Today's lesson was an overview of the Doctrine of Divine Institutions, categories of Volition, and the ways God's will is expressed.
The Divine
Institutions (Volition, Marriage, Family, and Nationalism) are the most basic practices that God set up for the human race in
order to protect them, preserve them, and allow them to enjoy blessings on
earth.
The #1 and most
important Divine Institution is Volition (which include human responsibility and accountability).
All other institutions are designed to protect Volition. It is crucial that one understands the importance of and the responsibilities and accountability associated with volition. When one demonstrates responsible behavior through the exercise of positive volition,
then this strengthens the marriage, strengthens the family, and strengthens
human government and the nation. But when an individual fails to understand
responsibility and accountability it destroys marriage, destroys family, and ultimately
destroys government and the nation. That is why it is crucial for parents to
teach the importance of volition/responsibility and to have consistent
accountability with their children as they grow up.
Each of these Divine
Institutions is under incredible assault today. There are all kinds of attacks
on human responsibility from humanistic psychology and sociology—it’s not my
fault, it’s my parents’ fault, society’s fault, the education system’s fault,
or somebody mistreated me and it’s their fault. It is never my fault that I
make bad decisions; it is somebody else’s fault.
Secular
humanists are attempting to redefine the #2 Divine Institution, Marriage, as simply
being “a loving relationship between two people”. That is not how the Bible defines marriage. Marriage in the Bible is a
relationship between a man and a woman to fulfill certain responsibilities
under the authority of God.
Next, we
briefly summarized how God’s will is expressed (Directive Will; Geographical Will; Permissive Will; Overruling Will; Revealed Will). To know the will of God, we
should immerse ourselves in the written Word of God (His Revealed Will),
saturating our minds with it, and praying that the Holy Spirit will transform
us through the renewing of our minds, so that the result is what is good,
acceptable and perfect—the will of God. (see Romans 12:2)
I believe what makes it most difficult for us to understand God's will is our linear view of time (past, present, future) as compared to God's omniscient view of time (complete view of total knowledge and of all time--beginning to the end--as the present). We only see the present and the past. God sees all of time as thought it were the present with full knowledge of the fullness of eternity. We often question God's will concerning events in the present when we only have a finite view of time that includes the years we have been alive. God told Jeremiah (1:5), "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you..." In Revelations 22:13 we read, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End." In Matthew 10:30 we read, "But even the hairs of your head are all numbered." Every event--good and evil--God allows. There is nothing that happens that is outside of God's sovereign will and perfect plan (Ephesians 1:11). There is nothing that happens that is beyond His control (Job 42:2). We have only to trust Him completely, surrender to Him fully, and love Him wholeheartedly.
In summary, we
boiled the lesson down into three main points:
1. God’s
ultimate goal is that we love Him with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind, and that everything He wills and permits is to that end.
2. God’s great
love for us is the reason He gives us volition (right to make choices). Unless volition
is without coercing or force are we free to express genuine love for God.
3. God’s
permissive will (allowing us to sin and for evil to exist) is used to refocus us on His perfect will. God will always trump evil and use it to multiply His purposes as He fulfills His perfect will.
Next week we will
look at a very important lesson in our study on prayer: “Prayer That Resists
Satan”.
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