Guidance - 5 November 2009 |
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Now and again in recent years the issue of ‘guidance’ has reared its head among evangelicals. How can I know what is ‘the Lord’s will’ for me in such-and-such a decision (which church to go to, whom to marry, etc.)
Sometimes this gets mixed up with a tendency to make claims about the future – ‘I believe that x the Lord’s will for me,’ and so on. At this point, things get really messy.
Many responses focus on issues such as the sufficiency of Scripture, the distinction between God’s ‘preceptive will’ (what he commands us to do) and his ‘decretive will’ (what will actually happen), that fact that God gives us general directions but not exhaustive details, and the uncertainty and subjectivity of so-called ‘words of knowledge’.
But there’s another issue to bear in mind too. Any approach to decision-making that even claims to know what the future holds is not merely foolish; it’s wicked.
13Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit – 14yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’ 16As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. (James 4:13-16)
Posted by Steve Jeffery · Topics: Godliness, Minister's Blog