cause us to be lazy in our daily pursuit of God, lazy in prayer, lazy in obedience, lazy in reading and applying His Word, and lazy and ineffective in spiritual warfare. Because "What does it matter anyway?"
But in the Bible, God is very clear that we choose how we respond to Him and how much we pursue Him, His righteousness, His truth, His Will. We make our own choices between good and evil, between obedience and disobedience - and obedience is critical to obtaining the blessings He wants for us, critical to staying in His Will and staying on the path He wants us to take.
I am not saying that we have an influence over everything or complete freedom to do whatever we want (God gives us limits and boundaries - but lots of freedom to move freely within those boundaries - and can override our decisions) or that God always hinges His Will on us (there are times He doesn't, such as God promises that Jesus will come back again, and this will happen regardless of our choices in this life). But there are many times in our own lives that we do have an effect and that He does hinge things on us, many times when He acts/moves/responds according to our choices.
So I don't think there are pre-set paths all planned out for us that we have to find. I don't think that everything that happens is "God's Will." I think God has general plans for us all, such as to serve Him, to be honest, to bring Him glory, to witness to others, to be a good, loving, honest, faithful, compassionate family member and neighbor and employee, etc. And I believe that He is always willing to guide us in the best path for us in our current season and circumstances of life (especially through His Word and prayer). But I also believe that He leaves it up to us if we will follow His path or go our own way (and reap the consequences). And yet whether we obey or disobey, He can still work our choices into His over-all plans somehow, even if it alters the effect it has on our own lives.
But in the Bible, God is very clear that we choose how we respond to Him and how much we pursue Him, His righteousness, His truth, His Will. We make our own choices between good and evil, between obedience and disobedience - and obedience is critical to obtaining the blessings He wants for us, critical to staying in His Will and staying on the path He wants us to take.
I am not saying that we have an influence over everything or complete freedom to do whatever we want (God gives us limits and boundaries - but lots of freedom to move freely within those boundaries - and can override our decisions) or that God always hinges His Will on us (there are times He doesn't, such as God promises that Jesus will come back again, and this will happen regardless of our choices in this life). But there are many times in our own lives that we do have an effect and that He does hinge things on us, many times when He acts/moves/responds according to our choices.
So I don't think there are pre-set paths all planned out for us that we have to find. I don't think that everything that happens is "God's Will." I think God has general plans for us all, such as to serve Him, to be honest, to bring Him glory, to witness to others, to be a good, loving, honest, faithful, compassionate family member and neighbor and employee, etc. And I believe that He is always willing to guide us in the best path for us in our current season and circumstances of life (especially through His Word and prayer). But I also believe that He leaves it up to us if we will follow His path or go our own way (and reap the consequences). And yet whether we obey or disobey, He can still work our choices into His over-all plans somehow, even if it alters the effect it has on our own lives.
I think the verses that talk about God “determining out steps” need to be viewed in light of all the other verses that talk about our steps being guided as we obey God, as we walk in His ways and use wisdom. It’s not that He forces us down certain paths; it’s that He guides us down the path and “determines our steps” when we are living in obedience to Him, walking in His ways, following His commands, seeking Him, abiding in His Word, praying, and using wisdom. It doesn’t just happen, apart from our obedient lifestyle. We cannot just do what we want and expect that it's all "God's Will" or that we are automatically on the best path for us.
Exodus 19:5: “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession.” (If the Israelites obeyed, then they would get the blessing.)
Deuteronomy 6:3: “Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, promised you.” (God’s promises and His best plans for us hinge on our obedience.)
Psalm 119:1-4, 9-10: “Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord. Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart. They do nothing wrong; they walk in his ways. You have laid down precepts that are to be fully obeyed.... How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands.” (Those who walk according to His law are walking in His ways. If we want to find the best “way” and the blessed path, we have to obey Him.)
Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” (Our paths are straightened out by the Lord as we trust Him and acknowledge Him in all our ways, as we walk with Him daily.)
Matthew 6:33: “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Once again, we’ll get the blessings that God wants to give us when we put our focus on seeking His kingdom and His righteousness.)
I think those who believe God's Will always "just happens" and that everything that happens is God's Will fall into the trap of thinking we can do "whatever" and that we'll still end up being in His Will (and they can't understand why prayer matters).
But reading between the lines of Romans 12:1-2 shows me that God doesn’t just force His Will on people (what He desires for/from us), regardless of what man does. Man actually has much greater level of responsibility than just “God's Will always happens, regardless of what I do.”
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Out of thankfulness for the mercy that God has shown us, we are to live holy and pleasing lives as God calls us to (this is what I call seeking righteousness or living righteously). We are to sacrifice our desires and plans for His sake and for His kingdom, offering our bodies to be used by Him and for His purposes. And this includes our minds, which we are to transform and renew by the power of the Holy Spirit.
We need to get our hearts and minds in line with Him. And this can only really happen when we choose to stop conforming to the world. We can’t do both: have our minds conformed to the world and yet transformed by the Holy Spirit. But when we choose to let go of our worldly pursuits and mindsets - when we seek to be holy and pleasing and submissive to God - we give the Spirit room to come in and transform us. And it is then that we can discern God’s perfect Will for our lives, what He wants for us and from us and the ways that He wants us to walk. And then, it’s up to us to obey!
Psalm 37:23 tells us “If the Lord delights in a man’s way, he makes his steps firm.” And Proverbs 11:5 says, “The righteousness of the blameless makes a straight way for them, but the wicked are brought down by their own wickedness.”
We won’t know God’s plans for us by trying to “force” Him to reveal it, by trying to make it happen, or by merely sitting back and waiting for it to come to us, presuming that God will drop blessings in our laps and guide our steps as we self-centeredly go about our business. We have a lot more to do than just "going with the flow," thinking we’ll stumble onto God’s plans for our lives or always be in His Will no matter what. We need to be delighting the Lord with our righteous living and our obedience if we want to remain on His best path for us.
Even Philippians 2:12 echoes this (which is just before the verse that says that God works in us to will and to act according to His purposes). It says that as we have always obeyed, we are to continue to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. We are to continue in our obedience, in fear of the Lord, because God works in us to accomplish His purposes.
For some reason, we always skip the part that talks about our responsibility, and we go right to the part that says that God will work in us according to His purposes. And then we think that He’ll just do whatever He wants in us and through us, that we'll always be in His Will and that whatever happens is always His Will.
Exodus 19:5: “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession.” (If the Israelites obeyed, then they would get the blessing.)
Deuteronomy 6:3: “Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, promised you.” (God’s promises and His best plans for us hinge on our obedience.)
Psalm 119:1-4, 9-10: “Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord. Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart. They do nothing wrong; they walk in his ways. You have laid down precepts that are to be fully obeyed.... How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands.” (Those who walk according to His law are walking in His ways. If we want to find the best “way” and the blessed path, we have to obey Him.)
Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” (Our paths are straightened out by the Lord as we trust Him and acknowledge Him in all our ways, as we walk with Him daily.)
Matthew 6:33: “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Once again, we’ll get the blessings that God wants to give us when we put our focus on seeking His kingdom and His righteousness.)
I think those who believe God's Will always "just happens" and that everything that happens is God's Will fall into the trap of thinking we can do "whatever" and that we'll still end up being in His Will (and they can't understand why prayer matters).
But reading between the lines of Romans 12:1-2 shows me that God doesn’t just force His Will on people (what He desires for/from us), regardless of what man does. Man actually has much greater level of responsibility than just “God's Will always happens, regardless of what I do.”
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Out of thankfulness for the mercy that God has shown us, we are to live holy and pleasing lives as God calls us to (this is what I call seeking righteousness or living righteously). We are to sacrifice our desires and plans for His sake and for His kingdom, offering our bodies to be used by Him and for His purposes. And this includes our minds, which we are to transform and renew by the power of the Holy Spirit.
We need to get our hearts and minds in line with Him. And this can only really happen when we choose to stop conforming to the world. We can’t do both: have our minds conformed to the world and yet transformed by the Holy Spirit. But when we choose to let go of our worldly pursuits and mindsets - when we seek to be holy and pleasing and submissive to God - we give the Spirit room to come in and transform us. And it is then that we can discern God’s perfect Will for our lives, what He wants for us and from us and the ways that He wants us to walk. And then, it’s up to us to obey!
Psalm 37:23 tells us “If the Lord delights in a man’s way, he makes his steps firm.” And Proverbs 11:5 says, “The righteousness of the blameless makes a straight way for them, but the wicked are brought down by their own wickedness.”
We won’t know God’s plans for us by trying to “force” Him to reveal it, by trying to make it happen, or by merely sitting back and waiting for it to come to us, presuming that God will drop blessings in our laps and guide our steps as we self-centeredly go about our business. We have a lot more to do than just "going with the flow," thinking we’ll stumble onto God’s plans for our lives or always be in His Will no matter what. We need to be delighting the Lord with our righteous living and our obedience if we want to remain on His best path for us.
Even Philippians 2:12 echoes this (which is just before the verse that says that God works in us to will and to act according to His purposes). It says that as we have always obeyed, we are to continue to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. We are to continue in our obedience, in fear of the Lord, because God works in us to accomplish His purposes.
For some reason, we always skip the part that talks about our responsibility, and we go right to the part that says that God will work in us according to His purposes. And then we think that He’ll just do whatever He wants in us and through us, that we'll always be in His Will and that whatever happens is always His Will.
But I think the Bible shows that God works His plans out in cooperation with mankind, through our prayers and obedience. They won’t just happen if we are not doing our part. (Of course, He can and does use our disobedience and sins too, without causing them, but then we miss out on the kind of life He wanted us to have.)
But most of us don’t want to put that kind of effort in. We’d rather just convince ourselves that every open door is from God and that everything that happens is "His Will". It’s a lot easier and a lot less disruptive than transforming our lives and our minds.
