The Holy Spirit and decision making

The role of the Spirit in decision making can bring up some contentious issues. Extremes range from the charismaniac who is always looking for some type of "sign" from God to the hardcore cessationist who will deny any sort of input-prompting, impulse, intuition-that could be attributed to God's direction. This may be a difficult area for Christians to navigate, but I think this excerpt from Gospel Centered Discipleship is helpful in terms of adding some balance to the backlash against the Spirit's involvement in our decision making.

After his baptism, Jesus was "lead by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil" (Luke 4:1-2). Notice that the Spirit played a directive role in the life of the Son of God. Mark tells us that the Spirit "drove" Jesus into the wilderness (Mark 1:12). Jesus clearly relied on the Spirit for direction. This sensitivity to the directing influence of the Holy Spirit is characteristic of the disciples in the book of Acts. Philip is directed to speak to the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8). Peter is directed to the house of Cornelius (Acts 10). The Jerusalem Council is Spirit directing your life? Very often, our modern, self-reliant sensibilities cut the Spirit right out of everyday decision making. Rarely do we request or expect the Spirit's direction. Yet, we are repeatedly told to "walk" in the Spirit throughout the Bible (Ezek. 36:27; Rom. 8:4; Gal. 5:16,25) and to make decisions by seeking the Lord (Prov. 5:4-6; James 4:13-15). Being motivated by the Spirit should affect not just normal decisions but also our general approach to life. Paul tells us to be "filled with the Spirit" (Eph. 5:18). How often do we start our day by requesting a fresh infilling of the Spirit's power for the day that lies ahead? Instead, we assume his presence and barrel forward. Our assumption of the Spirit reveals a self-reliant faith. Instead of starting and continuing our days in our own strength, what would it look like to fight for faith with utter dependence upon the power and direction of the Holy Spirit? (92)

Decision making

Good stuff from John Bloom via Peter Cockrell:

When God’s Will Isn’t Clear

Wonderfully helpful, from John Bloom:

Most of the decisions you will make today aren’t explicitly addressed in the Bible. Questions like, should I eat out today? What should I wear? Should I respond to this instance of my child’s sin with correction or forbearance? Should I shop today or tomorrow? Should I check my email again?

The Bible doesn’t even give specific guidance on huge, life-shaping decisions like should I marry this person? Should I give more or save for retirement? Should we adopt a child? Should I pursue a different vocation? Should we homeschool? Should I pursue chemo or try an alternative cancer treatment? Should we buy this home or a less expensive one? Which college should I attend? Is it time to put my elderly parent in a nursing home? Should I go to the mission field? Should I separate from my spouse while we work on these very painful issues?

These kinds of decisions tend to have multiple acceptable options within the scope of God’s revealed moral will, his commandments. Yet he cares deeply about the details and course of our lives. So what guidance does he give to help us navigate ambiguous decisions? He says,

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect (Romans 12:2).

What does this mean? It means that God has a design in the difficulty of discerning. The motives and affections of our hearts, or “renewed minds,” are more clearly revealed in such decision making.

If God made more things explicit, we would tend to focus more on what we do rather than what we love. Like Pharisees, we would tend to whitewash our tombs with the appearance of obedience — to impress others — rather than deal with the dead bones of our self-righteous pride.

But in decisions that require discernment, the wheat is distinguished from the tares. We make such decisions based on what we really love. If deep down we love the world, this will become apparent in the pattern of decisions that we make — we will conform to this world.

But if we really love Jesus we will increasingly love what he loves — we will be transformed by renewed minds. And our love for him and his kingdom will be revealed in the pattern of small and large decisions that we make.

I say “pattern of decisions” because all of us sin and make mistakes. But conformity to the world or to Jesus is most clearly seen in the pattern of decisions we make over time.

That’s why God makes us wrestle. He wants us to mature and have our “powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil” (Hebrews 5:14).

The wonderful thing to remember in all of our decisions is that Jesus is our Good Shepherd. He laid down his life for us so that all of our sins (including every sinful or defective decision) are covered. He will never leave or forsake us. He has a staff long enough to pull us out of every hole and a rod to guide us back when we stray.

And someday we will see that it really was him leading us through the confusing terrain of difficult decisions.

Foreordination of sinful decisions

Well, the topics don't get any easier in the fourth chapter of The Doctrine of God. After discussing such topics as the efficacy of God's control in the natural world, human history, and human decisions, Frame goes on to discuss God's sovereignty over our sinful decisions and actions.

The author is frank about this topic: "This section raises even more serious difficulties than the last. If it is hard for us to accept God's foreordination of human decisions and actions in general, it is even harder to accept his foreordination of our sinful decisions and actions in particular.The former raises questions about human freedom and responsibilities; the latter raises questions about God's own goodness." (65)

Frame goes on to give examples from Scripture where God hardened peoples hearts; Pharoah,Sihon, and the Israelites themselves. Or consider God sending a wicked spirit which causes the false prophets to lie to King Ahab. Frame also uses the crucifixion of Christ as an example: "As we have seen, Judas' betrayal, the Jews murderous hatred of Jesus, and the horrible injustice of the Romans, were all due to "God's set purpose and foreknowledge" (Acts 2:23). These people did what God's "power and will had decided beforehand should happen" (4:28; cf. 13:27; Luke 22:22). The crucifixion of Jesus could not have happened without sin, for he did not deserve death. For God to foreordain the Crucifixion, he had to foreordain sinful actions to bring it about." (69, emphasis mine)

These ideas bring to mind the quote I shared by D. A. Carson a while back: "To put it bluntly, God stands behind evil in such a way that not even evil takes place outside the bounds of his sovereignty, yet the evil is not morally chargeable to him: it is always chargeable to the secondary agents, to secondary causes [i.e., those who actually do it]. On the other hand, God stands behind good in such a way that it not only takes place within the bounds of his sovereignty, but it is always chargeable to him, and only derivatively to secondary agents...If this sound just a bit too convenient for God, my initial response (though there is more to be said) is that according to the Bible this is the only God there is."

I'll keep reading, because as Carson suggests, 'there is more to be said'. We'll have to see what more is said by Frame concerning this difficult doctrine.