God's Will is Revealed

It sounds like some catch phrase for some magazine to get you reading - "God's Will is Revealed!" Now, after all these years we know what we should be doing because NOW He has revealed Himself to us. Is this the way we should be thinking?  Is this even reformed?

The answer may be obvious to some and not so obvious to others.  I read somewhere recently and I can't quote it because I can't remember but it read something like "I realized after many years of trying to 'find God's Will for my life' that it wasn't something that was lost that I was to find but rather something that was there all along". How true!!! 

What is the answer? Let me try to explain with the knowledge I have and with that I extend an invitation to any theologians that may be reading this(haha) to expand on what I have explained.

God's Will is revealed to us in His Word.  We read what He wants from us and we do those things.  We obey Him in the commands that He has set out for us.  Yet that is not enough because he not only wants us to obey Him but He also wants us to trust in Him while we are doing that.  That is the hard part - He not only wants our actions but He also wants our hearts.   To fully trust Him with all of our life and the loved ones in our lives is not easy but through our sanctification of the Holy Spirit we are daily renewed to this task.


Now, what about the things that are simple?  How do we determine His Will in the small every day things?  For the first time, about 5 years ago, I read "Knowing God" by J.I. Packer.  If you have never read this book I highly recommend you read it soon - like tomorrow.  It will change how you see God and know Him.  In this book, Packer discusses this issue and he narrows it all down to common sense.  If you go to the grocery store and wonder if it is God's Will for you to buy chicken or ground beef for dinner then you make that decision on the common sense that the LORD has given you.  Maybe one is cheaper and you need to save money, maybe the beef looks like it has seen better days and you don't want to poison the family, or maybe you just feel  like something heavier over the lean chicken.  What ever the case may be you are doing God's will by feeding your family and you are using your senses to do that.  Packer explains it alot better than me here so please do read the book!!!

What else can we use to discover God's Will?  What about the relationships around us?  I have had ministers tell me that it was the encouragement of others that lead them to the ministry.  People in their lives saw their gifts and expressed their observations to these men that they should consider the ministry.  They did not have some "experience in the Spirit" but rather the Spirit was quietly at work to mold them and ready them for the life of ministry by those surrounding them. Having said that it is not unusual that one has a life altering experience either, it's just that it is not a requirement for theological college.  

That leads me to the final (that I know of) way of knowing God's Will and that would be when He opens doors to us and leads us in the direction that we should be going.  This "opportunity knocks" way of knowing God's Will happens frequently while evangelizing. We may pray for opportunities to speak with our neighbors about Jesus Christ and these opportunities come and we are given the right words to say. When these experiences happen we can have full confidence that that was something that was in God's Will because He led us in that.

So here's the clincher ...what do you do when you have been asking the LORD for guidance in prayer and all the doors seem to be closing?  Do you pursue?  It's not against His Will that you are doing this thing (for example: planning your life's work).  You know from others that patience is needed to pursue this thing you have in your mind yet you wonder if you should be doing it at all anymore because it's not so easy.  Is life suppose to be easy though?  Are we always going to have every door open and everything fall into our laps whenever we think we should get what WE want?  Are we perhaps not persevering enough to follow through with this thing?

In my ideal world, I want everyone to support me and encourage me and love me.  Ha ha, I'm a people pleaser through and through. That's not right either is it?  To only do something that everyone approves of because you have everyone smiling on you.  We have to be doing everything to the LORD's honor and glory do we not?

Everyone can relate to what I am discussing here and they can remember a time in their lives that this may have happened to them or it is currently happening to them.  For myself, I feel like I have bucked against the rider for most of my life (ie: I am a moody horse who doesn't like to be told what to do).  This translates to my relationship with the LORD.  I do not like it when He tells me "no". It takes me a LONG time to accept things the way they are. 

When Ethan was a baby, we really wanted to have more children. 
After three miscarriages, in anger I gave up trying.  I was physically and emotionally exhausted and grieving the devastating loss of my mother to suicide.  I didn't understand God's Will at all.  I wanted to serve him by having a large family, I wanted to create more people to worship him.  My heart, I felt was in the right place, so why? why? was He not blessing that?  Eventually, after speaking with a few wiser and older brothers and sisters in the LORD I learned that I had to accept our family the way it was.  I had to quit trying to control everything and let it go.  I remember a specific prayer that I prayed in which I truly came to peace that two children would be sufficient for my heart and for God's Will.   Well as you may know, we now have SIX children here on earth and SIX children with the LORD in heaven.  He has blessed us so much!!!  When I let things go - he moved in and gave us our heart's desire for no other reason than because of His grace.  

Last Christmas when I was sick for over a week, I tried a different approach to my usual whining and groveling.  The LORD reminded me of the Catechism "I will be patient in adversity and thankful in prosperity".  For once in my life I rested in Him and I had a peaceful time of convalescence that included neither guilt nor anxiety.  What a blessing!!!

To fully trust Him is to accept His "No" or "Later, my child".  
To trust Him completely is to rest in Him, knowing His love for us is so deep that He does not say "No" to harm us or hurt us or play some sick joke on us but rather to bring us closer to Him.  The ONLY reason the LORD ever says "No" to us is for our good and our continued sanctification in Him.  Nothing happens to us without His permission and everything that happens is bathed in His love. I truly believe that His divine protection embraces us even in our darkest hours. How do I know this?  Simply because I have lived it. 

When I made the decision to be a nurse my Mom laughed at me and said "You could never do that!".  She later apologized and became very supportive of me in that endeavor BUT she was not the only person who laughed....At the time, it may of discouraged me for a day but overall it only made me further resolve to do well and be something that others felt I could not do.  When I announced with excitement that we were homeschooling our children, this too was met with concerns and lack of interest by others.  Okay, that's fair, I get that. In the end that didn't stop us because we firmly believed that it was in God's Will for us and our family. It's where He led us and He is still leading us today in educating our children in unique and lovely ways.  

But see what I mean about the bucking horse?  How much support do you need to do something?  How much support do you need in big decisions? Is that an individual thing?  What do you think? 
Thanks for reading!!!