In the human pursuit of the will of God it is common to ask the question about some particular perceived course of action, "is it the will of God for me to do this or that?" Whether the inquiry be the purchase of a new car, a new cup of coffee, who to date, or whether to pursue a degree, change a job, or move to a different city, we spend much of our time focused on discerning the will of God on these crucial decisions of our lives.
A short glance through the book selections at most bookstores (online or brick and mortar) with a Christian section will almost certainly include books designed to help the person making a decision to pray through the different options. We talk to our friends, our co-workers, our families, we spend time alone in prayer, we journal at length, we enter into a period of discernment with trusted friends, we spare no amount of emotional or psychological effort in the desire to find the will of God.
I was raised in a Christian environment that automatically assumed that this practice was normal. I went to a Seminary on the other side of the country that also functioned under this paradigm. I went to a church while at Seminary that also operated with a heavy dependence upon the perceived and discerned will of God for guidance in almost all its critical and non critical decisions.
The desire is to live the way God wants us to live. The fear is that we will make a decision that is not, as the language says, "according to the will of God." Everyone is consciously aware that Scripture is incredibly limited when it comes to actually offering advice though on how we discern the will of God. So we trust our emotional instincts, we search for internal peace, we try to recognize the voice of God in prayer, we do all these things -- but the argument from Scripture for them is implicit at best.
There is something that doesn't match up here, and this blog post is a small attempt at providing another alternative when it comes to knowing the will of God.
The thing that doesn't add up is the sheer lack of Scriptural support for having the lives of communities and individuals dominated by a spirituality that insists on discerning the will of God constantly. The other thing that doesn't add up is the emotional stress that is placed -- both on the decision makers and on the people that go along with the decision that is made. Drawing the line here between human group dynamics and the actual discerned will of God is nearly impossible. Saying that we know we are right because we have “faith” that God has spoken and that we have heard Him is psychologically dangerous and irresponsible.
By contrast, Scripture does say that we all (by virtue of our having been created by God and by virtue of how God self reveals in Scripture as the one who liberates the unliberated) have both a responsibility and a desire to do acts of Justice, of Mercy, and of Kindness to our fellow humans. I'm aware that that was a long sentence, so let me try to break it down a bit.
What I'm saying is this: to be a human that follows God in the world is to do acts of Justice, of Mercy, and of Kindness. Why? Because God created us and because God reveals himself as the one who liberated the oppressed Jewish people from their slavery, giving them a land all their own. We are correct to infer that every human has a very human right to their own sustenance, their own shelter, and the preservation of their own life. Christ reveals himself especially in Mark as the one who heals the Leper, heals the shriveled hand in the synagogue on Sabbath, binds the wounds of the broken, and sets the captives free.
When we seek to follow this Christ, we do the same. End of story. To close, there are a few very basic guiding questions we make ask in regards to any decision. None of these questions assume, however, that God desires us to either buy or not buy the car, date or not date the person we like, pursue or not pursue that job or that degree. In the final analysis, an answer that provided a yes or a no in one of these situations always runs up against the things above that don't add up about asking these types of questions in the first place.
1.) does this activity provide a chance for me to act more justly in my life? In other words, can I remove the suffering of someone, can I fight against stigmatization, can I work to make right that which is wrong?
2.) Can I do acts of mercy? Are there people who are suffering and who probably brought the suffering they are experiencing upon their own heads -- can I remove their suffering anyway? Can I give them the unexpected and desired something (whatever it is, in whatever their situation is) that will cause them less pain, less torment, and less suffering?
3.) Can I do acts of kindness? Can I look out for myself and for others in a way that increases their love, that treasures them as people, that walks with them on their journey and carries their burden with them? Can I surprise them with joy? Can I appreciate with them the dreams they don't dare to hope for anymore?
I think these questions have biblical support. I think these questions do real and lasting good in a person or in a community's life. I think these questions don't create emotional stress and don't rely on an internal "presence of peace". I think these questions don't focus on me and my future -- instead they focus on the life, wellbeing, and health of those around me.
In conclusion, in discerning what path to take, look for these opportunities. Look for a way to answer yes to at least one of these questions in your quest. It isn't as if, if you do, you'll know the will of God for that decision -- but it is the case that if you can answer yes to any of the three questions I posed I suspect that your eyes will be opened in such a way as to easily see how God is moving in your life and the lives of those around you.
Once again, I appreciate your treatment of this aspect of populist spirituality. I assume you would concede that God does, from time to time, give people reasonably direct "answers" or directions for them to go in, but not everyone is going to experience this supernatural surety every time we consult the Holy Spirit Eight Ball?
ReplyDeleteThanks for pointing us towards the bigger/biblical context of knowing God's will generally. Gotta start with what's certain like that before we delve into details.
Thank you for your response, and the question. To be perfectly frank, I want to concede what you assume I will concede, namely, that God does, from time to time, give people reasonably direct answers to prayer even though this experience is certainly not normative. I remain, however, very torn by this.
DeleteOn the one hand, there are some scriptural examples of "seeking the will of God" in prayer. One is reminded of Paul in Acts, and of corporate moments of confession and repentance by Israel and even by Ninevah. We do well, however, to keep in mind that even in these instances (and here I really must go back and re-read Acts and Luke together and then do a major study on how they are both used within the Lectionary) the "will of God" is generally already known -- the point of the "seeking" seems to always result in those who are seeking being reminded to do acts of justice, of mercy, and of kindness.
Paul is reminded (or warned) by one who has the gift of prophecy (in our culture that means precisely someone who "hears" from God in a conversational sort of sense and is recognized by the community as such -- but one does well toe remember that in Paul's day this gift was more in line with saying things that the Prophets said, aka, love justice, be merciful, and walk with humility before God) not to go to Jerusalem. But he goes anwyay, precisely because he has also recieved a word from God. There is the dream where the Macedonian guy really wants Paul to come, then Paul is warned in a dream not to come -- then there are the Magi in Matthew 2 who are warned in a dream to go by a different way -- but neither of these really replicate a situation in which someone is trying to "discern" the will of God and then, as a result, (or at least chronologically at a later date) God says, "do this". Attributing the certainty of the voice of God to a dream is interesting -- but also tremendously difficult, especially if the result of that attribution effects an entire community or group of communities.
(Part 2)
DeleteI guess what I'm getting is that while I can't strictly rule out the possibilty that God may give people an "answer" in prayer to a "question" they give Him -- I see neither the need nor a shocking amount of Scriptural support for the idea.
We are the church. We have the Word -- as witness to the fullness of the revelation of God in Christ. And that witness tells us to go out into the world and make disciples by gathering the world into the church -- which is precisely a binding of the wounds of the broken and a proclamation of freedom to the oppressed. The Kingdom of God that is part of our life and is among us is precisely this: Justice, Mercy, Kindness, Freedom, Healing, Hope, Community -- all in Christ who is our life and in whom we live. The old nature of division and oppression and hatred and alianation and stigmatization of the outcast that sets up a dviding wall is torn down in Christ -- in whom we live and move and have our being. We eat Him and become those whose lives are lived in Him -- what more is needed?
Why do we need to try to say of this God who has so revealed Himself to us that more is needed, that He needs to be able to answer our questions when we stop to seek His will? Isn't His will already among us? Aren't we told that we accomplish that will in the giving of a glass of water to the least among us and in the loving of children, and in the touching of the lepor, and in the opening of the feast to those on the street who were not invited?
I don't see Scripture giving us precedence for how to be certain we've actually recieved in prayer the answer to the question, "what is the will of God?" But I do see Scripture giving us precedence and even giving us the ability to recieve Christ Himself into our midst -- precisely as we love the stranger, the homeless, the outcast, and the widower (and yes, in our culture also the liberal, the GLBTQ, the underpaid minimum wage service worker, the one crushed by credit card or school loan debt, the single parent, and the unemployed.
Sorry to go on a rant there, but does any of what I've just said resonate?
A month and a half later... yes it does resonate.
DeleteThis came recently in conversations with other people, or at least something similar: one guy was ranting (somewhat) about our obsession with "discovering our spiritual gifts" over against recognizing our common calling in Christ to be his ambassadors/light/hands in the world. The individualistic spiritual gifts are more a secondary extension of that.
It reminded me of your comments here, so I've just re-read them, and it does strike me as a parallel argument. The will of God is generally revealed in Scripture already: feed the hungry, clothe the naked, free the oppressed, heal the sick, preach good news to the poor (and/or the poor in spirit), and so forth. Specific instructions from God (who to date, what job to pursue, etc) are secondary extensions of those best framed by the questions you described in the original post: "will this job increase my ability to care for the needy?"
Does that seem a fair assessment of your argument?
Yes!!! This works. As long as the secondary extension isn't necessarily viewed within a framework which assumes that God has opinion or a "will" that directs us towards this job or that person (to date). If we are directing our own jobs and dating situations (and everything else we really do have control over) in such a way that cares as much more for the needy as we possibly can, then we may direct our lives in perfect freedom.
ReplyDeleteThis is a radical ethic -- I am essentially arguing that an ethic which starts from the question, "What is the Good?" should be replaced by an ethic that starts from the question, "what maximizes my ability to heal the wounds of the broken and proclaim liberty to the captives?"