Permissive will is the opposite perfect will. Permissive will is the will of man, what man wants. It is sometimes allowed by God. Deficient in firmness or control. An indulgent on the part of the Executor or the One who allows the action to take place.
In situations where requests are made to an authority for an action to take place, and subsequently the request is granted, then there is case of permissiveness or permissive will.
However, when the granting authority has or expresses a contra-will, or counter will, to that of the so-called permissive will, then the contra-will or counter will, is known as the “perfect will”. When the granting authority is God, then, this is the perfect will of God, or simply put, the will of God. An example of the so-called permissive will versus the Will of God can be gleaned in the scriptural account in the book of Exodus, chapter 32, where we have God on one hand with His will and Moses on the other hand requesting from God or expressing his will to God. In verses 9-14; “I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. 10 Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”11 But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God. “Lord,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. 13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’” 14 Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.
From this account, it seems that God permitted Moses’ will to take place, however the perfect will of God ALWAYS takes place at the end of the day, when the scriptural account is further examined in the book of Numbers chapter 14, we found out that, the will that God initially expressed in Exodus chapter 32, finally takes place in Numbers 14:29-35; In this wilderness your bodies will fall—every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me. 30 Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. 31 As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected. 32 But as for you, your bodies will fall in this wilderness. 33 Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the wilderness. 34 For forty years—one year for each of the forty days you explored the land—you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.’ 35 I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this whole wicked community, which has banded together against me. They will meet their end in this wilderness; here they will die.”
Requesting from God is fine, however, but as our Lord Jesus Christ has taught us how to pray in “Our Lord’s prayer”, May the Will of God be done in our lives. His will is perfect and will always be done, in any and all cases. Amen.
