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The Simple Things, Part 2: Finding God's Will
All of us have to make choices about where to go to school, what to major in, where to get jobs, who to marry — the list goes on and on. And in all of these choices, we're supposed to be seeking God's will. But how do we know His will? And if we make the wrong choice will it affect us forever? Lindy helps us figure out the simple way to finding God's will.
It's Simple, Really
A few weeks ago, I made the observation that we often bypass simple truths in the Bible just because they're simple. The difficulties in our lives feel so complicated, and we search for equally complex solutions. In the process, we ignore the rich wisdom found in the Bible's simple truths.
Last time around, I shared my amazement about how community grows when we apply God's simple truths for life together. I didn't understand that when I went to college and I deeply wish I had. But community wasn't my biggest conundrum. Something else plagued me even more: God's will.
Is God's Will Like a Tightrope?
The college years are a time when we struggle to discover our identities and choose a direction for our lives. What are my skills and interests? What major should I choose? What career will it lead to? Whom will I marry? Where will I live? Will I be successful? For Christ-followers, these questions are wrapped up in the bigger question: What is God's will for me?
Starting college, I knew that this question was vital, and that its answers would affect the rest of my life. As the college years passed, the question became almost oppressive. I wanted so much to find the will of God and do it, because I knew it was the only way to really live (Deuteronomy 30:19-20). Unfortunately, this turned into a source of terrible fear. I felt like God's will was a tightrope and one wrong step — accidental or purposeful — could ruin my life. How tragic! And how paralyzing. Because I'd placed this kind of weight on my major decisions, it was hard to make any decision at all.
Mine was a rather extreme attitude toward the question of God's will, but I know many college students experience the same dilemma to lesser degrees. I've since discovered that Scripture has some simple and profound things to say about it.
Love God. Love Your Neighbor.
Not surprisingly, we have to start in the same place we started last time — with what Jesus calls the greatest and second-greatest commandments (Matthew 22:38-39). Everything God wanted to tell us is summed up in these imperatives, so they're good rules of thumb for determining whether our plans are in His will. If I'm loving God and loving my neighbor, I can be pretty sure God is pleased with my choices.
Of course, learning to love is a lifelong endeavor. There will always be room to grow, and that growth happens as we press deeper into our Heavenly Father, whose nature is love. Within the boundaries of love, we have great freedom to pursue the desires God gives us.
God's Will is Knowable
I spent a lot of time in college miffed at God because I felt like He was playing games with me — requiring me to obey His will, then refusing to reveal it to me. So imagine my relief when I read Romans 12:2 and discovered that God wants us to know His will. He even tells us how to do it: Don't conform to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds.
Great. But what exactly does that mean? This passage — along with others like 1 Thessalonians 4:3-12 and 5:12-22 and 1 Peter 2:13-17 — seems to reveal a miraculous, mysterious, cyclical connection between knowing and doing God's will. First, we get to know God, His nature and His desires for us through Scripture. These desires aren't hard to decipher: They're simple things like living pure lives, working hard, earning people's respect, doing good and being different from the world.1 As we do the things which are clearly in God's will, we somehow become the kind of people who can discern God's will with increasing clarity.
But … We Won't Always Know It
The fact that we can know God's will doesn't mean we always will know it. And that's OK. Paul reveals this kind of uncertainty in his own life when he tells both the Ephesians and the Romans that he's not sure if it's God's will that he see them in person (Acts 18:21, Romans 1:10).
It helps me to know that a limited understanding of God's will didn't paralyze Paul. He was uncertain where God would lead him. But instead of shutting down his ministry until he could discover the answer, he just kept doing what he already knew was right and trusted God to make the missing pieces of His will clear at the right time.
Perhaps Paul had the confidence to keep moving because he also knew these other important things about God: First, the Holy Spirit inside us knows the mind of God, even if it's not totally accessible to our human minds (Romans 8:26-27). This means the Spirit sometimes guides us in ways of which we're not conscious. Second, there's nothing we can ever do to thwart God's ultimate plan (Romans 8:28). So basically, when I was paralyzed by my inability to understand God's intentions, it was only because I was overestimating my own power in comparison with His. Now that I know that I can't mess God up, it's a lot easier to keep moving in times of uncertainty and trust that God will reveal my next direction when I arrive at the next fork in the road.
God's Will Sometimes Includes Suffering
Another misconception I had about God's will was that if I followed His direction perfectly, I'd avoid pain. I was a little surprised to find out that's not true. Peter talks about it in 1 Peter 3:17 and 4:19. To him, it's a concept so simple that he doesn't even explain it. He just takes it for granted that God's will sometimes includes suffering. Keep that in mind the next time trials and pain make you wonder if you've been hearing God correctly. Sometimes He lays our path through rocky or thorny patches to develop our character (Romans 5:3-5) or prepare us to comfort others who will later experience the same pain (2 Corinthians 1:3-5).
Can We Get a Little More Specific?
Learning these simple truths about God's will has been so good for me, except for one thing: The principles are pretty general, and I was expecting God to show me something much more specific. Because seriously, deciding on details like which college to attend, or what degree to pursue are usually the things that stress me out.
Let me make two observations about this predicament.
First, God has given us precisely the information He has given us — and no more than that — for a reason. He tells us the most important things and then allows us the freedom to make decisions that accomplish the priorities He's communicated.2 In hindsight, we may see that He was guiding us down a very narrow and specific path, but on the front end, He doesn't expect us to foresee all the things He already knows about His direction for us. He wants us to seek Him (Jeremiah 29:11-13) and allow Him to care for the details.
An illustration: As a senior in high school, I was accepted at two great colleges. Choosing between them was an emotional to-do, because I was certain that if I chose wrongly, I would be obstructing God's will for my life. However, God did not send skywriting planes to aid my decision. I had to choose based on what I understood about myself and the two colleges — and my understanding suddenly seemed highly inadequate.
Looking back, I believe that I could have honored God by attending either school. At the same time, I am astounded at the things God had prepared for me at the college I did attend — things I wasn't even thinking of when I made my enrollment decision. So it turns out that I was even more clueless than I thought about God's will; yet He was working to guide me in His will in ways I couldn't imagine.
Think About Your Gifts
Though God rarely gives us an abundance of detail about His will for us, I think He does give us something helpful for making specific life decisions. After reading this whole article and its prequel, you probably won't be surprised when I say it's a very simple thing.
God gives each of us a gift.
First Corinthians 12-14 and Ephesians 4:11-12 talk about spiritual gifts given to believers for the purpose of accomplishing God's work on earth. Both passages are careful to say that different people have different gifts and that we shouldn't all try to do the same work. I think this idea can be applied more broadly to the unique combination of gifts, interests, talents, skills and experiences God gives to each one of us. If we tune into who He has made us and develop the unique abilities He has given us, our growing sense of identity becomes a very helpful guide as we make important practical decisions.3
A Final Note
Because college is a time when you're trying to figure out both God's will for your life and how to be a financially independent adult, it's easy to think that the answer to both questions must be one and the same. That's not necessarily true.
Remember that fulfilling God's call on your life won't necessarily pay the bills. Or as Mother Teresa so beautifully put it, "Many people mistake our work for our vocation. Our vocation is the love of Jesus."4 Which, of course, brings us right back to where we began — with loving God and loving our neighbors.
C O F F E E S H O PIf you're wondering what God's will is for you, remember that your first priority is to offer your life to Him in simple obedience. In return, He promises to provide everything you need (Matthew 6:25-33) — though His method of doing so may surprise you.
- To discover the kinds of actions that are God's will and also lead to our transformation into people who can discern God's will, take the time to read the passages listed in this section. I am astounded at the simplicity of these commands, and at how different our lives would be if we actually followed them. Back^
- Yes, I know this is a theological oversimplification. So do some research on other biblically supportable views on God's will if it's not satisfying to you. For me, it's the view that best fits my experience and my understanding of Scripture. Back^
- If you're lost trying to figure out how God has gifted you, try these two mental exercises: First, try to remember an experience you've had that made you think, "This is what I was made to do." Second, consider the question If all your financial needs were provided for, what productive thing would you do with your time? Your responses to these scenarios may give you a clue as to how God has uniquely endowed you. In addition, your school's career development office is likely to have several assessments available that can help you discern the unique package of gifts that God has given you. Even if the tests take a secular perspective, they can still help you to determine who God made you to be. Remember, all truth is His truth. Back^
- You can find the quote here.* Back^
*Note: Referrals to Web sites not produced by Focus on the Family are for informational purposes only and do not necessarily constitute an endorsement of the sites' content.
Lindy Keffer is a contributing author for TrueU.org. She has written for a variety of organizations, including Cook Communications Ministries, Acquire the Fire, and Focus on the Family. Lindy earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Education from Taylor University, and she currently works with college students at the Focus on the Family Institute. Lindy lives in Colorado, and, therefore, climbs lots of mountains. She has even climbed international mountains, like Mount Kenya. We're still trying to figure out exactly which country it's located in.
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