We Must Not Confuse Our Will With God’s Will

Last updated on: August 31, 2022 at 2:46 am by Henry Karlson

We Must Not Confuse Our Will With God’s Will 2022-08-31T02:46:54-05:00 Henry Karlson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Österreichische Nationalbibliothek: Saint Ammonas/ picryl

St. Ammonas, a disciple of St. Antony of Egypt, eventually found himself in a position of authority and leadership in his community. His spiritual experiences gave him a charism that allowed him to direct other monks. He helped them receive spiritual experiences of their own. Once, he heard about some monks who were getting restless, thinking it was time for them to go somewhere else. Ammonas believed they were letting their passions get the best of them, that is, that they confused their restlessness as indicating that God was wanting them to move and find a new place to be, when in reality, it was not God who was suggesting this, but their desire. They confused their own thoughts and wishes with the voice of God. When someone does so, they risk losing all the blessings God can bestow upon them, because they become so attached to their own desires, they do not heed the changes they need to make in their own lives to receive such grace:

If we follow our own will, God will no longer send His power which prospers and establishes all the ways of men. For if a man does something, imagining that it comes from God, when really his own will is involved in it, then God does not help him and you will find his heart embittered and feeble in everything to which he sets his hand. It is on the pretext of better progress that the believer can go wrong and end up by being mocked.[1]

We can see this is a problem which is with us today. Many Christians, who should know better, fall for this deception. They conflate their own will, their own private, inordinate desires, for their conscience, and so claim they should be free to do as they desire as a matter of conscience. This is exactly what we saw happen (and continue to happen) with COVID19, as many Christians, for many bad reasons, did not want to take the COVID19 vaccine. They claimed it was a matter of conscience, but it wasn’t their conscience doing that, it was their own inordinate desires; many just did not like anyone telling them they had to do something, even if it was for their own good. Pride, certainly, lies in the midst of such confusion, for it suggested to them that their ignorant desires should not be repressed by anyone. If we let things continue this way, it is easy to see where it can lead. We can desire to be rich, and so think our conscience says it is fine to steal millions of dollars, because it is what we want. We can desire someone no longer causes us problems in our lives, and so think it is fine to kill them. So long as we confuse desire with conscience, we will justify all kinds of evil to get what we want. And if we do so, we should not be surprised if others see what is going on, and ridicule us for our claims (as many ridiculed those who tried to use conscience as a justification to ignore their obligation to society when they were not willing to get vaccinated for COVID19).

Christians must make sure they do not treat God as some sort of wish-fulfilling gem who will give them everything they ask, whether or not it is for their own benefit. When God is treated in this way it should not be surprising that people will end up losing their faith, for they will quickly find what they wanted did not come to pass. This is a problem which Christianity had to face from the very beginning, which is why James had to write to believers, not to boast about the future but rather, to open themselves up to God’s will:

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and get gain”; whereas you do not know about tomorrow. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and we shall do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Whoever knows what is right to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin (Jas. 4:13-17 RSV).

When we turn our hopes and desires over to God, we must accept God’s reply to them. We must accept God’s will for our lives. We must not presume God’s will is the same as our us, that is, God’s will is manifested in our desires. God might have reason to fulfill them, and give us what we ask. After all, many of our desires are good and just. But, we must never presume, for when we do so, we begin presuming the wrong things, that is, we begin to presume our own will is exactly one and the same as God’s will. We must realize they are not, and so we must not confuse our own desires as being what God intends for us. Ammonas, therefore, said there are three sources for such desires:

There are three motivations which accompany a man everywhere, and most monks are ignorant of them, excepting only those who have become perfect, of whom Scripture says, ‘Solid food is for the perfect, who by reason of their conscience have their senses exercised to discern good and evil’ (Heb. 5:14). What then are these three? One is introduced by the enemy, another is begotten by the heart, while the things is sown by God in a man. Of these three, God only accepts that which is His own. [2]

Even monks, with all their spiritual discipline and training, can be led astray by their own heart. It is just as easy for them as for us to confuse their desires with God’s will. Ammonas suggested that when we feel motivated to do something, we should confirm it is God’s will for us, and such confirmation should be made by someone who has proper spiritual discernment so as to make sure we do not lead ourselves astray. This means, we should seek people we can trust, holy, kind, caring people with wisdom who will help us discern for ourselves what truly is best. They will guide us, but still give us freedom to make decisions for ourselves; because we listen to them and not only ourselves, we have the help we need to not be trapped by our own concupiscence. If we will not listen to anyone, if we will not learn from anyone other than ourselves, we will only make our problems worse. It is pride which suggests we can do it all by ourselves. We can’t. We are in this world together. We are interdependent with each other.

To properly develop ourselves, we must be open to God, not presuming our thoughts and desires have been given to us by God. Until we learn this lesson, we will suffer from great prelest, great spiritual delusion, because our presumption will lead us to idolatry, as we will worship ourselves rather than God.

[1] Ammonas, The Letters of Ammonas. Trans. Derwas J. Chitty (Fairacres, Oxford: SLG Press, 1995), 16 [Letter XI].

[2] Ammonas, The Letters of Ammonas, 16-17 [Letter XI].

Stay in touch! Like A Little Bit of Nothing on Facebook.
If you liked what you read, please consider sharing it with your friends and family!

Eastern Orthodox

Contemplative

Relationships and Religion

Sayings of the Desert Fathers

Will

Previous Post

August 29, 2022

Natural Law And St. Alphonsus Liguori

Next Post

September 1, 2022 A Hair Cut, Racism, And South Dakota

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Abortion Abraham abuse Aesthetics AI Aliens Ambrose Ancestors and Everything Andrew Angels Animals Anne Anthony Antisemitism apologetics Apophatic Apostle John Aquinas Artificial Intelligence Asanga Ascension Asceticism Assumption Atheism Attachment Augustine Authority Avarice Balthasar Baptism Beauty Biden birthright citizenship Bishops Black History Books Buddhism Bulgakov Byzantine Calendar C.S. Lewis Calcidius Catholic Catholicism Catholicism Celibacy Charity Chastity children Chrismation Christ Christmas Christology Church Climate Change Common Good Communion Confession Confirmation Conscience Constantine conventions conversion councils Covid Creation Cross Dead Death Death Penalty Debate Deception Demagogues Demons Desert Monks Desert Mothers Desire destruction development Dialogue Dignity Dionsyius Dionysius Discipline Diversity Division Doctor Who doctrine dogma Dormition Dualism Easter Easter Series Ecumenical Councils Ecumenism Education Election Empathy Environment Error Eschatology eschaton Eternity Ethics Eucharist Evangelism Eve Evil evolution Faeries Faith Fear femininity Ficino Florence Florensky Folktale Fools Forgiveness Freedom Future gender Gentile Gentiles Glory Gnostic God gods Good Samaritan Goodness Gospel Government Grace Great Fast Guns Hate healing Health Heaven Hell Hellenism Heresy Hierarchy Hildegard Hinduism History Holiness Holy Spirit Holy Week Hope Horror Human rights humanity Humility hypocrisy ICE icon icons Identification Identity Idol II Nicea Immigration incarnation Individualism Informal Reflections Inklings Intention Inter-Religious Interfaith Internet Interpretation Intrinsic evil Irenaeus Islam Israel Jacob Jerome Jesus Jews John Chrysostom John of Damascus John the Baptist Joseph Judaism justice Justification kenosis Kindnesss Kingdom of God Kingdom of Heaven Law Law of Moses Lazarus Leaf by Niggle Lent Lenten Reflection Liberation Theology Lies Life Listen Literature Liturgy locutions Logic Logos Love Marriage Martyrs Mary Mass Maximos The Confessor Meanness Meditation Mercy Middle Path Migrants Mind Miracles Miriam Morals Moses Movies Music Muslims Myths Names Nationalism Native Americans New Year Nicea Nicholas Nothing Novatian Obedience Occam's Razor Ordination Origen Original Sin Orthodox orthopraxis Pagans Palamas Palm Sunday Paradise Paschaltide Paul Peace Pentecost person Peter piety PKD Plato pluralism Plurality Poem Poetry Poiltics Politics Poor Pope Pope Francis Pope Leo XIV Post Office Prayer Pride Pro-life Prodigal Son propaganda Prophecy Prophets Providence Putin Racism Reading Reason Reflection Refugees Relationships Religion Religion Series Religious Liberty Repent Republicans Rest Resurrection Rich Rites Russia Sacraments Saints Salvation Salvian Santa Science Scripture Self-Giving Sexuality Sibyl Sick Silence Sin Singlehood Social Justice Society Sodom Solovyov Speculations Spiritual Reflection St. Cyril of Alexandria St. Justin Martyr Suffering Sunday of the Paralytic Man Sunday of the Samaritan Woman Superhero Supreme Court Teaching Technology Thanksgiving The Father the Universe Theological Reflection Theology Theosis Theotokos Thomas Timaeus Time Tolerenace Tolkien Tradition Transfiguration Trinity Trump Truth Uncategorized Unity Universities USCCB Value Vatican II Vegetarian Vices Violence Virtue Vocations War Water Welcome Wisdom Womanhood Women Work World View Worship Writing Zacchaeus

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz