God's Will

God's will is a phrase we toss about today like a beanbag at a 6-year-old's birthday party. When the idea of it first came to humanity, it was likely to a nomadic man somewhere in Mesopotamia whose idea of freedom was likely so vastly different than ours as to almost defy definition in our modern frame of mind. As it progressed, and seemingly came to a head in the New Testament, so did the people to whom it was spoken to. Incidentally, doing a search for "God's will" or "will of God" will yield very little (surprisingly little for most people).

So what is God's will? Can it be known? To what extent? I don't know the answer, but it has been enlightening to look at the lives of those who were the first to read Paul's letters, or John's, or Peter's, etc. They did not own cars. The furthest they could hope to travel in a given day would've been less than 50 miles on land, and less than 100 by sea, if in both cases conditions were optimal. These are rough guesses from one totally uneducated in such things, so allow me to be wrong, but I don't think I'm too far off, at least not for sake of my point. Their choice of schooling was limited to their father's income and where they lived, and if any sort of "higher" schooling even existed near them. Their choice of a job was limited to their father's occupation or the kindness of another who was willing to take on an apprentice. Their choice of a spouse was infinitely more limited than ours due to a variety of factors, not the least of which were lesser freedom of travel, less life experiences, and generally lower population densities.

So these three things: occupation, education, and spouse. These are the big things in one's life, and the three things that many Christians think of most often when thinking of "God's will." And it was these three things that our ancestors had so little of a choice in, in comparison to ourselves. And all my previous reckoning was assuming that the person in question was not a slave or servant who had almost no choice in their future, as we may say it.

Yet we all three--moderns, ancients, and ancientests (spellcheck?)--share something in common, and it is in this that I think God's will is focused. It is our daily reckoning with ourself and with others. It is simply living, wherever and whenever one is and chooses, but living truth, and living love.

The New Testament never seems to mention a man's occupation, except that he is leaving it to follow Christ. The New Testament never seems to mention a man's education, except to call it rubbish when measured against the Father's Kingdom. And this is all probably coincidental or accidental, and I build no great statements on them as being a strong foundation, but it is something interesting to consider.