Its been a blessing to read Pastor Jim Osman’s new book “God Doesn’t Whisper”. Its an outstanding book dealing with a problem prevalent in the church of our day. Pastor Jim was recently interviewed about his book on a podcast (found here: https://podcasts.strivingforeternity.org/programs/rapp-report/god-doesnt-whisper-with-jim-osman/) and I made a transcript of a brief segment of the interchange. Once the illegitimate and dangerous decision making models have been thrown out (from Scripture) the question then becomes, so how are we as Christians to make God-honoring decisions. Here’s the relevant discussion:
Interviewer: How then do we make decisions?
Jim Osman: Well, I would say we make decisions in the same way that the Apostles made decisions. That is if we have an opportunity to choose between two options, A and B, we need to ask two questions.
What does the moral will of God reveal concerning this decision? And that is His will in Scripture. The thing that He has said. That I need to flee from immorality, and that I need to do all things for the glory of God. The scripture lays out the moral parameters in which we are to live as believers. It is a big circle, but it leaves a lot of options when we are choosing between A and B.
It still leaves probably most options open to us.
Then the second question we need to ask is what does wisdom say? What does God’s word reveal that would be the wise thing to do? Are there warnings of foolishness that I need to avoid here?
And once we have answered those two questions, and we found that there is nothing about this decision for these options that violates God’s clearly revealed moral will or the wisdom that is given to us in Scripture, then we are free to make, and this is going to sound shocking to some people, we are free to make either decision with God’s blessing. We are free to decide to do anything we want, so long as it does not violate scripture, and it does not violate God’s sound wisdom.
That leaves the option open to us. We are free to marry any woman we want, if it does not violate God’s moral will or violate God’s wisdom. We are free to take any job we want or to buy any house we want, as long as it does not violate God’s moral will revealed in Scripture or sound wisdom. It is not that God does not care which choice we make, as if he is apathetic. It is that God is not intent on revealing to us which choice to make. We are free to make that choice with the firm conviction that in doing so, we are not violating God’s will, and we can make that decision with the conviction that he will bless or use whatever decision it is that we end up making.
… If you read Paul in the book of Romans, he talks about wanting to go to the city of Rome and eventually to visit them. He talks about his strong desire to do so, and then he said, “Maybe, perhaps, at last in the will of God, I will be able to make this trip to come and see you.”
He does not say, “The Lord is revealing to me that this is what my travel plans should be,” or “The Lord gave me a vision of Rome.” or “The Lord laid Rome on my heart,” or “The Lord has whispered to my heart ‘Rome’ over and over again.”
He did not use any of that language. He just says, “I have a desire to come see you. There is a spiritual benefit to this. I am called to be the apostle to the Gentiles. So, it makes sense that this is within God’s moral will. There is nothing non-wise about it, and maybe the Lord will open up the door to do so, and then I will be able to come and do it.”
Basically, the apostle Paul was not waiting to hear a word from God. He was just making a decision that was in keeping with what God had revealed in scripture and in keeping with what he desired ultimately to do. I start the book by talking about that crisis at college on whether I should go back to the second year or not. The end of the book tells you exactly how it is that I made that decision. I ended up doing exactly what I wanted to do. I wanted to go study Scripture.
That was what I wanted to do. So, I decided to do that. I did not hear the voice of God in deciding to do that. God did not speak to me and tell me which woman to marry or which city to live in or which church to pastor or which house to buy or what to name my kids. None of that. I do not need anything from God. He has given to me everything in Scripture to make God-glorifying decisions. And so, if I am making it within the parameters of what God has revealed in Scripture in terms of his moral will and his wisdom, then I am free to make any of those decisions with the promise, or the full confidence, that I am not violating God’s will in doing so.