Finding God’s Will for Your Life

  Rev. Dr. Christopher Carlson

As a pastor, one of the questions I am asked quite often is “How do I discover God’s will for my life?”  I know many pastors are asked the same question.  If you think about it, it’s a common question whether your asking God or not.  All of us wonder what we should do when we are making decisions, hundreds of decisions in life.  Sometimes they’re not that easy and we wonder what we should do.  If you’re like me, sometimes as I’m trying to figure out what to do, I’d like for God to write it in the sky or put an arrow at least.  It’s not always easy to discover God’s will.  At the same time I really believe that God actually does speak a lot.  We just don’t hear.  So for the next four weeks, Buck and I are doing a series called “Discovering God’s Will for Your Life.”  We will talk about different aspects of that.  Today I want to talk a little bit about some of the misconceptions about God’s will and some of the bad attitudes we have for God’s will.  But particularly, I want to talk about how God’s will involves listening on our part because I believe that God is speaking and speaks all the time, and we need to hear.  In the bible the word “listening” occurs hundreds of times; now sometimes it’s just “he listens to that person” or “She listens to that person” that sort of thing.  But many times it’s the idea of God saying to us, or Jesus saying to us, “Listen.”  “He who has ears let him hear,” Jesus says over and over again. 

The two scriptures, I’ve chosen two other scriptures besides the one listed here, talk about this and I could have chosen many, many.  Listen to God’s word as we hear it from Luke and from John and from Ephesians. First from Luke, chapter 8:6-18: 

Jesus says, “No one lights a lamp and hides it in a jar or puts it under a bed.  Instead, he puts it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light.  For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.  Therefore consider carefully how you listen.  Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him.Jesus says again in John, chapter 10 “I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber.  The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep.  The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice.  He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.  When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.  But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice. Jesus said again “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep.  All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.  I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.  He will come in and go out and find pasture.  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

From Ephesians, chapter 5:

“Be careful 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.”

This is the word of the Lord. 

Thanks be to God.

Will you pray with me? 

Father we pray that in this time we would listen to what you have to say to us.  I pray Lord that we would listen and that whatever you have to say to us we would do and so honor you.  So by our actions declare that you are Lord of our lives.  We give you this time and ask that it may indeed honor you for your glory and honor in Jesus name.  Amen.

God wants you and me to understand what His will is.  I think a lot of time we feel like it’s a big mystery because God doesn’t just speak to us that often or write things in the sky or make it abundantly clear all the time.  So we almost feel like it is a mystery that God is making us work, or He doesn’t really want us to know what He wants us to do.  But, it is abundantly clear from scriptures that He does want us to know His will.  Maybe one of the questions we need to think about is why do we have a fog so much of the time?  Well I think part of it is that we have some misconceptions about God’s will.  We think God’s will is some things that it’s not. 

One thing God’s will is not is a feeling.  It’s not an emotion, a sensation, an impression, a quiver in your liver.  It’s not goose bumps.  Sometimes people do use this technique, you know, “if I just feel”.  I’ve heard so many people say, “Well I had peace about that”.  I’m not really against that, and actually there is a role for feeling in learning the will of God.  We will talk about that as part of our series.  We can’t be just like Johnny Carson holding up the thing, wondering what the question is.  Feelings are important but they are also unreliable.  You know, it’s like the song, “We got married in a fever.”  What do you do when the fire goes out?  You discover maybe you made a wrong decision.  Jeremiah says “the heart is deceitful, it is desperately wicked.”  There is a role for feelings but we all have to remember that we have a problem inside; we are deceitful to ourselves.  It is fashionable in modern life to think that human beings are just basically good.  The bible says yes we are made in God’s image and therefore we are glorious in God’s sight; but we are also sinners and the heart is deceitful.  My heart is deceitful.  It bears watching.  If you don’t believe me, I’ll just ask you a simple question.  Suppose someone could video tape all your thoughts for the last three months, would you want anyone to see them?  Just think about that for a minute.  I know I wouldn’t.  So feelings are not reliable. 

God’s will is also not a formula.  Now, I’m speaking for men, women may be a little bit different, but I know a man’s heart basically wants someone to give him a formula.  “Just tell me what to do, the four things I need to do.  Give me a plan.”  Well God’s will is not quite that mechanical.  Often we just want to plan because if we have the plan we really don’t have to inquire God for it.  We’ve already got the plan we can just go about our business; follow the recipe for automatic results.  We see that in history.  We see that in all kinds of life.  In ancient times people had a formula to approach God: meditation, or keeping the rules, or sacrificing a certain amount of chickens or maybe your cat.  I know some of you would like to do that.  But in some cases it was the first born child, literally.  Or astrology, it’s just a formula.  Some of you read it everyday, don’t you?  Many Christian books are the same thing, you know there are a lot of wonderful Christian books on finding God’s will and I can recommend some to you; but it’s almost like, do this, and this, mix it together and you get God’s will.  Do these ten things and God will demonstrate to you His will.  Microwave society. The problem is often these things don’t work.  Formulas don’t always work.  I have come to believe that all things can be described and maybe understood in terms of baseball.  The manager has a formula.  A left-hander pitches to a right-hander or another left-hander to get him out and a right-hander to a right-hander or this person has this sort of method against that person and that sort of thing and all these things; and you know sometimes, yeah, they work sometimes but a lot of times they don’t.  After all they only bat 250.  It isn’t always about the formula.  We make all kinds of mistakes because we’ve used these kinds of methods. 

We have to understand, and this is really what I want you to get, that God’s will is really about a relationship.  It’s about a fellowship.  It’s about a friendship.  Not just about rules; it’s a relationship.  So many people they go along in life and they get along usually they have very little to do with God.  I would just encourage you to examine your own life.  How much of God is really in it?  But then when something happens, a child gets sick, somebody dies, we lose our job or our money and we call on God for help; and then we wonder why there is silence.  Maybe it’s because we have a better relationship with Oprah than we do with God, or because we spend more time thinking about the Vikings than we do about the war between good and evil.  God’s will is a lifestyle, and listening for the voice of God.  God is speaking.  God does speak.  Part of prayer is not just saying “give me this”, it’s listening.  Soren Kierkegaard was a 19^th century theologian and he was a wonderful storyteller; and sometimes when I’m looking for a good story, I will just type in ‘Kierkegaard’ on my computer and find him.  He told a story once about a certain rich man who bought a team of outstanding horses.  But the rich man’s coachman was inept though and undisciplined, and before long, you could hardly recognize the once proud horses.  They were dull and drowsy; their pace was inconsistent; their stamina gone.  They developed strange quirks and bad habits.  In frustration, the rich man called for help from the King’s coachman, who knew horses very well.  The King’s coachman worked with the horses for a short while, and when they became familiar with his voice, they were totally responsive to his commands.  They held their heads high, their eyes were bright, and their pace once again became exquisitely beautiful.  The potential was there all along.  It all depended upon whose voice they hear directing their lives.  Whose voice directs your lives?  There are thousands of voices out there trying to get our attention and not all are bad to listen to by any means, but there are just thousands of voices.  We don’t time to hear the voice.  We walk into our rooms, our houses and click goes the T.V. or the radio, more clutter.  Or we listen to people we shouldn’t.  Whose voice are you listening to?  You know if you’ve been married a long time you will know what I’m talking about.  After awhile you begin to know the other person’s voice and sometimes you don’t even have to talk, you know what they’re thinking.  I know you ladies are going “but we still want them to talk.”  And guys, you still need to talk.  You know it is not unusual for a person who has been married for decades, if one spouse dies, that for a couple years afterwards, that spouse will hear the voice of their loved one and sometimes think they are going crazy.  But the voice is so implanted in our minds and our hearts we can walk in a certain room and be used to hearing that person say something and we’ll hear it because it’s just a habit.  This is what God wants from us.  So that we know His voice, we know Him, so well, we can hear it and know what He wants us to do.  I’m not talking about a technique.  I’m talking about a relationship.  Many times when we don’t hear the voice of God it’s because our relationship is lacking.  There are some things we need to watch out for as we think about God’s will.  Some other ‘don’ts’ if you will. 

We shouldn’t be fatalistic about God’s will.  For all the talk of freedom in modern life, how we need to be free and all that sort of thing, underlying our culture is a philosophy of fatalism, a philosophy of predetermination.  It’s like we have been determined psychologically to be this by the time we’re three; we’ve been determined to do this by this and we talk about freedom, but our philosophy robs us of it.  So many people have a “Kay Sera Sera whatever will be” attitude or Akuma Matada.  I saw a bumper sticker they other day that says, “My KARMA beats your dogma.”  That sounds really smart but I want to tell you something.  Dogma, of course, is doctrine or rules and it’s almost like this person saying “well I believe in KARMA and I don’t believe in rules and regulations” but KARMA is doctrine.  It’s the doctrine that all things are controlled by faith and chance and you don’t have a word edgewise to say in it.  I’d rather believe in a God that gives me a few rules than believe in chance. 

I find some bumper stickers to be absolutely dumb.  Don’t be walking around going “whatever will be, will be.”  Our God is in control and I take a lot of comfort in that.  I’m glad I not.  It just seems like we are always walking around going “it’s the will of God”, especially when bad things happen, you know, like insurance policies.  When bad things happen like hurricanes, sicknesses, tornadoes, it’s an act of God.  When a baby gets born, somebody else did it.  Or when things go well in our life we say, “I was lucky” or “I was smart”.  When things go bad “What are you doing, God?”  It’s not God’s fault.  I told you before in the military it seems like swearing is sort of a second language.  People swear all the time but I have got to the place where I don’t try to fight it that much.   I just simply say to them “When you swear, leave God and Jesus out of it.”  One thing it might be a little dangerous.  Another is what you say about yourself or from your own mouth is your thing, but let’s leave God out of it.  We blame God for a lot of things.  God is in control, but mysteriously there are lots of things that happen in this world that are outside of His will.  “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” We pray that all the time.  Secondly to be fatalistic is unhealthy for you.  God wants us to use our will to choose Him.  If we just sit around and say “whatever will be, will be”, God doesn’t use a parked car.  He doesn’t drive a parked car.  If you’re just parked waiting for it to happen, you’re just going to sit there. 

Don’t be fearful about God’s will.  People are afraid of God’s will.  A lot of times what we’re afraid of is that if we say to God something like “O.K. Lord I’m willing to do what you want me to do,”  when we hear His voice, we’re afraid He’s going to go and make us do something, like be a tutor.  That would be terribly uncomfortable for us and we like being comfortable.  The old joke of, Lord I’ll be a missionary but if I say that, He might send me to Africa.  Well I did and I wound up in Africa, but that’s another story.  You don’t always get called to do what you think you might do; but very often I really believe  it’s God’s mercy that He doesn’t reveal to us too far ahead, because if you knew where you’d be in ten years you may not want to go.  We have these preconceptions.  You know, I would never have believed ten years ago that I’d be in Minnesota, or that I’d be getting in a dunk tank in Minnesota, on a 63 degree day and the water is colder than sixty-three degrees.  Never mind.  You’re all going to enjoy it, I know.  It’s true you know that in ten years we might be in heaven and that would scare us.  I think in God’s mercy He doesn’t give us too far ahead and we have strength for the day.  But don’t be fearful of God’s will.  Jeremiah says, “I know the plans I have for you”.  “Plans to…” make you miserable? No.  “Plans to prosper you and not harm you.  Plans to give you hope and a future.”  God’s will is an expression of His love. 

Don’t be frustrated either.  God does make us wait.  We’re frustrated because God does seem to not answer immediately.  I’ve been a Christian thirty one years and my experience has been that God always shows up at the last minute.  I’d like to say to God, “O.K. I’ve learned the lesson, show up sooner;” but God is always about teaching me that He will show up, and He makes me wait and I don’t like waiting.  Don’t be frustrated.  Have the right attitude not fear of fatalism or frustration, but faith.  Remember what faith is.  It’s not in a secular definition of believing of what you know isn’t so.  Biblical faith is being sure of what you hope for and certain of what you do not see, because it is about having faith in a person.  Again our secular world is all about making God as far away as possible.  Many of the secular philosophies and secular theologies make God way out there not having anything to do with life.  You see it in so many ways, from making God an ‘it” by using gender free language and other kinds of ways as well.  Faith is a faith in a person and God is, above all a person, to be known and loved and followed.  He is a person.

So how do you get started in God’s will?  It is by growing in that relationship with God.  It is by growing in that relationship with God and what He wants for you.  We’ll talk about learning God’s word.  We’ll talk about some other ways in which we do that. The first and foremost is committing ourselves to that person who loves you more than you will ever know.  Pastor and author Ron Mehl shares a story he once heard about a certain woman who devoted her life to following God.  In her old age, this woman suffered serious memory loss.  Gradually it stole from her many, many things and yet for much of that time she was able to remember her signature bible verse which went like this. 2 Timothy 1:12:  For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him against that day.”  “For I know, I know whom I have believed.”  When she could collect no other coherent thought, she could remember that.  But eventually age and illness began to chip away at that too, and soon she could only remember “He is able to keep what I have committed to Him.” And yet over time, she began to lose the ability to even recall that.  On her death bed the woman’s family noted that she clung only to one word from that favorite verse. “Him.  Him.”  That lifelong relationship to her God and Savior became focused on that one word.  You want to know God’s will?  It is found in “Him”.  And that’s not a play on words.  It is the truth.  In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.