God's will

 ....This question was addressed by the great Anglican monastic theologian Herbert Kelly. When asked by one of his novices, "How do we know what the will of God is?" Kelly replied, "We do not. That is the joke." In fact, Kelly is right. We never know precisely what the will of God is. I remember wrestling once with a serious pastoral problem in the diocese and absolutely not knowing what to do. I can recall myself saying to God at the end of my evening prayers, "Look, just for once would you mind saying something? I would really like to know" Even knowing that that was not available, it is what we all want.

      In addition to this, God leaves the question about his will to a process of discernment of our free will. The dis- cernment goes like this: We have to choose between a number of courses of action. What course of action more fully resonates with the kind of life Christ lived and lives? What sort of action opens up more possibilities for God to work? Now, those are not questions that immediately yield an answer. But they are the stuff, the raw material of reflection. What course of action might be (even a little) more in tune with the life of Christ? And what opens, rather than closes, doors for God's healing, reconciling, forgiving, and creating work to go on? It may well be that in any given situation there simply is not a clear answer to those questions. But if they are the questions we are asking, then the very process of reflecting and discerning makes space in ourselves for the life of Christ and the creative movement of God. To the extent to which we truthfully and sincerely make that space, we are already in tune with the will of God. Even if we go on to make a mistake, we have not done it by shutting the door on God. We have done our best to leave room for God in the decision we made. To the degree we manage that, we really do (in some measure) God's will. We must simply leave God room and freedom to salvage our life from whatever mess our decision may bring with it.

(p60-62, Where God Happens: Discovering Christ in One Another by Rowan Williams)