God’s Will

We should pray that God will use any form of church service in which we happen to be participating to that end of directing our attention to Him. And as for evaluating services is concerned, we need to ask this: When we leave our services on Sunday morning and Sunday evening, do we come out saying “Oh, wasn’t that unusual what the pastor did?” or “I’ve never heard a dialogue sermon before,” or “Weren’t the visual aids interesting?” Rather, do we come out saying “I never knew that about God,” and fix our mind upon Him?

We see this idea of how to approach God in the Old Testament in the instructions given to Moses for the design of the tabernacle. What was the original tabernacle? It was not a thing of great beauty or permanence. It had no stained-glass windows, no gothic arches. It was just made of pieces of wood and animal skins. But every part of it was significant. The tabernacle, in other words, taught the way to God. It was a great object lesson. Take that tabernacle with its altar for sacrifice, its laver for cleansing, its Holy Place, and its Holy of Holies, and you have a perfect illustration of how a person must approach God.

How can you know God’s will? How’s it possible for you to know the mind of God? If God has a plan for your life, how does He reveal it to you? How can you find that plan? Or to put it in other words, how does a sinful, finite human being come to know what a holy and infinite God desires? In this study we’re going to look at verses which assure us that God will give us the guidance we need for every aspect of our lives, and which show us how to find that guidance.

The second great principle for knowing the will of God is that nothing can be the will of God that is contrary to the Word of God. The God who is leading you now is the God who inspired the Bible, and He is not contradictory in His commandments. Consequently, nothing can be the will of God for you that is not in accordance with His Word.

Comparisons such as this defeat any approach to the problem through rules and regulations. And any such comparison turns us back once more to the principles of Scripture. I’d like to suggest three great principles that will help any Christian in at least 99% of his difficulties. These principles are found throughout Scripture, but they are summarized in three important verses: Romans 6:14, 1 Corinthians 6:12 (also 10:23, which repeats it), and Philippians 4:8. These verses tell you that you are to live (as you have been saved) by grace, and that you are to pursue the highest things. Now let’s look at these one at a time.

Now the second principle for determining God’s will in doubtful matters is that, although all things are permissible for the Christian because he is not under the law but under grace, still all things are not helpful, and some things should therefore be avoided. This is true for two reasons: first, because the thing itself may gain a harmful control over him and, second, because through him it may hurt other Christians.