Perfect and Permissible Will of God

By Varughese John, Jubilee Memorial Bible College

The perfect will of God is a phrase that refers to what God intends to accomplish in
us. His will by nature is perfect. However it is more manifested in us when our
human will complies and coincides with it.

The permissible will of God refers to what God permits in God’s children, when we
seek to alter His will by our adamant behaviour sometimes even through adamant
prayer. [Of course we can imagine it as being a spiritual virtue – ‘holding fast
adamantly to what we want’]. Quite often God gives in to our adamant prayer – but
it is definitely does not serve his purpose, it merely delays it.

Let me illustrate the permissible will of God. The perfect will is easily understood. 2
Kings. 21 and 2 Chronicles 33 narrates the story of king Hezekiah who fell sick and
was dying, which in the given circumstance was God’s perfect will. However,
Hezekiah pleads with God crying bitterly….and God extends his life by another 15
years. That is seemingly a good thing. However, Manasseh [12 when he began to
reign] was the fruit of his extended time and turns out to be the worst king ever in
the history of Israel. 2 Kings 21:6 – “he did much evil in the sight of the Lord
provoking him to anger;” v.9 – “He seduced them to do more evil than the nations
had done. He offered his children as sacrifice to foreign gods….”, which of course is
followed by severe punishment vv.12-15.

So the question is - would it have been better for Israel for Hezekiah to die at the
appointed time? I believe so. He could have besought God to forgive him of his sins,
however, on the question of his life, he should have submitted to the will of God. God
permits something in this case but nevertheless follows it with more severe
punishments.

We comply with God’s perfect will simply by asking him to do his will in a given
circumstance. Perhaps we should ask for His grace to accept it – what ever it is! By
our adamance we force God to permit us into circumstances that makes it more
difficult for God to work in us. We always hurt more in the permissible will of God, for
there is then more for God to work at. Imagine adamant clay in potter’s hands! It
begs for more pummeling, smashing and fireworks…

Interestingly, God never gives up on us. We merely make it more difficult for
ourselves. Every prayer, interest, desire will have to accompany the words “let your
will be done, not mine.” I think it was C S Lewis who said, “There are only 2 kinds of
people in the world. First, those who say to God, ‘let your will be done’ and second,
of whom God says, ‘let your will be done’."