There is much one could spend time meditating upon regarding God, His revealed will, His nature, and our nature in contrast.

The will is one such item that has perplexed and vexed many a theologian and general follower of Christ unto this day. Today, the aim of this article is to present an image regarding man’s and God’s will in relation to each other for your meditation and further reflection.

It is a very simple graphic to be sure. Even so, I think you can easily see the point. God’s will always circumscribes our own. We have a will but it’s range of exercise is limited by our natural constraints. It is also limited by God’s will. In this image, our will can never circumscribe God’s. His will is always beyond and more encompassing than our own.

The text is placed to push forward this description as well as clarify the image. Man’s will is totally bound within its constraints represented by the inner circle. God’s will, though represented with a solid, larger circle, is labeled deliberately to the outside of the circle. God’s will is far more encompassing than what this simple graphic might suggest. He imagined and created everything into existence, including us, by the working of his will. By that fact alone, we are forever bound by the work of His will.

Critique and further explanation

This graphic is one that I have come up with and meditated on for years–I’m sure others have had similar or the same thought. It was inspired by similar graphics I remember seeing while studying God’s triune nature. Even so, like any metaphor, it has its limits. Another thought I’ve had was to make one or the other circle with a dashed line. God’s will doesn’t end where our own begins so I have thought of making the inner circle dashed. On another note, making the outside circle dashed also seemed to make sense as how could anyone truly know the extent or reach of the power of the mind of God (Numbers 23:19; 1 Corinthians 2:16; James 4:15). I chose to go with the image in this article as it keeps things simple and the positioning of the text is meant to help point toward these other thoughts that a dashed line could help represent.

What do you think?

Is this image too restricting? Or would you represent the relationship between God’s will and our wills differently?

Please respond with your thoughts