HOW CAN I KNOW GOD'S WILL?
Hard Questions - Part 1 of 4
Steve Hensley and Gerry White
January 30, 2005

When you were a little child, the questions were pretty easy - questions like, "Mommy, why is the sky blue? How do trees grow? Where does the sun go at night?" Those kind of questions. As you begin to grow a little bit older the questions get a little bit tougher, "Mommy, why did Grandma die? Why didn't God make me pretty like her? Why did my parents get a divorce?" As you grow into adulthood, they get even tougher. Questions like, "Why can't I find somebody to love? What went wrong with my marriage? What is the whole point of it all?"

You ask questions like, "Do I hold on or do I let go? Do I get in or do I get out? Should I make a move or should I stay still? Do I get married or do I not? These are real issues and even after we make decisions, even with our prayer and asking God for help, a lot of times we second guess ourselves and torture ourselves after we've made the decision with, Did I do the right thing?

The Bible says that God wants you to know His will. He's not playing games with you. He's not playing cat and mouse, hide and see, guess what's behind door number three kind of thing. God wants you to know His will. "Be very careful then how you live, not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is."

God has given us three things. First He's given us a roadmap, that's the Bible. Then He's given us a compass which is our conscious which kind of guides us along. But sometimes a compass can get out of whack. Then He's given us a personal guide which is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God.

So what's the problem? You say, "I want God to guide me but I still get confused. I don't know what to do." Often the problem is we're looking for the wrong thing.

I want us to look at two questions: What is God's will? And How do I find it, how do I know it, how do I get in on it?

I. WHAT IS GOD'S WILL?

First, what is it not?

1. It's not a feeling.

This is the mystical approach to God's will and it appeals to all you right brain people. You're out there looking for a feeling, looking for a sensation, looking for that ocean of emotion, that quiver in your liver. You may be looking for a supernatural sign. You want God to just kind of touch your emotions, pull that heartstring so you'll know exactly what to do.

"But if feels right," but that doesn't mean that it is right. Feelings lie.

The heart is deceitful.

Jeremiah 17:9

That means my heart even plays tricks on me.

You don't wait for a feeling when you're trying to figure out God's plan for your life.

2. It's not a formula.

This is the mechanical approach to God's will and this appeals to all you left brain people. You're so logical and rational. You've got it all figured out. You want to look for a formula. You want a recipe. You want a step by step procedure, a ritual.

There's two problems with the formula approach to God's will.

1. The formulas often contradict. I have in my library twelve books on God's will. They all give a different formula. Often contradictory. It doesn't work because the formulas don't fit.

The deeper problem with this approach is that there's no room for failure, for mistakes. If God's will is a recipe, what if you leave out one ingredient? If you leave baking soda out of a recipe you've got the difference between a birthday cake and a pancake. There's a big difference there if you leave just one thing out. What if I have 52 Steps to Knowing God's Will and I leave out number 37?

  • God's will is not a closed system. It is dynamic.
  • God's will is not always an issue of choosing A or B. In fact, many times God's will will be A to Z and any of them will be ok. It's your choice.
  • God's will is not a matter of everything's in black or white, either/or, A or B. God's will is much greater than that.

God solved a lot of your problems when He gave you a brain. Why would He give you a brain and not expect you to use it? It's not just this closed system. It's like the myth that there's only one right person in the world for me to marry. That's not in the Bible. There's not one place in the Bible that says there's only one right person for you to marry. Think about the logic of it. What if one person marries the wrong person? The whole chain breaks down. We're all in trouble. That breaks down on sheer logic.

2. God has this recipe formula and yet I blew it ten years ago. I made this really stupid decision. I walked away from God. I didn't do the right thing. I'm paying for it still.

So God's will is not a feeling and God's will is not a formula. What is God's will?

3. It is a relationship.

  • It's not rules, it's relationship.
  • It's not a life map, it's a life style.
  • It's not an agenda of 52 things to do. It is an attitude of life. God says, "I want you to develop a relationship with Me."

God has invited you into this wonderful friendship with His Son, Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 1:9

The key is, focus on God not guidance. The better you get to know Him, the less confusion you're going to have about what His will is. Get to know God and everything else becomes secondary.

II. HOW TO KNOW GOD'S WILL.

If I want to know God's will, I...

1. ADMIT THAT I NEED GUIDANCE

The first step if you want to know God's will is admit your confusion.

He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them His way.

Psalm 25:9

2. ASK

Ask in faith for directions. James says, "You have not because you ask not." Jesus said, "Ask and it shall be given. Seek and you'll find. Knock and the door will be opened." Ask-Seek-Knock - the first letters are ASK. Three ways of saying "Ask!"

If you want to know what God really wants you to do, ask Him and He'll gladly tell you. He's always ready to give a bountiful supply of wisdom to all who ask Him but be sure that you really expect Him to tell you. If you don't ask in faith don't expect the Lord to give you any solid answer.

James 1:5-6

There are two keys to knowing God's wisdom.

  1. You've got to ask the right person - you ask God. You don't ask your manicurist, your bartender or some other reliable authority like a talk show radio host. You ask the right person, God.
  2. You ask with the right attitude - expecting God to answer. Have you ever asked God to lead you but you didn't really expect Him to? Sure you have. That's why you never got anything from it. You must ask expecting an answer. God honors faith. God promises wisdom.

What is wisdom? Wisdom is simply the ability to make decisions the way God would. Admit that I need guidance, Ask in faith for direction.

3. LISTEN FOR GOD'S RESPONSE

This is where a lot of us get off track. The honest truth is we're too busy to listen for God's response. We don't have the time. So we ask then we rush right in to whatever we were going to do in the first place and don't take time to hear what God might want to say to us.

We have to take the time to tune in and to listen because God is speaking.

God does speak, sometimes one way, sometimes another even though people may not understand it.

Job 33:14

The question is "How do I understand it?"

"How do I tune in so that I can hear God's voice?"

How do you tune in? What are the channels that God uses? There are lots of them, but let me remind you of four of them.

1. The primary way God speaks to us is through the Bible.

It is 100% reliable. Unlike some of the other sources we're going to talk about that are not, this is 100% reliable.

Don't use the Dip and Skip method of the Bible - the mystical approach where you turn to any page and put your finger down and that's what you feel that God's word is to you today. It's dangerous. Like the guy who opened it up and put his finger down and it said, "Judas went out and hung himself". He didn't like that so he opened it again and it said, "Go thou and do likewise." Third time's a charm. He opened it again, put his finger down again and it said, "What thou doest, do quickly." Don't use the Dip and Skip method. Just do one book at a time and see what God has to say to you.

2. Another way God speaks to us is through teachers - people who are teaching what this book says. Have you ever been in a crowd and you felt like as a teacher was teaching that God was speaking directly to you? A lot of us have felt that way. And the fact is, at that moment He was speaking to you.

3. A third way that God speaks in our lives is through impressions. Ideas, hunches, insights. God can speak in that way. It does always have to match what He says in His word.

4. There is a fourth way that God speaks to us. He speaks to us through our circumstances and especially through the circumstances that create pain in our lives. God is speaking. He leads us on the right path if only we'll listen. But if we can't listen to the difficulties in life. If we don't tune in, we're bound to get off the track in our lives.

4. TRUST GOD WHEN I DON'T UNDERSTAND

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.

Proverbs 3:5-6

If you do the trusting He does the willing. When you don't understand when God's telling you to do something, this is a test. It is an obedience check. And if you're going to grow spiritually, God is going to take you through obedience checks over and over in life. He'll ask you to do something that humanly does not seem to make sense. It's a test. He's testing if you'll trust Him. He's testing if you'll obey Him.

The great example of this is the story in the Old Testament when the children of Israel had finally been set free from 400 years of slavery in Egypt and Moses leads them out into the desert and they come up to the Red Sea and there are mountains on either side, an ocean in front of them and the Egyptian army in hot pursuit behind them. They're in God's little cul-de-sac. Talk about a dead end! They start to doubt and wonder and say, "Did we miss God's will? Did we hear God right? We thought He wanted us to leave in freedom. We thought Moses was the man we were supposed to follow. We thought we'd made the right decision. Now look! We're going to get killed! It would have been better for us to stay slaves in Egypt rather than get annihilated here on the edge of the ocean." But God had them exactly where He wanted them to be. He was testing them. It looked impossible but God had not made a mistake.

He later said, "Your road [god's road] led by a pathway through the sea - a pathway no one knew was there!" Nobody knew it was there. God did.

God will make a pathway through the middle of the ocean. And the waves will apart.

You say, "It doesn't make sense!" Not everything in the world makes sense. You're going to be frustrated if you try to figure it all out. And you're tempted to despair. One day you're going to see in the light of eternity how it all fits together in God's timing and God's plan.

You do it anyway and relax. Because when you relax you're saying, "God, I trust You. I don't understand this but I trust You."

Let me give you three things to avoid, three errors to avoid.

1. Don't be fatalistic. That's the attitude of "Whatever happens is God's will." Have you ever had some major problem happen and people say, "It must have been God's will." When I say that, do you think good things or bad things? Bad. As if God's will were all the bad things in life. If anything happens to me bad - it must have been God's will." If anything happens to me good - "I got lucky." The good I attribute to luck, the bad I attribute to God. You've seen an insurance policy and what they list as Acts of God - hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes. Real Acts of God are a baby being born, a marriage staying together for 20, 30, 40 years in a world where everybody's saying, "Split!" That's an act of God.

Don't be fatalistic: "Whatever happens is God's will." You do realize that God's will is not always done. Not everything that happens in the world is God's will. When little children are molested, that's not God's will. That's never God's will. When people are killed in wars, that is not God's will. God is not the author of evil. But God set up the world in which we have the freedom to choose and sometimes as human beings we choose evil. And sometimes when people choose evil, innocent people get hurt. That's why we're to pray in the Lord's prayer, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

Why should we pray that? Because it isn't always happening. In heaven, God's will is always done. God's will is not always done on earth. That's why we're to pray. The Bible says the Lord is not willing that any should perish and go to hell. But do people reject Christ, die and go to hell? Of course they do. Why? Because God's will is not always done. We're given the freedom to reject God's will. Every time you do that you're the one who gets hurt. But we do have that freedom. Don't be fatalistic. God gets blamed for everything. "It must have been God's will."

Another problem is it turns you into a puppet. The fact is, you are created as a human being in God's image. What does that mean? That you look like God? No. It means that you have the freedom to choose. You can be creative like our creator. So God gave you the freedom. You're not a puppet where He pulls all your strings and you always do the right thing. This idea of fatalism, that everything that happens is God's will, what does that do? It lends to self-pity. It lends to passivity. And it causes me to blame God for everything bad in my life rather than accepting responsibility that I caused the problem. Most of your problems, you brought on yourself. Most of my problems, I brought on myself.

People don't understand this so they're often waiting on God to do something that He's not going to do. I've seen people just kind of set back in their Lazy Boy recliners month after month saying, "If God wants me to work, He'll give me a job." It's like the guy who was on the roof after the flood and a helicopter, then a boat, then another helicopter came by. Finally the waters rose and he drowned. He goes to heaven and he says, "God, I prayed. I thought You were going to help me." And God said, "I sent two helicopters and a boat!" We want something supernatural or special.

Many of you have not realized but you're actually asking God to make decisions for you. You don't say it that way but you're setting, being passive, contemplating the lint in your navel and thinking eventually God's going to make the thing happen. "I'm waiting for God to bring me a wife... I'm waiting for God to get me a job..." And God's saying, "I gave you a brain! I gave you two feet! Get out and get involved. Start looking." God revealed a lot of His will when He gave you a brain. Don't be fatalistic.

As a parent, I want my kids to grow up to the point that they can make wise decisions without having to check in with me. That's my goal for them. That's God's goal for you. God doesn't want you to have to ask Him in the cafeteria line, "God, do You want me to eat broccoli or asparagus tonight?" He wants you to be able to make wise decisions. Why? Because you know God!

2. Don't be frustrated. If you try to figure everything out in your life, you're going to be very frustrated. Sometimes you're going to do what you think is God's will and it's going to fail. And you're going to fall flat on your face. "I thought God was leading me to start this business." And it fails.

What do you do when there are no answers? You keep trusting God, knowing that He's working on your character in all of it. And He has some good plans for you.

3. Don't be fearful.

  • Don't get nervous.
  • Don't get worried.
  • Don't get defensive.
  • Don't run from the issue.

What is behind this fear of God's will?

  • Sometimes it's a fear of change. What if I pray "Thy will be done." And God changes me and I don't like it.
  • Sometimes it's the fear of commitment. What if I say, "Thy will be done," and it's too hard.
  • Sometimes it's the fear of criticism. "What if I say, "Thy will be done," and then somebody calls me a fanatic?

The root problem behind all of this is you are doubting God's love. The Bible says, "There is no fear in love. Perfect love casts out all fear." Sometimes you're afraid of God's will because you've forgotten how much God loves you. We always get into trouble when we doubt God's love. That is at the root of almost every one of your problems. You doubt God's love so you don't trust Him and you don't obey Him. God's will is an expression of His love.

  • Never criticize an unfinished plan.
  • Never judge the path that God leads me on till I get to the end of it. Have patience.

One day you're realize that God knows what He's doing. He knows what's best for you. You can't see what He sees. He can see the end result. God's path may be a path of pain. All those delays and difficulties and problems are building character in your life.

Psalm 37 "The steps of a man are established by the Lord. When he falls he shall not be hurled headlong because the Lord is the one who holds his hand." The steps of a man - the Bible says that your life path was custom made by God for you. That's why it's a big mistake to try to copy somebody else's life. God doesn't want you to be anybody else. He wants you to be you. It's a big mistake to not go on the path that He has for you and follow somebody else. Trust God when you don't understand.

5. ACT ON WHAT I ALREADY KNOW TO DO

The truth is, you already know a lot of things God wants you to do. You already know a lot of what God wants you to do with your life. So why haven't you done it? God is not obligated to give you Step Two until you've already done Step One. Some of you keep saying, "I want to know God's will for my career/marriage."

God's says, "Let's get to the basics. Are you reading your Bible? Are you in a small group? Are you tithing? Are you praying to Me? Basic things." You say, "But I want to know about..." God is not obligated for Step Two until first you start doing what you already know to be the revealed will of God for your life.

We always make excuses. "I'm intending to do those things... I'm going to get around to it one of these days." James tells us "Anyone who knows the right thing to do but doesn't do it is sinning." If I know the right thing to do and I'm not doing it, I'm sinning. "Don't boast about tomorrow for you don't know what a day may bring forth." Don't say you're going to do it tomorrow or next week.

Here's my question to you: What do you already know to do but you haven't done yet? What's your next step?

You can't think of anything? Let me give you a few. You have been intending for a year or more to become a part of Lighthouse's family. Take CLASS 101 and join. You may have for months and months been thinking about it. What are you waiting on? It could be anything - joining a small group.

What do you need to do that you've been putting off?

"When you make a promise to God, don't delay in following through, for God takes no pleasure in fools." He's saying I'm foolish when I've made a promise to God to do something and I haven't done it yet. That can be anything from my Building For Life commitment to my commitment to get involved in ministry or saying I'm going to read my Bible more. It could be anything. God says do it. Don't delay. Do what you already know to do.

Prayer:

Jesus Christ wants to guide you through life. He knows where He wants to take you and He knows how to get there safely. He'll never leave your side. He holds your hand. So much of your stress is unnecessary because all you have to do is follow. My question tonight is Whose path are you going to follow through your life - your path or the one God planned? Maybe you've wandered off the path. Maybe you never got on it. Maybe you've been wandering around confused saying, Why am I here? What's my purpose? I'll tell you why you're here. God loves you. He has a plan for your life. And He wants you to know His will.

Here's the question I want you to ask. Ask this to God in your mind: "Father, what's my next step?" Just ask that simple question. If it's to give your life to Jesus Christ and you've never done that, do that today. You've been thinking about it and you've never done it. Step across the line. If you've been thinking about becoming a part of the Lighthouse family for weeks and months or maybe even years, sign up today. If you've never made your public expression of your faith, you need to be baptized. Check the box that says, "I need to be baptized." Or, "I want to join a group." Whatever your commitment is. What's your next step? Would you commit to saying, "Father, I want to do what I already know to do is right."

Then pray this prayer, "Lord, I do need Your guidance in my life. I admit that I need it. I ask tonight in faith that You will direct me. Help me to listen for Your response, to not get so busy that I can't hear You, but to tune into You like the radio tunes in to the radio waves. Father, when I don't understand it, help me to trust You, realizing that You often have a pathway through the middle of an ocean that nobody else knows about. Help me to not be fatalistic. Help me to not get frustrated. Help me to not be fearful. But to act on what I already know. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen."