Book Review: Decision Making and the Will of God

Friesen G. and Maxson R.
25th Anniversary Edition
Multnomah, Colorado Springs, 2004
ISBN 1-59052-205-2

(This is a shorter version of a longer article from October 2008.)

The main thrust of this book is that the traditional view of God’s will for individuals—that God has a discoverable or knowable personal will for the individual believer, and perhaps cohesive groups of believers with a common problem or situation—is unbiblical and therefore false. Specifically, it is the discoverable or knowable personal will for individuals for the purpose of decision making to which the authors object. Their main point being that such a will does not exist and that in God’s moral will as revealed by Scripture is everything that a believer needs to know (Deut 29:29) and must know to live a fruitful and blessed life as a Christian. And since there is no personal will of God for the individual, searching for God’s personal will through circumstances “open/closed doors” as well as other believers, the leading of the Holy Spirit, impressions and so on is futile and can only be periodically successful at best.

Rather, their approach is to explain what they call the "way of wisdom" which they contend is in fact the true traditional approach to Christian decision making. They contend that this way of wisdom is composed of four principles, to wit:

1. Where God commands, we must obey;
2. Where there is no command, God gives us freedom (and responsibility) to choose;
3. Where there is no command, God gives us wisdom to choose;
4. When we have chosen what is moral and wise, we must trust the sovereign God to work out all the details together for good.

As well, the authors are quick to point out that divine, supernatural intervention should be considered the exception, not the norm and examples found in the Bible of such intervention should be understood in the light of very specific needs or of a very specific and purposeful working out of God’s sovereign will for His redemptive purposes. Thankfully, the author’s insistence on a complete lack of at least some degree of (apparent?) divine intervention in a person’s life has been moderated somewhat in the 25th edition, the authors acknowledging its possibility if not its ubiquity. (I believe that what a Christian often understands as God's personal will for him or her is really a demonstration of God's providential but sovereign will. It is not something that happens contigently but is an aspect of God's sovereign will in which the believer is the recipient. In this regard, placing ourselves in the midst of God's moral law—which is the expression of God's moral will—also ensures the outcomes of God's usually hidden sovereign will. But perhaps I'm just splitting hairs.)

I liked this book. I think it is a very intelligent examination of the whole “God’s will” issue in light of the objective examination of Scripture. I believe that the personal will of God for an individual (or for cohesive groups such as congregations and their leaders) is a chimera as a strategy for decision making, and should not be pursued. The personal will we are seeking, is nothing more or less than God’s sovereign will for the individual, which is only knowable after the fact. By placing ourselves squarely in the middle of God’s revealed, moral will, we can be assured of being pleasing to God, regardless of our circumstances or their outcomes.

The authors’ view also has implications for Christian liberty, as may be expected. If we are firmly planted in God’s will through our understanding and obedience to the demands of Scripture alone, we will find that—rather than having less freedom—we will in fact have much more freedom.

The book is well researched and well documented with clear and cogent arguments for the position being put forward by the authors. This is a book that should be read by every Christian.