Every Christian agrees that it’s important to do God’s will. As the old hymn says, “trust and obey, for there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus …” But that only covers the things we choose to do either in obedience or disobedience. Yet there is another aspect of God’s will that we all have to deal with every day, and many times it directs our actions as much as, or sometimes even more than, His actual commands.
This is most often referred to as His “sovereign” will. Very simply, it means that God is ultimately responsible for every event and circumstance, because He is the Lord of all (Psalm 135:5-6, Acts 10:36, John 16:15). Sometimes things happens because God directly causes them to happen, and sometimes things happen (even terrible things) because He allows them too … but nothing happens that God doesn’t know of it, and hasn’t worked it onto His plan for the world, and for His children (Rom. 8:28). How this works out for the believer is that we often find that events and circumstances that are not of our own making, and not of our own choice, place us in situations that we simply have to deal with, and have to deal with in a godly way. I may choose, in obedience to God, to go to a worship meeting, but if my car breaks down, or a family member is injured or sick, that circumstance may prevent me from worship that morning. And that is God’s will just as much as His direct command.
There have been books written on why God causes or allows things to happen, and others on how one ought to respond. What I’m going to look at, very briefly, is the Christian’s attitude when God’s sovereign will overrides our choices and our desires. It’s easy enough when God’s sovereign will fully agrees with our own – but what happens when it does not?
The very first reaction many Christians have is, “this is Satan trying to discourage me, and I must resist.” We have ample precedence in the book of Job to know that Satan does evil things to God’s people, and that God allows it for His own glory. Sometimes something very neutral, or even good-seeming, can get in the way of what a person believes God wants for them too, and it isn’t always an obvious temptation or “bad thing.” For example, if a couple is all set to go on the mission field, then unexpectedly discovers they are going to have a baby, is it Satan that whispers in their ear, “you can’t be a missionary now,” or “how are you ever going to raise additional support, you barely have enough now?” If that’s the case, such whisperings clearly must be resisted, and God’s way through it sought diligently with prayer. But what, instead, if it’s a gentle prod from the Lord that He really wants you to go another way? Many times, Christians simply press forward no matter what. They believe their cause to be just and righteous, and they cannot accept God might want something else. In that case, it’s not acceptance of God’s will at all, it’s blatant resistance, and in the end, disobedience. We need to be very careful not to assume a roadblock is from the Devil or his ilk, because sometimes it’s from the Lord Himself.
Another common reaction to contrary circumstance is just the opposite: “Woe is me, God has closed the door … it is my lot in life to suffer for His sake.” This is particularly pernicious, because it feeds on a Christian’s feelings of unworthiness, it taps into latent guilty, both real and imagined, and it reinforces genuine awareness of real inadequacies. Frankly, it often “feels right,” to assume God simply wants a person in a place of discomfort or suffering. There is a great deal of merit in suffering for God’s sake, or the sake of righteousness, but there is none at all in suffering for its own sake. Yet believers often confuse them; they think they are being humble before the Lord, they think misery is a part of godliness. All too often, they are really being self-indulgent. God does call us to suffer for His sake (1 Peter 3:14-17), but He has made it clear that as Christians we are to have life and to have it abundantly (John 10:10). It’s not the suffering He seeks to produce in us, it’s the fruit of that suffering: whether it is for our personal growth (2 Cor. 7:9), for the edification of others (2 Cor. 1:4), or for His own glory (1 Peter 4:14). So, to lie back and let circumstance run right over you because “it’s the will of God,” in it’s way is as bad as trying to force your own will over top of the Lord’s.
So what is the right response to God’s sovereign will when it collides with your own? Sometimes it is to press on regardless, sometimes it’s just to stay where you are and deal with the circumstances as they come; sometimes it’s a combination of both. But it is always to accept God’s will in all meekness, humility and hope (Col. 3:12, Rom. 12:12). And the first thing that has got to go is self. Note that in the two types of responses I have written about, there are proper times for each of them. But in all the cases they are the wrong response, is when self has come to the fore. When you push forward despite God sending a circumstance to redirect you, it’s self-will. When you roll over and let circumstance dictate everything you do, it’s also self-will, in the form of self-pity or self-indulgence. So what you need to immediately say to yourself and to the Lord is, “Not my will, but thine,” (Luke 22:42). And after that you need to remember that He loves you (Rom. 8:38-39), and all things work together for good (Rom. 8:28). Let’s live like we believe those things, and so glorify Him in our obedience, and in placing His will above our own.