The Formula for Knowing God's Will

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I look at my life, perhaps even my life over one day or one hour, and I think to myself, “with all I’ve done wrong, how can God possibly be interested in me let alone want to do something with me.”

Does this ring a bell with anyone?

In Christendom, this is commonly referred to as feeling “unworthy.”

Regardless of whether you use that word or not, perhaps you just feel like, “really, why would God use a person like me who is so full of failure?”

Yes, we fail. A lot. Like, every day. Let’s run through some scenarios. Did you yell at your kids today, or perhaps even feel a pang of impatience? How about arguing with your spouse, or feeling a pang of contempt for something he/she did or didn’t do? Did you slack off at work today? Get mad at a colleague, perhaps utter something under your breath? Did you have a small moment of road rage? Did you have casual sex? Are you getting a divorce or thinking about it? Have you had an affair?

I’m not even talking about the “big stuff” like murder and such. Just the daily stuff that, in truth, shows we’re severely mortal and do bad things every day, even if they’re little things. Well, even while little, the Good Book still calls that sin. 

And God forgives sin, doesn’t He? And how? All we have to do is ask. 

But this article is NOT about sin and forgiveness. This article is about something else. We all acknowledge that we’re imperfect, yes, we do bad things we wish we hadn’t. And we feel bad about it and wonder what God thinks about us and how He can possibly work in and through us given what we know about ourselves.

At the end of each day, we’ve failed. Does that make us failures that can’t experience God’s will in our lives? Let’s explore more.

Question: has God failed? Does God understand what it feels like to have given everything and STILL failed.

Well, I think so. In fact, I know so. Several years ago I was reflecting on my own failures and BAM! God spoke to me. A revelation flooded my mind. I was stunned, simply stunned. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it before, nor had I heard it preached from any pulpit over the years.

God failed. In fact, you could say His failure is the largest in the history of the universe. 

Before you start burning effigies of me, hear me out because it’s… just… true. So true.

How did God fail?

Let me tell you the story.

You see, WAY back before Man was created, God was a terrific friend with an archangel named Lucifer. Lucifer was one of the most powerful angels in Heaven, and God was very fond of him.  

You have to pause to think about this. For thousands of years, maybe far more, God relied on Lucifer to help rule the other angels. Lucifer enjoyed a place of great privilege and access to God. But then something changed.

I am personally indebted to Wendy Alec who wrote a series of fictionalized books that depicted “the fall of Lucifer from Heaven.” In that series, Wendy said the argument was over Man. You can even see the Wikipedia entry called “War in Heaven” and Man is one of three possible reasons given why Lucifer rebelled. You see, one day, God thought about creating Man. He told Lucifer about it.

And Lucifer didn’t like it. Now, to me it makes great sense. After millions of years, something changed in the Heavens. What could have changed so much that it would cause Lucifer to complain to God? It had to be something game changing.

And Man was game changing. God said, we shall create Man in our own image. Man will be elevated above the angels. 

So let’s play this out. If you’re Lucifer, beloved of God and commanding legions of angels, what might you possibly think of this revolutionary change in the nature of things, the nature of Heaven… and the possible impact on who has power, who has respect, who has the ear of God.

Lucifer feared. Or, he had pride. Or, both. But one thing is for sure, he didn’t like what was happening. 

So he took it to God. I imagine that Lucifer’s fight with God starts like most married fights. It starts small. One side has an offense and takes it to the other side. Then the other side responds defensively, or perhaps logically. Regardless, the originating side then amps up, talking a little louder like, well, perhaps they just didn’t hear me. So I’ll talk louder.

And then God responds. He says to Lucifer, even lovingly, “Lucifer, I’m creating Man. It’s going to happen. Now, Man is going to have certain qualities that you and the other angels don’t have. I acknowledge that I’m taking a risk here. It’s called ‘free will.’ Listen, Lucifer, I need your help. I need you to help guide Man in his journey. Things in Heaven will still remain the same, you and I will still have a great relationship. You’ll still have your privileged place in Heaven. It’s going to be okay.”

And Lucifer seethed. Oh, he seethed. He sulked. Perhaps for a million years, he agonized over the creation of Man. Perhaps for a million years he kept going before the throne of Heaven, complaining to God about this idea of creating Man, admonishing God not to do it.

And, I’m sure, God lovingly listened to Lucifer and admonished him over and over and over and over again to just be patient, give it a chance. He reassured Lucifer, I’m sure, of God’s unfailing love for him all while remaining unmoved in His plans.

And Lucifer seethed.

He seethed until the very last minute, the minute God was to create Man. And then Lucifer moved.

Lucifer said to God, “I’ve been listening to you go on and on about this thing called Man, and I’m sick of it. It’s a bad idea, and I don’t agree. In fact, multitudes of the angels in Heaven think this is a bad idea. So God, listen to me. Either you cancel this bad idea of Man, or I’m going to try to save you from yourself by destroying Man, me and one-third of the angels of Heaven.” 

And I imagine that God, in His great grace, implored Lucifer one last time: “Lucifer! Don’t do this. If you do, I will cast you and your rebellion from Heaven. Lucifer, don’t do this!”

And Lucifer seethed. And in that moment, he felt pride, perhaps for the first time in the history of Heaven. He said to himself, “God is scared of me. He needs me. Well, let’s play this for all it’s worth. Keep pushing it.”

So he says to God, “Try me. I will do what I’ve said.”

And then, everything changed. God sat back, resolved. And He said, “So be it. So be it. Lucifer, you and your angels are henceforth cast from Heaven to forever be separated from me until such time that your ultimate judgment occurs. Go, now!”

And there was a crack and crashing throughout Heaven as Lucifer and one-third of the angels were forced from Heaven by the archangel Michael, his warrior angels, and the pure power of God’s will. 

And Lucifer seethed. He said to himself and his legions, “We will claim Man for ourselves. We will cause Man to reject God as God has rejected us. Perhaps then, God will see the folly of what He did and welcome us back as saviors rather than dejected rebels.” Perhaps.

So, Lucifer took on the form of a snake and deceived Adam and Eve, causing them to sin and also be separated from God until such time as God sent His son, Jesus, to fix things.

And to this very day, Lucifer – now Satan – seethes.

So you see, God failed. He just did. He failed to persuade Lucifer and stop the rebellion. I’m not saying it’s His fault! God gave Lucifer the ability to make his own choices. God was willing to accept Lucifer’s choices and the outcomes. So He tried to dissuade Lucifer and, in the end, failed in those attempts.  

I’m saying that if God Almighty, the God of the Universe, could not persuade one of His generals, could not prevent a rebellion in His own household, after thousands or millions of years of pleading… God failed to keep even His own family together.

How can anyone debate it? Do you think Lucifer just woke up one day and decided to take a walk out of Heaven with one-third of the angels for no good reason or lots of negotiations? No! Even if he did, God would certainly have said, “Stop! What are you doing? Let’s talk about this.”

And why would God talk about it? Because He is the same today, yesterday and forever. Take Jesus for example. He talked and talked and talked and debated and pleaded with people during His ministry. He, as God, exemplified how God works. And because God is the same forever, we can imagine that God also reached out to Lucifer and his rebellion, beseeching them to understand and stop.

And yet, Lucifer seethed.

God’s failure to persuade Lucifer was… unfathomably bad. It was absolutely the worst debacle in the history of the universe. And why? Was the loss of Lucifer and his angels that bad? Well, yeah!

Because the debacle got even worse. You see, in losing Lucifer, God lost Man too. Lucifer did what he told God he was going to do. He compromised Man. He had told God, “I’m going to turn Man against you! Then you’ll see!” God said, “I have faith in Man.” And yet, Man disobeyed God, changing the nature of the world and Man’s experiences in it.

So, when you fail, why do you fail? When you sin, why do you sin? When you feel bad about yourself, why do you feel that way?

Let me tell you – and I need all reading this to really stop and think about this conclusion – God could not prevent the greatest divorce and rebellion in the history of the universe, and that very rebellion turned Man against God and caused the very frailties in you that cause you to sin and struggle through an imperfect life.

If God had succeeded in stopping the rebellion, then perhaps sin would never have existed in Man in the first place, and we would not today have to be repenting from road rage!

Given that backdrop, no wonder God offers each of us so much grace and mercy in our lives.

If God can fail, then we can too.

I’m not saying we should use this as an excuse to continue in sin. However, I am saying, do NOT wrack yourself with guilt over your failings. They happen. They’re unavoidable.

Are you doing everything you can possibly think about for your children but still feel like a failure? It’s okay! Have you done everything you can for your marriage but it still isn’t working? It’s okay.

Have you killed someone? Are you in prison? It’s okay.

Meaning, God gets failure, it’s okay. Ask for forgiveness and move on.

So, regarding God’s will? Yes, if you feel like a failure, it’s okay. It’s normal. Still, you can absolutely, completely experience God’s will in your life. 

No matter how you feel or what you’ve done, God loves you and His will for you is offered with both His hands every moment of every day.

Be at peace and joy. Be good to yourself. Go easy on yourself. God had his challenges. You have yours. What a wonderful God who can understand you because, well, He gets you because He’s been there. He believes in you! He still has His will for you. It’s never too late! Whatever you’ve done, whatever you think about yourself, God still has hopes and plans for you.

Read The Formula. And then read it again. Read it as often as it takes for you to believe that despite your failures and all the challenges you face, you can experience God’s will for your life.

Just do The Formula.