God's Will

They say,“God has people be sick so that they can witness to the doctors and nurses.”

/ Joan C. Thomson / Leave a comment

Is it true? No.

Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com

Really? Are medical personnel a breed apart from the rest of the world so that none of them are Christians? That none of them witness to each other? That they never go to community events or even have Christian family members, and no one but sick people to speak to them about Jesus? In fact, many medical workers are Christians.

Yes, God will turn anything for our good as Romans 8:28 says, but he’s a good father, and good fathers do NOT make their children sick. When human fathers do this, they end up in jail—or worse.

“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! Matthew 7:9-11

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

They say,”Peace an indicator of God’s will.”

/ Joan C. Thomson / Leave a comment

It is said, “You can tell if you are in God’s will by the ‘indicator of peace’—if you are in God’s will you will have peace, if you’re not, your peace will lift.”

If this were true, Jesus would have been out of God’s will in the Garden of Gethsemane and in his suffering on the cross. His was not a picture of peace (the kind referred to in this saying) but of agony, even questioning, though he gained what might be called resolve.

Using the peace as indicator formula has enabled Christians to come up with some outrageous self-permissions such as “It’s okay if I have a room mate of the opposite sex because we aren’t doing anything,”(yet) or “I have peace about leaving my husband because God wants me to be happy.” Remember the adage from the 1960’s? “If it feels good, do it.” The human mind can manufacture all sorts of things to justify what it wants—or lie about it.

No, the best indicator of God’s will is what the Holy Spirit has already spoken in the Bible (especially the New Covenant). You may think that it doesn’t cover everything for contemporary living—dig a little deeper, make sure you’re asking the right questions (the most basic ones)—you might be surprised how much is there.