How does the Bible describe God’s will, and in what way, if any, are we called to know it?

David is a bright young high school senior trying to make sense of the near-endless buffet of colleges and degree programs available to him.  David is a Christian, and has been told that if he seeks God and prays for guidance, God will clearly direct his path.  But despite months of praying, he’s still as confused as ever, and is beginning to feel as though something’s wrong with him.  Does he not have enough faith – is that why God isn’t giving him an answer?  Is the sin in his life, like static on an old AM radio, just too great for him to be able to hear from God?  Does he even know God at all?  

Susan is a twenty-something Christians several years into a career path that has proven anything but enjoyable or fulfilling.  In the summer of her freshman year during a spiritual retreat, she felt called to change majors after feeling a strong, almost audible calling of God to pursue this career focus. But now she’s having her doubts.  Susan was so sure God wanted her to do this, but does He really want her to dread going to work every day? She wonders if she could really have misunderstood such a clear calling, or if she’s just doing something wrong.     

Such scenarios are all too common.  Believers, both young and old, struggle to make decisions and often feel as though they are supposed to have some sort of clear word from God in order to move forward.  When that answer doesn’t come, they feel the pangs of guilt and insufficiency – suspecting that there’s something broken within them that prevents them from hearing God’s still small voice. Some believe they have sensed such a calling, but find themselves struggling with questions of God’s goodness and their shortcomings when it doesn’t go as they imagined.

A Faulty Presupposition?

Best-selling books, studies and sermon series offer techniques to help us know God’s will for the difficult questions of this life.  Well respected Christian leaders have said things like: “When we honestly seek His will, God often gives us an inner conviction or prompting to confirm which way He wants us to go.” or “As you take steps of faith and learn to recognize His leading, you grow spiritually and strengthen your relationship with Him.”  Notice the subtle pressure placed primarily on the believer in these statements.  If you’re mature – if you’re close enough to God – if you have conquered enough sin – then you will know… The implication?  If you’re not hearing from God, then something’s wrong with you.  Some teachers go as far as to make this link explicit, saying, for example: “If the Christian does not know when God is speaking, he is in trouble at the heart of his Christian life!” 

Though my exposure is far from exhaustive, it appears that few studies begin by asking, what exactly is the will of God? And fewer still, follow up with the question, “Do I have a right to know God’s will, and if so, in what way?”  Most begin with the assumption that God’s will is ours to know, but never stop to define terms.  These resources often lean on passages like Isaiah 30:21 and John 10:27, and universally apply them to the Christian experience, though I would argue the context of these two passages in particular probably leads to a more specific application.  Though they point to Scripture, natural gifting and the counsel of others, and other external means of understanding God’s call on our lives, ultimately the key to unlocking the puzzle is subjective promptings.  One of the most popular studies says as much: “As you walk in an intimate love relationship with God, you will come to recognize His voice. You will know when God is speaking to you.” 

What should we make of all of this?  If David or Susan were to approach you, what Biblical counsel could you offer to them?  In this article, we’ll tackle these things head-on, from a reformed perspective, by asking three main questions:

• What is the will of God?
• In what way should I seek to know God’s will?
• How do I apply this to my decision making?

1) What is the Will of God?

Before we can determine how we can know God’s will, it would be helpful to understand what exactly the Bible describes as God’s will.  To begin, let’s examine two verses that include the Greek phrase, “thelēma tou Theou” – translated into English as “the will of God”.

“It is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.”

1 Peter 3:17, ESV

“The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.”

1 John 2:17, NASB1995

A close observation of the two verses above may leave you scratching your head.  On the surface, they seem contradictory.  In 1 Peter, it seems that God’s will is describing what God causes to come to pass, but in 1 John, God’s will seems to be a thing which we can do or not do.  Which is it?  Does God sovereignly ordain His will to come to pass, or is it something that some people do and others don’t? Historic orthodoxy would argue that it’s actually both – one word, describing two realities.  

God’s Will of Command

God’s will of command – sometimes called God’s revealed will – describes what we see in 1 John 2:17.  This expression of God’s will emphasizes what He calls us to do, describing God’s moral ideal as revealed to us in the Bible. As we know from our own experience, this will can be ignored, resisted and denied.  Every day, in more ways than we probably realize, we disobey God’s revealed will.  

For further examples that seem to illustrate God’s will of command, see Matthew 7:21, Mark 3:35,  2 Corinthians 7:9,10, Ephesians 6:6, Colossians 4:12,  1 Thessalonians 4:3, 1 Peter 4:2, and 1 Peter 5:2.

God’s Will of Decree

On the other hand, God’s will of decree – alternatively called God’s secret will – describes what we see in 1 Peter 3:17.  This expression of God’s will focuses on what God causes to come to pass.  From a reformed perspective, we believe verses like Psalm 115:3, Daniel 4:35, and Ephesians 1:11 describe God’s ultimate, absolute and sovereign control over all things.  We would say, therefore, that everything comes to pass because God ordains it to be so, and nothing comes to pass apart from His ordination.  But even if you don’t hold to such an exhaustive view of how God exercises His sovereignty, the concept is still more or less the same. Verses like 1 Peter 3:17 describe God’s plans for the future which (apart from Biblical revelation of events yet to come) are not typically made known to the believer in advance.   

For further examples that point to God’s will of decree, see Daniel 4:35, Isaiah 53:5-6,10, Acts 2:23, Romans 1:10, Romans 16:32, 1 Corinthians 1:1, 2 Corinthians 1:1, 2 Corinthians 8:5, Ephesians 1:1, Colossians 1:1, 2 Timothy 1:1, and 1 Peter 4:19.

An Imperfect Analogy

Analogies always fail when trying to describe the infinite with the finite, but here goes… Imagine it’s 1984 and you’re a 12 year old child growing up in coastal New England.  Unbeknownst to you, your parents are planning a surprise trip to Disney World over spring break.  As the trip approaches, your mom tells you that you need to work really hard to get your spring break homework packet done early. Your dad tells you not to spend as much of your allowance. It’s not wash day, but on the Thursday before the trip, your parents tell you to make sure you have all your clothes in the hamper.  Then, they even require you to go to bed early that Friday night.  What’s with all these rules? You don’t fully understand, and you’re not sure you want to obey, but you trust your parents and try to do what they have asked.

In this analogy, those things your parents are requiring of you are for your good. They want you to be 100% ready for the big trip, even though you know nothing about it.  These requests are, in a manner of speaking, your parent’s will of command.  Then there’s your parents’ plan to surprise you – which you have no knowledge of until they sneak into your room with Mickey Mouse ears on and wake you up at 7 am to tell you to get ready because you’re leaving for Disney in 2 hours!  This is like their will of decree.  They are working, behind the scenes, to orchestrate this wonderful surprise, and they’re doing it for your good.  Of course, the best laid plans of mice and men, right? A lot could go wrong because we’re not ultimately sovereign. Such is not the case with God’s sovereign control over His creation, but you get the point.     

2) Which Will Should I Seek to Know?

Now that we’ve examined what the Bible seems to mean when it speaks of the will of God, let’s explore how the Bible describes us interacting with God’s Will.  A word search in the NASB1995 for the phrase, “will of God” lists 23 examples, as well as 15 examples of “His will” (speaking of God), another two examples with the variant, “will of the Lord”, and one example of “God’s will”.  Of these 41 examples, about two-thirds (26) describe our role as passive in how it relates to God’s will.  In other words, these verses describe our exposure to God’s will as something we have or will receive or experience – something that has or will happen. They describe God’s work but they don’t call us to do anything.  However, about a third of the passages do call us to something – by my count, there are fifteen of them. Here’s each one, with a synopsis of how each calls us to relate to God’s will:

• Ezra 10:11 links doing God’s will with separating from the idolators of the land.
• John 7:17 links a willingness to do God’s will with a right understanding of who Jesus is.
• John 9:31 says God hears those that do His will.
• Mark 3:35 tells us that those who do God’s will are Jesus’ true relatives. 
• Romans 2:18 describes those who know God’s will but disobey.
• Romans 12:2 links the renewal of our mind to proving what God’s will is. 
• Ephesians 5:17 commands us to understand the will of the Lord.  
• Ephesians 6:6 commands slaves to do the will of God as slaves of Christ.
• 1 Thessalonians 4:3 tells us that it’s the will of God that we abstain from sexual sin.
• 1 Thessalonians 5:16 tells us it’s God’s will that we are thankful.  
• Hebrews 10:36 say that when the suffering Hebrew saints have done the will of God [to suffer], they will receive God’s eternal promise.
• 1 Peter 2:15 says it’s the will of God that by doing right, we may silence foolish men.
• 1 Peter 4:2 says we are not to live in the flesh, but for the will of God. 
• 1 John 2:17 says those who do the will of God live forever. 
• 1 John 5:14 promises that if we ask according to God’s will, he hears us.

Drilling Down Deeper…

What can we learn from these passages?  Nine are directly linked to some moral command, act or disposition – in other words, doing God’s will is doing His commands (and from the heart – Romans 6:17).  So, doing the will of God at least means living in accordance with God’s commands.  Therefore, if we are going to seek to know (and do) God’s will, we must seek to understand God’s moral and affectional standard for His people.  We must be faithful students of His Holy Word.

But what about the rest?  John 9:31, Mark 3:35, Romans 12:2, 1 John 2:17 and 1 John 5:14 are trickier to nail down.  Are they speaking of God’s will of decree, His will of command, or perhaps, in a sense, both? Apart from the passage in 1 John (which is clearly about God’s secret will), the other four verses seem as though they could mean both.  For example, in John 9:31, it does not seem to be a stretch to understand the verse to mean that God hears those who do His commands, those who (by His decree) do His will.

Bringing it all Together          

“20 Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, 21 equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.“

Hebrews 13:20-21, NASB1995

When we look at the benediction here in Hebrews 13, we see something extraordinary.  Who’s doing the primary work?  It’s mostly God, right?  It is a prayer that God would equip us with everything good so we can do His will.  But even then, the prayer continues by asking that God would work in us what is “pleasing in His sight” – seemingly another way of saying “God’s will”.  In other words, even in our working, it is God who is behind the scenes, working both our doing and our very will (Philippians 2:12,13). 

In expounding on Philippians 2:12-13, the Puritan theologian, Jonathan Edwards, offered this helpful and surprisingly clear summation of the passage’s meaning:

“We are not merely passive in [faith and obedience], nor yet does God do some and we do the rest, but God does all and we do all. God produces all and we act all. For that is what he produces, our own acts. God is the only proper author and fountain; we only are the proper actors. We are in different respects wholly passive and wholly active.” – Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 21, 251

All things considered, I believe this serves as an example for how we seek – not only to know – but also to do God’s will.  In one sense, we are passive, in that God actively works His will in and through us by what he ordains us to do.  Yet we are also active, in the sense that we do, flowing from the God-given desires of our heart, what He has ordained we do – a central part of which is seeking to understand and obey God’s will of command. 

In brief, it seems biblically consistent to say that God’s secret will is, at least in general, His to know and ordain, and it is ours to passively live out.  But God’s will of command is ours to actively seek to know, grow in and obey.  Therefore, at the core of knowing and obeying God’s will is the pursuit of holiness by grace through faith as commended to us in Scripture.  

On Earth as it is in Heaven…

“Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.“

Matthew 6:10, NASB1995

Nestled within the oft-repeated Lord’s prayer is this seemingly peculiar petition that brings together all we’ve explored to this point.  Here, Christ teaches us to pray for God’s kingdom to come on Earth, that His will would be done here as it is in heaven. But what’s the difference? Here, God’s will of command is resisted, ignored, disobeyed and denied continually.  God, for His good purposes, decrees this to take place for reasons that are largely beyond our understanding. But in heaven, God’s will of decree and His will of command are gloriously one! God’s moral will for His creatures is perfectly obeyed, from the heart, because sin is vanquished and God is fully known (1 Corinthians 13:12).  

As we grow in faith the the Spirit’s illuminating work of the Word in our hearts – at the pace and portion God ordains – God’s will of decree and will of command becomes increasingly aligned in our lives.  And thanks be to Christ crucified, there is a certain-sure a day coming, just over the horizon, when my will and yours, by grace alone, will once and forevermore be conformed to our precious Lord.  With sin forever vanquished, we will live in perfect joy, peace and glory, exulting in our risen King.  

A Word of Caution

But before we go any further, I do want to add two cautions.  First, I do not mean to suggest that God isn’t free to choose to reveal His secret will to us by supernatural means, such as prophecy or even a special conviction of our conscience by the Holy Spirit, as He so pleases.  I believe this is possible, but the Bible doesn’t seem to suggest that this is the normal way we should seek to relate to God day by day, but rather is a relatively infrequent tool the Lord uses primarily (if not entirely) for the advance of the Gospel.

“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.”

Deuteronomy 29:29, NASB1995

Second, as alluded to at the beginning, there are many Christians who believe that God is much more active in trying to communicate His will to us – that God gives us signs, nudges and impressions which He wants us to pick up on and obey in order to do His will.  To be fair, though I think it’s Scripturally-faithful to see a warning in passages, like the one above, against seeking to know God’s secret will in general (certainly, the Bible forbids us from seeking to know the future by soothsaying, necromancy, or divination), yet I have found nowhere in Scripture that expressly forbids us from seeking to know God’s secret will from God Himself.  Granted, that’s an argument from silence, but nonetheless, my point is that we can’t pull out a verse and accuse believers who hold such views to be in clear biblical error.  Though I do not believe the Bible calls us to make a practice of seeking God’s secret will, I have brothers and sisters in Christ who hold to this view, and though we disagree, this is a secondary issue that ought not to divide us.  

Differences aside, while not all Christians agree on whether or not it is normal for believers to know God’s secret will, there is overwhelming agreement that knowing God’s will is no less than understanding God’s revealed moral will for our lives, as given to us by the Bible. God intends for us to rightly know and obey His moral will for our lives.  In this belief, there is glorious union. 

3) How do I Apply this to Life’s Difficult Decisions?

Returning to our fictitious friends from the beginning of our post, what would it look like to give Biblica, helpful and encouraging council to David and Susan?  Let’s start with some general encouragements which help to clarify the sometimes daunting decisions of this life.

First – Point them to Christ (Hebrews 12:1-2), the glory of His Gospel (Romans 1:16), and the promises of rock-solid perseverance that God lavishes on His saints (Philippians 1:6, Romans 8:28f).

Second – Give them advice rooted like a mighty, time-tested oak, in the rich soil of Scripture (Proverbs 9:10, 1 Timothy 3:16,17).  The Bible is overflowing with examples, principles and commands that speak into any and all decisions of life – at least to one degree or another.  

Third – Encourage them to consider – and ultimately choose – the option that, based on their best understanding of Scripture (and how that intersects with their abilities, gifts and the wisdom of mature believers), would most honor Christ and His Gospel purposes in the world (1 Corinthians 10:32, Hebrews 12:1,2).

Fourth – If, after faithful examination, the options seem to be equal, remind them they are free to choose as they like – or even to flip a coin to decide (not out of superstition, but trusting in the sovereign hand of God – Proverbs 16:33, Acts 1:21-26).  They can trust that the Lord has ordained their path and is at work for their good and His good pleasure through whatever choice He has ordained them to make.  

Fifth – Assure them that regardless of the consequences, whether intended or otherwise – and even if things go horribly wrong and it’s all their fault – God’s got them if they belong to Him.  Nothing can snatch them out of His hand (John 10:28,29), and even their failures, God purposes for their greatest good (Romans 8:28).  The glorious message of the Gospel is that God’s grace isn’t based on our performance (Ephesians 1:1-10).

To the Specifics:

If David approached you, what guidance might you offer? It seems he has gotten to the point of crisis, produced out of a potentially incomplete or even faulty understanding of how God’s communicates His direction in our lives.  Perhaps begin by comforting him that not hearing from God, in and of itself, is not an indication of the quality of David’s faith.  Remind him that because of the Gospel, his most important need is forever secured in Christ.  Point him to his namesake, King David, and God’s sovereign goodness to him, despite his serious failings and bad decisions.  Ask David what he’s passionate about, what he finds joy and success in doing, and what others see in him.  Help him find resources that can connect those abilities and passions, to possible careers.  Help him consider how these possible career paths would help him invest in God’s Kingdom work. Address the more immediate need for David to put first things first, and ask him how he intends to serve Christ and others during his time of education, as he prepares for his career. If he’s finding he still has trouble deciding – which he very well may – encourage him to make a choice he believes would honor God, trusting Him for the results.  Remind him that he’s not required to stick with this choice for life and that God may make it evident through David’s passions and giftings, that another career field is better for him – and that’s perfectly okay. And finally, let this be the beginning of the discussion, not the end.  Check in and encourage him.  Pray for him.  

What about Susan – how can you best meet her in her own moment of crisis.  Begin by listening.  Ask lots of questions.  As best you can, try to discern the root of her frustrations with work.  Are they just the reality of work in a fallen world for which perseverance and patience might be the best council, or does it seem like her chosen career is a poor match for her strengths and passions?  If it is the latter, encourage her that even strong senses of leading can be wrong.  They are subjective by nature, and there’s no necessary correlation between the intensity of the feeling of God’s leading and the likelihood it is true.  Comfort them, that even though it seems they made a bad choice, God didn’t.  Remind her that He is using this hardship for her good, as He often does with His saints (Romans 5:1-5).  Encourage patience even in the hardship.  Help them to examine their abilities, gifts, etc. to find a suitable career to pursue that would help them to serve God with all their heart.  And again, be patient with them.  Such a crisis can be difficult and take time to unwind.  Check in on them. Encourage and pray for them.  

Want to Explore this Subject More?

In 2022, I spent several months diving deep into the role of the Holy Spirit in the believer’s life. I was specifically curious about how the Bible describes His working within us to produce our sanctification. Though I’m far from a scholar, I produced a sort of armchair theologian paper on the subject, and you can read it here: Personal Position Paper: The Spirit’s Work in the Believer.

May the Lord grant us to serve Him with all our might, living for the fame of His name, the Gospel of the Kingdom, and the good of the world in all we do!