When God Doesn’t Tell You What to Do
We get wound around the axle when we don’t know God’s will, especially about big decisions—career, marriage, our March Madness brackets.
And who can blame us? We want to hear God’s instruction to please him, so we say. Sometimes we mean it. At other times, we’re disguising our desire for protection, our hope for a new boat, or our fear of failure.
Whatever the motivation, the desire to know God’s will seems worth the pause.
So, we gently seek to cipher it.
A well-tested starting place is with the basics of the four lights: scripture, prayer, people, and circumstances.
We listen for God’s voice as we read the Bible and pray, or through the wisdom of friends. We try to discern circumstances but are leery of trusting open or closed doors as indicators.
If nothing comes, we find our pace quickening, like a child chasing an unsuspecting rafter of wild turkeys, until we’re lathered in desperation. We beg, and barter, and blame.
And sometimes it works.
God speaks.
And we know.
But often, he doesn’t, and we don’t.
I’ve come to learn something I quite believe about moments like this—God desires us to choose what we’d like to do. That’s his will.
I’ll ignore the caveats, like the one that he doesn’t want us to choose to do evil, green-light our pursuit of private pleasures at others’ expense, or kick a cat.
My investigation of Scripture and journey with Jesus have awakened me to the reality that our Father, like many parents, often wants us to choose what we think is best. Sometimes that includes what we’d delight in doing.
I chose my wife with thrill. My greater joy was being chosen by her. God didn’t force us. His will wasn’t so narrow. We had parameters, but when her face and dreams stoked my passion, God nudged, “Would she be fun to live with?” He let us decide.
While our freedom to choose deserves more space, let’s narrow our focus to picking our next project or career.
Someone asked Martin Luther what he would do if the end were today. He famously said he’d plant a tree and pay his taxes. In other words, he lived every day as if it were his last. Maybe he got that from Peter.
In a powerful passage about preparing for the end of times, Peter taught his people what to do. Surprisingly, his instructions included nothing extraordinary, simply routine tasks.
Peter said we should love deeply and be hospitable. Then, this:
“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen” (1 Peter 4:10-11, NIV).
Notice:
Use whatever gift we have, speaking, serving, whatever.
We’ll be speaking for God and serving in God’s power and purpose.
We’ll be like a moon, reflectingthe glory of the Father, in other words, in God’s will.
No pressure to discern more details.
John Stott was a world-class pastor and New Testament scholar. You can imagine how students shifted forward when he was asked, “How do we know God’s will for our lives?” I leaned in too.
His answer applies Peter’s instructions and leads to a future that excites us and expands our influence, all while remaining in God’s will.
“Here’s how to determine God’s will for your life,” Stott said. “Go, wherever your gifts will be exploited the most.”
And if we ask God where that is, he most likely will say, “You choose. That’s my will.”