A Matter of Will<\/p>\n
Copyright 2012 by Shea Oakley<\/p>\n
All rights reserved<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
How do we know the difference between the difficulties we must go through because God has ordained them for our growth and the difficulties we are allowed to avoid because He has not ordained them? This aspect of Christian discernment can be a challenge to acquire even many years into an individual\u2019s faith journey, but it is an essential part of coming to maturity in Christ. How we react to the adversity that ultimately comes to all of us in our pilgrimage through this fallen world is integral to spiritual growth. In fact, how a believer deals with the \u201ctrials and tribulations\u201d of life has a direct bearing on whether that believer will overcome and persevere to the end, or otherwise make a shipwreck of his or her faith. Discerning the nature of the challenges we face, and reacting accordingly, is that vital.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In my own life I have often wondered what painful circumstances I should endure because God has put them before me as tests designed to further my sanctification and what circumstances I can legitimately escape. Few people like to deal with challenges that are potentially very difficult to endure and I am no exception. My first instinct is usually to run from such challenges! There are, of course, things in life that we cannot avoid no matter where or how fast we run. This essay will not address those kinds of circumstances. What we are talking about are the \u201coptional\u201d difficulties, those situations that we can duck if we really want to. Persons who are diagnosed with an incurable disease cannot avoid dealing with the consequences of that disease. They have no recourse but to do so. This is not necessarily the case of an individual who attends a church where someone doesn\u2019t like them. This individual can choose to avoid the person in church or, for that matter, just find another congregation to join. These are examples of the difference between unavoidable and avoidable trials.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In these \u201coptional\u201d trials we have at least some say in whether or not we will have to directly face them. It is here that the issue of God\u2019s will comes into play. We may be able to \u201cescape and evade\u201d but the question is whether that is the option the One we call our Lord wants us to choose. Many things we would just as soon not deal with are things that God has allowed to come into our lives to test and perfect us. This is not a truth we like to face, but it is truth nonetheless. Our Master, in His divine wisdom, often ordains the painful circumstances we desperately want to opt out of because He knows that in confronting and overcoming them, with His help, we will become more mature in our faith, and more like Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
So how do we know the difference?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
As in many questions of Christian discipleship the answer does not necessarily lie in any one formula. It may not be a question of finding that answer in prayer, or the word of God, or good spiritual counsel alone but in all three of these legitimate resources. On the other hand it may well be that God will speak to us through just one of these avenues of divine-human communication. God often does work in mysterious ways and we cannot be sure which way or ways he will choose to give us the answer we seek. It is also important to note here that He may not give us, as children of the \u201ceverything now\u201d 21st<\/sup> century West, an immediate answer no matter how we seek it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Perhaps the greater question we must ask ourselves is whether we are willing to hear God\u2019s answer, and act on it, at all. Methodologies of finding God\u2019s will for any particular situation a person faces in life are a secondary issue if the person is not really open to submitting to that will. Some of us don\u2019t know what to do because we do not want to know what to do. We may choose to not even try to find out the Lord\u2019s \u201copinion\u201d on the subject (and that, in itself, is a choice.) Alternatively we may find it out and then rationalize why we can\u2019t act on what we now know.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Bible tells us that if we sincerely seek to know the will of God out of a spirit of obedience we will find what we seek. The medium He then uses to inform His willing child really does not matter; the point is that He will honor that child\u2019s willingness to obey. The greater question lies in knowing our \u201cyielded-ness\u201d to God or lack thereof. We can choose to avoid a God-ordained trial either from a place of ignorance or a place of knowledge about where, or from Whom, that trial came. The issue is more whether or not we are willing to endure pain if we do come to know that our Lord has ordained that pain. In the end perhaps it is not so much about knowing His will as it is about being willing to do it, whatever the cost to our earthly comfort.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A Matter of Will Copyright 2012 by Shea Oakley All rights reserved How do we know the difference between the difficulties we must go through because God has ordained them for our growth and the difficulties we are allowed to avoid because He has not ordained them? This aspect of Christian discernment can be… <\/p>\n