Some folks make finding the will of God a demanding task. Brings to mind the famous song from the musical ‘Hair’ . . . “When the Moon is in the seventh house and Jupiter aligns with Mars …” In other words, when everything is neat, tidy, in order, there are green lights everywhere and my wife dyes her hair orange — then it’s a go! Frankly, I think that is an awful lot of pressure to be under. I have a much simpler … saner … and healthier approach. But before going down that road . . .
I don’t think I have ever shared publicly ‘Rule # 1’ in my spiritual walk. So here it is: He’s God and we’re not. He runs the universe, not me! He’s in charge, not me! He’s got it all figured out, I do not! Personally, I find this to be good news for at least 2 reasons:
The pressure is on God to work everything out.
The pressure is off me in trying to figure everything out.
I would submit then that if the statement, “He is God and we’re not” is true, convincing, or credible, then when it comes to finding the will of God for our lives that statement alone should be a source of great encouragement. Like a Tums smoothie, it should give us instant relief and like a spoonful of Buckley’s Cough Medicine that ‘Tastes awful. And it works’, we should be feeling better already, because imbedded in Rule # 1 is the antidote to our frequent feelings of fear, frustration and fumbling when trying to figure out God’s will for our life.
Making Rule # 1 your starting point means any miss-steps or poor choices you make in your life can be reformed, redeemed, recreated, or re-configured by God.
A. Does God Have a Specific [Perfect] Will for My Life?
Now let’s face it, the cosmic search for God’s will generally boils down to the question of whether there is an Individual Will for my life – one that is uniquely shaped by God and specifically designed for me; a detailed life-plan that I can follow.
For sure, God does have a specific will for us – which I suspect is what pushes us to pray, read our Bible and grow in our personal relationship with Him. However there is a caveat to it — part of that specific plan means YOU taking the personal initiative to figure it out yourself as best you can. Said more bluntly, God does have a blueprint for each of our lives specifically, but I do not know how you can get your hands on a personal copy. Isaiah 55:8 reminds us:
"My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts, says the Lord. And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine” — and though the context specifically is addressing the mercy of God, the statement stands true of itself – there are things God knows – we will not; God does – we cannot; God teaches – we do not understand.
Yes, God has a specific plan for everything that happens – whether in our universe or in your life. But it is secret! In theology we call this God’s Sovereign Will or God’s ‘Decreed Will. It is the will by which God brings to pass whatsoever He decrees … and it can never be resisted!
His decreed will is absolute, irresistible and totally infinite;
His decreed will possesses all power in heaven and earth so that no one can defeat His counsels, thwart His purpose, or resist His will. “Our God is in heaven. He does whatever pleases Him” (Psalm 115:3);
His decreed will allows Him to govern the universe, which He has made for His own glory, any way He wishes; He is under no obligation to give an account of His matters to anyone.
God is sovereign in the exercise of His power and His power is exercised as He wills, when He wills, where He
wills – and that is His will. Period!
So, by God’s decreed will the earth orbits the sun, the stars stay in place, the wind blows, clouds form, rain falls, plants grow, birds fly, and your heart beats. By God’s decreed will, angels and people can reason and make choices... while bedbugs and agents of the Canada Revenue Agency cannot! Only kidding! Yes, God has an ultimate destiny for the universe, angels and you and me.
In the words of Proverbs 16:33 . . .
“The lot, the dice, are cast in the lap and every decision is from the Lord” whether it’s at Casino Niagara in Ontario or The Venetian in Los Vegas, Nevada.
In the words of Ephesians 1:11 . . .
“In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.”
Acts 4:28 is accurate. God planned the murder of His Son.
And it came to pass!
However, even though we cannot know God’s Specific Will (Decreed Will) we can commit ourselves to God’s General Will. In theology we call this God’s Moral Will [Revealed Will] and I am happy to report that we can get our hands on a copy — because God’s moral will is explicitly seen in the guidance and commands given in the Bible. In others words, God's ‘plan for your life’ has already gone to press and is at a news stand or a hotel desk drawer near you.
Negatively, God wills us not to lie, cheat, steal, hate or murder;
Positively, God wills us to tell the truth, be honest in our dealings, love one another, be gentle and kind;
His plan is for us is to lay aside anything that slows us down and holds us back from spiritual progress;
His plan is for us to clothe ourselves with godliness and exhibit the fruit of the spirit.
When you go looking for God’s ‘Perfect Will’ for your life,
as soon as you miss just one button hole, you will never manage to button up correctly. Now THAT is pressure!
Some might be thinking, “But the Bible speaks about ‘God’s perfect will’ in Roman’s 12:2. I read it myself.” No argument here, though this is the only place the phrase is found in all of scripture. That in itself is a telling marker. Still, a close study of Romans 12 will demonstrate that the passage is not teaching that God has an ideal ‘perfect will’ for every person’s life and there are very good reasons why God does not reveal the specifics of your path. Regrettably, I need to reserve such an exegesis for another blog, at another time.
B. How Do I Decide to Decide... and Then Decide?
I do not have the corner on all things connected with ‘How to Discern the Will of God’ in one’s personal life. That said, using the Bible like a Ouija Board, a Roulette Wheel or a ‘Christian’ version of Pin-the-tail-on-the-Donkey — where I flip the Bible open and ‘pin’ my stubby, manicured finger on a verse, is not a workable plan for me. And in the interest of being completely transparent, the Gideon ‘putting out a fleece’ strategy (Judges 6) is nutty too! When it came to the will of God, Gideon knew exactly what he was supposed to do. The biblical evidence is clear!
Still, I prefer that you not leave empty-handed here. After all, answers to our life questions are important. I mean . . .
Does God want me to marry Myrtle or Mary; Jehu or Jehoshaphat?
Should I be a professor or a plumber... a veterinarian or a ventriloquist?
Should I take the job in Winkler, Manitoba or the one in Whale’s Gulch, Newfoundland?
The strategies out there are as numerous as the wrinkles on a Chinese Shar-Pei. What follows are the five (5) approaches that have proven valuable in my life when searching for the will of God and perhaps they can serve as a sharp tool to calm the present and shape your future as well. The strategy assumes one is a committed disciple of Christ, already praying and reading the Bible.
# 1. My Personal Desires
Some are likely surprised to hear me say this. After all we have been taught from our youth to think and believe that our desires are enemies and traitors to God’s will . . . and we think we have the Scriptures to ‘prove’ it, too -- like Matthew 15. . . “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander” or Paul in Romans 7:18 “. . . I know that nothing good lives in me.”
OK, so all of us suffer from a common frailty. The apostle Paul calls it our sin nature. Like 5th columnist activity that tries to undermine a nation or a city from the inside, we conclude that our desires are alien to God’s will or at the very least would drift and undo or overrun God’s will, so we suppress them. No news here.
Our problem however is that we are only reading half of the mail. For example, . . . we should read the rest of Romans 7:18 “I know that nothing good lives in me . . . that is, in my sinful nature.” In 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NLT) we read . . . “… anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”
When we embraced Christ and His work, a miracle happened . . . and with that miracle our desires were also transformed. For sure we need to avoid two extremes here, namely (1) replying on our desires more that we should, or (2) resisting them more than we should. It would be wrong-headed however to conclude that yearnings within us have no place in determining the choices we make in life.
Some folks believe doing God’s will is exactly the opposite of my natural inclinations. Chapter and verse please!
Psalm 20:4 offers, “May He give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.” To encourage believers to see things through an eternal lens, Psalm 37:4-5 reminds us to “Delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in Him and He will do this.” And if we will stay close to God, His voice can be heard in our desires, “for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose.” (Philippians 2:13)
Assuming you are ‘in Christ’ and fully committed to Christ, then I ask you – What would YOU like to do? Your desires can be congruent with God's will. Just maybe your answer might be exactly what God would like you to do too! Yah, I know — It sounds radical. Great!
# 2. My Abilities / Skills
When I was growing up, I knew I could do or be anything because mom told me so. One day I came home after class with an old violin from the Music Department . . . determined to master this extraordinary instrument in one self-taught lesson. I remember the occasion as though it was yesterday.
I was in the living room diligently practicing my bowing technique and finger speed . . . while my younger brother, Terry, was eating dog food out of the dog’s dish. Drawing the bow across the strings, my biggest problem was not finding the A Major scale, (necessary to all beginners) – but trying to decide if I was going to be a violinist or a fiddler. Regrettably, after about an hour of melodious music, my father passed by and said “You play the violin as if the strings were still in the cat.” The next day I returned the violin and gave up my career as a concert musician.
My point is, in discerning God’s will in our future, we should give consideration to our abilities and skills. This holds true whether we are looking to be a baker... bell hop... or ballerina. While abilities alone should not determine the conclusion we reach, nowhere in scripture is there the notion that God’s call to a vocation is unrelated to our personal qualifications.
“Now there are a variety of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are a variety of services, but the same Lord: and there are a variety of activities, but the same God who activates all of them in everyone.” (I Corinthians 12:4-6)
Looking at our personal qualifications and competencies is a mature response to making a decision.
# 3. My Opportunities / Circumstances
In Oswald Chambers’ great classic, My Utmost for His Highest, he explains that not everything that happens to us as Christians makes human sense. "To turn head faith into a personal possession is a fight always, not sometimes. God brings us into circumstances in order to exercise our faith."
My conclusion is that there are two types of circumstances that God will use to lead us - closed doors and open doors. Clearly the Apostle Paul placed weight on open doors in determining which regions God wanted him to visit during his missionary travels.
I Corinthians 16:8 — “I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost,” he writes, “for a wide door for effective work has opened to me.” Paul does not say here that God is giving him direct guidance to stay in Ephesus, but simply that the situation is ideal for him to minister.
Interestingly however, Paul also turned away from good opportunities. “When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ . . . a door was opened for me in the Lord; but my mind could not rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So, I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia.” (2 Corinthians 2:12-13) Jesus did the same thing. Once when He was visiting Capernaum, his disciples came and said, “Everyone is looking for you.” (Mk. 1:11) Jesus replied, “Then we will go somewhere else, to the neighboring towns...” (Mk 1:38 Phillips)
Alice: "Would you tell me please, which way I ought to go from here?"
Cat: "That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.”
Alice: "I don't much care where.”
Cat: "Then it doesn't matter which way you go.”
Alice in Wonderland
Over the course of our lifetime--and by the law of averages—we will experience circumstances that seem favourable or coincidental. Be cautious, but see them with the eyes of faith. My suggestion in situations like this would be to evaluate that open door in the light of your priorities. In other words, which of your gifts, talents and desires are the most significant and the ones that you believe God most wants you to emphasize?
Even though we should be careful about attaching tremendous significance to circumstances . . . overall, when making a decision, I tend to see open doors as playing a confirming role in my life.
# 4. My Friends
To use a football metaphor, I consider this strategy to be my ‘3rd and 1’. I need the wisdom and experience of others on the same team that I play on. They can improve my game.
Proverbs 12:15 says, “The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice.”
Proverbs 15:22 says “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisors they succeed.”
I often seek confirmation from someone else whose godly discernment, good judgment, maturity and life experience, I trust. Notice I said Godly, not carnal. The local tavern or weed shop is not likely the best place to get informed counsel.
# 5. Decide to Decide
In his book, Follow Me, David Platt gets right to the core of our search for God’s will. After all, like magnets, we are easily drawn to methods — like casting a fleece or listening to ‘that still small voice’. But Platt wonders if it is really that hard? He writes …
“What if God the Father has not sent His children on a cosmic Easter egg hunt to discover His will while He sits back in heaven saying, “You’re getting colder . . . warmer . . . colder . . .”? And what if searching for God’s will like this actually misses the entire point of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus?” (127–128)
“His ultimate concern is not to get you or me from point A to point B along the quickest, easiest, smoothest, clearest route possible. Instead, his ultimate concern is that you and I would know Him deeply as we trust Him more completely.” (131)
While God knows which of the two cars we are looking at is the better buy, we are not required to know it in order to make a decent decision; nor is He compelled to tell us or dictate His decisions to us. Decide to decide – then step out and decide! Just like rafting the Ottawa river in early Spring is risky business . . . and a lot of fun, so determining God’s will is risky too . . . but just as much fun, in my view!
"Nothing" has the power to steal away your life – and if you stay in the land of ‘nothing’ long enough it will leave you weak and too muddled to shake it off. Decide — and move out!
Stop watering dead plants. Stop hinging your choices on coincidences and apparent signs. Break out of that cycle that searches for God’s will in the groceries you buy, your plans to visit Wonderland on vacation or that one person you must marry in a world teeming with 7.5 billion of us. Seize the opportunities that come your way; better still, tally all the evidence and — make your own way, trusting and praising God as you do.
And should you relapse and again find yourself in search of ‘God answers’ to every conceivable decision facing you, remember that Abraham only heard from God eight times in one hundred years. “Only Saying …”
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