Knowing God's Will

Okay, you've heard people say this. Perhaps you've said it yourself.

"I just want to know what God's will for me is!"

I hear people say this very often, in some context or another. It seems like a logical statement. After all, when we aren't sure what God is doing with us or wants from us, we're never quite sure what the future looks like. And that is very disconcerting for us humans! As Christ followers, we do have a problem in that God usually doesn't show us enough of the future to satisfy our desire to know. He usually doesn't tip His hand enough for us to really understand how it will all work out. So we have to keep resorting to this thing called faith. And when we don't like that, we start lamenting that, "I just want to know what God's will for me is!"

Well, there is good news about this dilemma in at least two places in the Bible. When I hear people lamenting about not knowing God's will, I always want to ask them if they've read the Bible. When I read my Bible, I know for certain what God wants of me. Let me give you a couple of examples.

Philippians 4:8 (The Message) says this: "... filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious --- the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not to curse. ... Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into His most excellent harmonies." The NASB says it this way: "... whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things."

So this is pretty clear. I should look at my day and see if it passes what I call "the Philippians 4:8 test." How about the TV shows I watch? The magazines I read? The music I listen to? Do they pass "the Philippians 4:8 test?" What about the food I eat? The company I keep? The time I spend? Virtually every part of my life can be pressed up against this barometer to see if it passes muster. If it does --- I'm doing God's will. If it doesn't, I have some changes to make!

Here's another. Let's look at 1 Thessalonians 5:6-8. It says this: "So be on your guard ... Stay alert and be sober. Night is the time for sleep and the time when people get drunk. But let us who live in the light think clearly, protected by the armor of faith and love, and wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation." Then 1 Thessalonians 5:11-23 continues: "So encourage each other and build each other up ... honor those who are your leaders in the Lord's work ... and give them your wholehearted love because of their work. ... live peaceably with each other. ... warn those who are lazy. Encourage those who are timid. Take tender care of those who are weak. Be patient with everyone. See that no one pays back evil for evil, but always try to do good to each other and to everyone else. Always be joyful. Keep on praying. ... always be thankful, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. Do not stifle the Holy Spirit. Do not scoff at prophecies, but test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good. Keep away from every kind of evil. ... may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until that day when our Lord Jesus Christ comes again."

So seriously folks ... how could any of us look at this and then conclude that we just don't know what God wants us to do? He's being pretty darn specific here. He's also being very comprehensive. He tells us what He will do (e.g. provide for our every need). And then He tells us what He wants us to do.

If we feel like we have major decisions to make, like job or career changes, major purchases or relationships, we can talk to God about those and look for His leading in those decisions. But we can not, in good conscience, sit during those times we are waiting for His leading on a specific issue and say that we don't know what God's will for us is.

Let us all tape these Scripture references to our bathroom mirrors, to the dashboards of our cars and to our refrigerators, in our cubicles, on our desks and anywhere else we might be tempted to have amnesia about what God wants us to do! I know what God's will for me today is. And it is that clear.