Deuteronomy 29:29 “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.”
We have here two words of permanent significance. The words are ‘secret’ and ‘revealed’. The simple law is that some ‘things’ belong unto our God. We have nothing to do with them. Other things belong to us and to our children. And as for this other things, our duty and relation to these things are to see they are realized and fulfilled in all their meaning and purpose. Things that are secret and revealed occupy distinctly different spheres and yet at the same time they are at some point vitally related.
On the truths about the profound topic of GOD’S WILL we must distinguish between the HIDDEN WILL of God and the REVEALED WILL of God.
(1) The Hidden Will of God
I call the hidden will of God, the secret will of God. God has many secret wills but I just want to touch on the secret will that has to do with us individually. These hidden will that has to do with our lives. The HIDDEN WILL of God can only be known in retrospect, that is when you survey, recollect past events, times and circumstances. Then you realize God has a hidden will for you. Recall that Joseph did not understand the “hidden” will of God in His life until later when he looked back over the events of his life and the Spirit revealed to him that he could confidently say to his brothers “you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.” In this life, we may never know all of God’s hidden or secret will for our life, but we can be assured that God’s ultimate purpose for us as believers is good for He promises to cause all things to work together for good, using them to conform us progressively into the image of His Son.
(2) A godly mindset
To explain let’s look at the life of Joseph. Joseph was a man who had developed a godly mindset that carried him through the many trials in his life. He had been badly mistreated by his own family, as well as by others whom he had not wronged. He spent the better part of his twenties in an Egyptian dungeon, separated from his father, not knowing if he would ever see him again. Yet in spite of all these trials, he could say to his brothers, “You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good”. Joseph’s trust in the sovereign goodness of God carried him through these terrible trials with a joyful spirit, free from bitterness and complaining. Joseph has a godly mindset, a positive attitude which believes in the goodness of God. That same mindset will help us bear up under trials: To bear up under trials, we must trust in the sovereign goodness of God in every situation. Of course I now know the hidden will of God for Pastor Lily, myself, my family and this church, when I start to recollect past events, times and circumstances. I now know the hidden will of God is to bring us into this land to build this church. I don’t think we would ever build this church if all the events had not happened in 2012. I think God had allowed all the events that had happened in 2012.
A mistaken idea, widely promoted in Christian circles, is that all trials are from the devil and that a good God would never send trials to His children. This doctrine teaches us that when we are hit by a trial, whether sickness or a difficult person or a financial setback, we are supposed to rebuke the devil and claim our victory by faith. If we don’t experience fairly rapid deliverance, then our faith may be defective. I believe that this is a faulty paradigm for facing trials. We need to see that God is sovereign over all, even over the evil things people do. In this fallen world, there are many evil people who will seek to harm you. Often, as with Joseph, these evil people are close family members. It may be a parent who abused you emotionally, physically, or even sexually when you were a child. In Joseph’s case, his half-brothers hated him and would have killed him had not the slave traders providentially come by at just the right moment. What is even more galling, often the family members who mistreated you seem to be doing quite well in life. Genesis 38 shows how Judah, who had suggested selling Joseph into slavery, was doing quite well even though he was so far from God that he didn’t hesitate to go in to what he thought was a harlot for a moment’s pleasure. He had his pagan friends and seemed to be enjoying life, all the while that Joseph was grinding out an existence as a slave in a foreign country. You have to keep in mind as you work through Joseph’s story that at the time he was suffering, Joseph didn’t know how the story would turn out. He didn’t know yet that if he just held on for a few years, God would raise him up as second to Pharaoh. But it is clear that he knew one thing for certain, that God is sovereign, even over the evil things people do (45:5, 7, 8; 50:20). Joseph’s trust in the sovereign God carried him through many bleak days in the dungeon.
(3) Everything is good in everything God does
But, also, we must understand and affirm that God is good in everything He does.
“God meant it for good” (50:20). He “works all things together for good” (Rom. 8:28). As God said through Jeremiah to the exiles who had been carried off to Babylon, “’For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope’” (Jer. 29:11). Although God’s people may suffer terribly, they must affirm by faith with the psalmist, that even though God afflicts us with trials, He is good and does good in all His ways (Ps. 119:67-68; 75). Most of us are quick to see God’s goodness in the blessings of life, but not so quick to discern His goodness in the trials. Jacob was like that. When his sons returned from their first trip down to Egypt to buy grain, and the unknown lord of the land (Joseph) had taken Simeon captive and was demanding that Benjamin accompany them on the return visit, Jacob wailed, “You have bereaved me of my children: Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and you would take Benjamin; all these things are against me” (42:36). But, in fact, all these things were not against him. The truth was, God was for him. Even the trial of the famine was being used to reunite him with his beloved Joseph and to provide for all his needs for the rest of his life. I have often profited spiritually from the incident in the life of David where he hit bottom. He had gotten himself into a mess because he had doubted the sovereign goodness of God in his life.
God had promised David that he would sit on the throne of Israel, but for years he had been chased by the mad King Saul. In a moment of despair, David said, “Now I will perish one day by the hand of Saul” (1 Sam. 27:1). So he went and allied himself with the pagan Achish, King of Gath. For a while David was able to play the dangerous game of convincing this pagan king that he was on his side. At first, things seemed to go much better for David and his men. Saul stopped pursuing them. Achish gave David a city, Ziklag, where he and his men could live with their families, instead of having to hide in caves. But then a ticklish situation came up, where Achish and the Philistine warlords were going into battle against Saul. David went up with them, pretending to be one of them. But it was awkward for him to be going into battle against the Lord’s people, including his dear friend, Jonathan. At the last minute, God rescued him by making the Philis6 tine warlords insist that he not accompany them into battle. So David and his men returned to Ziklag. That’s when the bottom dropped out. Raiders had burned Ziklag with fire and had taken all their wives and children captive. David’s men were so upset that they were talking about stoning him. But then comes a great verse: “But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God” (1 Sam. 30:6). I can’t say for certain what all that entailed. But, based on his many Psalms, I believe that David probably confessed his sin of doubting God’s sovereign goodness when he had gone over to Achish. He also probably reaffirmed God’s gracious covenant promises. He definitely humbled himself under God’s Sovereign hand, because he inquired of God as to whether he should go after the raiders and recover their wives and children. That was not an easy thing to do! What if God had said, “No”? But David now was bowing before God’s sovereign lordship. But the great thing about the story is that even though David had brought about many of his troubles by his own lack of faith, God was graciously working things out to give him the kingdom. In the battle against the Philistines, Saul and Jonathan were killed, opening the way for David’s taking the throne. God graciously allowed David and his men to recover their wives and children, along with much spoil. So even though it seemed to David in his low point that God was not good, he could look back and see how God’s sovereign goodness was directing all the events of those difficult years. Martyn Lloyd-Jones points out how when difficult things happen to us, and we are quick to grumble and wonder why God would allow this to happen, and even to doubt His love; it should awaken us to our own sinfulness. We should realize in a new and deeper way how prone we are to harbor unworthy thoughts of the God who has loved us with an everlasting love, and we should be humbled. But, he points out, such humility is good for us, and anything that so humbles us is working together for our good. It also shows us our desperate need of God’s forgiveness, help, and strength. “It is only in this way,” he concludes, “that we really get to know the love and grace of God, His kindness, His compassion, His tenderness, His patience, His longsuffering. How little we know of them!” He sums it up by saying “that our greatest trouble is our ignorance of God. We know things about God, but our real trouble is our ignorance of God Himself—what He really is, and what He is to His people.” (Romans, The Final Perseverance of the Saints [Zondervan], pp. 166-168). This affirmation of God’s goodness, even in our trials
Even then you cannot know all the secret will of God for you. I think only when you get to heaven one day you will fully comprehend. Even then, it is good to discover the hidden will of God for you while here on earth. The bible says the “secret things belong to the Lord”. God is reminding the people that they are in covenant with him. He is their God and they are his people, and that knowledge brings in its wake tremendous responsibilities. In Deuteronomy 29:29, Moses told them that the future was unknown to us. Life is always lived on the brink of the future. Our knowledge is severely limited. John Piper adds that HIDDEN WILL is when “God sovereignly decrees (“Will of Decree”) and designs circumstances so that we end up where He wants us to be even if we don’t have any conscious part in getting there. For example, Paul and Silas found themselves in jail, and the result was the salvation of the jailer and his household (Acts 16:24-34)!”
(4) The Revealed Will of God
God’s REVEALED WILL is most clearly revealed in the HIS WORD, which provides clear guidelines regarding moral and spiritual matters Swindoll writes that “The better you get to know the WORD OF GOD, the less confusing is the WILL OF GOD. Those who struggle the least with the will of God are those who know the Word of God best.”
(5) Diligently studying His revealed Word
It follows that the best way to know GOD’S REVEALED WILL is by diligently studying HIS REVEALED WORD. But we need to beware of the delusion that just reading His Word is sufficient to discern His will. When we obey what we read we will be blessed in what we do (James 1:25-note). In Jn 7:17-note Jesus explains that whoever is willing to do (obey) God’s will, will know whether His teaching is of God or merely His own. The first prerequisite to ascertaining God’s leading in some matter is a willingness to follow God’s will, even if the answer goes against our preference. I want to explain to you the revealed will of God. The revealed will of God is very clear that I have to come back to the Philippines and trust him to provide for Pastor Lily and myself. It is very interesting. When I decided to obey the will of God, when I book the air ticket back, I was surprised I had no difficulty and getting a quite cheap ticket. I just booked my ticket a few days before I fly back and yet it was so reasonably priced. Joy and Ben booked their ticket for the February 24 dedication and she was complaining that it was very expensive. My flight was 2.30 in the morning and my sister-in-law graciously fetched me to the airport. As usual I had to obtain a total of 45 kilos of baggage allowance because I had to bring a 25 kg feedback monitor, 4 boxes of 3 wireless mikes and a lapel mike. On top of that I still had a big bag of CNY goodies for my wife and my backpack containing my laptop. When I was at the check in counter, it amounted to 43.9 kilos and I was able to add in another 1.2 kilos of books into the check in baggage. Then the lady saw my big hand carry bag. She said it is too big and you still have a laptop. Of course I tried to be unreasonable and said the big bag is for hand carry and the backpack is my laptop. She only tags my backpack and leaving my hand carry duffa bag untag. When I went into the entrance the security officer said I had to go back to the check in counter to tag my hand carry bag. So I went back to the lady and said she must tag my hand carry bag. She said it was big and it was over 9 kilos. I said, ‘Then I will take out some goodies and reduced it to 7 kilos.’ She said ok. I took out a few boxes of CNY goodness and put in a paper bag which I had prepared just in case I encounter such situation. My duffa bag was tagged. Now I had three items. My sister-in-law is no more there. She cannot take back my paper bag. I just walked into the immigration counter, this time with three items, my big size duffa bag, my backpack and a paper back and no one stopped me. When I reached Iloilo airport, I was worried about the electronic items at the immigration officer’s counter. When I reached the officer, she inquired about the big boxes. I said, I am a missionary, and this is a speak monitor. She asked me ‘if was leaving the speaker monitor behind in Iloilo, I said yes.’ Then she asked ‘How much is the price of the speaker monitor.’ If you tell them how much, the taxes will be high. I said, ‘Oh this item is bought by the church.’ I did not tell lie. It is true that this church bought this item. And I cleared everything without hindrances. I know that God wants me to be in Iloilo. It is God’s will. When I was in a church on the last Sunday before I flew here, the church was attending was sending two missionaries to the Philippines and they prayed for them. I know that the revealed will of God is for me to come back to the Philippines as soon as possible.
Someone has well said that most people don’t really want to know the will of God in order to do it. They want to know it in order to consider it. Spurgeon emphasizes that “Our responsibility is to seek out and walk in the good old paths (“Will of God” – Jer 6:16-note), even if it goes against our own wills.” And Alan Redpath warns us “Don’t expect God to reveal His will for you next week until you practice it for today.” And so “To understand the will of God is my problem; to undertake the will of God is my privilege; to undercut the will of God is my peril.” (Rees)
(6) Meditate on the Word
John Piper asks “Do you see the implications of saying that we discover GOD’S WILL from HIS WORD? It means that if you are really serious about wanting to do God’s WILL, you will become a meditative student of his WORD. I say MEDITATIVE because it’s not just memorized facts that we need. It is a knowledge of “trajectories’, asking questions of the Scripture we read = “Inductive Bible Study”, prayerfully MEDITATE. I heard a very good example of meditating the word of God from that speaker that is going to be a missionary to the Philippines. He says the word meditate on Psalms 1 is liken to that of a cow. He says that a cow has four stomachs. It will chew the grass and the grass will go into the first stomach, then it will churn and he will regurgitate it out of the mouth and chew it back into the second stomach. It takes time and process to do that. Pastor Lily was telling me that usually on Saturday when she wants to study the word of God; it takes more than 2 hours. I call that meditation. Please remember that Psalms 1 promises that those who mediate on the word of God will be successful, prosperous in whatever he or she does. If you are not spending much time in MEDITATIVE STUDY OF GOD’S WORD, then probably doing God’s will on earth is not the passion of your life. And if you ever ask the question, “What is God’s will?” you probably get very confused? Do you think that in this atmosphere you can maintain a vigorous, powerful, free, renewed mind with a ten-minute glance at God’s book once a day? The reason there are church people who are basically secular like everyone else except with a religious veneer is that they devote 99% of their time absorbing the trajectories of the world and 1% of their time absorbing the trajectories of the Word. If you want to bring forth the will of God in your life like a mother brings forth a child, you must “marry” the Bible. For some of you the Bible is a stranger that you greet on the way to work but never have over for a relaxed evening of conversation and seldom invite along to spend significant time with you on vacation. Then do not be surprised if you are ill-equipped to read the “trajectories” of God’s will for your own life.
(7) ROLE OF A RENEWED MIND:
What about those situations where there is no obvious Bible passage clearly revealing God’s will? Piper notes that in fact “Most of the decisions we make are not spelled out specifically in the Bible.” He advocates an approach based on Ro 12:2-note which says “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove (Greek means to test & approve) what the WILL OF GOD is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” And so we seek to spend time with God in His Word and in prayer, not so much to discern His will, but primarily to allow the Spirit to RENEW OUR MINDS with the truth (cp 2Cor 3:18-note, Jn 17:17-note, Eph 4:23-note, Col 3:10-note). As our mind is renewed, we are better able to see things the way God sees and understands them. Then when we are faced with a choice, there is something in our renewed mind (1Cor 2:16b-note) which is able to discern “where Christ would be magnified, where faith would be built, and where people would be loved.….The Spirit shapes the mind and heart through the WORD and PRAYER so that we have inclinations toward what would be most glorifying to Him (1Cor 10:31-note)” (Piper). Piper goes on to emphasize that the “the prerequisite of divine guidance is NOT the quest for messages, but the quest for holiness. Guidance is the product NOT of ecstatic heights but of spiritual depth.” In other words, we can best discern God’s will when we seek first His kingdom (and Jesus the King), for then all these things (including God’s good and acceptable and perfect will) will be given to us (Mt 6:33-note). The relationship with God must come first!
(8) ROLE OF PRAYER:
Jesus taught us to pray “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (Mt 6:10-note) And on the night before He was crucified and experiencing intense agony (being in the center of God’s will does not mean we are immune to suffering!) and selflessly prayed “yet NOT MY WILL but THINE be done.” (Luke 22:42-note, cp Jn 4:34-note). Watson agrees that “If we would do GOD’S WILL aright, let us labor for self-denial. Unless we deny OUR OWN WILL, we shall never do God’s will. His will and ours are like the wind and tide when they are contrary.” Indeed, Jesus could affirm “I always do the things that are pleasing (His Father’s will) to Him.” (Jn 8:29-note) And so if any of us lacks wisdom as to what to do in a difficult situation, James instructs us to ask God, believing that He will generously give us wisdom (James 1:2-7-note). We should also ask God that we might be FILLED WITH (controlled by) the knowledge of GOD’S WILL in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that we might walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.” (Col 1:9-10-note) We can also pray as David did for God to teach us to do His will and to let His good Spirit lead us (Ps 143:10-note).
(9) ROLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT:
Paul writes that believers should “not be foolish but understand (put the pieces of the puzzle together so to speak) what the will of the Lord is (indicating that not to understand God’s will is foolish, and also that God’s will while mysterious can be discerned).” (Eph 5:17-note). And then what does Paul say? “Be filled with the Spirit.” (Eph 5:18-note) Clearly when we are filled with (controlled by) the Spirit, we are more likely to “understand what the will of the Lord is” in a given situation or circumstance. Watson adds “If the lodestone draw the iron, it is not hard for the iron to move: if God’s Spirit enables you, it will not be hard, but rather delightful to do God’s will (Ps 40:8-note).” However you still might be wondering “What about those nudges I sometimes get to do this or that?” Scripture says that the Spirit indwells us to guide (lead) us (Jn 16:13-note, Ro 8:14-note, Gal 5:18-note, 1Cor 2:12-13-note) and He may give us inner impressions. While subjective impressions can sometimes give guidance, we need to be cautious & should “minor” on this approach, and instead “major” on understanding general biblical principles that the Spirit can use to give our renewed mind a sense of whether something is the will of God (Ro 12:2-note). John Piper has some helpful guidance in this more subjective area asking “as I face all the decisions of today, how will I have a spiritual “taste bud” so that I can taste what is the WILL OF GOD, what is good, acceptable and perfect? And the answer that the Bible gives is, “Get a transformed mind.” So we labor in the WORD and in PRAYER not just to figure out lists of deeds that are more or less acceptable, BUT we labor to get a MIND that thinks & feels about things the way Christ does. So that when a phone call comes in, or an opportunity to go somewhere arises, or we have to choose this or that, there is something about our minds that discerns where Christ would be magnified, where faith would be built, and where people would be loved.”
STEP BY STEP
Finally, remember that that God seldom gives us the whole picture of His will for our life, but leads us one step at a time – The steps of a man are established by the LORD (Ps 37:23-note).
Rich Mullins has a great song about the stepwise revelation of the will of God, and in his song he also addresses those times when God’s will is difficult or we fail to obey — “I may falter in my steps but never beyond Your reach.”
Sing this song (Sometimes by Step) as your prayer to God…
Oh God You are My God
And I will ever praise You
And I will seek you in the morning
And I will learn to walk in Your ways
And STEP BY STEP You’ll lead me
And I will follow You all of my days.
Well done book on Will of God “How to Really Know the Will of God” – Richard Strauss
