10. Intersection Point

For the longest time, I’ve tried to figure out how I stand on the subject of God’s will. 

Growing up, I heard two different types of teaching. On one side, God’s will is a very specific plan for your life, which can be supported Biblically. “I know the plans I have for you.” (Jeremiah 29:11) “He determined the times set for them, and the exact places where they should live.” (Acts 17:26)

On the other side is the idea that God’s will is already entirely revealed in the word of God, and we can choose where and how and with whom we want to carry that out. (Check out The Will of God as a Way of Life. It’s a great book.)

So which is it? Does he care or does he not? Does God know where I am going to serve him next? Or does he allow me to choose? 

Yes. 

I used to think about those two ways of thinking as dichotomies on opposing sides of a spectrum. And I found myself somewhere in the middle, which really meant I had one foot in one camp, one foot in the other, and was straddling over a wobbly expanse that I could not understand or explain.

I used to think about those two ways of taking as arrows headed off in different directions, and I had to choose which path was right to lead me in the right way.

But what if the arrows are actually like this? Instead of going in opposite directions, they start at opposite places and then come to a point of intersection. It’s a beautiful paradox, that God’s will and my choice can not only co-exist, but intersect. So with one foot on God’s sovereignty and the other foot on man’s choice, I’m actually standing on the same platform of solid ground. 

And at some point, God’s sovereignty and my choice collide and I realize that my choice and God’s choice were actually the same thing.

So instead of fretting about what to choose or whether to let God choose or me, I started looking for the intersection point.