Book Review: "Can I Know God's Will?" by RC Sproul

This is a book review of RC Sproul's "Can I Know God's Will?" the fourth installment in his Crucial Questions series. 

A Christian asks, "What are my marching orders? What should my role be in contributing to the establishment of the kingdom of God? What does God want me to do with my life?" (29)


It is this question that Sproul seeks to answer in this installment of his crucial questions series about knowing and applying God's will to our lives. As with all things, Sproul takes a very systematic approach, examining God's different types of "wills," man's ability to will (original sin), and how we apply God's will(s) to our lives in the aspects of vocation & marriage. 


It's my favorite of the Crucial Questions series so far, probably because it shines light on a subject that isn't preached on well nearly enough. If you've ever found the subject of God's will confusing, this is a starter-kit on the subject not to miss. 


If you're wanting to know what kind of bang you're getting for your buck, here's some details on the chapters:

1. The first section Sproul expounds is on God's different types of will
• God's Decretive (& Secret) Will - what must happen. What God decrees that will absolutely, no chance of it, not coming true. This is the will that people pine after, "What job do you want me to get? What school should I go to?, etc ..." the will of God of the exact future. 

• Yet as Sproul says, "One of the great tragedies of contemporary Christendom is the preoccuptation of so many Christians with the secret decretive will of God to the exclusion and neglect of the preceptive [revealed] will. We want to peek behind the veil, to catch a glimpse of our personal future. We seem more concerned with our horoscope than with our obedience" (11).
• God's Preceptive Will - His law/statutes/commands. What He has revealed through the Bible.
• Interesting quote: Sproul talks about how important our seeking after God's preceptive (i.e. revealed) will is. After all, "the goal of our redemption is not piety or spirituality but righteousness" (14), that is, aligning our lives with God's precepts and righteous ways. 
• God's Dispositional Will - This is what God prefers. What is pleasing and agreeable to Him. 
• Talking about God's will, I suppose we had to talk about the theological controversy of "predestination" sometime. In this section, Sproul briefly portrays his interpretation of 2 Peter 3:9 saying things such as, "[God] may decree what He does not enjoy; that is, He may distribute justice [i.e., condemn/predestine people to Hell] ... even though He takes no personal pleasure in the application of such punishment ... [God is] not willing that sin should go unpunished" (22). It's definitely thoughts worth reading. Even if you may disagree with Sproul's Calvinistic ideology

2. Next, Sproul takes us into the theological realm of what it means that "man has a will." He dives into the works of Augustine & Edwards, explaining Original Sin's effect on our "freedom." For example, Sproul explains, "Stated simply, man still has the ability to choose what he wants, but lacks the desire for true righteousness [a very Calvinist notion]. He is naturally free, but he is morally enslaved to his own corrupt and wicked desires" (36). 

• Sproul has a great illustration on the conflict of desires we humans have, begging us to ask the question, which are you desiring more today, God or sin? (41)
• Sproul also talks about renewing our minds (46) as being integral to being spiritually transformed. Not much of a surprise, since he has a radio broadcast named, "Renewing Your Mind"!

3. God's Will and Your Job - This chapter was more interesting than I thought it would be. Sproul shows how originally, the term "vocation" meant "calling," a divine call, a holy summons to fulfill a task or a responsibility that God has laid on us (61). And besides showing the different ways God calls His people, Sproul has us understand that "any vocation that meets the need of God's world can be considered a divine calling" (75). May we remember we are called by God not just as ministers, but as janitors, artists, statisticians, and carpenters. 

• Sproul tells a parable using "Lot's choice of land" to talk about short-range vs. long-range decisions for looking for a job. Very illuminating. 

4. Sproul's last chapter is on God's will for your marriage (or singleness) by expounding 1 Corinthians 7. It's very uplifting and and would be useful for single people to read particularly. 

Great read, very in-depth, yet with lots of personal application and illustrations.


5/5 stars

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 The book is available for purchase here:
http://www.amazon.com/Know-Gods-Will-Crucial-Questions/dp/156769179X




Ligonier Ministries may direct compensation towards me as a result of this review.