One of my jobs as a board member of the Vida Nova publishing house is evaluating books for relevance and viability in Brazil. Here is my most recent review.
Bruce Waltke, Finding the Will of God: A pagan notion? (Eerdmans, 2002), 194 pages.
Table of Contents
Part One: God’s Will: A Pagan Notion
Ch 1 Is finding God’s will a biblical idea?
Ch 2 How pagans divine the will of God
Ch 3 God’s will in the Old Testament
Part Two: God’s Program of Guidance
Ch 4 Read your Bible
Ch 5 Develop a heart for God
Ch 6 Seek wise counsel
Ch 7 Look for God’s providence
Ch 8 Does this make sense?
Ch 9 Divine intervention
Afterword
Review
As I read this book I thought about an interview I had many years ago, with the pastor of my home church*. I was a teenager, close to high school graduation, and wondering about God’s will for my future. Now, almost 40 years later, I still remember the pastor’s wise counsel—a simple three-part strategy: open heart, open book, open door. The open heart represents seeking after God; the open book stands for the timeless wisdom of the Scriptures; the open door symbolizes God’s daily providence. In Finding the Will of God, Bruce Waltke follows a similar, although more detailed, path.
Waltke argues that a great part of God’s will is not hidden from us, as many Christians mistakenly believe, but that God is “holding back nothing from the children he loves”. The correct understanding of “finding God’s will,” says Waltke, is found in the context of a relationship with God, and not in a desire to receive special signs from him. In fact, Waltke proposes that we eliminate altogether talk of “finding God’s will” and replace it with “following the guidance of God.” This will push us towards development of Christian character and help us to avoid the lazy and unholy path of divination. Waltke shows that special revelation for guidance is not the normative experience in the biblical narrative; thus, by analogy, it should neither be the case for Christians today.
Waltke’s area of expertise is the Old Testament, and he shines when he is mining the Hebrew Bible for positive and negative examples of seeking after God’s will. He shows how some Christian practices in this area are closer to ancient pagan rituals than to life in the wisdom of the Spirit. But Waltke does not ignore the New Testament. He skillfully analyzes the implications of the incarnation for finding God’s will. For example, from chapter 3, “One of the lessons from the life of Jesus is that people will not turn to God simply because they see a miracle.” Waltke also weaves into his text a wide range of helpful background material from anthropology, sociology, archaeology, church history, and his own experience as pastor and professor.
While the first part of the book is reserved mostly for negative examples of finding God’s will, the second part points the way for positive strategies. In the latter, Waltke’s tone becomes even more pastoral. Yet, he covers the principles of open heart, open book, open door with scriptural firmness. Here he also reveals his story-telling abilities, something that resonates well in most cultural contexts. His down-to-earth stories show that Waltke is a compassionate pastor as well as an academic scholar.
Waltke’s final chapter is worth the price of the entire book. It could well be an apology for what Vida Nova [WorldVenture's publishing ministry in Brazil] has been working to do for the last 50 years. In this section Waltke steps back and looks at the intersection of theology and life, and shows why the two are inseparable.
This is not an academic book, but certainly one which often bridges the gap between the academy and daily experience. It speaks directly to Christians who might wonder about Gideon’s fleece, or about the validity of prophetic utterances and miraculous signs. At 194 pages, it is a quick read. I recommend it. The Kindle edition is available for $9.99.
*Dr. Curtis Akenson, First Baptist Church, Minneapolis
