Does God’s voice bring peace? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.
Shirer starts off this chapter talking about a couple that went into ministry. There were all kinds of warning signs and reasons why it wasn’t feasible, but they thought God was calling them and they had peace. Today, they have a successful ministry. Unfortunately, we are not told who this couple is, but are we to believe that because they had a successful ministry, it must be God told them to? It couldn’t be just that they worked hard and had a passion for Jesus that caused them to do great work.
Besides that, there are many unseen concerns with thinking like this.
For one thing, what about people who pray about matters, and have peace about them, but then those matters lead to a disaster? Unfortunately, we do not have exhaustive records from Christians on this. Shirer points to one example and considers the case settled.
Second, this is a form of thinking known as affirming the consequent. What if I told you this:
Mormon missionaries want you to pray to see if the Book of Mormon is true. If the Book of Mormon is true, you will get a burning in the bosom when you pray. You got a burning in the bosom when you prayed, therefore the Book of Mormon is true.
It doesn’t work that way, but then consider this in light of the above story Shirer gives.
If you have a feeling of peace about a ministry decision, then success in that ministry is a sure sign God has called you. You have success in that ministry showing God has called you. The form is really the same. You either accept both or you reject both. for my part, I reject both.
Not only that, but what about people who do not have successful ministries, at least at first, but years later do. Adoniram Judson spent years before he had his first convert in a foreign land. However, he did get the Bible translated into another language for the people and today, we look back and realize he had a successful ministry.
It is true that God called people like Paul and Moses and Isaiah and others, but you are not them. Moses did not show up in Egypt saying “I feel like God is leading me to rescue you Israelites.” Paul did not show up to meet Peter and say “I feel like God has called me to this work.” No. They had clear indicators that God wanted them to do something.
I can tell you I have heard a number of pastors who were sure they were called to preach and they were horrible preachers. They had a lot of passion, but no knowledge of the gospel. Also, that excitement would wear off and then burnout and then all of a sudden, they’re strangely no longer called.
Shirer goes on to say that:
When God speaks, you will feel a surety about His word to you and the benefits of being obedient to it. You’ll feel a peace about it. Think of it as getting a “green light.”
Shirer, Priscilla. Discerning the Voice of God: How to Recognize When He Speaks (p. 108). Moody Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Scripture for this? None. Perhaps we could point out that Shirer quotes John 16:33 at the start of this.
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
This is Jesus talking to His apostles, but He is not talking about personal decision making. He is talking about facing hardships in the world. He is giving them assurances for difficult times. Not only that, but He is saying this to THEM. It does not follow that it extends to everyone beyond them. Certainly Christ can be with us in our struggles, but we need to be careful in the Upper Room Discourse that we don’t take what Jesus says to the apostles and treat it like a personal message to us.
To help, Paul told them, “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts to which indeed you were called into one body. …” The Greek word for “rule” is significant. It means to act as a judge or umpire. So Paul was telling the church that in the same way a modern day baseball umpire manages a game according to the rules, the Holy Spirit was to serve as the “umpire of their hearts,” and the Colossians were to make decisions in accordance with His calls.
Shirer, Priscilla. Discerning the Voice of God: How to Recognize When He Speaks (p. 109). Moody Publishers. Kindle Edition.
But again, this is not about personal decision-making. As Ben Witherington says:
V. 15 says that the peace of Christ should not merely exist in the hearts of the Colossians, but should either rule there or preside as a judge in their midst. By this Paul does not advocate some sort of passivity or calm but the concept of shalom—well-being and wholeness. Nothing should be allowed to interfere with the well-being of the body of Christ. Peace must be the ruling principle. In an agonistic culture where rivalry and competition for honor was a part of everyday life, the audience must be reminded they are called to peace. These general ethical principles of faith, love, peace and the like are enunciated first and then are applied in the household code which followsin vv. 18ff.
Ben Witherington III, The Letters to Philemon, the Colossians, and the Ephesians : A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on the Captivity Epistles (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2007), 180.
Even if decision-making is in mind, it is not individual decision-making. It is the church as a whole. If they can come together in peace on a matter, then they can go ahead in that matter.
I want to be certain that I am clear about this fact: as believers, we can never lose the God-given peace that accompanies our salvation. It’s ours eternally, perpetually. But in the ball game of daily life, the Spirit is making calls for us all the time that we can hear and sense in our own spirit. If we’re contemplating something that isn’t pleasing to God, His peace will not rule. If we’re heading down a path—in life, with the kids, in marriage, in business—and we’re wandering even by accident out of the path He’s set for us, His peace will not rule. If we’re moving forward prematurely and ahead of His timing, His peace will not rule. Even with ultimate peace in Christ concerning our relationship to Him as a son or a daughter, we won’t at that moment have peace in terms of this particular circumstance.
Shirer, Priscilla. Discerning the Voice of God: How to Recognize When He Speaks (p. 110). Moody Publishers. Kindle Edition.
But again, no Scripture is given for this. Many of us have made decisions that we were quite anxious about at the time. Those decisions sometimes worked out fine. Sometimes they didn’t. Again, it’s easy to say peace is the answer if you only take the cases that fit your narrative. Shirer doesn’t interact with anyone who says otherwise. My fear is people can make disastrous decisions and do so based not on sound reasoning and Scripture, but how they feel which can be influenced by any number of factors.
I am remembering when I was eighteen, I had my wisdom teeth taken out. I remember it was a hard time in my life, but after I came out, I don’t know what they gave me, but I was in a peaceful high for a week or so. I tell people you could have told me a meteor was heading towards the Earth and we couldn’t stop it and we would all die and I would have just said “Oh. That’s nice.” Should I have trusted every decision I made in that time because I felt peace about it?
Looking at the next chapter, the claim is that God will challenge you. We’ll see how Shirer reconciles all of this, at least within her system. Thus far, she has failed at reconciling it with Scripture.
In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)