There are two aspects of God’s will that we see in Scripture (Deut. 29:29):
Will of Decree (Sovereign Will)
God’s sovereign purposes and plans which are never overturned or thwarted. He rules over everything that happens (Eph. 1:11) from the smallest issues (Matt. 10:29-30) to the major events of history (Acts 4:27-28) to the details of your life (Ps. 139:16). This is God’s secret will that He carries out by His providence, and we cannot know it ahead of time (unless it is reveal in the Bible through prophecy).
Will of Desire (Commanded Will)
God’s desire for His creatures. What God has told us He wants in His Word. His sovereign will cannot be thwarted, but his commanded will is ignored all the time (though our ignoring it is not outside of His sovereign will – see Acts 2:23). We are held accountable for doing or not doing this revealed will of God (Matt. 7:21). We grow in our understanding of His will of desire by studying His Word and obeying what we read (Rom. 12:1-2, Col. 1:9-10).
Presuppositions about God’s will and our decision making
- You are never outside of God’s sovereign will (Rom. 8:28, Prov. 16:9). Everything that happens is God’s decreed will (Eph. 1:11).
- We don’t need to know God’s sovereign will and how He is going to carry it out before we can make decisions (Deut. 29:29).
- God holds us fully responsible to know and do His will revealed in Scripture (Deut. 29:29, 2 Tim. 2:15).
- God has provided everything we need in order to do what pleases Him (2 Pet. 1:3).
- If we make a decision on biblical commands and principles, with godly motives, we can trust that we are pleasing God in our decision.
How God moves (His providence) is a mystery,
but how He speaks (His Word) is not
-Dr. Stuart Scott
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