Seeking God's Will

Preached at Hanover Street Presbyterian Church

On April 2, 2006

By Pastor Thomas C. Davis

Texts:

Judges 6: 33-40

Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the east came together, and crossing the Jordan they encamped in the Valley of Jezreel.  But the spirit of the Lord took possession of Gideon; and he sounded the trumpet, and the Abiezrites were called out to follow him.  He sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, and they too were called out to follow him.  He also sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they went up to meet them.  Then Gideon said to God, "In order to see whether you will deliver Israel by my hand, as you have said, I am going to lay a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will deliver Israel by my hand, as you have said."  And it was so.  When he rose early next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water.  Then Gideon said to God, "Do not let your anger burn against me, let me speak one more time; let me, please, make trial with the fleece just once more; let it be dry only on the fleece, and on all the ground let there be dew."  And God did so that night.  It was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew.

Luke 22: 39-46

He came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples followed him.  When he reached the place, he said to them, "Pray that you may not come into the time of trial."  Then he withdrew from them about a stone's throw, knelt down, and prayed, "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done."  [Then an angel from heaven appeared to him and gave him strength.  In his anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground.]  When he got up from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping because of grief, and he said to them, "Why are you sleeping?  Get up and pray that you may not come into the time of trial."

Sermon Text

There are times in life when we all need some reassurance that we're making the right decision.  I'm not talking about trivial decisions, like which cell phone or brand of cereal to buy.  Consumer Reports gives plenty of information for making those kinds of mundane decisions.  No, I'm talking about really big decisions, like whether or not to get married, which career to choose, whom you should pick for a business partner, whether to stay in or get out of a worsening relationship, whether to tell on a friend who you know has broken the law, whether to give more time to your family or your job, whether to adopt a child.  You get the distinction.  If you believe that there's a God who gave you life and cares deeply about what you do with your life, then you're bound to experience moments of spiritual anxiety when you seek reassurance that you're making a good decision, something that will not squander a spiritual gift and foreclose some divine possibility, or even harm yourself or others.  There are times when we realize that what seems best to us may not be best in God's eyes.  Those are the times when life doesn't go speedily, automatically forward.  The why question looms especially large then, and one wants to know what God thinks.  What is God's will for me?

Some people, even people in the Bible, have resorted to magic to resolve that question.  They cast lots, or drew straws, or ran the fleece and dew test not just once but twice, or looked for some remarkable sign in the heavens or the guts of animals they had sacrificed.  Even some modern people do the same.  They let the Bible fall open.  Wherever their eye alights on the page surely bears a message from God, they figure.  Or, they mix astrology with their religion.  Or, they look for some divine message in numbers: on license plates or street signs, or wherever.  Or, they claim that if the congregation's decision has been reached decently and in order, by Roberts' Rules of Order, then it must be a revelation of the Holy Spirit! 

None of these methods for divining the will of God represent true spiritual discernment, because they are all means for evading spiritual authority and the responsibility that goes with it; that is, the responsibility which every human being bears to question authority and sift things apart and decide for himself or herself what is important in life and what's not, what's worthy to keep and what's not.  That is sobering and often scary business, because it makes one aware of just how much power to create meaning in life through one's actions one does have, and how this power can be misspent.

When Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane he was praying to discern God's will for himself.  By then Jesus had become a dangerous person to the religious authorities.  He knew that a trap was about to be sprung.  He was in agony, pressed down by a terrible responsibility.  Luke's version of the story says he sweated as if he were bleeding.  Why this agony?  I don't believe Jesus sweated blood because he was afraid of dying.  I believe he sweated blood because he knew that he could flee, or fight, but neither of those choices was in accord with all that he had lived for.  He prayed to God to take this cup from him. 

The traditional way of understanding that phrase is that he was anticipating the suffering that would follow, because he knew full well what was going to happen.  But another way of understanding the cup is that it represents the agony of being responsible before God for what one does with ones life.  I believe that when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, he was truly tempted.  What happened out there was not a morality play the outcome of which was certain.  He could very well have followed the wrong master:  wealth, or power, or security, instead of God.  And I believe that in the garden he felt again the agony of that wilderness temptation, the temptation to save his life instead of giving it up.  He sweated blood not because he was afraid to die, but because he still could decide not to.  He was afraid he might abandon his calling for love of living. 

Jesus prayed that his disciples would not come into such an agonizing trial as this.  I don't think he was talking about the end-of- the world trial.  I think he was talking about existential trial.  He was pleading with God that the people he loved dearly might somehow be spared the soul-searching agony that he was going through.  But alas, it seems to me that no one can be spared that agony except by various tricks of self-deception, because the agony derives from realizing our responsibility as human beings, creatures who give meaning to life through the decisions we make.

Many people of Israel loved Jesus because he didn't teach as others did, basing what he said on other people's opinions.  Rather, he taught "as one with authority," that is, as somebody who knew God first hand, and could therefore speak from his experience.  I think Jesus believed that we can all do that.  We can all know God just as intimately as he did.  And we can all learn to live by our own lights, as children of God, just as he did.  Seems to me that Jesus consistently taught people by parables not to confuse them or to throw off the know-it-alls, but rather to challenge people to search their own souls and make up their own minds.  And if I've got that right, then seeking the will of God is not much like a private asking his general for orders.  Rather, it's more like waking up to the fact that you have God's Holy Spirit inside you already, and then experimenting how best to grow into the person God hopes you will become, with Jesus as your guide and that wonderful Spirit as your motivator.