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Pastor Jay's Blog

Can You Interpret Circumstances?

 

Knowing God’s will is paramount for the Christian. At some point, God brought us to our senses and we found that our own understanding got us into the pig slop of the prodigal or the self-righteous bondage of the Pharisee. But by grace, we tasted the fresh air of Jesus’ lordship, wisdom, love, and more. Our short-sighted, sinful take on life was just not going to work anymore. Therefore, the Christian follows Jesus Christ. His will is everything. Our desires are at His disposal.

But following Him is sometimes easier said than done. We often wonder what following Him actually means in the big and small decisions of life. Should we do this or do that? Should we go or should we stay? Should we give or should we save? Should we speak or should we be silent? In the midst of all these questions life keeps rolling along. Recognizing that God is sovereignly orchestrating every detail of every situation causes us to look around and ask important questions: Is God telling me something by these situations? Is this event a sign that I should do something? Is this circumstance an indicator that informs me about God’s will?

When something good or bad happens, people often say, “I guess this means I should .” Filling in the blank is not what is important; the word preceding it is the key. “Meaning.” When you use that word, you demonstrate that you are an interpreter. As such, you cannot escape the reality that you were meant to understand and categorize and organize everything you perceive around you. That is why people are so instinctively drawn to explain what is happening around them. When it comes to God’s will, interpretation is critical to understanding. What are we to interpret and how do we go about it?

Can we interpret the circumstances around us? It depends on what you mean. If you mean that you are going to look at an event from a Biblical worldview and see biblical realties at play in it, then yes, you certainly can and should do that. For example, when you see people starving you should recognize the consequences of a cursed creation spoken of in Genesis 3. That is what famine means. If you see corruption and oppression, the biblical doctrine of depravity should cause you to see the outworking of rebels who love money and power more than God. That is what corruption means.

However, it is not appropriate to discern God’s will for you, or what you should do next, by interpreting your immediate circumstances. What I am speaking of here is a distinctly forward-looking attempt to know what God wants you to do through the events that are happening. This is different than looking backwards into the past to see what God did. We can look back and see God’s providential works to provide, protect, and lead you. This should cause profound thanks in us and lead us to obey the call to be thankful always. But trying to look forward and determine what God wants you to do by reading your circumstances is completely different and not biblically justified. Why?

1) You have no authoritative word about this – Scripture doesn’t teach us to interpret events in order to determine God’s will. Matthew 24 does instruct tribulation saints to recognize unique, cataclysmic events as signs Jesus is coming soon. But there is nothing like that for the church age in which we live. On the contrary, the authoritative Word says in Proverbs 20:24, “Man’s steps are ordained by the Lord, how then can man understand his way?”

2) You can’t grasp the full picture – People who interpret events to discern God’s will dramatically overestimate their powers of perception. Let’s think about our place in this world. There are 7 billion people on this planet, and all of their stories are woven together to create the worldwide tapestry of the human story. This doesn’t even factor in all the people who have gone before, nor those who will come after. Add to the mix the political intrigue, the countless interactions with nature, and the innumerable connections and consequences of it all. Are you really going to attempt to accurately state what God is doing in a particular circumstance? The reality is that God is doing 10 million things and there is no way for your brain to even contain it all, let alone understand it. The book of Ecclesiastes is a virtual treatise on the reality that you cannot figure out what God is doing. For instance, it says in 11:5 “Just as you do not know the path of the wind and how bones are formed in the womb of the pregnant woman, so you do not know the activity of God who makes all things.” See also 3:11; 6:12; 7:14, 23-24; 8:16-17; 9:1; 10:14.

3) You are not recognizing the differences in God’s will – Remember that God calls us to do things and believe things as recorded in Scripture. That is God’s revealed will. But God also decrees what will happen and hasn’t revealed any of it. God raises up nations and brings them down. He decrees that a sparrow will fall from a limb and it does. (Matthew 10:29) But when you try to interpret events and circumstances, you are trying to peer behind the curtain and glimpse God’s decreed will. You can’t, and if you speak like you can you speak without knowledge. This is exactly what Job did and he also was accused by God through Elihu of speaking without knowledge. (Job 34:35; 35:16; 38:1-2) He was rebuked, and God did not give Job an explanation of what He was doing. God has not told you, or me, or anyone what His decreed will is, outside of revealed end-times prophecies. He simply does it and it is done, according to His righteous wisdom. You cannot know, and you are not supposed to know, this will. Yet, that is what you are pretending to do when you interpret events.

I hope you can now see your blindness, as ironic as it sounds. Events and circumstances are not yours to interpret regarding God’s will. So what do we do? We have to cling to God’s Word. That is what He has called us to interpret. Once we know what the Bible says, we are to walk into any and every circumstance with that faithful interpretation to inform and direct. Yes, there will be questions and perplexity regarding circumstances, but God calls us to apply Scripture and make our decisions based on the options that Scripture makes available to us. Circumstances will give us the facts to make decisions with, but they will not give us the direction needed. Only God’s word does that.

His word is sufficient. It is profitable for teaching and will fully equip you to live godly. (2 Tim. 3:16-17) So know it as well as you can. Surround yourself with people who know it even better than you. Then pray for wisdom as you refuse to lean on your own understanding and instead apply what He has revealed. Trust Him in this. He will bless you, direct you, and grow you in ways you never could imagine.

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