Monday, June 10, 2013

Making Decisions through Wisdom, Part 2

In my last post I laid out why I think the 'personal guidance' model of decision making is not biblical. Today I want to offer what I think the Bible does present as the method for making decisions.

The Wisdom Model

The wisdom model is not complicated. The following is adapted from Decision Making and the Will of God, by Garry Friesen and from some of Greg Koukl's work at Stand to Reason (www.str.org). When you have a decision to make, follow these four steps:
  1. Where God commands, we obey.
  2. Where God has given no command, he gives freedom.
  3. When operating in your freedom, use wisdom.
  4. When you have done what is moral and you have done what is wise, then put your plan into action, trusting in the sovereignty of God.
That's it. The wisdom model boils down to this: you have freedom to do what you want as long as it is moral and wise and you may do it with God's blessing.

1. Where God Commands, We Obey

God commands, we obey. It's that simple.

Sooo, how do we know what God commands? Do we listen for his inward voice telling me? No, we go to the God-breathed Scriptures. Paul tells Timothy that it is to the Scriptures that we must go to show us righteousness and to be fully prepared for every good work (2 Tim 3:16-17).

This principle should motivate us to read and study God's Word with a passion. Christians walk around fervently praying, "Show me your will, God. Tell me what to do!" But many of us rarely go to the one place where God tells us what to do: his Word. Or if we do open the Scriptures, it is for a one or two verse pep talk in the mornings with very little depth. Paul says that we need to handle accurately God's Word (2 Tim 2:15). The only way to accomplish that is to get to know it by regular study.

If you want to know what God commands, read verses in context. Greg Koukl teaches a principle that I have found to be very helpful: Never read a Bible verse. See him in a YouTube video here discussing this critical concept.



Knowing what God commands is wrapped up in knowing his Word. You can't know the first without knowing the second.

If you are looking for personalized guidance on specific decisions, such as what to do if you are considering changing jobs or moving houses or marrying your sweetheart, the Bible won't tell you specific answers. But it will give you principles

If you're considering an upcoming career change and you have an interest in becoming a drug dealer or a mob boss, obvious scriptural principles are at play here that you may want to consider before filling out your W-4 form. But if you want to take a promotion in a more mundane industry that will involve more pay, more responsibility and more hours, then you can (and should) consider your gifts (1 Pet 4:10), your ability to provide for your family (1 Tim 5:8), your responsibility to raise your children (Eph 6:4, Mark 9:42). These principles are pertinent to your situation and are a part of God's revealed moral will for all believers.

2. Where God has given no command, he gives freedom

In the book of Acts as we watch the apostles beginning to preach and to spread the Gospel outward from Jerusalem, notice what we don't see. We never witness any disciple or apostle sitting around scratching their head and praying for God's will to know where they should go and to whom they should preach. They don't listen for the voice of the Spirit to get their marching orders for the week. They just go. They just preach.

Consider how Paul begins his second missionary journey. He and Barnabas are in Antioch just after the Jerusalem council in Acts 15. Paul leans over to his partner in ministry and says, "Hey, Barney! Let's go visit all the churches that we established before and see how they're doing" (Acts 15:36). Paul simply decides to do it. He wanted to, so he makes it happen. This pattern we see repeated throughout the book of Acts.

Paul had freedom, and obviously felt free, to conduct his ministry how he wanted to.

In the midst of this freedom, God did interrupt occasionally.

It is fascinating to read as Paul begins this second missionary journey. After Paul and Barnabas split (see below), Paul travels to Derbe and Lystra and meets Timothy. Paul needs a traveling companion, and everyone spoke highly of Timothy, so Paul brings him along. They continue journeying throughout Phrygia and Galatia, but - watch this - they were "kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia" (16:6). Again in the next verse, Luke informs us that "the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them" to enter Bithynia.

So we see Paul and Timothy out there traveling from town to town preaching the Gospel and checking on Paul's churches, but occasionally God would stop them. Paul must have thought it was a good idea to preach in Asia and also in Bithynia, so he tried to. He had the freedom to conduct his ministry as he saw fit, but God is sovereign. We don't know why Paul was prevented from entering these regions - that was part of God's sovereign will. But Paul had to obey when commanded by the Lord (whatever that looked like).

The bottom line: there is freedom when there is no command.  

3. When operating in your freedom, use wisdom

God has given us an entire book in the Bible devoted just to finding wisdom. Proverbs! Clearly God considers it important for us to develop into a wise people. Why give us so much wisdom literature if he's just going to call the shots anyway? We should be reading this scriptural jewel on a regular basis to gain wisdom.

James urges us to pray for wisdom (James 1:5) when we lack it. Why pray for wisdom if God is going to lead me in every important decision?

In 1 Kings 3, the Lord offers to give Solomon anything he asks for, and Solomon asks for wisdom. Why? Solomon evidently had this conversation with God - why not just ask the Lord to lead him in all his decisions? Because this Personal Guidance model is basically brand new on the Earth. It never would have occurred to the ancients to ask God to make all their decisions for them. Thus, Solomon asks for wisdom so that he will know the best course of action.

Solomon had chosen...wisely.

The way of wisdom is also heavily modeled for us in Scripture. As another example, if we go back to the beginning of Paul's second missionary journey in Acts 15, he and Barnabas part ways over John Mark. Barnabas wants to take Mark along, but Paul doesn't. Notice how Luke records it: "Paul did not think it wise to take him" (v38, emphasis mine). What Scripture doesn't say here is almost as important as what it does say. It does not indicate that Paul and Barnabas spent a season in prayer asking for the Lord's leading. Paul simply thought it unwise because he'd been left in the lurch before by Mark (see Acts 13:13) and didn't trust him. Paul used his judgment.

Paul uses his wisdom when deciding to take Timothy with him just a few verses later. The believers in Lystra speak highly of him and "Paul wanted to take him along on the journey" (16:3). No seeking the Lord's voice or leading here. Paul simply wanted to take Timothy. It seemed good to him, and he did it. As it turns out this relationship between Paul and Timothy blossomed to the point where Paul writes to Timothy, "To Timothy, my dear son..." (2 Tim 1:2) and "my true son in the faith..." (1 Tim 1:2). God had sovereignly worked to bring Timothy into Paul's life, and they developed a close and meaningful relationship. God brought someone into Paul's life that he could trust to pass the baton on to after Paul's ministry came to a close (read 2 Timothy). 

Which leads into the last point...

4. When you have done what is moral and you have done what is wise, then put your plan into action, trusting in the sovereignty of God

From Paul's point of view, he was getting a traveling companion for his second missionary journey. But God had other plans - to give Paul and true son in the faith and fellow worker in the Gospel.

Our wisdom and freedom to act within the constraints of God's moral will is how God expects us to operate. But there are times when we try to do something, and it just won't work out. Obstacle after obstacle gets thrown in our face. If you have done your best to honor God and act wisely and yet this thing you want to do is just not coming together, then sometimes we just need to understand that God may be sovereignly preventing you from doing that thing. Remember Paul and Timothy above trying to go to Asia and then Bithynia. They were prevented somehow by the Lord.

The Wisdom model recognizes that after we have done everything we can, we must ultimately trust in God's sovereignty and his control over the events of our lives. Proverbs 16:9 has one of my favorite verses about this idea. The NIV says, "In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps."  This verse is not saying our plans are worthless (for their is no sense of judgment here), but Solomon is showing us both sides of the equation. On our side, we make plans and try to make things happen. But it is also the Lord directing our steps. Solomon recognizes that both are involved when we make plans.

Benefits of the Wisdom Model

Several benefits recommend the Wisdom model of decision making over the Personal Guidance model.

First, it has the advantage of being taught in Scripture. There is no indication from the Bible that I am to seek out God's personal, individualized guidance on an issue, but I do observe generalized commands from his moral will that are to be obeyed. I don't see in Scripture a requirement to "hear from the Lord" before I make a move, but I do discern time and time again admonitions to search for and to ask for wisdom in decision making. I haven't noticed any people in the Scriptures using language such as "I felt led," "I'm trying to find God's will," or "God gave me a peace about it," but I do observe the decision-making habits of the early apostles. They appear to simply make the wisest choice available at the time while being submitted to God's sovereignty.

Next, I don't have to try and figure out what God is telling me. This was a big problem for me when I still held to the Personal Guidance model. How do I know what God is telling me? When I asked other Christians, I always got conflicting advice on how to listen to the voice of the Lord. Was this a sign from the Lord? Is this a confirmation? That thought in my mind - is it mine or God's? The great thing about this model is that I don't have to waste time figuring that out.

Can God put thoughts in our minds? Of course! But the difference is I don't have to figure out the source. A good thought is a good thought. Maybe I'm talking with a non-Christian friend and the thought enters my mind to say something to him and that opens up a spiritual conversation where I get to share the Gospel. Where did that idea come from? I don't know, and it really doesn't matter. It was simply a great idea to say what I did.

Now, some will say that this takes away from God's glory because I could take credit for something that God said to me. Well, ok, maybe, but remember, there are no instructions from Scripture for me to discern what God is saying to me individually. None. So from my perspective a good idea is a good idea, and we can give glory to God for our ability to think and for the opportunity to share the Gospel. All of our minds are offered to the Lord for his glory (or should be, anyway).

Third, I don't have to feel left out all the time. Have you ever heard stories about Christians telling how God was really speaking to them to do this or that? Well, I hear those stories all the time. But I used to feel left out. Why wasn't God speaking to me that way? I read the Bible, I pray, I plead with him to talk to me. Why wasn't he doing talking to me? Was it my sin? That must be it...my sin is keeping me from hearing from God, and those that do hear from him, well, they must really be close to the Lord!

In a subtle way the Personal Guidance model makes some believers feel like second class citizens much like the prosperity gospel does. Here this my friends: if you are not hearing from God, you are not being left out. God isn't speaking to those people the way that they say he is. I know that this sounds harsh and unspiritual. But there just is no indication from Scripture that this hearing-from-God mentality is something we are to expect.

So what are they hearing? I don't know. As Greg Koukl says, I exegete Scripture, not experiences. In other words, we should be figuring out what the Bible means, not the significance of our experiences.

The fourth benefit of the Wisdom model is the freedom. I experienced a tremendous weight lifted from me when I began to study this issue. I don't have to constantly try and figure out what God wants me to do. Mine is to obey Scriptural commands, seek out wisdom, and then do what I want. If God does not want me going down a particular path, he will establish my steps (Prov 16:9). He will sovereignly direct me by opening up opportunities or closing others just like he did with Paul and Timothy. I will not know it at the time why certain things are or are not working out, but ultimately God's plan will be done.

Finally, the wisdom model removes superstition from the Body of Christ. Reading the signs of God's will has almost become a pagan art in some circles. Oh, we don't use pagan terminology. We would never do that! We baptize our paganism with Christian language, but its roots are the same. Modern Christians don't read chicken intestines, but how many of you have ever done this: hold your Bible up on its spine, open to a random page and point to a random verse (with your eyes closed, mind you), and accept whatever it says as God's message to you? I must confess I have done this, and it is not Christian! Treating God's holy Word like a magic 8 ball is not recommended...

Pagans read signs in nature everywhere. Have you ever encountered the same word or phrase throughout the day and interpreted that as a sign from above? Maybe I randomly hear the name "Botswana" three times today in various ways. Lord, we pray, do you want me to move to Botswana and become a missionary? This type of thing becomes normal to Christians who have been taught to looks for signs, but Christians don't do this. Pagans do. (By the way, I am not calling you a pagan if you've ever done these things - only that these practices are rooted in pagan thought and superstition.)

But God does not drop signs or hints for us. That is so not our Lord's way. Please give him more credit than that! Here's how you will know if you are receiving a message from the Lord: you will encounter a talking donkey (Num 22), a burning bush (Ex 3), a nighttime vision (Dan 7), a vision of a man from Macedonia (Acts 16), a supernatural wrestler (Gen 32) or an angel with a flaming sword (Gen 3). Now that's creative and kind of hard to miss!

Conclusion

I urge you to search the Scriptures to see if what I am saying is so. Don't just take my word for it.

If you think that I have misunderstood the thrust of the Word on this issue, then show me where. If you read this seriously, some of you may feel that something has been taken from you. The idea of hearing the voice of the Lord is so entrenched in evangelicalism that it is not uncommon to have strong emotional reactions to the Wisdom model. But if you feel something was taken from you, I assure you that it is not something that you ever really had. We have just been socialized in our Christian circles to interpret our thoughts as God's voice.

But go to the Scriptures. Find out for yourself. The following resources are great if you want to learn more about this:



If you have any comments, questions, or smart remarks, feel free to leave a comment below.

No comments:

Post a Comment