Does Discerning God's Will Mean Looking Into God's Secret Council?

In the Church today, there is much teaching about how to discern the will of God. Most of these teachings are based on fear and mysticism. Somehow, the will of God is some thing that must be discerned by prying into the hidden councils of God. Somehow, those who by prayer and seeking of God do not receive the revealed mysteries of God are somehow second class Christians. Discerning the will of God is not done by magical incantations or by mysticism, but by time in God’s word and heeding what God has revealed, not prying into the mysteries that God, in his providence, has not revealed.

Michael Horton in his Systematic Theology, The Christian Faith: A Systematic Theology for Pilgrims on the Way
gives us help in this area. It is a lengthy quotation, but I think it will be very helpful to all those who struggle with this question. Another great resource for understanding the will of God for us is Kevin DeYoung’s book Just Do Something: How to Make a Decision Without Dreams, Visions, Fleeces, Open Doors, Random Bible Verses, Casting Lots, Liver Shivers,
I hope you find this quote helpful and I welcome conversation on this topic!

“Calvin emphasized that whatever God has decreed that has not yet been publically revealed through the prophets and apostles, is beyond our capacity to know. God’s hidden will is distinguished from his revealed will. God cannot be charged with sin, but neither does it catch him by surprise. (Institutes 1:8.4.) We must not try to figure out god’s secret providence, but must attend to the means he has provided for our salvation (through word and sacrament) and earthly welfare (through vocations, friendships, and other common gifts we share with unbelievers) (Ibid). Where God has not revealed his secret plans in scripture, we have no way of discerning them. In fact, often god’s providence in the world is not apparent to us except by the clear promises in his word. So we are directed to seek out god’s will only in that which he has revealed—“In the law and the gospel.”

Through hidden in past ages, God’s secret purpose in Christ has been revealed in these last days. This knowledge is sufficient to ground our confidence in God’s purpose, even if we cannot discern his hand in our daily circumstance. God’s revealed will in his word is clear. “Yet his wonderful method of governing the universe is rightly called an abyss, because while it is hidden from us, we ought reverently to adore it.” (Institutes 1:17.2) just as we can know God only according to his works, not in his hidden essence, we can know God’s will only insofar as he has published it.

We must never forget that the place where the triumph of evil seemed so obvious and God’s saving care seemed most hidden was the cross. (Institutes 1:17.2.) God’s sovereign rule over nature and history in general cannot be separated from his saving purpose. Just as we find God in the “low place” of this world—lying in a dirty feeding trough in Bethlehem, wearily treading the road to Jerusalem, and crying out in dereliction on the cross—we trust that he is most present in our lives precisely where he seems most hidden.

That God has decreed all that comes to pass is not in question, but we lack any promise that we can access this information through proper formulas. In fact, the latter approach is characteristic of superstition rather than of Christian piety. Romans 12:2 promises that “by testing you may discern what is the will of god, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” On this basis, some have taught that God has a sovereign plan for our lives, but that we can step in and out of it. Often referred to as God’s “Perfect Will,” This notion of god’s sovereign plans considers it merely a Plan A—god’s best for our lives—rather than God’s secret but certain decree. Many believers struggle to discern God’s secret will in daily decisions because they confuse it with his “perfect will” in this passage.

However, Romans 12:2 is not speaking of God’s eternal councils, sure to be fulfilled yet hidden o us. Rather, the context (renewing the mind through the word) indicates that the perfect will that Paul calls us to discern is God’s moral and saving will (i.e.
the law and the gospel) insofar as he has revealed it in scripture. Therefore, when it comes to our vocations, whom we should marry, where we should live, and so forth, we are responsible to discern God’s will only insofar as it is revealed in scripture. For example, we must marry fellow believers (2 Co 6:14), but other considerations are left to our wisdom, the counsel of friends, and the desires of our hearts.

Unlike God’s good and perfect (revealed) will, God’s hidden decree is secret to us. We have no reason to believe that god will reveal to us where we should live, even though he has “determined allotted periods and the boundaries of our dwelling place” (Acts 17:26. But we can be confident that he has revealed everything necessary for salvation and godliness. It is liberation to know that we cannot step in and out of God’s sovereign will, although it remains hidden to us, even if we discover that a decision was poorly made or circumstances did not work out as we had planned. It is not only unexpected that we should know God’s secret purposes; such inquisitiveness is treated in Scripture as an affront to God’s majesty (Rom 11:34).

Many Christians assume that, far from a “deep abyss” inaccessible to us, the secrets of god’s providence can be discerned by following certain formulas. Calvin rebukes the stoics for their fatalism: “for he who has set the limits to our live has at the same time entrusted to us its care; he has provided means and helps to preserve it; he has also made us able to foresee dangers; that they may not overwhelm us unaware, he has offered precautions and remedies” We are therefore bound to use them. (Institutes 1:17.4.) God has planned our future and is active in brining it to pass. “Meanwhile, nevertheless, a godly man will not overlook the secondary causes.” (Institutes 1:17.9.) So confident is Calvin in the sufficiency of that which has been revealed that he can conclude, “And it would not even be useful for us to know what god himself…willed to be hidden.” In fact, recalling a retort reported by Augustine, he added, “When a certain shameless fellow mockingly asked a pious old man what god had done before the creation of the world, the latter aptly countered that he had been building hell for the curious.” (Institutes 1:14.1) (Michael Horton Systematic Theology P. 362-364)