Knowing God's Will

If you’re like me you are trying to figure out what is God’s purpose in your life.  That seems to be one of the most elusive things in the world right?  Trying to find some kind of peace about a situation you are going into, maybe a calm about place you have to go, or assurance about a decision that needs to be made. These things can be difficult to discern if you're doing the right thing.  What I’ve come to find out is that we have to just do what we know God has commanded us and then wait for instructions.  Abraham did this.  

When God told Abraham to leave his father and his land he did not tell him where to go.  God only told him that he should go. God said leave from the land of which you have known all your life, which was the way for all of mankind's life at that time. God was telling Abraham to stretch himself and trust this God who just recently revealed himself.  Can you imagine what it would be like to do something like that?  Not only was Abraham to leave a place of comfort, but he was to go to a place he did not yet know the location! The scriptures did not say Abraham hesitated though. They said he just got up and went.  As we continue to read through the book of Genesis we find that God revealed more and more about his plan, where Abraham was to go, and what was to happen to him and his family. What started out as only a small candle to light his path became a discovery of a beautiful mosaic when all the pieces were properly placed together.  

This brings things to us.  What should we do when we don’t know what we are supposed to do?  Well, I think we do what we do know to do.  God has made plain to us in his scriptures his desire for us.  He wants us to read scripture, pray, fellowship with other believers, love God, love our neighbors, preach the gospel, and make disciples.  Those are things we are certain that God requires of us.  So we should do those things.  And as we do those things God will begin to lead you in the path he wants you to follow.  But it starts out with simple obedience.  

I was talking with Grace and when she said it out loud it became absolutely clear to her.  We were talking about a situation or a problem with what to do or how to handle something.  She said, “I just don’t know what to do.” But right after she said that she realized she knew things to do but those were just not the things that she wanted to do.  When she knew this she further realized that when she began doing what she knows to do then God would begin to start showing her more specific ways to handle the problem.  

If you’re like Grace, myself, and most other humans, I hope this helps.  God wants us to know his will, Paul says so in his letter to the Ephesians.  And if he wants us to know he’ll show us. But if we don’t take care of the responsibility or steward the tasks he’s already given us, why would he give us more?  So today, while the day is still today, begin to carry out the known will of God in your life so that he might reveal more.