Who's Afraid of the Holy Spirit? (pt. 6)
JI Packer takes on the topic of how the Holy Spirit relates to issues of guidance in the essay The Ministry of the Spirit in Discerning the Will of God. It is a topic that Packer notes has received much attention lately, and has become for many a "source of intense personal anxiety." In my experience, it seems like the treatments I have read on the issue fall into two camps.
Henry Blackaby's Experiencing God is a good example of the first. He says: "Knowing God does not come through a program, a study, or a method. Knowing God comes through a relationship with a Person. This is an intimate love relationship with God. Through this relationship, God reveals Himself, His purposes, and His ways; and He invites you to join Him where He is already at work." He views guidance through the framework of relationship and outlines how we can know what God wants in the specific instances of our lives.
At the other end of the spectrum is a book like Decision Making and the Will of God by Gary Friesen. He shifts the burden of decision-making back into the rational realm by saying that God has given us freedom to choose (within the parameters of Scripture) when it comes to the issues of career, marriage, etc. In Friesen's perspective, we should be praying for wisdom to choose rather than specific guidance.
Packer seems to be responding to books like these which seem to try to make "God's will" into a stand-alone topic when he says: "...the problem is regularly discussed in too narrow terms, isolating it from God’s total ministry to his Church on earth in a way that is biblically improper, and that makes it both more difficult in itself, and more threatening to sensitive souls, than ever it ought to be." This is a great point. We can narrow our focus too much by asking a question like: "Will God give me exact guidance in this [fill in the blank] instance?" Maybe so, maybe not. There are a lot of Christians who can look at times in their life when God intervened and led them in a direction they would not have expected or chosen. There are also other times when His voice seems to be silent.
This anxiety over finding God's will is a new one according to Packer. Of the older saints, he says:
At the end of the essay I was left feeling like there wasn't much else added to what I have read before. I somewhat agree with what Wayne Grudem wrote in the appendix of the book about this section: "But what I had hoped for, in addition to these valuable warnings, was a positive word about a moment-by-moment relationship with God the Holy Spirit that is pursued in subjection to the teachings of Scripture and constantly evaluated in light of Spirit-sanctified wisdom."
I think a "moment-by-moment" dependence on the Spirit is what God desires, although I am not always sure how this translates to my everyday life. When I am "living in accordance with the Spirit" (Rom 8) that will naturally lead to choices that line up with what God wants, even if I'm not receiving special revelation. At the same time I don't want to discount God's ability to speak through circumstances and impressions, even if that is more rare. I am reminded of what Jesus said in John 10: "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me." It would be a shame to miss the voice of the Shepherd--whether it comes through Scripture, the encouragement of a friend, or the conviction of the Spirit. I don't want to neglect to enter into a deep and vital relationship with God because I hold Him at a distance. Our Saviour does not stand aloof in heaven with arms crossed, but has poured the Spirit into our lives, and by that Spirit we cry "Daddy" and "Father".
Henry Blackaby's Experiencing God is a good example of the first. He says: "Knowing God does not come through a program, a study, or a method. Knowing God comes through a relationship with a Person. This is an intimate love relationship with God. Through this relationship, God reveals Himself, His purposes, and His ways; and He invites you to join Him where He is already at work." He views guidance through the framework of relationship and outlines how we can know what God wants in the specific instances of our lives.
At the other end of the spectrum is a book like Decision Making and the Will of God by Gary Friesen. He shifts the burden of decision-making back into the rational realm by saying that God has given us freedom to choose (within the parameters of Scripture) when it comes to the issues of career, marriage, etc. In Friesen's perspective, we should be praying for wisdom to choose rather than specific guidance.
Packer seems to be responding to books like these which seem to try to make "God's will" into a stand-alone topic when he says: "...the problem is regularly discussed in too narrow terms, isolating it from God’s total ministry to his Church on earth in a way that is biblically improper, and that makes it both more difficult in itself, and more threatening to sensitive souls, than ever it ought to be." This is a great point. We can narrow our focus too much by asking a question like: "Will God give me exact guidance in this [fill in the blank] instance?" Maybe so, maybe not. There are a lot of Christians who can look at times in their life when God intervened and led them in a direction they would not have expected or chosen. There are also other times when His voice seems to be silent.
This anxiety over finding God's will is a new one according to Packer. Of the older saints, he says:
Informed by biblical theology and narrative, soaked in the biblical text itself, aiming always at the best for God’s cause and others’ good, and confident in God’s promise of guidance to the humble and prayerful (see Pss 5:8; 23:2–3; 25:8–9; 32:8–9; Jas 1:6), they sought to be made wise, prudent, and judicious, men and women of good judgment. They asked that God would thus enable them to see each time the course of action for which there was most to be said as they reviewed facts, took advice, measured their personal resources, surveyed circumstances, and calculated the consequences of possible choices.
At the end of the essay I was left feeling like there wasn't much else added to what I have read before. I somewhat agree with what Wayne Grudem wrote in the appendix of the book about this section: "But what I had hoped for, in addition to these valuable warnings, was a positive word about a moment-by-moment relationship with God the Holy Spirit that is pursued in subjection to the teachings of Scripture and constantly evaluated in light of Spirit-sanctified wisdom."
I think a "moment-by-moment" dependence on the Spirit is what God desires, although I am not always sure how this translates to my everyday life. When I am "living in accordance with the Spirit" (Rom 8) that will naturally lead to choices that line up with what God wants, even if I'm not receiving special revelation. At the same time I don't want to discount God's ability to speak through circumstances and impressions, even if that is more rare. I am reminded of what Jesus said in John 10: "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me." It would be a shame to miss the voice of the Shepherd--whether it comes through Scripture, the encouragement of a friend, or the conviction of the Spirit. I don't want to neglect to enter into a deep and vital relationship with God because I hold Him at a distance. Our Saviour does not stand aloof in heaven with arms crossed, but has poured the Spirit into our lives, and by that Spirit we cry "Daddy" and "Father".
posted by Alan at 6:24 AM
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