And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
– Romans 12:2
God’s will is GOOD! Praise the Lord! His plan is holy and right. His plan is what’s best for us. That’s a fact. His plan is acceptable and perfect as well.
The Acceptable Will of God
God’s will is acceptable. It’s worth accepting. When the 12 spies were sent to spy out the promised land, 10 concluded God’s will was not worth accepting. There were too many giants in the land to leave the security of the wilderness. There were too many difficult tasks in the land to leave the quietness of the wilderness. Joshua and Caleb on the other hand were able to see past the difficulties and fears and accept the goodness and blessings that awaited them in the will of God. God’s will was ACCEPTABLE to them. God’s will was ACCEPTABLE to Abraham when he was willing to leave the most advanced city of the day to travel the long journey to wherever the Lord directed him. God’s will was ACCEPTABLE to Elijah when the Lord directed him to proclaim to Ahab, “there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word” (1 Kings 17:1). The question is, do WE see the acceptableness of God’s will? With our natural eyes it may be easy to see God’s will as too difficult, too scary, and too abnormal to commit too. The truth though is that it IS worth accepting.
The Perfect Will of God
God’s will is PERFECT – ENTIRE – COMPLETE – WHOLE. God has already been in eternity future. He has a complete plan. This is the idea behind the word, perfect. Sometimes the word perfect gets confused with the word holy. Holiness is the absence of sin. Perfection is the absence of a missing piece. When we have been working on a puzzle, and we place the last piece, we don’t say, “Wow! This puzzle is holy!” Instead, we can say “This puzzle is now perfect.” For sure God’s plan is holy. We looked at that yesterday. But God’s plan is also perfect. There is nothing missing from His plan. It is important to note here that though God is the sovereign ruler over the universe, in His sovereignty He allows us to have a free will. God did not want Israel to fall into sin and miss out on the blessing of the promised land for 40 years. He allowed it. God does not want ANYONE to go to hell (2 Peter 3:9). He allows it. When I look back on my life, I see the consequences of doing things my own way. I have already missed out on blessings I could have enjoyed if I had followed God’s perfect will completely. What is simply amazing is that though people fight God’s plan and ignores God’s plan, His plan will STILL be complete in the end. We are living in the last days. It is a blessing to be part of that last piece of the puzzle. Somewhere ten thousand years from now, when we look back at the wonderful, masterful portrait of God’s grace in human history, it’d be nice to see that we willingly and happily took up our roles in following right along with God’s will.
Know this. You have been given the freedom to fight against God’s will. But the Lord desires you to be in His will. Trust in the goodness, acceptableness, and perfectness of God’s plan.