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.
I know this is a rather simple point, but some people need to be reminded of it. Are you looking for God’s plan, or are you making your own? No matter how close or far away you are from Christ, God has a plan for your life, and it is your choice to follow or to not follow. Knowing that you are worth more than many sparrows in God’s eyes and that he even has the hairs of your head numbered, I hope you choose God’s plan for your lives
Truth #2: God’s plan is always good and perfect.
As we look back at the humorous example of Moses and George W. at the beginning of the sermon, one thing immediately pops out at me. What did Moses point to when he remembered the experience of God talking to him through the bush? He immediately referred to the bad that came about. However, when we look back at God’s actual plan in Scripture, we can see that God did not have the wandering in the desert in mind. God wanted to give the Israelites a land flowing with milk and honey. That was His will for the Moses and the Israelites. However, when we think of God’s will, we often view it as being negative.
As I told you earlier, I spent a lot of time with college students helping them to determine God’s will for their lives. One student, who was a Christian, explained to me that he was a little leery of giving complete control of his life over to the will of God. He used to say, and I quote, “What if God wants me to give up everything and go to the middle of Africa and marry some ugly chick?” He was very serious and very concerned that God would require Him to do something awful. I think many of us are the same way. We look at God’s will like Alka Seltzer. We know it’s good for us, but it’s not too pleasant. We should know better.
I want you to imagine a loving father with a teenage son for a moment. The son asks, “Dad, can we spend the whole day together Saturday?” Do you think the father would think, “Ha ha – I’ve got him now. I am going to think of everything he hates and just fill his day with it. He’s going to pull weeds, eat brussel sprouts, clean the toilet, and clear out the gutters!” No, a loving father would see what a wonderful privilege it is that his son wants to spend time with him. The least the father could do is make this day a wonderful experience because he knows it will result in the son loving him even more.
Pastor Jerry Shirley put it this way. “Our God is not some evil personality or cosmic killjoy whose goal is to make you miserable. He loves you, and has a wonderful plan, and wants you to know it.” The Scripture backs this up. Jeremiah 29:11 promises us this. God says, “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” This is good news, but it goes farther. These plans for us are not only good – they’re perfect. Romans 12:2 describes God’s will as being “good”, “pleasing”, and “perfect”. I’m not saying that God won’t send you to Africa. What I am saying is, if he sends you there, you will be ready and willing to go. You will want to be there more than any other place in the world. You may not want to go now, but you will want to when God calls you there.
John Newton, the writer of Amazing Grace, puts it this way. “If two angels in heaven were given assignments by God at the same time, one of them to go and rule over the greatest nation on earth and the other to go sweep the streets of the dirtiest village, each angel would be completely indifferent as to which one got which assignment. It simply wouldn’t matter to them. Why? Because real joy lies in being obedient to God. For a Christ follower, the most important thin isn’t what God has us doing; the important thing is that we’re doing what God wants us to.” We need to remember the fact that God’s will for us is always good, and that it always leads to joy when we obey it.
Truth #3: God has already revealed part of His plan for us.
The thing about God’s will is that we always look at it as being a mystery. What does God want from me? What am I supposed to do to find His will? Well, first of all, I need to tell you that part of God’s will is already plain to us when we look at Scripture. That is because there are two parts to His will. The first part is God’s moral will which are His directions to us. We cannot know our personal will or our direction in life if we are living in rebellion to His moral will.
Over and over again in Scripture, we are reminded of two things that will help us find God’s moral will for our lives. One thing is that we need a personal relationship with Jesus Christ if we wish to be saved. We also need a personal relationship with God if we wish to know His will. The first thing we need to do to achieve this is to surrender our lives over to Jesus Christ, but often we forget about the relationship aspect after this. We forget that the Christian walk is not about following rules and doing certain things. It is about a relationship with Jesus Christ. Until we truly develop a relationship by being saved and seeking after God, we cannot fulfill any of God’s will for our lives. Author Henry Blackaby puts it this way. “I think God is crying out to us, ‘Don’t just do something, stand there! Enter into a love relationship with Me. Get to know Me. Adjust your life to Me. Let me love you and reveal Myself to you as I work through you.’ A time will come when doing God’s will will be called for, but we cannot skip the relationship. The relationship with God must come first.” So, in order to know the intimate details of God’s will for our lives, we must first start with having a relationship with God. After all, to be God’s sheep, we must get to know Him and trust Him to be our caregiver. Then, and only then, are we His sheep. This is important because you cannot recognize the voice of God without being His sheep. Remember, it was Jesus that stated, “My sheep will know my voice.”
Secondly, we must do as we are told throughout Scripture to do. We must live a pure and holy life. This is clearly brought to our attention in 1 Thessalonians 2:3. It states, “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified.” Basically, Paul is telling us that we need to be holy, set apart, and free from sin. That is God’s plan for us. This does not mean that we will attain sinless perfection or that we will not stumble and fall. It means that we will make the effort to keep sin out of our lives and we will not be comfortable if there is unconfessed sin living in us. We will try and do what the Word tells us. God’s personal will for your life will elude you until you get this nailed down. He will not reveal His will until the willful sin is gone from your life. Why? Because God is holy and cannot even look upon sin. Sin short-circuits the channels of communication between God and man, so if there is sin lingering in your life, the rest of God’s will for your life will remain a mystery. But, this much we know about God’s will – He desires to be in a relationship with us, and he requires an effort on our part to strive for holiness
Truth #4: God will reveal the rest of His plan in perfect time.
Finally, whenever we are living according to God’s moral will for our lives, and then He will reveal His personal plan for our lives. When we walk in the light that we have been given, God will give us more light. Some people don’t know God’s will for their future because they are not doing God’s will right now! Think about a car’s headlights. They only shine a little ways, but once you travel that far, they reveal further down the road for you. That’s what happens with His will. He has revealed a little of it in His Word by showing us His moral will that we need a relationship with Him in which we strive for holiness. Then, once we have that part down, then He will begin to reveal the rest. How will He do that? Through a number of ways.
1. God leads through His Word. Psalms 119:105 tells us that “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” Therefore, the words that God has placed in the Bible have the ability to lead us even further into God’s will. Remember last week when we talked about the Holy Spirit revealing secret wisdom in the Word to us. This is the same. When we live according to God’s moral will, then the Spirit will make the Word of God jump out at us so we can apply them to the situations in our lives.
2. God leads through prayer. Prayer is the connection to God’s counsel, so prayer should be the first course of action when seeking direction from the Lord. After all, prayer less Christians are like captains of a ship without a compass. They can guess where they are going, but they have no idea if it is the right direction. Through prayer and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we can hear in our hearts from God Himself and know what we are to do in certain situations.
3. God leads through preaching and through the words of other Christians. I don’t understand how this works but I know it does. After all, how do you think we got the Bible? God can use ordinary people to get His message across to others. It may be through the sermon someone preaches. After all, how many of you have ever sat through a sermon you thought was written only for you? That is God speaking to you through his servant, the preacher. Also, we are told over and over again in Proverbs to seek the counsel of wise men. Why? Because they can shed light on some things in our lives and can share with you messages that God wants to get through to you.
This morning, I hope you take at least this one thought with you. The will of God is exactly what you would choose for your life if you had enough sense to choose it. But, sin clouds our view. So, we need to remember that God’s plan is still out there waiting for us to take hold of it, and that plan is always good and perfect. Plus, we need to remember that this plan is not completely hidden from our sight. We can do what we are told to do in Scripture by developing a relationship with God in which we strive to be holy. Then, and only then, will God reveal the rest of His plan to us through the Bible, prayer, and other believers with the help of the Holy Spirit. Do you know God’s plan for you this morning? If you want to, I urge you to take some time at the altar to take the steps you have to. Maybe you need that relationship with God. Maybe you need to confess of some things you have done. Maybe you just need to seek His will through prayer this morning. Our altars are open as we sing. Let’s pray.
