God's will or Our will?

Christians will agree that God is good. However, I think if you asked a bunch of Christians why God is good, you would get varying answers, especially if you were looking for some sort of justification. Forget the answers though, let’s look at the questions we all have. If God, our creator, is good, doesn’t he want us to be a part of his goodness? Can we really be a part of God’s goodness if we deny everything about ourselves? Jesus made it pretty clear that we have to lose our lives to save them, but why? Is every desire and longing of ours evil? This cannot possibly be true if God is good, for wasn’t it our very selves that longed for God, and still longs for Him now? Perhaps it is our spirit that longs for God, but if this is the case, then how can we follow God? How can we separate the longings of our flesh from the longings of our God given spirit?

This dilemma complicates itself further when we drag in the topic of pleasure, or to use a less suggestive word, enjoyment. If God is good, he most definitely is the creator of our own positive experiences, feelings, and relationships in the world. To suggest that pleasure (or enjoyment) is evil is to slap God in the face! Can we really deny ourselves and all our desires without denying God Himself? At some point, isn’t denying oneself equivalent to denying the desire to do God’s will? God promises great joy in following His will, but surely this does not translate to mean that everything that is joyful or feels good to experience is automatically a part of His will.

I suppose we can quite easily remedy this problem by simply denying every part of ourselves unless we have full confidence that we are aligned with God’s will. But then what do we do when God has made no clear revelation of His will regarding any particular topic? Are we free to do anything so long as it doesn’t prevent or hinder us from doing the bit of God’s will that he has made known?

I think I have found my peace, though I imagine the reader will be lost by this jump, but I am really writing for myself. Incredibly, God has instilled in me (and I believe in you as well) an answer that satisfies the struggle that I have been trying to develop in these past few paragraphs. The truth is this: God has let some part of His will be known to us! No matter how small or broad, God has put opportunities before us to work for Him. When we are responsible in pursuing and following what He has put before us, he will give us more responsibility, more direction, and more revelation.

We seem to have a tendency to want to know ALL of God’s plans for our lives before we carry out the ones he has clearly placed before us. Why? Probably because we still have our OWN plans in mind, and we’re hoping they match the plans God has chosen not to reveal to us.

The devil knows how to use our own desires against us quite well. He knows that if we are committed to pursuing God’s will, he needs to deceive us into thinking our selfish desires are a part of God’s will. He knows he needs to confuse us, disorient us from our certainty in following God, and get us doubting the plans that God has chosen to NOT FULLY reveal to us. The devil knows that he has to get us justifying our own desires as being “not outside” the will of God. He is quite the deceiver, and has proved beyond capable of such deceptive acts.

Is this really an answer to the tension that exists between our will and the will of God? Partially. The ambiguity still exists. It is still hard to trust God’s plans when we can much more easily create our own and see the end they come to. Perhaps denying ourselves (beyond denying the obvious sins) is no more than denying ourselves the right to decide what will become of our lives. This is different than denying our every desire. Rather, it is putting our desires into God’s hands, and letting Him DO WHAT HE WILLS with them, always trusting that his judgment on such matters is much better than our own, and his power to make things happen is much stronger than our own. We do not need to be the initiators in these difficult situations: when God’s will is unclear. We can let God be the initiator, always trusting Him for the best.

Listen to Him, be patient, don't force things. God won't leave you hanging. If you don't trust me on this one, Trust Him.

Conclusion: to obey is better than sacrifice. Complete denial of self is not what God created us for. He created us to experience relationship with Him. In this fallen world, that means reversing the first sin, and trusting God over ourselves for what’s best. When we do this, we can recognize every good thing as God given, we can see hope in every hardship, and we can rejoice in all situations, for we are fulfilling the very purpose we have been created for: to be in relationship with God.