How To Know God's Will #1 Series

How to Know God’s Will

Part 1 March 2007

Dr. Russell K. Tardo

I. How to Know God’s Will

Continuing in the series of How To messages, this teaching will help us determine How to Know God’s Will. Previously examined were such topics as "How to Forgive," which covered simple, basic instructions on forgiveness, a subject so fundamental and necessary for all believers. Believers can’t harbor hatred, ill will, animosity or resentment. The Bible is the believer’s instructional source on forgiveness. Another topic dealt with was "How to Pray." Again, this study included basic, simple instructions on prayer. This week’s topic, How to Know God’s Will includes how to hear God’s voice, to know His will, His direction and His purpose. God’s plan for every believer is very important. The Bible sets forth some very simple instructions for each individual to know how God’s will can be discerned.

William Barclay once said that there are two great days in every individual’s life; the day we are born and the day we discover why. Why? Why was I born? Why am I here? What is my purpose here? What is God’s plan for me? What does He want me to do with my life? These are very important issues and something that each person should know about himself. What is life all about? What is the meaning of life? Philosophers have pondered the answers to such questions for millennia.

- THE THREE FUNDAMENTALS IN UNDERSTANDING GOD’S WILL -

In order for each person to understand God’s will for his life, three fundamentals will be studied for personal application. First, Psalms 37:23 will help us realize that God does have a plan.

The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. [Ps. 37:23]

The Hebrew word is that the steps of a good man are ordained by the LORD.... Some versions may translate it established by the LORD, but ordained is the meaning -- the steps of a good man are ordained by the LORD. The Hebrew uses the very same word that’s translated ordered in this verse in Psalms 8, verse 3, in speaking of how God ordained the heavens and set the stars in place.

3When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained. 4What is man, that thou art mindful of him? .... [Ps. 8:3-4]

That question was asked by the psalmist David. God ordained the heavens. He ordered them; He established them -- the sun, moon, stars and planets. Each is located exactly where they are by God’s design, by God’s plan. Also to be considered are all the millions, perhaps billions of stars, planets, moons around the planets, distant galaxies and wonders yet to be discovered. It was God who placed them and ordered their course(s) in the heavens. The universe was not laid out haphazardly. The rotation of the earth on its axis, its rotation around the sun, the moon’s rotation around the earth, all were established by God with divine precision. God’s precision is such that one can know exactly where the moon will be not only 24-hours or 24-days from now but also 24-years from now or 2,400 years from now. All creation in God’s universe is precise and in perfect order. That’s the way God planned and laid it out. How can we know these things? Because God has ordained their course(s) in the heavens. The point is this: That very same wisdom, which ordained the courses of the sun, moon, stars and planets, the Bible says has ordained our steps. The steps of a good man are established, ordained, ordered by the LORD.

- God Has a Plan for Our Lives -

That is not just a trite expression, not a cliché; God does have a plan for our lives. He has a plan for your life. He has a plan for everything that He created. God created nothing at random or accidentally. Everything He created, He created with purpose -- earth, moon, stars and angels. God is the master Designer, the master Architect. Everything that happens, whether the rotation of the earth around the sun or the rotation of the earth, the changing of the seasons, etc., was ordained by God. It was His plan that the seasons would change, that winter would become spring, with summer following. It was planned that day would transition into night, light into dark and it occurs every day. We never have to be uncertain about whether or not that will happen. God has ordained it to be so.

An interesting scriptural passage is found in Genesis, chapter 8:

While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. [Gen. 8:22]