Jesus taught His disciples to pray ‘Your will be done’ (Matthew 6:10).
What is meant by God’s will?
If you are confused about the will of God you are not alone. One reason for the confusion is that we speak of God’s will in three different ways. Distinguishing between them will help to clear the confusion and enable us to pray “Your will be done,” with greater meaning and understanding.
1. God’s Secret Will
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. (Deuteronomy 29:29)
Notice the important distinction that is made here between what is secret and what is revealed. What is revealed belongs to us and we must do it, but what is secret belongs to God, and we cannot know it.
What is God’s secret will? The Bible speaks about, “the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will” (Ephesians 1:11). Everything that happens is woven into the purpose of God. And nothing that happens is outside of His will. God works all things according to the counsel of His will.
God is sovereign, so His plans always prevail. We see this supremely at the cross. Satan stirred up the events that led to the crucifixion of Jesus. But through this, God accomplished His plan to redeem the world.
God’s will, by which He works out all things according to His purpose, is a wonderful comfort to Christian believers. Nothing in your life is outside of God’s purpose or beyond His control. Now, exactly how the events of our lives are woven into the Father’s plan, we cannot tell. These things are ‘secret’ and the secret things belong to the Lord. They are a mystery to us, and we often find ourselves asking why? Why did You allow this in my life Lord? Why did You save her and not him? What are You doing in the coronavirus? What good can possibly come from this?
These are all questions about God’s secret will and the secret things belong to the Lord.
How should we respond to God’s secret will?
We must trust God in what He has kept secret. When we see Him, what was secret will be revealed. Until then, we walk by faith and not by sight.
So here’s how you pray when you are faced with the mystery of what you don’t understand: Lord, strengthen my faith so that Your will may be done.
2. God’s Revealed Will
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. (Deuteronomy 29:29)
God’s revealed will is found in the Scriptures.
The will of God for us today is revealed in the Great Commandment: It is God’s will that we love the Lord with all our hearts and that we love our neighbors as ourselves (Mark 12:29–31).
The will of God for us today is revealed in the Great Commission: It is God’s will that we go and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19).
The will of God for us today includes the Ten Commandments. God’s will is that you should not commit adultery even in your heart. God’s will is that you should be content. God’s will is that you should tell the truth. God’s will is that you should have no other gods before Him.
There is a marvelous snapshot of God’s will in 1 Thessalonians 5:15–18:
See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Now of course God’s revealed will is not limited to verses that use the words ‘God’s will.’ All that God has called us to in Scripture is His will for us.
God’s revealed will should always be our first concern, because God will hold us accountable for our response to what He has revealed (Romans 14:12). But God will not hold us accountable for what He has kept secret.
This is good news, especially if you have been worried that you might have ‘missed God’s will’ because of a bad decision in your life. God will not say to you on the last day, ‘you went to live in Alabama when you should have gone to Michigan.’ God has not revealed whether you should live in Alabama, Michigan, Illinois or anywhere else. But He has revealed how you should live in Alabama, Michigan, Illinois or wherever you may be. Did you pursue the great commandment and the great commission? Did you pursue a holy life? These are the things for which we must all give an account to God.
How should we respond to God’s revealed will?
We must obey God in what He has revealed. The world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever (1 John 2:17).
So here’s how you pray when God’s revealed will and your desires pull in different directions: ‘Lord, give me strength to obey, so that Your will may be done.’
3. God’s Discerned Will
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2)
There is a will of God that can be discerned. This is neither secret nor revealed, but somewhere in between.
All of us make life-changing decisions and we wrestle with life-changing questions: What college should I attend? Where should I live? Should I marry and if so, who? What work should I pursue? What money should I spend, what should I save, and what should I give? What church should I join? What responsibility should I take on my shoulders?
Every time you come to a fork in the road of your life, you will find yourself asking, “What is God’s will?” But there isn’t a verse in the Bible that answers any of these questions. It is not revealed.
On the other hand, the will of God in these things is not secret or unknowable either. What is good, acceptable and perfect can be ‘discerned.’
And notice that we discern the will of God “by testing.” This testing involves our experience, our ability and capacity, the wisdom of others, open doors of opportunity, circumstances, the desires of our heart, etc.
We do not come to what God has revealed in Scripture and say, ‘Well let’s test this: What do other people think? Where does this fit with my experience? We open the Bible to see what God has revealed and then we rule out what God forbids and we rule in what God commands. But where God has not spoken, we must discern by testing, and so find the path of wisdom.
How should we respond to God’s discerned will?
We cannot test what God has kept secret. We must not test what God has revealed. We should always test what God has called us to discern.
So here’s how you pray when you are faced with a major decision:
‘Lord, help me to discern, so that Your will may be done.’
Your will be done
We need to distinguish between the three spheres of God’s will because we are called to respond to each of them in a distinct and different way. God’s secret will, we cannot know, and we must respond to the mysteries of life with faith. God’s revealed will we can know for sure, and in this we must obey. God’s discerned will, we can test and by testing we can seek and find the path of wisdom.
When we pray ‘Your will be done,’ we are asking for faith in what God has kept secret, obedience in what God has revealed, and wisdom in what God has called us to discern.
This article is adapted from the sermon “God’s Will” in the series on the Lord’s Prayer, Six Things to Ask of God.
Colin Smith is the Senior Pastor of The Orchard Evangelical Free Church in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. He has authored a number of books, including Heaven, How I Got Here and Heaven, So Near - So Far. Colin is the Founder and Teaching Pastor for Open the Bible. Follow him on Twitter.
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