Lost, But Making Great Time

During our college days, my friend, Ken, and I decided to drive to Chicago, wanting to see the big city while in that part of the country for a wedding. After the wedding rehearsal on Friday night, Ken and I struck out for the Windy City. As we traveled up I65, we could see the lights ahead. Soon we were on the edge of the city. As we got closer, we saw what appeared to be a sea of headlights and taillights, flowing along the Eisenhower Expressway. Drawing nearer, we suddenly found ourselves sucked into the eastbound traffic, and were soon flowing along at 70 plus miles per hour. After a few minutes I looked at Ken, who was driving, and asked,

“Do you have any idea where we are?”

“No.”

“Do you have any idea where we’re headed?”

“No.”

“You mean we’re lost?”

“Yes, but we’re making great time.”

Now I’ve embellished the story a little to make a point. If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there. Sadly, many people wander through life with no real direction, just drifting along aimlessly.

But God doesn’t want His people to live this way. As followers of Christ, we are admonished to do just that – follow Him.

Some years ago I developed and led a seminar for a national Christian singles event. Entitled “GPS – God’s Positioning System,” it was designed to enable single believers to gain a better understanding of how to follow God’s will on a daily basis.

The central Bible truth for this study was:

God has a will for all creation. Some aspects of His will we can understand. Other areas of God’s will are beyond our understanding, which requires us to trust Him explicitly.

Now I find myself leading a home Bible study dealing with this same topic. After all, every believer is exhorted to know and do God’s will.

Last night we began to take a look at two dimensions of God’s will; first, His sovereign will, and secondly His moral will. My main source for this is a book by Gary Freissen, “Decision Making and the Will of God.”

So let’s first take a look at God’s sovereign will, which is His predetermined plan for everything that happens in the universe. Here are some biblical truths concerning God’s sovereign will.

1. God’s sovereign will is perfect. We understand, through the Bible, that God knows everything. Nothing is hidden from His view. Nothing takes Him by surprise. So, since God has perfect knowledge of everything, when He decides to do something what He wills to do is also perfect.

2. God’s sovereign will is certain to be fulfilled. When God chooses to do something, it will be done.

3. God’s sovereign will is hidden from human view. He doesn’t consult with us when He decides to do something. As He asked Job, “Where were you when I formed the earth?” (Job 38:4) In other words, Job wasn’t around and God wasn’t dependent on him or any human in any of the decisions God made regarding creation.

4. God’s sovereign will is exhaustive, meaning that nothing is left outside His will. God, who is in control of the entire universe, has a will concerning all of creation. Every atom that has every existed is included. The farthest star in the remotest galaxy is a part of God’s will.

Based on these realities, here are a couple of ideas for application:

First, consider the fact that God knew you before the foundation of the world. His word states this in Ephesians 1:11. This means that, long before you turned in faith to Christ, God had already planned for the day when you would experience forgiveness for your sins.

Now, think about a Heavenly Father who is so awesome and sovereign that nothing is outside His will. How does this make you feel? Do you sense peace and joy knowing that your life is in the hands of the One who holds and sustains the universe?