Q: Is it right to reason that whatever we do, if it is God’s will, it will satisfy our expectation, but if not God’s will, it will not?

A: Your question is one that many people can relate to.

I think it’s important to understand exactly what Urantia Book teachings are as to God’s will, and its relation to the will of man, before we move forward; it is also important for me to understand what you mean when you use the word “expectation.” For now, I will assume that you are talking about an expected outcome following a decision on your part that you feel is within God’s will.

In other words, if you decide to perform action “A”, thinking it is within God’s will, can you expect a feeling of satisfaction from it, or a good outcome? Conversely, if you perform action “A” and you DON’T feel that sense of satisfaction, does this mean that the action is not within God’s will? My reply will be based on that assumption.

As to the relation of God’s will to man’s will, here’s what Jesus said to Ganid, his young Indian traveling companion:

130:2.7 This was a conference which lasted well into the night, in the course of which the young man requested Jesus to tell him the difference between the will of God and that human mind act of choosing which is also called will. In substance Jesus said: The will of God is the way of God, partnership with the choice of God in the face of any potential alternative. To do the will of God, therefore, is the progressive experience of becoming more and more like God, and God is the source and destiny of all that is good and beautiful and true. The will of man is the way of man, the sum and substance of that which the mortal chooses to be and do. Will is the deliberate choice of a self-conscious being which leads to decision-conduct based on intelligent reflection.

You’ll notice that in the passage above, Jesus mentions that doing the will of God is a “progressive” experience, which results from the consistent desire to become more and more like God. So, in the beginning, when we perhaps may not know God well, we may experience outcomes that may be less than satisfying, as we are trying to discern God’s will. But as we “progress” in the knowledge of God’s will and decide on a course of “decision-conduct” by the use of our “intelligent reflection, ” we may also expect better and better outcomes because by progressively learning and doing what we discern to be within God’s will, the success of those decisions will reflect more goodness, more truth and more beauty.

This kind of progressive experience is at the heart of the religion of personal spiritual experience. If our motivation is to do God’s will, then, as we live and decide, we experience the results of that life and those decisions in our inner life…we gain irrefutable evidence that what we are doing is according to God’s will—or not.

One of the most important ways that we discern the will of God is through communion with God. As you know, if you are a Urantia Book reader, we harbor the Spirit of the Father within our minds, and we can attempt communion with him through this divine gift, as in this passage:

5:2.6 The entire experience of Adjuster communion is one involving moral status, mental motivation, and spiritual experience. The self-realization of such an achievement is mainly, though not exclusively, limited to the realms of soul consciousness, but the proofs are forthcoming and abundant in the manifestation of the fruits of the spirit in the lives of all such inner-spirit contactors.

I cite this passage because in it, we see that the result of Adjuster communion can be clearly seen “in the manifestation of the fruits of the spirit in the lives of all such inner-spirit contactors.”

We do this in the confines of our inner life, as in this passage:

111:5.1 The doing of the will of God is nothing more or less than an exhibition of creature willingness to share the inner life with God—with the very God who has made such a creature life of inner meaning-value possible. Sharing is Godlike—divine.

So, I guess I would have to say, (if my assumptions are true about your question), is that your evidence of whether or not what you decide to do is “satisfying” or not—is God’s will or not,—is whether you experience the manifestation of the fruits of the spirit as a result of your actions. So, yes—I think you are correct to reason that doing God’s will is ultimately satisfying to those who are sincerely motivated to actually DO that will…but again, this is a “progressive” experience—progressively satisfying, if not “completely” satisfying, especially in the beginning. But, we should also understand that God’s will can encompass outcomes that we may not always like, or expect, due to our incomplete understanding of his divine ways.

Here is an inclusive list of those good fruits that should manifest in our lives when we sincerely desire to do God’s will:

193:2.2 And the fruits of the divine spirit which are yielded in the lives of spirit-born and God-knowing mortals are: loving service, unselfish devotion, courageous loyalty, sincere fairness, enlightened honesty, undying hope, confiding trust, merciful ministry, unfailing goodness, forgiving tolerance, and enduring peace.

I hope that this reply has been helpful. Please keep in touch!!!