Long ago, when I was living in that limbo between childhood and adulthood, trying to sort out options and make life-shaping decisions, I knew my wisest choice would always be to do God’s will. And so, I wanted God’s will for my life desperately. I wanted to please Him. I wanted to serve Him. I wanted to be and do and say only those things that He wanted me to be and do and say.
Yep, that part was a no-brainer.
The problem was that I didn’t know how to identify God’s will. It was like the Ultimate Mystery!
A Swing and a Miss
Finally I issued a silent, internal proclamation that God’s will was for me to be a doctor. I knew I could help a lot of people as a doctor. And when I told my patients about my wonderful Lord, they would be eager to know Him. (Doctors had a lot of credibility in those days.) So, being young and ignorant, I convinced myself it was God’s will for me to be a doctor. Then I set out to make it happen.
Amazingly, I got into medical school. Turns out – getting in was the easy part. Medical school is HARD. One of the first things I heard on my first day of classes was, “I hope you got a good night’s sleep last night, because it was the last one you’re going to get for the rest of your life.” Oh no! I’d just had a lousy night’s sleep. And I spent the next few years, chronically exhausted, worrying that Jesus would come back any minute and I would never have another chance to sleep. I mean, we won’t be sleeping in Heaven, will we? Maybe I could catch a nap on a cloud on the way up. I wanted a thousand-year nap.
To make a long story short, it turns out that my method of identifying God’s will – by inner proclamation – wasn’t on target. I hated medicine. I might have been able to tolerate it 40 hours a week, but medicine is all-consuming. When you’re not doing it, you have to be studying it so you’ll be up on all the latest research, meds, and techniques. I couldn’t face that misery 24/7. So I walked away and never looked back.
Strikes Two and Three
The next time the question of God’s will loomed I was contemplating marriage. Again, I knew my only hope for happiness and fulfillment would be to do God’s will. This time, I wasn’t so hesitant. I had received some teachings that allowed me to believe that if I really, really, really wanted something, it was God’s will. So in that first foolish flush of infatuation, without taking time to get acquainted or receive premarital counseling, I convinced myself I would be doing God’s will by marrying the object of my affections. And I did.
Oops! Missed again. I won’t go into details, but I made that mistake twice. (Slow learner!)
Well, with one botched career and two failed marriages to my credit, I acknowledged that I didn’t know how to discover God’s will for my life. I gave up trying. I told the Lord I wanted to do His will, but I didn’t have a clue how to know what His will was, so it was His problem to direct my thoughts and order my steps. He’s omnipotent; I’m a mess. If He couldn’t manage to get His will across to me, I sure couldn’t figure it out.
Homerun
I moseyed along for awhile, operating under the idea that I would do my best to be obedient to the Word, but that I wasn’t going to worry about the ultimate mystery – KNOWING GOD’S WILL – any more. That problem was the Lord’s worry. (Not that He worries.) And, actually, it wasn’t a bad system, but I didn’t understand why it worked until my Sunday school teacher explained it.
At the time, I was in the Sunday school class of a wonderful Bible teacher. I may not quote her exactly, but her statement was something like, “God’s will is not a destination; it’s a relationship.” Instantly, the light came on. God’s will for every person is the same: relationship. His will proceeds out of relationship.
I don’t have to figure out where God’s will is hiding. I just have to genuinely sustain a loving, obedient relationship with the Lord, and live my life. If I get off track sometimes, it’s not the end of the world because – God’s will is not a destination; it’s a relationship. As long as I’m truly in relationship with Him, I’m in His will.
Sweet Spot
How does this understanding translate into living life and making decisions? I think it’s a little bit like being a sailboat. My job is to set sail, to get moving. Then when I need to make a decision, like a good sea captain, I use tested navigational aids – Bible study, prayer, Godly counsel, research, etc. I make the decision accordingly and live with it.
What I don’t do is pull down the sails and “park,” terrified of making a false move. I may get it wrong, but the Lord has the winds, the waves, the tides, and the currents to correct my course. And I have the confidence of knowing that, as long as I’m in fellowship with Him, I’m in His will.
For a decision-phobe like me, it’s a glorious way to live. It kinda’ makes me feel like I’m…
Skipping through life,
Laughing through life,
Dancing through life,
With joy in my heart
And the wind at my back.
Singing a song,
Whistling a tune,
Humming a melody,
With joy In my heart
And the wind at my back.
Steered on the road,
Led by the hand,
Guided like a ship,
By the joy in my heart
And the wind at my back.
For the joy is love
And the wind is Jesus,
And He guides me and leads me;
He grants me laughter
And teaches my heart to sing.
Disclaimers
Just to be clear, being in a relationship with God is like being in relationship with anyone else. It takes TIME. Going to church on Christmas and Easter and a few Sundays when you can’t think of something better to do is not a relationship. In fact, going to church every Sunday or every day of the week does not constitute a relationship.
Relationship requires one-on-one fellowship with the Lord every day.
Another important point is that: God’s Word = God’s will.
If you need to know:
“Should I cheat on my income tax?” You can find God’s will in the Bible.
“Should I lie to my boss?” You can find God’s will in the Bible.
“Should I participate in extra-marital sex?” You can find God’s will in the Bible.
So, this blog is about those times, like choosing a career, getting married, moving to another town, etc. where you can’t get a specific answer from the Bible. In those cases, as I said above, God’s will proceeds out of relationship. If you’re praying (talking to God), studying the Bible (listening to God), in fellowship with mature believers (making yourself accountable), and finding out all you can about the situation (doing your research), then make your decision with confidence, and live with it.
By the Way
In case you’re wondering, I believe my error in those first decisions I discussed – my career and my marriages – was lack of research and lack of Godly counsel. I had the prayer and the Bible study going on, but I had no clue what medicine was about until I had wasted lots of time and money trying to do it.
And, as for the marriages, those decisions were based on infatuation alone, plus some desperation because I was getting OLD. In both cases, I got engaged and married too quickly. I should have spent a few YEARS, not MONTHS, finding out what I was getting into. And pre-marital counseling would have been a good idea. But I read in the Bible about Isaac and Rebekah’s instant courtship and decreed that I, too, was acting in God’s will. I should have followed the example of Jacob and Rachel and waited 7 years!
Photo credit: 512893 on pixabay
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