Suffering / Trials

This has been a helpful reminder to me. Hope it can be of help to you, wherever you are...

A note by Andrew Murray 1895 ~

In time of trouble, say, "First, He brought me here. It is by His will I am in this strait place; in that I will rest." Next, "He will keep me here in His love, and give me grace in this trial to behave as His child." Then say, "He will make the trial a blessing, teaching me lessons He intends me to learn, and working in me the grace He means to bestow." And last, say, "In His good time He can bring me out again. How, and when, He knows." Therefore say, "I am here (1 ) by God's appointment, (2) in His keeping, (3) under His training, (4) for His time."

CALLED

Week 1 ~ Called to Follow

One thing we all wonder about is does God have an individual, unique and exciting calling for my life?

Last week I actually posited the same question on Face Book with some interesting replies. While some people answered the question with an enthusiastic yes, others seemed disenchanted by the mere notion of an individual calling, let alone an exciting one. As one author states, “we have glamorized the idea of calling…”; however, as he rightly continues, there is nothing glamorous about calling, and receiving a calling from God by no means assures happiness. Take Paul for example. He received a supernatural calling from God, a calling that included seeing a bright heavenly light that blinded him, hearing a thunderous heavenly voice that confronted his persecution of the early church, encountered the risen Christ and received confirmation that this was not his overactive imagination playing tricks on him through the witness of Ananias and having his eyesight restored miraculously by the prayer of this man. Pretty cool if you ask me. However, this supernatural calling, while it led to innumerable disciples and a score of new churches as well as ¼ of our New Testament, led Paul to be rejected by his own friends and countrymen, beaten, stoned, arrested, plotted against, shipwrecked, imprisoned and ultimately beheaded. Exciting? I am guessing this depends on your understanding of exciting!

However you turn it, Calling, especially the individual, unique and exciting calling of God is intimately connected with the will of God. What is God up to in the world and could it be that he has a purpose for my life and wants me to play a part in the amazing and glorious story he is writing? There is a lot of talk about the will of God, but if it’s so important for me to know the will of God, why can I not figure it out?

To understand what we mean by finding our calling or discovering the will of God for our lives, we have to understand what we even mean by the terminology “the will of God”. There are three different things people mean when using the terminology “the will of God”.

1. God’s Providential Will – this is God’s sovereign will, which Pastor John Piper calls ‘his will of decree’. This is what God intends to do anyways.

2. God’s Moral Will – these are God’s commandments, including the 10 commandments and NT moral teaching. Piper calls it ‘God’s will of command’.

3. God’s Personal Will – what God wants me to do in any given situation. Should I marry her or not; should I move to Austin or stay in LA should I take the job, start my own business, buy or rent, etc.

God is sovereign over the affairs of man and his providential will sometimes seems to include things that are contrary to his moral will. God decreed for Jesus to be betrayed, arrested, falsely accused, mocked, beaten and flogged, falsely convicted and crucified. Each of these actions were against the moral will of God, they were sinful actions by sinful men. His betrayal by Judas was sin, his trial was sin and the false testimony against him was a direct violation of one of the 10 Commandments. At his crucifixion Jesus asks the Father to forgive his tormentors who were sinning against him; yet in Acts 2 we read that God, who had determined that Christ must come and die to rescue sinful man before the foundation of the world, preordained all this.

Some of us may think, I am confused as it is, I am not even sure I can spell ‘providential’. I just need to make a decision, and I need to make it now! So how on earth do I know what God’s will is?

We often feel that God’s will is mysterious, secretive and maybe even mystical, almost as though God wants to hide his will from us. However, as we study the bible, it appears clear that God’s will is discoverable, in fact it seems that God delights to make his will known to those who delight in him and seek him with an obedient heart.

Could it be that God want us to know his will even more than we want to know his will?

Now there is a question to ponder…

The bible is called the Word of God. Theologians call it God’s self-revelation. So a study of his Word should yield at least some revelation of his will. Even a cursory search of scripture reveals some clues allowing us to discover at least 6 facets of God’s will for us. Some of these are probably not what you expected, but don't just dismiss them...

· It is the will of God that you be saved

o 2 Peter 3:9 - … not willing that any should perish but that all should reach salvation.

o 1 Timothy 2:3-4 - This is good and acceptable in the sight of ​God our Savior,

​who desires all men to be ​​saved and to ​​come to the ​​knowledge of the truth.

· It is the will of God that you be filled with the Spirit

o Ephesians 5:17-18 – Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of God is. And do not get drunk with wine for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.

· It is the will of God that you be sanctified

o 1 Thessalonians 4:3-7 – For this is the will of God, your sanctification: abstain from sexual immorality…For God has not called us for impurity but in holiness.

· It is the will of God that you be submissive (ugh, not sure I like this one...)

o 1 Peter 2:13-15 – Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution… For it is the will of God, that by doing good you should silence ignorant and foolish people.

· It is the will of God that you be grateful (not easy, but important!)

o 1 Thessalonians 5:18 – Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, for that is God’s will for you in Jesus Christ, do not grieve the Holy Spirit.

· It is the will of God that you suffer (ouch! does it really say that?!)

o Philippians 1:29 – For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake not only to believe but also to suffer…

o 2 Timothy 3:12 – Indeed all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

Besides these six noteworthy facets revealed about God’s will in the bible, there are also many things we know about how God would have us live morally. The 10 Commandments, and New Testament teaching in the beatitudes (Matthew 5) are a good place to start. Are we obedient in the areas scripture has clearly revealed as God’s will for our lives? If not it seems doubtful that we are going to receive or obey God’s special guidance or revelation. We do not need to pray about certain things because God has already revealed to us how we should live. It seems to be an apparent truth that where God has already revealed his will in scripture we need not ask for a repeal. Let me illustrate this with two examples.

***When it is tax time, we need not pray about whether we declare all our income or not.

*** When we are contemplating housing arrangements, we need not pray whether we should move in with our girl-friend.

God’s providential will and his moral will provide the dual guardrails for every other decision we are facing in life. (Andy Stanley)

A couple of reminders:

--> The more familiar we are with the Providential Will of God and the more surrendered we become to his Moral Will the easier it becomes for us to discern the personal will of God for our lives! (Andy Stanley)

--> God has an individual, unique and exciting calling for your life!

--> When God reveals his will it is not for our consideration but for our obedience!

--> Could it be that God is more interested in us finding him than finding his will?

--> Could it be that God wants us to know His will more than we want to know his will?

--> Could it be that we cannot discern the will of God in a particular situation because we have refused to obey what he has already revealed to us about his will in another situation?