Discerning God's Will Together Part III

Yesterday, we began by asking the question, “does anything happen that is not necessarily” God’s will? I stated that this question stems from at least four facts:

• A faulty view of the Sovereignty of God

• An attempt to defend God or shield God from actually permitting or directly evil events in our lives

• A faulty understanding of what God intends to accomplish by His will

• A faulty view of the reason for creation and redemption

So, we took the time to scripturally demonstrate the biblical view and definition of the sovereignty of God. Seeing God’s sovereignty described and defined by Scripture led us to the conclusion that nothing happens that is “necessarily not God’s will.”

Today, I would like to examine the last of these four faulty facts. I think that repairing a skewed view of creation and redemption will forever to rest the idea that perhaps “sometimes things happen that aren’t necessarily God’s will.”

Why God did created the heavens and the earth and all that is in them? God created the heavens and the earth and all that is in them in order to make known the magnificent, perfect, and harmonious character of God to the angels, both good and bad and to the nations inhabiting this planet.

The answer to this question is found among many places, in Isaiah 43:1-6:

"But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you. Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life. Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you. I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made." (Isaish 43:1-6, ESV)

God created everything in this universe for his glory. In other words God created everything to image forth, reflect, or make know his glorious character to the inhabitants of heaven and earth. This purpose of God guided his creation of the human race from the very beginning. Man was created in God’s image so that man would image forth God’s glory.

Man was, according to the Genesis account, to multiply and fill the earth so that the knowledge of the glory of God would cover the sea. You and I know that ever since the fall of man in Adam in the Garden of Eden, mankind has refused to align themselves with God’s purpose.

The thing to understand, however, is that all of God’s acts, all that He does have been aimed at accomplishing this purpose. It is not just Israel that was created for God’s glory – the human race was created to image forth, reflect, and magnify the glory of God.

This is why we are told in I Corinthians 10:31; “Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

You find the same message in Mathew 5:16; “Let your light so shine among men that they may see your deeds and give glory to your Father in heaven.”

This is not an option. You and I do not have a choice. This is a command to align our lives with God’s eternal purpose. God created us for His glory, not ours. God’s great aim or purpose in creating the world, and his aim and purpose in the subsequence governing of this world is that He is glorified. Why is this breaking news for most people? Why is it such a surprise to Christians? 

What does it mean to say that God created us for His glory? Glory is a very hard thing to define. The glory of God is the beauty and the excellence of his manifold perfections. It is an attempt to put into words what God is like in all of his splendor, magnificence, and wonder. The glory of God refers to His infinite and overflowing fullness of all that he is.

At various times the glory of God can refer to or focus on a different attribute of God – like his power, wisdom, mercy, justice, his holiness, his wrath, or his love. Each attribute, or characteristic or part of God is beautiful in its magnitude – in how great each part is or in its quality. But always keep in mind God’s glory is the perfect harmony of all his attributes into one infinitely beautiful and personal being.

Why does God require that we make known his glorious character?

“The glory of the Lord shall endure forever, the LORD shall rejoice in his works.” (Psalms 104:31, ESV)

God deserves and is worthy of glory! God is worthy of Glory! God, the Father is worthy of glory! This is why we are to praise God, why the entire earth, all of creation is to praise God – God is worthy of praise, God deserves praise.

What is worship? It comes from a concept of weight or weighty. It means to have a very heavy opinion about someone. To have a very heavy or properly evaluated opinion of the worth and value of the nature and character of God.

God has made it his aim or his purpose to win praise. God does not simply wait to be exalted for His power, did you know that? God takes the initiative from all of eternity to exalt his own name in the earth and to display His glory.

Everything God does is motivated by His desire to be gloried.

“For my own sake, for my own sake I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another. (Isaiah 48:11, ESV)

Do you see what is going on here? God says I will do it. Why God will you do it? God says he is not going to leave Israel in sin and disobedience, that would profane his name. So for the sake of his glorious name, he is going to refine them and save them.

So, not only does nothing happen that is outside of the will of God, but everything that happens is the will of God. Everything that takes place is designed by God to work out his eternal purpose. This is why even evil, sin, and wickedness is used by God first, to accomplish his purpose, second, to win praise for himself, and third, how it is used in our lives. 

Tomorrow, oops Monday, Lord willing we will answer the pressing question that is about to explode from your lips. That question is; why?