God's Will, Part 1

God's Will, Generally, Foundation First

I'm not able to recall where in the writings of Elisabeth Eliot I've read her on the concept of making sure the Christian puts into practice the pursuit of God's will in the plain, revealed promises and commands of the Bible. This is a signature point of hers, maybe in Discipline: A Glad Surrender.

The general will of God means the wide-sweeping, general commands of the Bible. Such matters are first-steps of our marching orders. Things like: practice hospitality, pray with thanksgiving in all things, remember to keep the Sabbath, confess the Lord Jesus before men, forgive those who come saying, "I repent," abstain from sexual immorality, give of the tithes and offerings to the Lord, do not steal, do not tell lies, admonish the unruly, comfort the fainthearted and more.

Men and women and young people seek out a counselor, an elder, pastor, teacher or a parent and they believe that a word from God about His plan will be spoken to them about specific practicalities--like, "attend the University of Washington" or "purchase the GMC truck." It's like walking into a classroom and seeing the handwriting on the white board and they say, "See, here it is; this is God's will and His plan for me." It's their attempt to get God's will in a specific order addressed specifically to them about their specific circumstances.

But right in the same stride in life, at the very same time, these same men and women and young people ignore the general will of God, the revealed commands and promises in His Word. There's an immediate warning about this. Those who are not giving attention to His general will, those who are hit and miss about it, those who are choosy and fair-weather minded about it, those who are feelings oriented with respect to it, will be the same about making decisions regarding His will in the specific steps of the nitty gritty.

What's the answer? We're to pray through and appropriate Christ's strength for daily obedience according to the plainness of what God has said. His will revealed is first order. Why first order? 1. He's glorified and loved ("Love the Lord your God"). 2. We're pursuing Him for first-order matters of His righteousness ("Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness"). 3. We're putting into practice His promises, and this especially has a bearing on guidance, ("Good and upright is the LORD; therefore He teaches sinners in the way. The humble He guides in justice, and the humble He teaches His way.")

The general will of God always carries the weight of knowing and doing God's will in the details.

G. Mark Sumpter