The Will of God

A while back I came across a post entitled: 6 Reasons Pastors Should Blog. Since then I've always desired to have a blogging connection with my church leaders. I can happily report the wait is over. The head pastor of my church, David Bowen, has started a blog. The other leaders of the church have started their own blog as well. In celebration, I'd like to quote a snippet from David's most recent post on how we can know the will of God:

1. MANDATES (Proverbs 9:10, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”).

It is through obeying God in all of his revealed will that we gain confidence that he will direct us in matters of his secret will. In other words, I need to settle first whether I am willing to do his will, before he is likely to reveal it to me (John 7:17). Praying for God to show us what he wants us to do is an obvious first step in discerning his specific will for our lives, but such prayer needs to be sincere, offered in reverence and awe of him (James 1:5-6; Proverbs 3:5-6).

2. MIND (Proverbs 16:9, “The mind of man plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps” NASB.)

Rather than being incredibly mystical or strange, the way the Lord has chosen to reveal his specific will to us is through the reason and good sense he has given us. Therefore, as we face a big (or small, for that matter) decision, thinking is the second step. We should take out a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle of it, listing the PRO’s on one side and the CON’s on the other. It is an excellent idea to write down the reasons we believe God is leading us to take a particular course, because when (not “if”) we experience difficulty, we can go back to those reasons for strength to persevere.

3. MENTORS (Proverbs 12:15, “The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice.”

Our minds (or “hearts” as the literal Hebrew rendering speaks of the core of us that makes decisions) can be very deceptive and wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). It is for this reason that God has told us repeatedly in his book of wisdom par excellence that seeking advice from other wise people is step number three (Proverbs 11:14; 15:22). Although no one else can make the decision for us on what school to go to, what job to take, where to move, whom to marry, etc., others can definitely advise us as to whether we are undertaking a reckless course or not. We do well to listen to their counsel.

Three steps to knowing the will of God sounds awfully easy. But we all know that deciding which path to take is still hard. But go ahead and decide! As Kevin DeYoung’s excellent recent book puts it, “when it comes to our future, we should take some responsibility, make a decision, and Just Do Something” [which is his title]. God is trustworthy!

As I slowly make my way through Proverbs on my other blog, it's nice to hear such a practical application to it.