Discerning God’s will
The Lord Spoke to Adam & Eve, Noah, Abraham & Sarah . . . that’s just the first few chapters of Genesis, the first book of the Bible. If we just go through the list of people God spoke to directly, and who obeyed His voice (or disobeyed it) we will be here all morning.
To save time we can look at the hall of faith in Hebrews 11, then look at a few examples from the New Testament as well.
God spoke well of Abel’s offerings.
Enoch communed so intimately with God he simply disappeared from this earth.
God warned Noah
God called Abraham and gave him promises, and tested him
God spoke to Isaac and gave him the blessings promised to Abraham
God revealed to Jacob the future of his ancestors
More than 100 times the Bible says the Lord spoke to Moses.
When Joshua took over for Moses God said
1 After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: “Moses my servant is dead . . . As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.
God spoke to Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, Daniel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Jonah (In the book of Jonah, God even spoke to the great fish & commissioned it as a personal submarine to deliver Jo to his destination), Micah, and the rest of the prophets
What do all the great men of faith have in common? Some were shepherds, some, business men, farmers, politicians, warriors . Some were highly educated, others knew little more than how to work the land. Some were among the most wealthy in human history, others were so destitute they lived in caves and holes in the ground. . . they were as different as anyone might imagine. It seems the only thing they had in common is they heard from God and obeyed what they heard.
Yet as remarkable as their record is, the writer of Hebrews says this:
These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. Hebrews 11:39-40
Something BETTER for us? What could be better than hearing from God, obeying His word, and seeing his wondrous miracles?
I think, it’s intimacy directly with God, day-to-day hearing His voice, moment-to-moment making the choice to defer, to bend to His will.
Jesus said
“ 15 “If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. . . you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. . . On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.” . . . “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. John 14:15-23
It is this loving, obedient intimacy with God that separates the past from the present. It is also the universality of it. In the Old Testament, this experience of God’s presence and hearing His voice seems to be primarily for the leaders. In the New it is reserved for all.
We can see this in the Day of Pentecost (which the Church throughout the world celebrates today) After the Holy Spirit came on the 120 or so followers of Jesus in tongues of fire
Peter’s explanation of the event expresses the universality of the principle:
This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: “‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. Acts 2:16-18
Young and old, rich and poor, men and women-everybody! God pours out His Spirit on everyone. Paul said “to each one is given a manifestation of the Holy Spirit that all might benefit” (1 Corinthians 12:7).
So, God’s Spirit is living inside us and, therefore, we can simply ask Him, “what do you want me to do?” and we can anticipate that He is both willing and able to answer.
But then, why is it such a common question “how can I know God’s will for my life”?
I’d like to suggest a few reasons, and then offer a few suggestions on this Pentecost Sunday how we can learn to hear and obey the directions of God in our lives.
Five Reasons we have Trouble Discerning God’s Will & Five Solutions
1. Problem: Our idea of what is right or wrong supersedes God’s because of temptation
God made His will very clear to Adam & Eve. “Eat the fruit of every tree in the garden, except the one . . .” Where do we find Eve next? Hanging out under the tree that was forbidden.
Her decision making process was “she saw it was
a. pleasant to the eye
b. good for food and
c. good to make you wise.
Eve saw that the fruit was a good thing. That eating it must be good too. This was a big mistake. The fruit was good. It just happened to be the only fruit that God had forbidden, which made it bad to eat. She thought of it as something which would bring life. Instead, because she ignored God’s ideas and listened to her own instead, she brought death to all of us.
The solution to this problem is, I believe, an active study and memorization of the Bible. The more we hear God’s word the more it changes the way we look at the world. We begin to adopt His view of everything.
The Psalmist said “I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against You”. Psalm 119:11
Hiding His word in our hearts changes our hearts. Daily reading, studying and meditating on His word adjusts our vision so we see the forbidden fruit as poison rather than as food.
2. Problem: Our will speaks so loudly we can’t hear the still, small voice of God.
How many young single people have had a fancy for a member of the opposite sex and prayed a prayer something like this:
“Lord, Your Word says ‘delight yourself in the Me & I’ll give you the desires of your heart’. You know I find you delightful. Now. Give me what I want!”
Or something like that.
When we go to prayer, if the foremost image in our minds is desire we have we may never get to the part of the prayer that says “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”.
I’ve met too many people grieving over the pain they suffer because they have been too quick to pursue their desired passion without being careful to first check in with God’s wishes.
Counseling offices and even hospitals are full of people who got into situations God would have spared them from if they had just taken time to hear His voice.
Then, wracked with pain, some begin to listen.
As CS Lewis wrote
“Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
Solution: Before we suffer because of missed opportunities to do God’s will we need to quiet that blaring screaming voice of our wishes and listen to the Voice of the LORD
3. Problem: We see the way everyone else is behaving, and figure that is the way we, also, should behave.
Divorce rates inside the Church worldwide are only slightly better than outside. This is one of many statistics that demonstrate that Christians seem to miss the mark when it comes to the choices we make.
I know I may seem to be focused on marriage today, but that’s one of the big decisions we make-who to marry. What makes Christians different in that process?
What are the qualities you look for in a mate for your children?
Should the candidate be handsome or beautiful? Fair? Highly educated? Rich?
By any of these standards you would not be happy if Jesus were recommended as a candidate for your daughter!
What are the qualities we should look for?
Surely our standards in such a decision should be dictated by God’s priorities, not ours. God is most interested in Character, love for God, pursuing His will-not in any of these outward indicators.
Yet the society around us so often acts as an anchor, tethering us to a hole of drudgery, rather than releasing us to launch into a sea of blessings He has in store for us.
Solution: Swim against the current
The pastor at our church used to say what his mother taught him “any dead fish can float downstream. It takes a live one to swim against the current.
If we are going to pursue God’s will for our lives, we’ll have to be willing to go against the traditions and priorities of the world around us.
Jesus said “straight is the gate, narrow is the way that leads to life and few there are that find it”. If the path you’re on is crowded and wide, you’re on the wrong road.
4. We become so busy with the crowded, clattering, noisome world that we lose the sensitivity to hear God’s voice.
The Solution is to clean up the environment of our soul so we can hear Him speak.
Our eyes, ears, and nostrils fill with the lights, bombasts & scents of this place that we lose our capacity to see His glory, hear His voice, and waft the sweet savor of His Spirit.. Our souls, after wallowing in the filth of this world, drown in its slough. Rather than the torrents of living water flowing out from our innermost beings, we are overcome with the refuse of our daily drudgery.
You may have heard the story of Hien Pham-
Shortly after Vietnam fell to the Communists, Hien was arrested. Accused of aiding and abetting the Americans he was in and out of prison for several years. During one long jail term, the sole purpose of his jailers was to indoctrinate him against the West -- and especially against democratic ideals and the Christian faith. He was cut off from reading anything in English and restricted to communist propaganda in French or Vietnamese.
This daily overdose of the writings of Marx and Engels began to take its toll on him . . . Hien began to buckle under the onslaught. Maybe, he thought, I have been lied to. Maybe God does not exist. Maybe my whole life has been governed by lies . . . The more he thought, the more he moved toward a decision. Finally, he made up his mind. He determined that when he awakened the next day, he would not pray anymore or ever think of his Christian faith again.
The next morning, he was assigned to clean the latrines of the prison. It was the most dreaded chore, shunned by everyone, and so with much distress he began the awful task. As he cleaned out a tin can filled to overflowing with toilet paper, his eye caught what he thought was English printed on one piece of paper. He hurriedly washed it off and slipped it into his hip pocket, planning to read it at night. Not having seen anything in English for such a long time, he anxiously waited for a free moment.
Under the mosquito net that night after his roommates had fallen asleep, he pulled out a small flashlight and shinning it on the damp piece of paper he read at the top corner, "Romans, Chapter 8." Literally trembling with shock, he began to read:
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.... What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all- how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? ....Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?... No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom. 8:28, 31, 32, 35, 37-39) Hien wept. He knew his Bible, and he had not seen one for so long. Not only that, he knew there was not a more relevant passage of conviction and strength for one on the verge of surrendering to the threat of evil. He cried out to God, asking for forgiveness, for this was to have been the first day in years that he had determined not to pray. Evidently the Lord had other plans. www.RZIM.com
5. Finally, we simply haven’t yet brought our will into subjection to His-we haven’t taken the TIME to seek Him with all our hearts.
Jesus said ‘ask and you shall receive, seek and you will find, knock & the door will be opened.’
He is waiting to answer our queries, but . . . we don’t query.
The Solution to this problem is to get on our knees, fall on our faces before the Lord and say with all our hearts, “Lord, whatever you want for me, I want”. . . and MEAN IT.
My brief testimony: My mom celebrated her 75th birthday this week. She related to me a story from when I was about 16 years old. Apparently, after a period of praying and seeking the Lord, I told her then that I couldn’t explain it, but that I felt God had called me to train people for the ministry.
A few years later I was traveling with a music group, the Continental Singers and Orchestra. As I saw the impact of music on those receiving the good news of Jesus for the first time I can remember, I was struck with the conviction that the LORD had called me to music ministry, some place outside the United States. . .
We came to Bangalore in 1996 to help with teaching and administration at New Life College. In 1998 we started the Summer Intensive Music School (SMS)-the Center for Music Education and then the Bangalore Conservatory both grew out of that initial program. Last night we had the culminating concert of SMS. I’ve directed and performed in that kind of program for 32 years in more than 20 countries and I can say last night’s program was one of the best I’ve seen or participated in. And it was our students and teachers who were directing and performing.
After the concert Philip, one of the Conservatory teachers, was talking with me. He said, “this is the best concert I think we’ve had. What is amazing is most of the performers were the students, not us.” He said “I think it’s God who is making all of this happen.
Indeed it is.
Last night after the concert I updated my status “I am grateful beyond words”. I can’t help but wonder what might have happened, how much I would have missed out on, if I had not heard and responded to God’s call on my life.
1. Problem: Our idea of what is right or wrong supersedes God’s because of temptation
Solution: Study & Memorize portions of the Bible.
2. Problem: Our will speaks so loudly we can’t hear the still, small voice of God.
Solution: Quiet that voice within.
3. Problem: We see the way everyone else is behaving, and figure that is the way we, also, should behave.
Solution: Swim against the current
4. Problem: We become so busy with the crowded, clattering, noisome world that we lose the sensitivity to hear God’s voice.
Solution: clean up the environment of your soul so we can hear Him speak.
5. Problem: we simply haven’t yet brought our will into subjection to His-we haven’t taken the TIME to seek Him with all our hearts.
Solution: get on our knees, fall on our faces before the Lord and say with all our hearts, “Lord, whatever you want for me, I want”. . . and MEAN IT.
God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He speaks to His people just as He spoke the universe into existence. If we are looking, listening, and responding to God, He will direct our paths. This is, truly, the essence of the life God has designed for us, and if we fail to seek His will and His purposes, we’ll miss out on the adventure for which we were designed.
DL Moody said “the world has yet to see the impact of a life fully submitted to God”. I believe God has called each one of us here to be THAT life.
As the 20th Century journalist, Malcolm Muggeridge, said
“Every happening, great and small, is a parable whereby God speaks to us, and the art of life is to get the message.”
