How to know God's will

Wouldn’t it be nice if we just knew what to do next?

I’m not looking for someone to boss me around all day, but sometimes it would be nice to know which of the paths in front of me is the best one for me.  Does that sound familiar to you?

When we’re stuck at a major life-altering, no-take-backs, cross-roads decision, we often look for “God’s will”.  Admittedly, what we mean by “God’s will” is that we’re looking for the path where God blesses us with the most comfort and prosperity…or for Him to guide us down which ever path leads to the least amount of trouble and heartache.  We don’t necessarily say it out loud like that, though.  But at least we ask Him…right?

So, what are the situations we typically find ourselves in when we are asking for “God’s will”?

When we want a new job – which company or career does He want me to take?
When we make a major purchase – which car or house or investment should I buy?
When we want a romantic relationship – whom should I date, or even marry?
When we want blessings for family – can our kids stay safe and our parents disease-free?

Hrm…well…that’s a lot of self-focused situations.  Perhaps our perception of “God’s will” is a little too me-centric.

Here’s the good news: we can, in fact, know what God’s will is for us.

We can know what He desires for our lives, even how we should handle both the easy and difficult times.  But before I show you how you can know His will, let’s look at what the Bible defines as “God’s will”.

I’ve counted 57 times that the will of God is brought up in the New Testament.  All but 4 of them are the noun or verb form of a Greek word (thelema/thelo) which means “to will, decide, want, or desire.”  Here is one example of thelema:

1 Thessalonians 5:15-18
See to it that no one repays evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good for one another and for all.  Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in everything; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

So, as Paul writes to the believers in Thessalonica, God’s will is what God desires for us to be doing.  God’s will for us is to avoid repaying evil for evil, to pursue the good of others, to rejoice always, to pray constantly, and to give thanks in everything.  I don’t see much about what car to purchase or job I should apply for…

Let’s try another verse with thelema:

Romans 12:2
Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

As Paul writes to the believers in Rome, God’s will – His good, pleasing, and perfect will – can be discovered.  That’s great news!  We have the opportunity to learn what God wants for us as we live in this age.  But did you see what we must do to find it?  First, we must renew our mind and then allow what we learn with our God-focused mind to transform our life.  Renewing our mind with God’s truth is the only way to get there.

Avoiding evil behavior, pursuing the good of others, rejoicing, praying, giving thanks, renewing our minds…none of them are self-focused. According to Paul in these two verses, finding God’s will involves being focused on how we treat others (avoiding evil, pursuing their good) and our relationship with God (rejoicing, praying, giving thanks, renewing our minds with His truth). But, if I’m honest…that also seems like a lot of effort.  At least more effort than simply throwing up a self-focused prayer asking God for the Spark Notes version of His advice for our lives.

And yeah, it is more effort, but God has always told His followers to seek Him - with the promise that when we do, He will be found (e.g. – Jeremiah 29:13). 

So, how about giving God’s clear instructions a try?  I mean, He’s practically spelled out for us how to find His desire for our lives!

I think knowing what to do in those major life decisions will be easier if we do.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Them boys came to work

Sometimes, weekend plans can be completely scrapped due to unexpected events, especially when you are a homeowner.  You cannot predict when most appliances will need repair, or when a piece of furniture breaks, or when you’ll find a water leak in the yard…it just comes with the territory of owning/managing property.  This past week for me – it was a tree that suddenly collapsed in our yard.

This past Thursday, we had a soaking rain with lightly gusting winds.  However, the weather wasn’t the cause of the damage so much as it was the straw that broke the camel’s back.  Or that broke the massive tree limb, anyway.

Bradford Pear trees are a non-native species to North Carolina that property developers loved to plant in the 90s and early 2000s due to their rapid growth and pretty spring flowering.  However, they have many drawbacks – their aggressive growth can be invasive, with sprawling root structures that outcompete native trees for resources.  Their pretty white flowers also stink – like dead fish.  Lastly, and most consequential to my weekend plans, their branches are often weakly attached to the trunk. 

So, during a typical NC rainstorm last Thursday, one of the massive limbs on our Bradford Pear broke off and dropped into our front yard.  Thankfully, it didn’t land on the house or in the street.  However, the crashing limb so severely ripped the trunk that there was no saving the tree.  I snapped a picture and sent it to our church’s men’s group chat, lamenting that I suddenly had new plans for the weekend.  These are the guys that meet weekly on Zoom to go through the Scriptures, sometimes a book, or we take the time to check in on each other.  The group has been rolling for years and it’s always good when we can catch a lunch together or find another way to hang out, outside of saying hello on Sundays.

Since we live in the county and not in a city, the debris removal was totally on me.  Immediately, guys were offering chainsaws and assistance.  From Friday evening to Saturday evening, multiple guys showed up in waves to help, with a couple of them bringing an extra family member to assist.  With chainsaws and a pole saw, we lopped off several still-attached branches, took down the tree, and cut it up.  We were able to haul the debris off to one guy’s nearby burn pile.

Left to myself, on my own time and with just my own effort, a tree that size would have taken me two weeks to take down and likely another two weeks of shuttling everything in my truck to the local compost facility.  Or, at least, I’d have to pay someone two grand to come do it all for me.

Instead, with about 6 hours of work over a 26-hour time period, 5 guys from the men’s group (plus 2 of their family members)…everything was done.  Them boys came to work.  And my neighbors noticed.

Here’s a few quotes from some of the guys in the neighborhood, at different points of the process:

Neighbor 1 (while work was on-going): “Are these guys from your church group?”
Me: “Yeah”
Neighbor 1: “That’s pretty cool.”

Me: (everything hauled away, I’m raking the last of the leaves) “I had some good friends come help me out.”
Neighbor 2: “I hope that if I’m ever in a similar situation, I can pull off what you did to get some help.”

Me: (after everything was done, during a dog walk) “Yeah, my men’s group from church jumped in to help me.”
Neighbor 3: (rubbing his chin) “Huh.  How about that?”

I’m pretty sure none of these men have believed in Jesus for eternal life.  But because of my tree-wrecked weekend plans, they all had front-row seats to the kind of community God made us for.  What they saw was a live-action application of one of Jesus’ teachings in His famous Sermon on the Mount:

Matthew 5:14-16
You are the light of the world.  A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden.  No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

My neighborhood saw our light shine, and I was able to tell many of them where that light was coming from.  My undesired inconvenience became my opportunity to talk about God.  I think we all could use a perspective like that when our plans are interrupted.

Keep Pressing,
Ken