Henry Krabbendam - James - World Evangelical Alliance

ongoing basis. He would have to go back to the drawing board constantly in an unending
stream of changes. Of course, this clearly would make him play “second fiddle.”
God would propose, but man would dispose. As a practical result God would be
forced to come up again and again with new proposals, which would be routinely
turned down again and again! All this warrants only one very simple conclusion. Such
“god” is not the God of the Bible, not by the farthest stretch of the imagination. He basically
would be man’s slave. And then to think that simple surrender to a sovereign
God could have prevented all this confusion and the misery that it leaves in its wake.
No, there must be a better way to make responsible decisions that are marked by
unwavering resolve, accompanied by total peace of mind, and never need to second
guess or look back. There is, indeed! Scripture contains relevant principles. In fact, it
reflects the riches of Scripture that it presents us with explicit guidelines how to make
responsible decisions in areas where there is no explicit prescriptive or prohibitive
Word of God. In fact, there are four such guidelines!
3. The Biblical Concept of God’s Will
(1) Delight in God
First, God will give anyone the desires of his heart who delights himself in Him (Ps.
37:4; Prov. 10:25). He is just like a father who will give his daughter a doll in the color
of her own choice, when and if he is central to her life! Of course, the question will be
posed, “Can our desires always be trusted?” The answer is simple. Unless the delight
in the Lord is present, all bets are off. A simple test can assist in determining whether
the delight of the Lord is present. Can I say with Paul, “For me to live is Christ, and to
die is gain” (Phil. 1:21)? If not, my life is my idol and my greatest delight. I would
prefer it, with all its treasures and excitement, to my Savior and Lord. It would be
quite ironical, if upon our death our Savior would have to ask us somewhat chidingly,
“You did not really want to come home yet, did you not, and see me so soon?” I am
afraid that we would blush from the top of our head to the sole of our feet, and if our
bodiless state would not allow this, our souls most likely would (should!) turn a fiery
red. Of course, this scenario would indicate the need for (wholesale) repentance. The
mere idea that we would prefer anyone or anything to Jesus should blow our brains
and hearts. The accompanying repentance will bring me up to Paul’s level. This, in
turn, will assist me in purifying my desires. In fact, I will look at Paul’s desires (Phil.
1:22-26), which resulted from his delight in God, as my benchmark and model! All
this goes to show that authentic God-centeredness, such as evident in Paul, is the prerequisite
for God-approved desires. Such God-centeredness will not waste its time on
books that focus on “Guidance,” etc. Rather, it will manifest itself a. o. in a deep interest
in books on topics, such as The Attributes of God, Predestination, Sovereignty and
Responsibility, etc. It goes without saying that this, in turn, will have a further purifying
influence upon the desires of the believer!
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