Know God’s Will

 

Last Sunday a woman told me the situation in her family. Then she said, “I don’t know what to do.” While I felt her pain, I remembered a sermon from years ago. The pastor outlined the various places in the Bible that plainly state the will of God, mostly to do with faith and obedience, then said if those were true in our lives, we could do whatever we wanted. 

He explained with this verse: “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4) noting that when our hearts are right with Him, God puts His will in our hearts. In other words, His will for me is godliness and that is so important to Him that He might use difficult circumstances to bring me to listen before He uses me or answers my prayers.

He has different ways to make His will known. As Piper points out, God sometimes designs circumstances so that I end up where He wants me — without me realizing it. His example is from Acts 16 where Paul and Silas found themselves in jail, and the result was the salvation of the jailer and his household. His plan went beyond their plans, but since “no plans of His can be thwarted” (Job 42:2), He will do this when necessary.

The necessity might include dealing with our sin. I’m reading Jeremiah and how God put His people in exile because they were not obedient. Their shepherds were lying to His sheep and leading them astray. He said: Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the LORD. . . . “You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds…” and this is what He did. His will was not what they wanted meaning comfort and their own way. God also said He would send a Redeemer, but after that promise He warned them:

Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, ‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ‘No disaster shall come upon you.’ ” For who among them has stood in the council of the Lord to see and to hear his word, or who has paid attention to his word and listened? Behold, the storm of the Lord! Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked. The anger of the Lord will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intents of his heart. In the latter days you will understand it clearly. (Jeremiah 23:16–20)

Clearly God's priority is our holiness and obedience. If I listen to us and do what He says, other instructions become clear. None of this happens if I’m walking in the flesh. To hear Him, I need to be humble, filled with the Holy Spirit, and continually in His Word. 

God did not write His will about every detail in my life. Do I go to a seminar or stay home? Do I visit this person or that one? Do I purchase this needed item or not? For all this, I need godly discernment. I’ve learned that my decisions are not totally reliable. I’ve also learned that He will give me the right choice if I listen. He shapes my mind and inclines my heart to whatever will bring Him the most glory.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2)

Sometimes He simply speaks to me. It may be a simple thing, like what turn to take when driving somewhere, or what book to take home when browsing in a store or the library, or how much to give when a needy person tells me their story. Very often my husband or I share a thought and the other one says, “I was just thinking the same thing.” While Piper says this is the least common way of God's leading in the NT, it is common in our household. 

I can rest in God's goodness whatever method He uses to reveal His will. Some will seem like a mystery, yet God is good — always. His will is always against the desires of my old nature. This is easier to discern because of that conflict. At times it will be a decision involving two things that both seem good. Yet the best way to know what He wants means keeping sins confessed, talking to Him with an open heart, and being willing to do whatever He says.

PRAY: I’m so thankful Lord that You desire my good along with Your glory and can make those two things work together. You continually put me in awe with Your love and great wisdom. Today is going to be another day of seeing Your will worked out to do both. I’m happy to let You go first.