Pannikin Coffee and the Will of God
Pannikin Coffee Shop, Lucadia, Ca.
Why is it so hard to discern the will of God? That was the question my friends and I were pondering with our coffees in the sunshine just out front of Pannikin Coffee in San Diego. They had just been to a class at their church where the pastor declared that God's will IS NOT difficult to discern because God wants us to know His will. That sounds pretty logical. God has a will, he wants us to know his will. That leads to one conclusion: Our lack of purity, simplicity or whatever is the problem and not God.
While I know I bring obfuscation to the will of God through my lack of diligence, impure motives, an generally speaking, my sin, I am not convinced that I am the only problem.
I see two flaws in this line of thinking. The first is that it brings a binary understanding of God's will. It seems to imply that God's will is a series of "do's and don'ts" and like a map, our job is to simply follow the plotted points of God's will to happiness. I know this is an oversimplification but the reality is that while I know God has a will he also has the power to work everything together for good (Romans 8.28). This line of thinking makes God's will only about what I do and the choices I make rather than a will for who I become.
That leads me to my second point. If I follow this line of thinking and remove my side of the problem (i.e. my sinfulness) then it should follow that I would know exactly and every step to take. If I knew that, would any faith be required of me? The simple answer is no.
I believe God is more concerned with who I am becoming than the individual choices I make and His great desire is that I would come to have amazing, steadfast faith in Him. If it is his will that I learn, grow and live in faith with him (Matthew 7.22 points in that direction), then wouldn't it stand to reason that sometime, God would "hide" his will so that I would have to exercise faith? I believe that it does.
Right now, I am in the best time of my life. I am waiting to know what God wants me to do next with the next chapter of my life. He has led me beside still waters and made me to lie down and rest for a time and I am loving it. I can love it and have no fear because I have faith that He will get me into the phase of my life and that I don't have to wait for absolute clarity on that. In fact, I am certain I won't get clarity. I am certain that my next career commitment will be one I am unsure of but which will require a huge dose of faith.
