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Does God have an ideal and detailed will and plan for every life? Is this a valid concept, or is it only a view that has been read into the Scriptures which in fact do not teach it?

As the title of Sander’s book indicates he advocates that “every life is a plan of God.” However, he does not view this plan as detailed and exhaustive. “If there is a divine plan for our lives, and I believe there is, we should not expect it to be like an architect’s blueprint. Or like a travel agent’s itinerary, all complete with dates, places, and times. We are not automatons controlled by a heavenly computer! Divine guidance concerns people who have been endowed with the awesome power of free choice” (10-11). The purpose of God’s guidance is to “lead us into a wholesome maturity and a growing likeness to Christ” (11). Sanders does believe that God directly guides us at times, such as through dreams but this is quite unusual. He dispels a number of myths that people have about divine guidance such as every open door being the will of God and every closed door being his prohibition.

The bulk of the book concerns the methods that God uses to guide us. The primary method is through the instruction laid out in the Bible. If something is clearly commanded in the Bible God will never command us to act contrary to that revelation. God may speak to us in prayer but will also use who we naturally are (after all he created us!). He uses our gifts and abilities and our temperament to show us where to go and what to do. If God has given us musical ability he will show us how to use that, not require we give it up and become a sculptor. He devotes an entire chapter to the missionary call and lists eighteen things that should take place before one confirms that they are called to be a missionary. He suggests it can take ten years for the process to be completed (127-129). These steps include personal preparation through education and experience and confirmation from others such as our pastor.

This is a good introduction to the concept of “finding” God’s will for your life and balances the reality that God does provide every Christian with an idea of his will for their life without doing so in an exhaustive or supernatural way.