Following last Monday’s post on the recent news from Francis Chan, a reader asked:
If God wanted to communicate to me about something that has not been specified in His Word, how would he do it? I'm talking about a leading into ministry, a prompting to pray for someone, guidance towards some particular path...
I promised a full answer today, but I’m sorry to say I can’t come through with that today. I still hope to deliver on that promise, but for now, let me throw out a very short, off-the-top-of-my-head answer. But first, a couple of points before I begin:
- I’m setting aside the “prompting to pray for someone” part because, really, do we need a sign from above that we should pray? I don’t think so. If it occurs to me to pray, I just do it. So should you.
- I’m not going to answer or even consider the question, “God spoke directly to people in the Bible. How can you say he won’t do that now?” Volumes have been written by bona fide theologians explaining that quite well. That matter is settled, and nobody bloggers with pretentious blog titles have nothing to add.
We shouldn’t expect or depend on God to tell us what to do. Rather than pointing us to particular destinations, he puts us on a path that will take us where he wants us to go. Instead of telling us, step-by-step, what to do, he instructs us in a way of life.
Begin by looking at Psalm 1. Any answer I would give would begin with the assumption that the individual in question is the character featured therein.
1 How blessed is the man who does not walk
in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners,
Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
To anyone but the Psalm 1 man, I’d have to say, “Good luck; you’re on your own.” Only he is in any position to discern God’s leading. From there, I move to Psalm 37:
3 Trust in the Lord and do good;
Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.
4 Delight yourself in the Lord;
And He will give you the desires of your heart.
5 Commit your way to the Lord,
Trust also in Him, and He will do it.
The Psalm 1 “blessed” man is one and the same with the Psalm 37 man who “delight[s] . . . in the Lord.” He is in the position to receive his desires from the Lord. For this man — devoted to God, and saturated with his Word — what he wants is a good indication of what God wants. So the first key to discerning God’s leading is to be the kind of person who can be led.
However, being fallible and still burdened with sinful flesh, our desires aren’t nearly enough upon which to base any major decision. Our desires, having first been examined scripturally, should be put to the test through the communities that God has instituted, namely, the family and the church. For example, if you are a youth living in your parents’ home, and they don’t think you should go on that short-term mission trip, don’t go, and don’t argue about it. That goes even if they are not believers; if God could move Pharaoh, he can surely move your unbelieving parents. (Furthermore, even your unbelieving parents are probably wiser than you in many ways.) Concerning perceived calls to vocational ministry, the church must be a major player in confirming your call. The church is God’s ministry plan. Therefore, any call to vocational ministry is an ecclesiastical calling and will come through the church. God may first give you a desire which will then be confirmed through the church, or the church may recognize your gifting even before you have the desire (this short answer will not attempt to consider all the possibilities), but the church will be a deciding factor.
As I’ve said, this answer (which has gotten much longer than I anticipated) is far from complete. Let me now sum it all up:
- How will God tell me to do something not specified in scripture?
- By moving my desires in that direction
- By moving my biblically-ordained authority structures in the same direction
A more complete answer would address circumstances, open and closed doors, etc., but I think I’ve hit on the most fundamental points here.
TrackBack URL: http://www.thirstytheologian.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/1374
Share this post:
Posted in: Miscellaneous
Link · 3 Comments · 0 TrackBacks
← Previous · Home · Next →
3 Comments:
#1 || 10·05·03··13:13 || Daniel
This reminds me of counselling an immature believer who, although he was plagued by remorse and regret over a certain recurring sin in his life, nevertheless, could not gain victory over it.
In the course of counselling this fellow I explained to him that the struggle he was feeling was between his flesh, which wanted to continue sinning, and the Spirit whose ministry it was to convict him that what he was doing was sinful.
I believe I explained then that true victory only ever comes in the wake of genuine repentance. In truth, his problem was that he was unwilling to surrender his "right" to sin in this way. He was looking for the kind of victory that might flow from a profound act of suppression, rather than a profound act of surrender.
In short, he wanted to be free from sin without ever surrendering hismelf to God. He wanted to be free from guilt and free from sin's power, without bowing the knees of his heart to God.
Your readers might wonder what this has to do with this post. I will tell you.
In this scenario, there is a believer who has a desire that appears to be a godly one - the desire to be free from the burden of some habitual sin; but this desire is not from God, but from his own flesh. He desires to find a way to please God without surrendering to God - the very definition of a "way that seems right to a man".
So long as a man remains willfully aloof from God in his heart, that man's ability to discern where a desire comes from, whether it is from God, or from his own soul (at least with respect to those things which are beyond the patently obvious) is going to be severly crippled.
#2 || 10·05·03··18:41 || David
This also is relevant.
#3 || 10·05·04··06:20 || Daniel
I foolishly lent that book out after reading it, and never had it returned. Sigh. Oh, and true dat.
Comments on this post are closed. If you have a question or comment concerning this post, feel free to email us.