Revisiting the Biblical tension between divine sovereignty and human responsibility – thoughts from D. A. Carson

Heard a sermon today that left me pondering, among other things, the long-felt tension between God’s sovereignty (and the extent of his sovereignty, but we’ll leave that one alone) and man’s responsibility, primarily in the sphere of salvation.  A book on the subject that I’ve turned to over the years is D. A. Carson’s Divine Sovereignty & Human Responsibility: Biblical perspectives in tension.  For my sake, and perhaps yours, I’ve decided that it’s my responsibility today to record here in this blog several sections from this book.

And lest you, the reader, think that this is one very dry topic and you’ll now turn elsewhere to find something more refreshing, Carson’s handling of the topic is really good, his writing really is interesting, and the topic really is relevant to every moment of your life and mine.

The first quotation comes from the introduction:

God’s will, horses and mules, and your mind. Thoughts from John Stott for folks who think God “speaks” to them

For a variety of reasons I seem to be encountering more people these days who openly proclaim that God speaks to them personally, audibly, and even regularly.  Since I’m finally blogging on this subject I may have to actually give my opinion about this phenomena, but until then, I’ll quote John Stott on this subject from his book Your Mind Matters, which I’ve mentioned before on this blog.  This particular section of the book is titled, “The Christian’s guidance.”

That God is willing and able to guide his people is a fact.  We know this from Scripture, from its promises (for example, Prov. 3:6, “he will make straight your paths”), from its commands (for example, Eph. 5:17, “do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is”) and from its prayers (for example, Col 4:12, “that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God”).

Hello? God?

But how do we discover the will of God?  Some Christians claim rather glibly “the Lord told me to do this” or “the Lord called me to do that,” as if they had a hot line to heaven and were in direct and continuous telephonic communication with God.  I find it hard to believe them.  Others think they get detailed guidance from God through the most fanciful interpretations of Scripture passages which murder the natural sense, violate the context and have no basis in either sound exegesis or common sense.

A Copernican revolution in discerning the will of God, or just an ages-old Biblical concept in a new light

I just finished reading a new book by Kevin DeYoung called Just Do Something: A liberating approach to finding God’s will; or how to make a decision without dreams, visions, fleeces, impressions, open doors, random Bible verses, casting lots, liver shivers, writing in the sky, etc. Long title for a not-so-long book (122 pages).  This book reminds me of another book on the topic I mostly read this past fall/winter by Bruce Waltke — Finding the Will of God: a pagan notion? Waltke’s book is a little longer (187 pages), but still not a long book.  Seems to be a recurring pattern here, and I’m reminded also of Sinclair Ferguson’s short book Discovering God’s Will from back in the early 80s.  If this pattern means anything, it is that finding the will of God for our lives is not a complex matter.

The last paragraph in Just Do Something sums up this idea and the book very nicely, though there is still more to the book than the summary.  Never the less, here’s the final paragraph:

So the end of the matter is this: Live for God.  Obey the Scriptures.  Think of others before yourself.  Be holy.  Love Jesus.  And as you do these things, do whatever else you like, with whomever you like, wherever you like, and you’ll be walking in the will of God.

I’ll admit that over the years I’ve done some serious searching for God’s will for my life, though in retrospect I’d consider that pursuit to be mostly a waste of time and effort.  A few years ago I started getting my head on straight (in my current opinion) and began to live out what DeYoung is advocating in his book: don’t neglect your sanctification, and just do something.