How Can I Know God's Will For My Life? Series

Great Mysteries of the Faith:

How can I know God’s will for my life?

Exodus 3:1-10

One day, before George W. Bush was president, he was walking through an airport lobby when he noticed a man in a long, flowing white robe with a beard and hair to match. The man had a staff in one hand and some stone tablets under the other arm. George W. approached the man and inquired, “Aren’t you Moses?” The man ignored George W. and stared at the ceiling. The future president positioned himself more directly in the man’s view and asked him again, “Aren’t you Moses?” The man continued to peruse the ceiling. George tugged at the man’s sleeve and asked once again, “Aren’t you Moses?” The man finally responded in an irritated voice, “Yes, I am.” George W. asked him why he was so unfriendly, and this was Moses’ reply. “The last time I spoke to a bush, I had to spend forty years in the desert!”

I am assuming that most of you know the story of Moses and the burning bush. You have heard it over and over again, but it is one of my favorite stories of the Bible. It appeals to me for a number of reasons, but I think one of the greatest aspects of it is how God clearly reveals His will to Moses through the bush. Let’s recount this story by reading our Scripture in Genesis 3:1-10. Follow along with me in your Bible or sermon notes.

Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight – why the bush does not burn up.” When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” “Do not come any closer,” God said. Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God. The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hands of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey – the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perzites, Hivites and Jebusites. And now, the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.

As a campus minister, the number one question and mystery on everyone’s mind is this: How can I know God’s will for my life? This makes sense. After all, college students are faced with choices everyday that will affect the course of the rest of their lives from what major they should choose to whom they should date and even marry. And, most of these students feel completely inadequate to make these decisions on their own, so they look for help from others. This is where I came in. It was my job to help these students find and apply God’s will to their lives. The problem is that there does not seem to be burning bush experiences in today’s Christian lives where God clearly tells us what He has planned for us. So, what do we need to know that will help us to find God’s will without looking for our own burning bush? That is what we are going to uncover this morning by looking at four important truths. Before we do, let’s look to the Lord for guidance.

Truth #1: God has a plan for every person.

How much are you worth this morning? If you were to put a price tag on your person, how much would it be? What if I told you that you are worth more than many sparrows? Chances are, that would not bring a smile to your face, but it should.

In Matthew 10:29-31, Jesus tells a little story about how much we are worth, but it is so much more than that. He says, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” So, you should be happy that you are worth more than many sparrows; not because you fetch a higher value, but because it shows how much God cares for each person He created. You see, the sparrow is something of little worth. You could but a pair of them for a penny, so you know that they have little worth. But, the catch is that God even cares for sparrows and has a plan for their lives. Did you notice that not one of them falls to the ground apart from the will of God? So, it stands to reason that if God has a plan for every sparrow, then he has a plan for every one of you. After all, we are worth more than many sparrows so His plans for us must be even better than His plan for sparrows.