Whom should I marry, what career path should I choose, and what should eat for dinner tonight? With each of these decisions the question arises what is God’s will on the matter. If we read the Scriptures chances are we won’t find specific verses that will give us the answer so the natural question is how can we discern God’s will on each of these matters.
Sadly, many Christians struggle with knowing God’s will for their lives because they assume that if they can’t find the answer in the Bible then God’s will becomes very difficult to discover. Other Christians go to the other extreme and believe that if God opens a door, if He answers a fleece we put out, or if a thought comes into our head while reading the Bible, then these are indications that God must be revealing His will to us. In both cases we need to be careful when trying to find God’s will for us.
Clearly there are many things we can discover concerning what God’s will for us is by reading the Bible. For example, it is God’s will that we be saved, sexually pure, be filled with the Spirit, always thankful, and be in submission to His Word. But for the vast amount of decisions we must make each day the Scriptures don’t have the specific answer and are there as a guide to helping us discern God’s will. So what can a Christian do in these cases.
I love the advice of Pastor Kevin DeYoung when he said: “Live for God. Obey the Scriptures. Think of others before yourself. Be holy. Love Jesus. And as you do these things, do whatever else you like, with whomever you like, wherever you like, and you’ll be walking in the will of God.”1
Now don’t get me wrong we should also search the Scriptures, pray, and seek wise godly counsel on all important matters, but when we have done this we need to realize that Pastor DeYoung’s advice can be quite liberating and helpful in allowing us to make decisions when Scripture is often silent. Also if we are following Pastor DeYoung’s advice then (Psalm 37:4) can be the key that gives us the understanding of how our desires and God’s desire can become one. For we read: “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.” In other words your desires will be His desires and His desires will be yours. When this happens we can rejoice because we are doing things that we desire and that make God happy – and that my friends is a winning combination!
“But for the vast amount of decisions we must make each day the Scriptures don’t have the specific answer.” “So what can a Christian do in these cases?”
1 Thessalonians 5:
“REJOICE always, PRAY continually, GIVE THANKS in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
This might be a good starting point when asking, “What can a Christian do to know God’s will?”