Dave’s Monday Blast – February 29, 2016
I have received quite a bit of feedback from you regarding our discussion on the discernment of God’s will for our lives. I am so appreciative of your comments and questions. One question has here-to-fore really stood out. The essence of the question was this: “There have been many times, and regarding MAJOR decisions, when I thought I was following His plan, only to see everything go VERY wrong! How do I process what feels like a flaw in the paradigm of understanding His will?” Great Question!
I intended to share a personal story about how God redirected my life many years ago at a pivotal time to illustrate the process we have been discussing, but let me address this specific question from the Word. Two scriptures to begin: I Thessalonians 5:16-18 “Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” Micah 6:8 says, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Simple, right!
His will, bunched in groups of three indicating that there’s no big mystery which must be solved before we know how to act or decide, or how God wants us to act or decide. (I know that Men of Intention could give me more verses along these lines.)
But we seek more. We have suggested more the last several weeks…and yet at times we still come up short. I think it’s because it is ridiculously simple, paradoxically enough, is ridiculously hard, and we know it. G.K. Chesterton famously said, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried.” But what does this REALLY look like? Let’s unpack Acts 16:10-40. Paul was sent on a missionary journey via a clear call from God (v. 10). The resources were there, the people willing, the Kingdom was increasing. He is leading a group of missionaries through the city when he encounters a psychic who keeps taunting him. After a while though, Paul calls on the name of Jesus and the evil spirit within her is cast out. Hooray! Score one for the Lord. Validation that Paul is in God’s will. But alas, there is no praise here, because those who had been making some cash off the now-set-free woman’s powers aren’t happy with Paul. They drag him before the local law enforcement, have him beaten, and thrown in prison.
At this juncture, I would be thinking, God, this is NOT your will. YOU made it very clear I was to come on this trip, and I even did a miracle for you! People were baptized! Now I am injured, in jail, and I don’t even know how I’m going to get home much less continue to be effective for you from here! I want a telephone, I want a lawyer, and I want you to reveal your ACTUAL will, right now, and suffer no more discomfort while doing what you sent me to do! And with that, my missionary journey would come to a close. I would be wrestling with understanding His will. But not the Apostle Paul. Paul began immediately applying all he knew about God and His will. He began practicing what he wrote about in 1 Thessalonians 5. He began to INTENTIONALLY practice “rejoicing always.” And so bloodied and with his feet in stocks, he is found to be singing. Seriously, he “sings hymns of praise”. He also knew to “pray without ceasing,” and so, in v. 25, that’s exactly what you find Paul and Silas doing…praying…at midnight, even.
The missionaries on this journey may have questioned whether or not they were in His will, but KNEW the process well enough to begin doing simple things that God had willed for them to do. By doing so, God was free to let fly His own big, complex, miraculous will for everyone else. An earthquake shakes open the prison, snapping chains in the process. Prisoners, however, stay where they are. A jailer, about to kill himself, holds his sword, and moments later accepts Jesus into his heart. Then his family joins the flock, all because those he had persecuted chose to “love kindness.” At every step of the journey, Paul, Silas, and their companions chose to walk humbly, give thanks, and do what was just.
It is absolutely amazing to me the ways that God plans to accomplish His Will on earth. His will in my life has already been decided. It is my job to walk humbly, always be in prayer, always rejoicing no matter what situation I’m in. We don’t always see it do we? All the behind-the-scenes orchestration that He is engaged in. I would encourage you my friends that when the path you are on (which you affirm to be God’s path for you) disappears, and the way is insurmountable, remind yourself that there are purposes that you don’t know about. I suggest that we begin this very day making note of every story in the Bible that suffers a delay, interruption, inconvenience, or life changer before the Lord’s promised payoff. (Start with guys like Joseph, Moses, Abraham, Job, etc.). They all reveal the same thing…God is Faithful!
