God’s will is not just what happens. It is not God’s will for someone to die in their sin. It is not God’s will for anyone to act in evil (Ezekiel 18:32; Psalm 5:4). What God wills is what he takes pleasure in, what he delights in, what he desires. Unfortunately, there is much on the earth that is not according to God’s will. People are acting in evil and terrible things are done and experienced every day. This is not God’s will.
Whatever God desires, then he will decree. God is a king and he declares and commands his desires to be done. When God communicates his desire, then it is known to all the universe. Ultimately, what God decrees is God’s will.
How can anyone know God’s will?
But for us humans on earth, there are many wills expressed. Everyone makes their own desires known, and some make commands out of these desires. Others take their desires and say, “This is what God wills.” How are we to know? It seems so confusing.
God has made his will known to people on earth in five main ways:
Creation
Through God’s creation He has made Himself known—his power, his majesty and his ownership of the earth. Through this creation, we all know that we are to worship God and honor Him as creator (Romans 1; Psalm 19)
Messengers
God has appointed certain people to be messengers of His will. They are people who have heard directly from God his will and then communicates it to whomever God wishes. These messengers can be spiritual—angels—or human—prophets. (Hebrews 1:1)
God’s Spirit
God has sent His spirit to speak to the hearts of men to communicate his will. Sometimes the spirit speaks to people’s hearts, sometimes people can hear words, sometimes a vision or a dream. God will communicate to rulers how he wants them to rule, to the unrepentant of His judgment and to his people about what He wants them to do. Sometimes God’s Spirit speaks to us through other people who can hear God’s Spirit clearly. (John 14:26)
God’s word
God has had some of his messengers take his most important messages and write them down. These words were written so that everyone who desires to be a part of God’s people can clearly understand God’s will. In God’s word God’s will is clearly seen. (Psalm 19, 119; II Timothy 3:16)
Jesus
Jesus is God’s living Word. We not only have words from Jesus to clarify God’s will, but we also have his life to illustrate God’s will. Through Jesus—the only perfect Son of God— we can see and hear God’s will perfectly with perfect clarity. All the other four ways can only be understood through Jesus. (Hebrews 1:2; II John 1:3)
If we want to know what God’s will is, all we must do is ask God to reveal His will and then seek out these five sources of God’s will. But we must remember that whatever God’s will is, it must be in agreement with Jesus.
How should we respond to God’s will?
There are many good ways to respond to God’s will. We can read many of them in Psalm 119. We can hear or read God’s will and that is good, but we don’t always understand it. We can understand God’s will, but we don’t always desire it. We can desire God’s will, but we don’t always have it clarified. We can clarify God’s will, but we don’t always honor it. We can honor God’s will, but we don’t always speak it.
All of these things are good to do with God’s will. But none of them get us God’s salvation. God’s salvation is his true will for our lives. It is God’s blessing, God’s peace, God’s delighting in us, God’s security, God’s love in us. And we can spend all day with God’s will, teaching it and reading it and loving it all day long—but we will never gain what God wants us to have, we will never truly achieve God’s will until we do it.
The ultimate result of God’s will is to have it done. If we do God’s will we have all of God’s good gifts to us (Deuteronomy 29). If we do God’s will we have life (Deuteronomy 30). If we do God’s will, we are the family of Jesus (Matthew 12:50). If we do God’s will we will enter into God’s kingdom (Matthew 7). God’s will is the key to the best there is in life.
How is God’s will done in heaven?Heaven is God’s home, God’s headquarters. It is the center of the spirit world. All of God’s messengers and workers go to heaven to get their orders. And when they receive their orders, the orders are done, immediately. Even Satan listens to God’s commands and will and does just what He says. And if God tells Satan not to do something, he doesn’t do it (Job 1).
There is no one in heaven who says, “But I don’t wanna!” There is no one in heaven who says, “I think I’d rather do something else.” There is no one in heaven who puts their hands over their ears and screams until the command stops. There is no one in heaven who ignores what God says.
What does it mean for God’s will to be done on earth?
Of course, this isn’t the case on earth. Humans are in open rebellion against God. People devise evil in opposition to God’s will every minute. Even the ones who claim to obey God often ignore what God said or avoid a certain command of Jesus. The people of God aren’t often interested in hearing what God has to say about their lives or churches or homes.
When we pray “May Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” we are praying the opposite of that. We are praying, first of all, that we ourselves desire God’s will and will do whatever He wills. We are praying that God’s people would listen to Jesus and obey him, whatever the cost. We are praying that the whole world would change to be like heaven—obedient to all of God’s commands.
But we aren’t just praying that. We are also praying for God’s power to come down on earth so that we CAN obey His will. We are so caught up in rebellion and disobedience that often we don’t even know when we are being rebellious. We need His Spirit to come and show us the truth. We need His power to work in us, to transform our minds so that we can know and do God’s will. And the prayer we pray isn’t just a resolution to do God’s will or to change the world so it will do God’s will. Rather, it is a request for God to enable all of us to do what we cannot seem to do now—to do what pleases Him.
“I delight to do your desire, O Lord”—Psalm 40:8
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