The Will of God: What It Is and How We Follow It

Generally, God’s will is understood as His sovereign, decretive, or hidden will, which is the means by which He sovereignly ordains all things that happen.

The sovereign nature of God means that His will would never be thwarted, and nothing in this world happens out of His control.

So if things happen to us, we can be certain that God has willed or permitted it to happen.

The sovereign will of God is often hidden from us until it comes to pass. However, the ‘perceptive will’ of God, which is the second aspect of God’s will, is visibly made known to us.

This is the will of God revealed through His holy law and the Scriptures. For example it is God’s will that we continuously repent, love our enemies and that we live a holy and sanctified life.

This aspect of God’s will is not just revealed in His written word it is also built into our conscience (Romans 2:14-15). God’s laws (whether from Scripture or in the heart) are binding on all people and we have no authority to violate this will.

But don’t we all sin? How is God in control then?

We do have the ability to disobey God’s general or preceptive will. However, God’s sovereign or hidden will often includes allowing or permitting human sin to occur, ultimately using even sinful actions to accomplish His divine purposes.

God had ordained that Judas would betray Jesus, yet this did not make Judas’s sin any less evil or treacherous. When we say God “permits” us to break His preceptive will, it is also not to be understood as permission or a moral right to do wrong. Rather it is His permission that gives us the power or ability to (but not the right to) sin.

To bring this back to the topic at hand, understanding the will of God helps us navigate our lives with humility and trust in His sovereignty.

While we may struggle with sin and at times fail to align with His preceptive will, we can rest in the assurance that God’s sovereign will is always at work, fulfilling His ultimate purposes.

This understanding encourages us to seek obedience to His revealed will in Scripture and to trust that even in our failures, God’s plan is never thwarted, and His glory will ultimately be displayed.

By knowing His will and walking in it, we fulfill our purpose as His people, living in submission to His perfect and sovereign authority.