Has made known
“In all wisdom and insight, He has made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention” Ephesians 1:8-9
Has made known – How many times have you and I struggled with the clarity of God’s will for us? How often have you felt as though you just couldn’t understand what God wanted you to do next? Yet Paul says that God has careful laid down a foundation of obedience and provided a heavenly perspective to tell us exactly what He has in mind. We don’t need to grope and hope, plead and persuade or beg God’s direction. This word (gnorisas) tells us that God has already revealed to us what we need to know. This verb form is aorist, a completed action in the past. God’s will isn’t a present tense question mark. It is a past tense declaration.
This word tells us even more. Its root is gnosis, knowledge that comes through experience, collection of facts and data from the world. This is a different source than another word also translated “know” (eido: intuitive, revealed knowledge). Paul insists that God’s mysterious will has already been declared in events and actions that are located in outward experience, in facts and in things that we can examine. When Paul speaks of knowledge of our salvation, he often uses the other word (eido) because knowing God’s inner workings in my life through the Holy Spirit’s presence is inside, direct and intuitive. But the mystery of God’s will is not secret, inside stuff. It is right out in the open, able to be tested and examined.
If Paul is right, then why do we have so much trouble with the question, “What is God’s will for me?” Could it be that we are unwilling to accept what God has already revealed? Could it be that we expect, even demand, that God give us a personal plan to follow that suits what we have in mind? Try these directions on for size and see if you don’t already know God’s will but just find it too uncomfortable to follow:
- Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.
- Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
- Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth.
- First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.
- Do not be anxious.
- Do not condemn others on spiritual matters of the heart.
- If you love me, keep my commandments.
- Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me.
Has God already made His mysterious will known, or did you think Jesus was just making idle comments?
