#14 - Decision Making and the Will of God

I recently finished Decision Making and the Will of God by Garry Friesen, PhD. It is over 400 pages with some very good appendices that bring it up to close to 500 pages. But if you've never read this book, it is a must read.I've been trying to develop a must read list for my children. But I haven't gotten too far with it. I want them to read The Treasure Principle by Randy Alcorn and The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges when they are in HS. There are some marriage and parenting books, I want them to read when they get older. Desiring God by John Piper is on the list but that's for a bit older in life too. There are a several biographies I want them to read. But for sure, in HS, they will read this book.

The book is divided into 4 sections. First, Friesen explains the traditional way that most people view God's will. Basically, that God has a specific individual will for every person. He wants every person to go to 1 specific college, marry 1 specific person, live in 1 specific place and work in 1 specific capacity. I could identify very well with his description because for most of my life, I held that view and was constantly searching for God's will when I had to make a big decision in life.

Second, Friesen critiques that view in light of what Scripture says. He very thoroughly examines the breadth and depth of Scripture to show that this view is not biblical, not logical and not consistent.

Third, he presents a Scriptural view of God's will and how to make decisions. Again, he is very thorough in his treatment of Scripture and does a good job explaining various texts. There are a lot of helpful charts and illustrations.

Lastly, Friesen applies this Scriptural view to various important topics such as marriage, the "call" to ministry, vocation, education, etc. He also has 2 of the best chapters on the weaker brother / stronger brother in regards to Christian liberty I have ever read. Top notch stuff right there.

There is so much good stuff in this book. I think every Christian should read it. I mean that. Especially in this day age when so many people are claiming that God spoke to them or told them to do this or that, we need this teaching to protect us from unbiblical claims of God's guidance and to free us from the burden of trying to discover what we were never meant to know.

This book is very readable and organized. But if you are just too intimidated by its sheer size, another option is John MacArthur's book(let), Found God's Will. If you are averse to books, I preached last Sunday on this topic as well (click here to listen). Please, put this on your to-read list.