In Acts 9:6, during his encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus, Saul (soon to be the Apostle Paul) exclaimed, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” This is an easy question to ask, but it’s not always so easy to answer! And yet the answer is extremely important for our daily walk. Certainly, there are some very clear teachings in Scripture about some deep doctrinal truths, some promises of God, and other things, but some decisions in our daily walk are not so clear to us. Some examples: Whom do I marry? What should my college major be? Where do I live? What about business should I go into?

Well, as I’ve already said, there are some clear commandments in scripture regarding right and wrong, righteousness and sin. But every detail of life is not described so clearly in every case. However, if we diligently search the Scriptures, we WILL find guiding principles that will help narrow down our options! I want to begin looking at some of those guiding principles today.

First of all, to know God’s will for our lives, we must know His word! Don’t complain about not knowing His will for your life if you don’t study His word. You see, God reveals Himself to us through His word, and it is complete, needing no additions. There is no more divine revelation; it is all contained in the Bible! As I heard the late J. Vernon McGee say, “If God spoke out of heaven today, He’d just repeat something He’s already said.”

And His word is sufficient: Paul tells Timothy that “from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” Notice that he told Timothy that the Scriptures are “able to make thee wise”; there is no other place to go where you can find this kind of wisdom! And isn’t that really what we need as seek God’s will in this world.

Secondly, to know God’s will for our lives, we must STAY in His word! Don’t complain about not knowing His will for your life if you don’t stay in His word. 2 Timothy 2:15 tells us, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” This doesn’t mean we just “visit” the word of God every now and then; we must “study” the word, which means “to exert oneself, to endeavor, to give diligence; to make effort, or to labor.” We can’t just say “I read it once” and be done with it; we must burn the midnight oil!

Thirdly, to know God’s will for our lives, we must TRUST His word! Don’t complain about not knowing His will for your life if you don’t trust what He says. You cannot read the Bible and then just “blow it off”, and take the position that your way is better! In Proverbs 3:5-6, we read, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” The word “trust” denotes the key aspect of the walk of every Christian!

You see, God did not leave us to wander; His primary directions to us are clearly written to us in His word! And we ought to remember that God is ALWAYS right: “Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way.” Ps. 119:128. Proverbs 3:6 admonishes us NOT to lean toward our own understanding. And the very next verse (Prov. 3:7) tells us that being wise in our own eyes is foolish and destructive!

Finally, to know God’s will for our lives, we must FOLLOW His word! Don’t complain about not knowing His will for your life if you read His word, but refuse to do what it says. When He says we should forsake not the assembling of ourselves together, then we ought not to miss church! When He tells us to follow Him in New Testament baptism, then we ought to do it! Apart from obedience to God, we cannot expect to experience the blessings of the Kingdom of God.

There are several more things we ought to consider in seeking the will of God. Join us next time as we continue this line of thought.

May the Lord bless you is my prayer!

Elder Chris McCool, Pastor