Knowing God’s Will Part 2
The verse jumped off the page.
I have heard this expression used to justify naming a baby, proclaiming a healing or hundreds of other decisions people have made because they believe God the Sovereign Ruler of the Universe caused a verse to speak directly to them. While that is certainly possible, it is not the method actually used by the person receiving the “word.” The problem is that the verse jumping off the page generally is divorced from the context of the Scripture. For example, if a parent is thinking about a name for their soon to be born baby, read Genesis 37: 3: “Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children….” The parent might say, “I felt the Holy Spirit speak to my heart and tell me that I should name our baby Joseph. As I kept reading, the name kept coming up. The Lord was confirming it to me.” No, He wasn’t. There is nothing in the passage about naming children. It is a statement regarding the special relationship between Jacob and Joseph. Another verse I see used similarly is John 11:4: “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” I have heard this verse used to tell a person that their loved one will not die. Then they do die and we see the error of divorcing the Scripture from context. The verse is about what the Lord Jesus Christ was going to do. Sadly, this type of “the verse jumped off the page” can create a lot of heartache and lead people not to trust the Word of God.
These are some errors with this approach:
This approach to Scripture demonstrates a low view of Scripture. It becomes a “Fortune Cookie Bible.”
This approach is not found in Scripture. No where is God’s Word used this way.
This approach is not taught in Scripture. There is no distinguishing between God’s “general revelation” and His “special word.”
This approach is a horrible abuse of the Biblical text.In the desire to hear a special word from God the actual meaning of the Biblical text is cast aside. What could possibly go wrong?
This approach is inescapably subjective. Scripture is misused to reach any conclusion you want. Do you think this is the best that a Sovereign God can do?
SCRIPTURE IS NOT SPIRITUAL PLAY-DOH!!!
God opened a door.
How often do you hear someone say, “God is leading me this way because He opened a door for me.” Some teach that open and closed doors are “sign language” of the Holy Spirit. The teaching gives use 5 tests to discern God’s leading through open and closed doors:
Does the direction suggested by signs give you “goosebumps?”
Do you have peace about it?
Does the open door align with wise counsel?
Is it crazy enough to qualify as a “God-sized dream?”
Make sure God has released you from previous obligations.
According to this false teaching, Christians should treat open doors as God’s leading on a particular issue. Let us look at the Scripture passages regarding “open doors”:
1 Corinthians 16: 8-9: “But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.”
2 Corinthians 2: 12-13: “When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was opened for me in the Lord, my spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia.”
Colossians 4: 3: “At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison….”
In all 3 verses, Paul is describing opportunities for service in gospel ministry. There are no examples of “open doors” being used for career advancement, a new house, or where to have dinner. Note that Paul left the open door opportunity in Troas to find Titus. When presented with an open door for service in Ephesus, Paul stayed. When presented with an open door for service in the gospel of Christ in Troas, Paul left for Macedonia. So sometimes open doors for ministry had Paul stay and sometimes he left the open door.
All we can say about “open doors” in Scripture is that they are gospel opportunities. Note that Scripture never uses the term “closed door.” Scripture does not use “open doors” as a model of decision making.
I had a peace about it.
I have heard this method of knowing God’s will many times. I have known Christians that had a “peace” about going into business together only later to have a breakup that was embarrassing to the cause of Christ. It only took 6 months to fall apart. My wife and I recently had a decision we had to make about buying a business. Someone said to me, “If you feel peace about it, you should do it.” There are plenty of stories where people had an inner peace and moved forward and it was a disaster. Is this really the best God can do: The question is: Does Scripture teach that God speaks to us through the absence or presence of an inner peace?
Those that do believe the following:
God speaks through “peace in the heart.: It is an inner feeling of calmness and tranquility of heart.
Peace is a certain, reliable, means of confirming the voice of God.
Colossians 3: 15 teaches this. It is the main text used by people that advocate “peace” as a method of knowing God’s will.
Truth:
Colossians 3 begins with a grand statement of our identification with Jesus Christ. Since we have “died with Christ” (2: 20) and “been raised up with Christ” (3:1), we have been freed from sin (3:5). The implications of our union with Christ are explained in 3: 5-11. Believers have put those sins aside (8-9) and “have put on the new self.” (v. 10) United in Jesus Christ and brought together in one body (the church), believers enjoy a fellowship “in which there is no distinction between the Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.” (3:11) In chapter 3, Paul is instructing them to live in harmony with one another (12-13). Paul is addressing how believers are to get along with each other. The passage instructs believers on harmonious living in the body of Christ. Verses 20-21 deal with parental relationships, Verses 3: 22-4:1: addresses the relationship between masters and slaves. Paul was concerned with how believers, in the context of various social and family relationships, treat one another.
THIS PASSAGE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH DECISION-MAKING OR CONFIRMING DIVINE REVELATION. VERSE 15 ISN'T ABOUT HOW WE FEEL, BUT ABOUT HOW WE TREAT OTHERS.
In verse 15, the word translated “peace” means a lack of conflict between two parties who were formerly at enmity with each other as in Ephesians 2: 14-15. Paul wanted peace to rule in conflicts between believers. Worldly distinctions didn’t matter to Paul, he wanted all believers living together in peace. That is the point of the passage, not “green light red light” like the kid’s game we used to play. When you know the truth it becomes clear what the verse really means.
I put out a fleece.
I’m sure you have heard a well meaning Christian say, “I need to know God’s will so I put out a fleece.” Generally, it is things that don’t require supernatural intervention like, “Lord, if I make the next light before it turns red, I will know to take the new job.” This is silliness gone to seed. Gideon is used as an example. His fleece required a supernatural response, e.g., fleece wet ground dry or fleece dry and ground wet. There is a dispute among those who believe that God still speaks outside of the Word. Some see Gideon as an example of unbelief or faith. When looking at Gideon, the following facts should be noted:
God’s promise to Gideon was unambiguous.
God granted Gideon’s request for a sign.
Gideon knew Who had given him instructions.
Gideon fully understood what God had promised and commanded.
There was nothing to be confirmed.
It is my opinion that Gideon sought a sign out of fear and doubt, not humble faith.
From Judges 6, we make 3 observations:
Gideon was fully aware of what God had commanded and promised.
Gideon asked for 2 separate and distinct signs.
These were miraculous events.
Were Gideon’s actions a model for us? I think not:
The actions of Gideon are described in Scripture, but not prescribed by Scripture. Is this method ever mentioned again?
There is no command in Scripture to follow this model.
Other than Gideon, there are no examples of such “fleeces” anywhere in Scripture.
Gideon asked for a supernatural sign unlike modern practitioners of this model.
Fleeces are liable to produce “false positives.”
It is my opinion that fleeces should be avoided as a method of knowing or confirming God’s voice.
I had a dream.
Recently, I had an employee come to my wife and I saying I had a dream that involved you both. I think God was giving me a message about you. I don’t remember details except it involved an owl doing something. I had no interest in such foolishness. However, there were several other people that got involved saying that they could interpret dreams. They had some elaborate message that I discounted as silliness. Yet, there are many people who believe that God speaks to us in dreams. What is the Biblical basis for such a belief? What is their reasoning:
They believe that “God spoke through dreams” in Scripture and assume He must be doing the same today.
They cite passages that they claim are promises God will speak through dreams, e.g. Job 33: 14-16 and Joel 2: 28.
Let us review both Scriptures:
Job 33: 14-16: “For God speaks in one way, and in two, though man does not perceive it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, while they slumber on their beds, then he opens the ears of men and terrifies[a] them with warnings….” This passage is Elihu’s response to Job’s lament (Job 27-31). Elihu falsely accused Job of two things: first, claiming God had invented a pretext against him in order to treat him as an enemy (a slander against the justice of God), second, claiming God had not sufficiently warned him of his sin. Elihu had misrepresented Job’s lament (33: 8-13). According to Elihu, God reveals His dealings in dreams to warn men of coming judgment for their sin. Elihu alleged that God was speaking to Job in dreams to turn him from his sins, but Job didn’t perceive it. He didn’t listen to God and the result was Job’s current situation. Elihu was not saying that God’s voice would come in dreams, he was falsely claiming God had warned Job in a dream. Elihu is completely unaware of what really happened to Job. It is not a Scripture that God warns in dreams; it was simply Elihu’s argument from a place of ignorance that prompted his argument.
Joel 2: 28: “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.” Peter quotes Joel in his sermon on the Day of Pentecost. However, not all that Peter cited was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost. Read verses 30-32. Does Peter’s citation prove that God has promised revelatory dreams and visions? Yes,! But those things, along with the signs in the heavens and earth, and the judgment of all nations in the valley of Jehoshaphat, will accompany the establishment of the Messianic Kingdom. The giving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was God’s down payment on the promise.
Note:
The Bible doesn’t teach that dreams need to be confirmed, that we can expect that God will speak through dreams, that we can learn to interpret dreams, or that we each have a “dream vocabulary.”
No where in Scripture are we told how to interpret dreams.
It is mystifying that anyone would think the incoherent imaginations of their slumbering subconsciousness are messages from God.
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