Scripture never invites us to pry into God’s decretive will. In fact, it sharply discourages us from doing so (Deut. 29:29). Scripture invites us, rather, to frame our lives according to God’s preceptive will, and to exercise wisdom and good decision-making principles (see above) when faced with life’s multitude of choices.

Much that passes for Christian decision making in modern Evangelicalism strikes me as a mixture of lazy moral reasoning and illegitimate efforts to discern those “secret things” (Deut. 29:29) that God has never promised to reveal to us. Scripture has much to say about the way we approach important decisions in our lives. It tells us, for instance, to take our time in making decisions (Prov. 21:5), to consider all the relevant facts (Prov. 18:13), to seek wise counsel from others (Prov. 11:14), to make choices that will maximize, not undermine, our ability to love God and love others (Prov. 10:9), to aim at God’s glory in all our decisions (1 Cor. 10:31), and so on. It establishes boundaries for what’s acceptable with regard to certain decisions; it tells us, for example, not to be unequally yoked (1 Cor. 6:14), a moral imperative that bears upon, say, decisions we make relative to marriage. It seems to me, however, that such biblical advice about decision making is regularly trumped in modern evangelical circles by simplistic appeals to what God is “leading” one to do, perhaps with justification provided by significantly misinterpreted and misapplied biblical texts (e.g. Rom. 8:14).

Consequently, I find myself assuming a posture of wariness whenever I hear Christians speak of determining “God’s will” for their lives. Scripture, in keeping with our finite human perspective, presents God’s will to us as two discrete realities. It describes, firstly, what theologians refer to as God’s preceptive will, which encompasses all God’s moral commands to us (see e.g. 1 Thess. 4:3). It describes, secondly, what theologians refer to as God’s decretive will, which encompasses everything that God has determined to do in relation to us and the world, and so comprises every created reality and event (see e.g. Eph. 1:11). God’s preceptive will for us is readily available to us in Scripture. God’s decretive will is fully known only to him, though he reveals certain aspects of his decretive will to us in certain times and places, in keeping with his purpose. So, for instance, Christ’s return constitutes one yet to be realized aspect of God’s decretive will that, by virtue of God’s revelation of said future event, I can count on with absolute certainty.

When Christians speak of determining “God’s will” for their lives, they rarely, so far as I can tell, mean by that efforts to determine God’s preceptive will (which, quite frankly, they would do better to concern themselves with). They typically, rather, refer to efforts to determine God’s decretive will, specifically as such infringes on their own personal lives. Whom should I marry? Where should I go to college? Should I take this or that job? These are the questions that typically prompt efforts to determine “God’s will.” But Scripture never invites us to pry into God’s decretive will. In fact, it sharply discourages us from doing so (Deut. 29:29). Scripture invites us, rather, to frame our lives according to God’s preceptive will, and to exercise wisdom and good decision-making principles (see above) when faced with life’s multitude of choices.

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